The Poisoned Rose (18 page)

“Obviously, without this, the Chief can’t connect you to Carter’s murder. So please, as my gift of thanks to you for being a loyal friend to my family, I want you to take it and do with it what you will.”

I looked at the gun but didn’t make a move to take it. After a while I looked at Long.

“Won’t you need that to charge Searls with Carter’s murder?” I said.

“We’ll have more than enough on him to get him put back to jail,” Long answered. “He won’t be getting out again for a long time. Since he’s been free, he’s been having some…fun. More than you know about.”

I still wasn’t anywhere near willing to take what they were offering me.

Jean-Marc said, “The Chief must be getting old. He’s slipping. Maybe he’s distracted by whatever’s between you two. Maybe it’s something else. Whatever the reason, he’s on his way out. My family helped him become chief of police. It’s time for someone else to take over now.”

I looked at Long again. I had come to him this morning because I remembered him to be a decent man. I was betting on his compassion. I had no idea that he was ambitious—so ambitious that he would be part of what was starting to look to me like a coup.

I turned away then, needed to think. I looked toward the water. It was lead-colored under the broken clouds and many gasps of light. No one was talking now. The handgun in the Zip-lock bag was still on the table. I had learned long ago to shrink away from things that looked too good to pass up. Greed ruined lives, and often not just the lives of the greedy. It was the reason I lived the way I lived—wanting for nothing, and possessing nothing another might want.

But how could I not grab at this shiny thing? If it was what Jean-Marc and Long said it was, how could I not want to be the one in control of it?

As if sensing my doubts, Jean-Marc said, “I don’t know what I can say to persuade you, except maybe to remind you that my father cared about you quite a bit. You were nearly part of the family. More so than you realize, I think. My father was quite fond of you. Still is. You know what kind of man he is, Mac. You have to remember the kindness his showed you. You have to know that he doesn’t repay loyalty with betrayal.”

My mind was still racing. A dozen scenarios played out in my head in a matter of seconds. None of them were good. One thought crossed my mind, however, that I had to address. It was the clearest of all my thoughts.

“At some point I’ll go looking for a friend of Marie’s named Scully. There’s a score to be settled with him that has nothing to do with her. Will that be a problem for you?”

Jean-Marc shook his head. “I don’t see us having any trouble with that,” he said.

I looked at the gun once more. I knew that one way or another this was the end of things—either I took it and walked free, or I took it and walked straight into a trap. My life was there on the table before me, the gamble mine to take, win or lose. It was as simple as that.

I had no other choice but to take what they were offering me—take it and all the risks that came with it. I wanted my life in my hands, even if that meant letting it slip through my fingers and losing it forever. I wanted it in my hands again, even if only for another day, even if only for a moment.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do what you want.”

Long picked up the plastic bag and put it back into the leather pack. Jean-Marc reached for his tall glass and took a long sip from it. I knew then that something had happened, that something had changed. But I had no way of knowing just what. Maybe it was simply that business was concluded, the meeting over. Or maybe it was something more. Neither Jean-Marc nor Long looked at each other for a moment, as though any exchange between them might give something away.

Jean-Marc returned his glass to the table and stood. Long zipped shut the pack as he also stood. I was the last of us to rise. I watched them both. Vigilance was, as ever, all I had.

“Long’ll take you back now,” Jean-Marc said. “I’m sorry to rush you off, but with my father ill, I have a lot of things I must take care of.”

“I didn’t know he was ill.”

“The last few years have been rough on him. His condition has gotten worse since Marie ran away. The doctors have warned me that he could go anytime now.”

I remembered the man. I remembered him making me feel at home when I visited. I remembered the money he gave me on my eleventh birthday. I remembered wanting to use it to run away from the family that had adopted me.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.

“I want him to die at peace. He deserves that, don’t you think?”

I nodded.

“I don’t want him to pass thinking his only daughter had abandoned him. Who knows, maybe he’ll even start to get better once he knows she’s safe. A missing loved one is a terrible thing, Mac. But a loved one who just leaves you behind, that’s unbearable.”

I said nothing.

“I’ll tell him I saw you. I’ll tell him you were loyal to him to the end. That should lift his spirits some.”

