breakfast for his family.
“Where exactly is that?” he asks. “Sea Haven?”
“Down the shore,” I say.
He nods. Smiles. Fidgets with the box flaps. “Okay. Sure. Near Asbury Park, right?”
“Further south.”
“Okay.”
He looks at his watch. The ring with its big red rock is still sitting there, all alone in its tiny plastic pouch, stranded like the pimply girl nobody wants to dance with at the prom.
“Well, thanks for driving all the way up here and all.”
He stands.
“Sir?” says Ceepak, pointing to the table. “Your ring?”
“Oh. Right. Duh.”
“We hope you'll come visit us in Sea Haven again,” says Ceepak.
“Yeah. Why not? Be nice to see it.”
“You've never been?”
“No. Don't think so.” His voice sounds a little shaky.
“Interesting,” says Ceepak. “Then I wonder how your ring wound up buried on our beach?”
“Guess you'd have to ask Lisa.”
“Lisa?”
“My old girlfriend. I gave the ring to her. A long, long time ago.”
CHAPTER THREE
Sir, I wonder if I might ask you a few questions?” says Ceepak.
“Sorry. I really need to….”
“This will only take another minute. Please.” Ceepak gestures toward the chair, politely commanding Mr. Brian Kladko to sit his butt back down.
“What? Are you guys private detectives or something?”
“We're with the Sea Haven Police Department.”
Kladko sits.
“Unh-hunh.” Kladko keeps his eyes on Ceepak, the man with the muscles and close-cropped hair-the guy who always looks like he's in charge, even without saying it.
“I'm curious about the ring's provenance,” says Ceepak. “Its history.”
“So, is this an official investigation?”
“No. More like a hobby.”
Kladko thinks about that. “What? Oh, I get it. You have one of those metal detectors or something.”
Ceepak nods. Kladko relaxes.
“Interesting,” he says. I don't think he means it.
“I find it to be so,” says Ceepak.
“Well, like I said. I gave the ring to Lisa.”
“Does Lisa have a last name?”
“Yeah. De-something. DeSoto. DeMarco. That's it. Lisa DeMarco.”
“And she was your girlfriend?”
Kladko grins. Shrugs. His message is clear. She was no big deal.
I watch Ceepak watching Kladko.
“Since she had your ring, I assume you two were going steady.”
“Yeah. I guess. Sure.” I can see Kladko start to wonder where this is going.
“What happened?”
Kladko shrugs. “We broke up.”
“But she kept your ring?”
“Yeah.”
“You didn't ask for it back?”
Kladko tries to look bored. “Nope. Never got the chance.”
“Why not?”
“She left. A month after I gave her the ring, she was gone.”
“When was this?”
“Summer of ’83.”
“Did Ms. DeMarco attend P. J. Johnson High School?”
“I think so. I forget where we met. It was a long time ago. Hey-I guess I can wear my ring to the twenty- fifth reunion in 2008, huh?”
The three of us just sit there, inhaling the cinnamon-scented air.
“Are we almost done? I've got some very hungry kids at home.”
“Any idea where Ms. DeMarco went?”
Kladko gives us another shrug. “Sea Haven, I guess. I suppose she went down there to have some fun. Hang out. She liked to party, you know what I mean?”
Ceepak ignores the not-so-subtle hint.
“Frankly, I'd forgotten all about Lisa till you guys showed up. DeFranco.”
“Excuse me?” says Ceepak.
“DeFranco. That was her name. Lisa DeFranco. I think her mom still lives around here. I see her sometimes at the A amp;P over on Amboy Avenue.”
“Shopping?”
“No. She works one of the registers up front. That's how I knew it was her. The nametag.”
Ceepak nods. “Thank you, Mr. Kladko.”
“That's it?”
“Thank you for your time.”
“Hey, no problem….”
He tucks the plastic bag with the ring in it into the front pocket of his khakis the same way you might stuff away one of those curling gas-pump receipts the machine spits out after you fill up on your credit card. Apparently, it holds very little sentimental value.
“I wonder if Mrs. DeFranco is working at the A amp;P this morning,” says Ceepak as we watch Kladko hustle down the escalator.
I have a hunch we'll soon find out.
On the ride over to the A amp;P, Ceepak explains.
“Mr. Kladko is hiding something.”
“Yeah. I figured as much.”
Ceepak isn't calling me “Sonny” because he forgot my name. He's quoting Springsteen. “Darkness on the Edge of Town.” It's something we do with each other because we both love The Boss, the poet laureate of the Jersey Shore. However, when it comes to actually having lyrics memorized, Ceepak wins, hands down. I'm better at the sing-along parts. The
“Don't you find it curious that Mr. Kladko chose to meet us at a mall?” Ceepak now asks.
“I guess it was his turn to get the kids their Sunday morning Cinnabon fix. Kill two birds with one stone and all that.”
“Perhaps. Or, maybe he didn't want us bringing the ring and any questions it might raise into his home.”
“Questions from Mrs. Kladko?”
Ceepak nods.
