The phone rang. I sat up, my heart racing. For a moment, I was back on the boat, trying to find my gun. Why was it dark?
I found my bearings, took a breath, and looked at the clock. It was just after midnight. The phone rang again.
“McKnight, this is Chief Maven.”
“Chief?”
“I’m at Winston Vargas’s house. He’s dead. Get over here now.”
“Vargas is dead?”
“That’s what I said. Get up, get dressed, and get over here.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you to see him, first of all. And because I want to ask you some questions. I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”
He hung up.
I drove in the darkness, from Paradise to the Soo, the second night in a row I had made this trip. There were four Soo police cars in the Vargas’s driveway. I parked on the street, went up to the door, and rang the bell. A Soo officer opened the door. I told him Chief Maven had called me. He showed me in and had me wait in the living room.
I sat there for a few minutes. While I waited, I tried to work out just how I was supposed to feel about Winston Vargas. It was no surprise he was dead. And yes, he had brought it upon himself. This would have happened to him eventually, one way or another. But not tonight. Not if he hadn’t been out there on the water with us.
I could hear the camera snapping pictures in the next room. I could see the light of the flashbulbs on the hallway floor. Finally, Maven poked his head around the corner. He looked tired.
“Come here,” he said.
I got up and went to the other room. It was the entertainment room, the same room where everything had started. Vargas was lying face first on the carpet, not four feet from where he was lying the night of the robbery. But this time, he wasn’t getting up, at least not until the coroner got there and zipped him into a bag.
I’d seen men with the backs of their heads blown off. None of them were bald like Vargas. Somehow it made the whole thing that much more sickening. There was no hair to soak up any of the blood, or to hide any of the grim details, like where the bullet went in or how much of the skull was destroyed. I had to look away.
“I suppose we should go back to the station,” Maven said. “Frankly, I don’t have the energy right now. I’m just going to ask you straight out, right here. Do you know anything about this?”
“I don’t know who did this,” I said. Technically, it was the truth.
“Do you have any idea why Vargas would be planning on a long trip? He’s got two suitcases packed upstairs.”
“We don’t exactly hang out together, Chief. How would I know?”
“Do you know anything about Vargas’s boat? Why, for instance, there’d be thirty high-end appliances packed into the cabin?”
“He was obviously into something pretty shady, Chief. Sort of sheds light on what happened here, doesn’t it?”
He looked at me. “It’s hard to believe you never made detective. You’re a natural.”
“I’m not trying to be a smart-ass, Chief. I’m just saying-”
“Do you happen to know anything about two men named Marcus and Derrick Forsythe?”
I hesitated. If I denied it outright, it could come back to hang me. “I think I know who they are,” I said. “Somebody’s been threatening me, along with Bennett, Jackie, and Gill. They thought we had something to do with the robbery, that maybe there was more money involved, and that we had it.”
“Why would they think that?”
“Because you arrested three of us,” I said. “And I was guilty by association. It was all a mistake.”
“Caused by our mistake in making the arrests?”
“Chief, this is no joke. I’m sure they’re the ones who set my cabin on fire yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, you won’t have to worry about them anymore. We heard their boat washed ashore in Batchawana Bay a few hours ago. There was nobody aboard, just a lot of blood and about a hundred bullet holes.”
“So those are your three robbers,” I said. “These two Forsythe guys and this other guy, Danny Cox.”
“Uh-huh. It ties up pretty nicely, eh? All three robbers are dead.”
“And one of them,” I said, “I guess it had to be Cox-he was holding out on the other two. He set up Bennett, Jackie, and Gill just to cover himself.”
“So the DA should drop all the charges.”
“That’s up to him,” I said. “But I can’t imagine he’ll want to push this too hard.”
“No,” Maven said. “Knowing him, I don’t suppose he will.”
“Where’s Mrs. Vargas? And for that matter…” I looked around. Come to think of it, something else was missing. “Where’s the dog?”
“Mrs. Vargas is at the hospital,” he said. “She’s in shock. She saw the whole thing, apparently. She said two men walked right in, told her not to worry, they didn’t shoot women or dogs. They did him right here on the floor, one shot, and then they left. When we got here, the dog was practically foaming at the mouth. Damned little thing put up quite a fight when we tried to remove him.”
“So where is he now?”
“He’s in the garage. He just stopped barking a few minutes ago, must have run out of gas.”
“Can I see him?”
“What the hell for?”
“I just want to see him.”
“You go right ahead, McKnight. He’ll tear your face right off.”
I went through the kitchen, opened the door to the garage, and prepared myself for the attack. It never came.
“Miata,” I said. “Where are you?”
I turned the light on, saw Vargas’s Saab parked in one spot, his wife’s blue Miata in the other. I didn’t see the dog.
“Miata, come on out. I don’t need a sneak attack tonight.”
I walked around both cars. No sign of the dog. Finally, I got down on my hands and knees. The dog was under Vargas’s car. He was shivering.
“I know you’ve had a tough night,” I said. Hell, he’d seen his master’s head get blown off. “Just come here.”
When I reached for him, he bit me. I pulled my hand back, looked at the little drops of blood forming between my thumb and forefinger.
“You really got me,” I said. “Do you feel better now?”
I reached in again. This time he nipped the end of my ring finger.
“Miata, there’s something you should know about me. We’re actually a lot alike. If I know I’m right, I’ll fight anybody. You can bite me all you want, I’m not going to give up until I get you out of here. So give us both a break, huh?”
I reached for him again, gave him a little fake this way, then that way, and finally grabbed him by the collar. He was all teeth and claws when I picked him up and held him against my chest. I kept holding him tight while he fought me for a good five minutes. Then he gave up. When I took a step, he fought me some more. I held him. Five minutes later, I was back in the house with him.
“What are you doing with that dog?” Maven said. “Are you crazy?”
“Probably,” I said. “I wanna take him. Otherwise, he’ll just go to the pound, right?”
“We’d hold him until Mrs. Vargas was ready to claim him.”
“I don’t think she will,” I said. “If she does, just tell her to call me, okay?”
He shook his head. “Fine, McKnight. The two of you deserve each other.”
When I got to the truck, I expected Miata to put up another fight. Instead, he just curled up on the far corner of the front seat.
“I know how you feel,” I said. “I feel the same way. Tell you what, instead of you coming home with me, I’ve got an even better idea.”
I drove south to Rosedale. It was after one in the morning now, but I knew Leon was a night owl. I saw a couple of lights on inside the house when I pulled up. Miata let me pick him up this time. When Leon opened the door, he took one look at the dog and said, “Vargas is dead.”
“They got to him,” I said. “He had his bags packed.”
Leon shook his head. “You wanna come in?”
“No, that’s all right,” I said. “I couldn’t leave the dog there, so I was wondering if maybe your kids could look after him for a while.”