Jean-Marc led us across the patio and stopped at the back door. He extended his hand. His eyes were steady and cold. I took his hand and we shook.

“I can count on your silence?” he said to me.

I said that he could. Long and I left then. He drove us back toward the village, to my car waiting in the lot behind the cinema. I could see more and more sunlight breaking out around us, looking like long stilts in the sky. The brightness of it was hard on my eyes, but I didn’t dare close them against it.

Long got out and opened the door for me. I stood face to face with him.

“So now what?” I said.

“Your part is done. Tonight we set a trap for Searls. You’re welcome to come along with me if you want, see for yourself.”

“No, thanks.”

“You know, I could use you, MacManus. You could help flush out the Chief, help me get rid of him once and for all. You’ve got him frustrated by now coming out in the open. Frustrated men do foolish things, right? You’d be doing me and a lot of people in this town a favor. A favor like that wouldn’t be easily forgotten. What do you say?”

“Not interested.”

“I’d think you’d be the first to jump at a chance to get him out.”

I said nothing.

Long studied me for a moment, then said, “The Chief’s kid got what he deserved, in my opinion. His father kept cutting him slack, burying his ‘mistakes.’ We knew everything that boy did, and we couldn’t do a damn thing to stop him. We were told to look the other way. There’d be retribution if we didn’t. Not every cop in this town is behind the Chief, MacManus. With people like Bishop jumping out of his pocket, he can’t last. You might want to pick a side for once. You might want to do it sooner rather than later.”

Long waited for my response, and when he got none, he said, “You know where to find me, if you change your mind. With you as bait, we could draw the Chief out and nail his ass good, once and for all.”

“Just find Searls,” I said. “Get him off the streets. That’s all I care about right now.”

Long nodded. “All right. Take care of yourself, MacManus.”

He got back into his car and drove off, leaving me there holding that leather bag. Back in my apartment I stashed the gun under a loose floor board in my living room. Then I nailed the board back in place and went to my window and looked down on Elm Street. There was a part of me that wanted to believe this was nearly over. Once Searls was taken, there would be nothing left for Augie and me to worry about.

I called Augie. He needed to know this. His phone rang twice and then he answered it.

“They’re supposed to bring Searls in tonight,” I told him.

“So we just sit tight till then.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you find out how he got out?”

“It looks like the Chief sprang him.”

Augie was silent for a moment. “Any idea why?”

“To work for a family named Bishop, not Welles.”

“Now that’s a family I’ve heard of.”

“Why the fuck would he send Searls to work for them?”

“No one seems to know for sure.”

“Any luck finding Scully?”

“No.”

“There’ll be other nights. You’re with me, right, Mac? You’ll help me find him. It’ll be easier on me knowing he isn’t out there.”

I was tired but did what I could to keep it from Augie.

“Of course,” I said. How’s Tina?”

“Shook up. Asleep now, finally.”

“You should get some, too.”

“Not yet. Not till I know Searls is in custody again.”

“I could come over.”

“I’m fine. You have work in a few hours. Get some rest.” He paused. “I owe you again, Mac. Big time.”

“I’m not keeping track.”

“That’s a relief,” he joked.

“Talk to you soon, Augie.”

“Good night, Mac.”

He hung up. I stood there with the phone in my hand for a while before I returned it to its cradle.

Chapter Ten

 

I overslept and got to work late. I spent the day loading up the truck and delivering two pieces of restored furniture, first to a house in Hampton Bays and then later to a renovated potato barn out in the flat fields of Bridgehampton. My boss, the owner of the restoration business, wasn’t around, just my supervisor, who was, I could tell, angry with me for the work I’d missed. We avoided talking to each other all day. I knew that something was up. When I got back a little before five from Bridgehampton, my boss’s car was in the parking lot. I parked the truck out back and went inside to hand in the keys for the night. The owner took them and handed me a pay envelope. It wasn’t pay day. Before I could say anything he told me inside the envelope was what he owed me to date and that I was fired. I didn’t put up a fight, just took the envelope and left.

