As I got closer to the Soo, I thought about the address Margaret had given me. I knew the West Pier was on the west side of town, not far from O’Dell’s, in fact. They were there right now, I thought, doing God knows what, with Blondie involved somehow. No doubt about that.
I had taken the highways, figuring I’d get there faster if I really flew. I bailed off of I-75 just before the International Bridge, took Ashmun Street into town, across the power canal, right under the dark window of Leon’s office. I headed west on Portage Street, and then got off onto the dirt road that ran under the bridge. As I roared past the old drive-in restaurant, they must have wondered where the hell I was going so fast, but I wasn’t about to stop and explain.
I slowed down to cross the railroad tracks. I rolled past some abandoned warehouses, and a quiet, empty old house. I didn’t see any numbers. How the hell was I going to find number eleven?
There were a couple cars parked on the street. I couldn’t imagine who would be down here after dark. I looked for Bennett’s Explorer, then remembered it wouldn’t be here. It was still impounded by the police. I looked for Jackie’s Lincoln instead. I didn’t see it anywhere.
I stopped just as the pavement was about to end. Beyond that was an old railroad spur, leading down a quarter mile to the pier itself. There was a time when boats would unload onto trains here, but that was all a distant memory. There was nothing now but a few brick buildings, rusted railroad tracks, tall weeds, and the damp smell of the St. Marys River. Whatever Bennett was up to, he picked a hell of a place to do it.
I took the gun out of my truck with me, and approached the nearest building. The front door had a “15” stenciled on the glass. There was a thick layer of dust on the glass, and nothing but total darkness behind it. All the door needed was a big spider web, but apparently even the spiders had given up on the place.
I moved to the next building. This door was solid wood, and there was an “13” scratched on it with white chalk. The next one down had to be 11.
It was a two-story building with a metal roof. It had probably held a lot of cargo off the river, back when it was in business. You could have done something with it if you had enough money-maybe turn it into a bar or something. Nobody had thought of that yet. I tried the front door. It was locked.
There was a narrow alley on one side of the building, a wider alley on the other-wide enough that you could drive a vehicle around to the back. I took the wide alley, passing under a few dark windows, all made from those thick squares of glass you see in old factories and other places you’re glad you never have to see the inside of. The ground was rutted and overgrown with weeds. The light of a half moon was reflected in a hundred small puddles.
When I got around to the back of the place, there was an old wooden loading dock and a semi trailer that looked like it had been sitting there for thirty years, everything glowing in the moonlight like something out of a black-and-white movie. Bennett, I’m going to kill you, I said to myself. If you’re not dead already.
I went up some cement stairs to the loading dock. There were two large roll-down doors that I wasn’t going to try opening. Beyond that was a regular metal door. I stood there for a moment, deciding how to play it. I could have yelled Bennett’s name, but I didn’t want to spook anybody if they were in the middle of something.
Okay, I thought, just go in quiet. If you see something going on, then do whatever you have to do. If you don’t see anything, then start calling out some names.
The door was ajar. It made a horrible metallic screech as I pushed it open.
It was dark inside.
Okay, time to make some noise. “Bennett!”
The gun blast ripped through everything. I fell to the ground. It was all sudden noise and pain and fear as another blast hit the wall behind me, then another. Then a great weight fell onto my back, and I thought, this is it. I’m dead right here.
“It’s me!” I yelled. “It’s Alex!”
There was a silence, or at least no more gunshots. With the ringing in my ears, it felt like I’d never hear true silence ever again. The weight on my back pressed me to the ground.
Finally, a voice. “Alex? Is that you?”
“Yes!”
“Are you all right?”
“Get this off of me!”
I heard footsteps, and then the weight was lifted off my back, whatever the hell it was. Strong arms grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me up to a sitting position. “Alex, my God,” somebody said.
A light came on, blinding me. “Oh shit. Look at him.”
“Will somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?” I said. “You almost blew my head off!”
The light kept blinding me.
“And will you get that flashlight out of my face?”
When I could see again, I saw that it was Bennett holding the flashlight. His other hand was wrapped around the long barrel of a deer rifle. Ham stood next to him, with another flashlight and another rifle. They were flanked by Jackie and Gill, each with yet another rifle. I recognized Jackie’s as an old Winchester lever action he had lying around. It hadn’t been fired in years.
I tried hard to breathe. “Start talking,” I said.
“The door fell on you,” Bennett said.
“What are you doing here?”
“We blew it right off the hinges. Thing must weigh a hundred pounds.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Ham, get him off the ground.” His son tried to pick me up. I slapped him away and got up on my own.
“How’d you find us?” Bennett said.
“Easy, I followed the idiot tracks. Now are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”
“We were supposed to meet Blondie here,” he said. “He was supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“And you were all sitting here with fucking deer rifles? Waiting to shoot him? Look at you guys.”
“What else are we gonna do, Alex? He’s the one who’s making this happen.”
“Jackie,” I said, looking him in the eye. “Look at you. And you, Gill.”
“You weren’t supposed to be here,” Jackie said. “This isn’t your problem. Why did you come here?”
“Knock it off, okay? You’ve been pushing me away since this whole mess started. And I hope you cleaned that old gun, for God’s sake. I’m surprised it didn’t blow up right in your hands.”
“I was going to call you,” Bennett said. “Jackie made sure I didn’t. He’s just looking out for you.”
“Why were you going to call me, Bennett? So I could come join your little posse? Did you actually think he’d fall for this? Why didn’t you just tell him to go to the shooting range? Here, go stand down there, right in front of that target? How dumb do you think this guy is?”
“Alex, it was his idea.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He picked this place,” Bennett said. “He told me to be here at nine o’clock. Actually both of us.”
“Who, you and me?”
“That’s what he said. Make sure you bring the money, and Alex.”
“He was just playing you,” I said. “There’s no way he’d walk into this. He was seeing what you’d do. Hell, he may be out there right now, watching us.”
Bennett walked out the open doorway, into the night. He stood on the dock, looking out at the river. At this point it was a good two miles across. The lights of Soo, Canada burned in the distance. “You really think he’s out there? On a boat or something?”
“If he is, you certainly put on quite a show for him.”
“Fuck,” he said. “That son of a bitch.”
“Bennett, this guy’s a pro. He’s been playing around with you. With all of us. He wants that money.”
“There is no money. I told him that.”
“He doesn’t believe you.”
“What are we gonna do?”
“Where’d you guys park?” I said.
“There’s a lot down by the bridge,” he said. “Jackie picked us up at the bar. Why?”
“You should take everybody home, Jackie. Margaret’s worried out of her head, not to mention being short-handed on a Saturday night. I’m gonna get back up to Paradise. I got a bad feeling all of a sudden.”