by the toss of a coin, and Carr wonders if it really matters which he picks. Too tired and bored to save yer own goddamn life. Too tired, certainly. He thinks about Bessemer, in a heap on the sofa, and of Latin Mike’s admonition: He’s everybody’s problem if you don’t… His throat tightens and a clammy sweat breaks out across his forehead.
The incoming tide is lapping around his ankles when his phone goes off, and he answers without looking at the number.
“Dennis?”
“Who’s Dennis?” Arthur Carr asks, and Carr can tell right away that his father’s been drinking.
“Someone I work with. Is everything okay?”
“I’ll call some other time, if you’re working.”
“It’s fine. Are you all right?”
“All right?” Arthur Carr snorts. “You know she’s leaving, don’t you?”
“Who’s leaving?”
“Eleanor Calvin-who else would I be talking about?”
“She told you she was moving away?”
“The question is, Why didn’t you tell me? She said you’ve known for weeks. Is this privileged information? Maybe you think I’m a security risk.”
“I didn’t want to say anything until I’d made new arrangements.”
“ New arrangements -what the hell do I need those for? I didn’t like the old arrangements you made, and now that she’s walking out, I don’t need any goddamn new ones. The hell with that disloyal bitch.”
“Is she there?”
“What if she is?”
“Put her on the phone.”
His father’s laugh is jagged. “Well, she’s not here. She walked out on me. Said I could fix my own dinner if I didn’t like her cooking, and that if I was going to curse-”
“What did you say to her?”
“I had no idea her sensibilities were so-”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing much, and I can’t imagine she hasn’t heard the word whore before.”
“For chrissakes!” Carr says, and he realizes he’s shouting, and that the few people on the beach are staring.
Arthur Carr laughs again. “In fact, I’m sure she’s heard worse.”
Carr sighs and walks toward the jetty that marks the edge of the hotel property. “You can’t talk to her that way, Dad,” Carr says softly. “You can’t expect her to put up with it.”
“Do you have any idea what I’ve put up with?”
“You can’t talk to people that way.”
“ People? She’s not people-she’s my goddamn wife, and I’ll talk to her any goddamn way I please.”
The breath catches in Carr’s throat, and there’s a rushing noise in his ears. When he speaks, his voice is soft and even. “We’re talking about Mrs. Calvin, Dad.”
There’s angry silence on the other end, and then an embarrassed cough. “What the hell are you saying? I know who we’re talking about.”
A wave catches Carr as he reaches the jetty, lifting him and banging his knees on a rock. The sound of surf against stone drowns out the sound of his father’s hasty good-bye.
“Fuck,” Carr says aloud.
When his phone rings again, he thinks it’s his father calling back, but it’s not.
“Jesus, Dennis, I’ve heard from everybody but you today,” Carr says, leaning against a rock. “Please give me some good news.”
“I would if I could.”
“The fucking thing’s still not plugged in?”
When he answers, Dennis’s voice is thin and tired. “I got the message ten minutes ago. It’s plugged in all right, just not into Prager’s computer.”
36
Bobby has exhausted his many variations on fuck this. He hunches forward on the sofa in the sunny front room of the workhouse and runs his hands though his hair. When he looks up at Carr, he looks as though he’s come through a hurricane.
“It’s the worst fucking Plan B I’ve ever heard,” Bobby says.
“No argument,” Carr says. “It sucks. So give me an alternative.” He looks at Latin Mike, who stares longingly at a jet dwindling in the sky.
“It’s for shit,” Mike says, “but I got nothing better.”
“You can get the hardware?” Carr asks Bobby.
“That’s not the problem. I’ve got the boat; a couple of WaveRunners won’t be an issue. The problem is all the fucking variables.”
“And the putty?”
Bobby shakes his head. “I know where I can get it, the det cord too-equipment’s not the problem. The problem is too many variables-too many places where the fucking wheels can fall off.”
“Let me worry about those.”
“That’s not a lot of comfort,” Bobby says. “No offense.”
“Then give me an alternative,” Carr repeats.
Bobby shakes his head and puts his hands through his hair again. Carr looks at Dennis, who is thinner than ever-a ghost-eyed wheat stalk. “And you’re sure it’ll load, even if the screen’s locked?”
“Screen locked, power-saving mode, waiting for a password, whatever-I’m working down below the operating system. If the computer’s switched on, it’ll load. Fifteen seconds, max. The LED will blink green.”
“What if the computer’s not switched on?”
“Then switch it on-it’ll load. It’ll just take a little longer-a minute, maybe.”
Latin Mike gives up on the airplane, lights a cigarette, and blows smoke at the ceiling. “What about Bessemer-can he handle it?”
“It’s a party-mostly he has to handle eating and drinking. He’s good at that.”
“He’ll have to say his piece to Prager in person. You think he can do it?”
Carr nods. “A case of nerves will make him more plausible.”
“Long as he doesn’t crap his pants, jefe. ”
Carr stands and stretches. He hasn’t slept and his eyes feel like an ashtray. “I’ll let you guys start putting it together.”
Still bent forward, Bobby laughs bitterly. “You don’t know what they’re going to do with a party going on. How do you know they won’t call the locals? I don’t want to find myself playing hide and seek with a coast guard cutter.”
“Rink won’t do that,” Carr says. “She’s still new. She wants to prove herself.”
“You don’t know,” Bobby says, shaking his head. “You don’t know shit.”
Carr shrugs and walks to the door. “No argument there, Bobby.”
There’s a tin-roofed shack, painted bright blue, on the side of the road to the airport, where the fat counterman serves fresh fish-and-chips and cold beer, and where Carr meets Tina. It is well past lunchtime, and they’re the only ones sitting at the open-air counter. Carr drinks an iced tea and eats fries from Tina’s plate, which is otherwise untouched.
Tina watches heat rise from the asphalt. Her voice is low and tight. “Isn’t that your job, to plan for these things?” she says. “To have a fallback when shit goes wrong?”
Carr laughs. “I did plan for it. Of course, my plan assumed that Eddie Silva was still running security, and I