When I got back to my apartment I stretched out on my bed. I was beat. I fell asleep fast, and when I awoke night was around me. A cool air was coming in through my windows. I was disoriented, confused. I had no idea what time it was or even what day it was. For a moment I wasn’t even sure where I was—I was that unaccustomed to sleeping in my own bed.

After a moment, I heard a noise in my kitchen and got up and went out into the living room. I saw Tina by my kitchen table, pouring cold tea from the container I kept in my refrigerator into a pint glass.

Sleep still had a hold on me. I tried to clear my head but there was no rushing it. I had no idea how long I’d been out. I checked my watch but couldn’t make any sense of the tiny dial before me.

“Tina,” I said. My voice sounded gravelly. My throat was painfully dry. My back had stiffened and gotten sore as I slept. “What are you doing?”

She returned the container to the refrigerator and closed the door, then stood in the kitchen doorway and looked at me. I could smell from across the small room some kind of perfume.

“You okay?” she said.

“What time is it?”

“It’s a little after nine. You were out like a light. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Why aren’t you home with Augie, Tina?”

“He sent me to Lizzie’s.”

“Why?”

“He thought I’d be safer there.”

“Safer than at home with him?”

“That’s what he told me.”

“And of course you didn’t argue,” I said. “You’re supposed to take care of him, Tina. Sometimes we have to protect those we love from themselves.”

“And what if you have two people you love?”

I ignored that. “How did you get here? You shouldn’t be walking around.”

“I had Eddie bring me.”

“You shouldn’t have come, Tina. It’s not safe.”

“I needed to see you.”

“Don’t.”

She left the doorway and took a few steps, stopping just feet from me. I could smell a sharp sweetness on her breath.

“You’ve been drinking.”

“Just a little.”

“You shouldn’t drink, Tina.”

“You two do.”

“Your father would ring your neck if he found out.”

“It was the only way I could get the courage to come up here.”

My eyes had adjusted to the blue wash from the street lights outside my windows. I could see her clearly now. She was wearing hip-hugger jeans and a thin cotton half-shirt. The cool night air in my apartment told me that she was braless.

She wavered slightly. I didn’t make a move toward her. She stared at me, her mouth opened slightly, her eyes drooping drowsily.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“Augie shouldn’t know that I’ve been drinking,” she said. “I have to stay here with you till I sober up.”

“You’re going back to Lizzie’s.”

“I want to stay.”

“No.”

“I just want to know what it’s like. I want to find out with you. I want to be with you. All I want is to be with you. You make me feel safe.”

“Tina.”

“You love me, I know you do.”

“You’re a child, Tina.”

“I don’t want you to think of me that way anymore. I want to be close to you. It’s all I think about.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tina watched me closely. Her hand came up slowly and lay across my chest. Her fingernails had been painted with red polish. I could feel her trembling.

She leaned toward me then, bringing her face up toward mine. I placed my hands on her narrow waist and moved her gently back. I smelled Southern Comfort on her breath. The bones between my hands felt underdeveloped. They were the bones of a girl, not an adult woman. I eased her backward, as gently as I could.

“I have to go,” I said.

“Where?”

“You can stay here till you’re sober enough, then have Eddie take you back to Lizzie’s. Tell him to come around tomorrow morning and I’ll pay him the fare.”

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Please don’t leave me,” she said. “I won’t do anything. I promise.”

“Drink some green tea. You won’t be so hung over in the morning.”

She said nothing to that, just stared at me. I went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. I avoided my reflection in the broken mirror over my sink. When I came out of the bathroom, Tina wasn’t in the living room anymore. I looked toward the kitchen and she wasn’t there, either. Then I looked into my bedroom.

She had taken off all her clothes and was standing beside my bed, staring at me, offering herself to me. I quickly turned away and left her there in my bedroom without saying a word.

I went downstairs. It was a quiet night at the bar. I sat in a dark corner and began to drink. At times there was no one around but me and George. I kept to myself and studied my tumbler. George had gotten the hint soon enough that I wanted to be alone. Around midnight he went into the kitchen to close it up for the night. I looked up then and glanced at the mirror above the bar. I saw myself for the first time in a long time. I saw just what I expected to see. And then I saw something else, someone standing just inside the doorway to the bar, watching me with an expressionless face.

She came over to me finally and stood next to me. We were the only people at the bar.

She was holding her shoulders back like a cadet, her chin forward and up, like she always did, like she had done even back when we were kids. Such a proper girl, a rich man’s daughter, all etiquette and posture. It was hard to think of either of us as kids now.

I looked for the changes in her face I had seen at the dark beach but gave up. I remembered her smiling like an old friend, and me not understanding why.

But there was no hint of that smile now. I could only assume that things were still in play between her and her twin brother. But I was out of that. That deal was done.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have told you who I was.” Her voice was still hoarse.

“It doesn’t matter, Marie.”

“Drinking yourself blind again, I see.”

I said nothing.

She stepped closer and, despite the fact that we were alone, she whispered, “I need your help.”

I shook my head and took a sip of my bourbon—the good stuff since George was buying. “Sorry, Marie.”

“It’s important.”

“I can’t help you.”

“You don’t understand what’s going on. If you did, if you knew the truth, you wouldn’t be sitting here.”

She was wearing jeans and a denim shirt. I tried to remember the way she looked as a girl, with those summer highlights in her hair. I could barely see in her now any trace of the child I’d once known, the first person that I can remember who showed me kindness.

Had we loved each other back then? I wondered. Platonically, of course, but deeply nonetheless. Two lonely children brought together by violence, then torn violently apart two summers later by a man who had complete and utter control over my life.

She leaned closer still. “You saved my life once before, Mac. If you don’t save me now, you should have just let me die back then.”

I looked at her. I was taken aback as much by her words as her tone.

She was dead serious.

But I thought about what Jean-Marc had said about her using men. I thought, too, about what she herself had said to me at Long Beach.

If a man can help keep me safe, I do what I have to do to keep him around.

I thought back to the rabid mastiff that had attacked her, how she had seemed like a ragdoll in its mouth. “That was different,” I said.

“Actually, it’s not. It’s no different at all.”

“I’m sorry, Marie.”

“Jean-Marc got to you, didn’t he? He gets to everybody, one way or another. Tell me, did he buy you off? Or did he give you something you think you need?”

I didn’t say anything at first. Finally, I looked at my glass and said, “Your family problems have nothing to do with me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

“Your father’s worried about you, Marie. He’s dying and wants to know that you’re okay.”

“My father’s in a coma, Mac. Has been for the past six months. He’s dying, yes. But he’s the one who told me to run, to get as far away from my brother as I could and stay there.”

I looked at her again. “According to Jean-Marc your father’s conscious.”

“He lied. I doubt it was the only lie he told you.”

I waited a moment, thinking about that, then said “Why did your father tell you to going into hiding?”

“Because when he dies there’ll be nothing holding Jean-Marc back. Because when he dies all hell is going to break loose. All this, everything that’s happened up till now, this is just the start.”

“What do you mean?”

“Does Jean-Marc know you met with me, that we talked?”

“Yes.”

“Then your life is in danger, Mac.”

“Why?”

“Because whatever deal you made with him, or think you made with him, was for his benefit and his benefit alone.”

I said nothing to that.

“If he knows you met with me, then it’s possible I told you.”

“Told me what?”

“What he doesn’t want anyone to know. What people are getting killed over.” She paused. “His secret.”

“What secret, Marie?” I heard impatience in my voice, the beginnings of panic.

Secrets were mines waiting to be triggered.

“Not here.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“I’ll offer you a deal.”

“I’m done with deals.”

“This one’s easy.”

I waited.

“Scully is missing,” she said.

His name caught me like a hook.

“Help me find him and I’ll tell you everything. I’m dead without him, Mac. I need you to understand that. Maybe this will put it in perspective for you: I’d rather be back in the mouth of that rabid dog than in my brother’s hands again.” She paused to let that sink in. “Please help me, Mac.

I thought about my deal with Jean-Marc, the gun hidden under my floorboards. I thought about Tina upstairs, leaving me with nowhere to go right now but headfirst into a bottle.

But mostly I thought about Scully, out there somewhere, roaming free. I thought of Augie walking with his cane. I thought about the only promise I had made that really mattered to me.

“Yeah, okay,” I said to Marie. “I’ll help you find him.”