“Mrs. Fulton, tell me!”
“He’s gone,” she said. “He told me he’d be back in a little while. But he didn’t come back, Alex. He… “Her voice broke for an instant while she struggled with the panic. “He’s gone, Alex. Edwin is gone.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mrs. Fulton was already standing in the doorway when I got there. She grabbed the front of my coat and pulled me into the house. “What in God’s name took you so long?” she said as she steered me onto the couch. “I called you twenty minutes ago.” She didn’t sit next to me. She just stood there looking down at me.
“I came as fast as I could, Mrs. Fulton.” I wasn’t about to tell her that it had only been fifteen minutes. “Please, you have to tell me exactly what happened.”
“He’s gone,” she said. “My son is gone.”
“Gone where? When did he leave?”
“It was around noon. He said he needed to go into the office for a little while. He said he’d be back for dinner.”
I looked at my watch. It was almost seven o’clock. “He’s not that late,” I said. “It’s just starting to get dark out.”
“No, no,” she said. “He’s never late. Edwin is never late for dinner. He should have been here two hours ago.”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” I said. “Did you call his office?”
“Yes, of course I did.” She made a fist with her right hand and rubbed it with her left, like she was getting ready to belt me.
“Then he’s probably on his way home right now.”
“I called at five-thirty. Don’t you understand? He should be home by now!”
I grabbed her hands and pulled her onto the couch. “Please, Mrs. Fulton. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”
“He shouldn’t have left the house,” she said. “He should have stayed here. It’s too dangerous.”
“No, Mrs. Fulton, no. You can’t think that way.”
“He had a fight with her ” she said. Her voice turned cold. “She was yelling at him. I could hear them from down here. That’s why he had to leave. He just had to get away from here.”
“He had a fight with Sylvia?”
“Yes,” she said. “That woman drove him out of the house.”
“Well then, that explains why he hasn’t come back yet, doesn’t it.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s probably just sitting in a bar somewhere.”
“Do you think so?” Finally, the first hint of hope in her voice.
“Of course,” I said. “He’s talking to a bartender right now, telling him all about it. You know, trying to figure women out. We’ve all done that.”
From behind me a voice said, “He’s at the casino.” I turned and saw Sylvia standing there.
“How do you know that?” I said.
“Because he told me that’s where he was going,” she said. The expression on her face was totally unreadable. I didn’t know if she was angry or smug or God knows what. “That’s why we were fighting.”
Mrs. Fulton just stared at her. For the first time, I sensed some of the history between them.
“Edwin told me that he was through with gambling,” Mrs. Fulton said.
“He told that to everyone,” Sylvia said. “But it was only a matter of time. He needed his fix. I couldn’t stop him.”
“Which casino is he at?” I said.
“He starts at one casino and then moves on when he thinks his luck is turning bad,” she said. “You know that. You’ve gone and found him before.”
“Alex,” Mrs. Fulton said, “you know how to find him? You’ve done it before?”
“Yes,” I said, looking at Sylvia. I remembered the last time I had gone looking for him. It was a summer night, as warm as it ever gets up here on the lake. Sylvia had wanted me to spend the night, to use this rare chance to wake up in the same bed together. He won’t come back, she had told me. You know he’ll be gone all night. And even if he does come back, then so what, so he finds out. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.
I told her it was time for us to put an end to it. And then the warm night got even warmer.
“Please,” Mrs. Fulton said, “go find Edwin. Will you do that please?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll go find him.”
Uttley came in the house. Why did he always show up five minutes after I could really use him? “What’s going on?” he said. “Alex, shouldn’t you be at your cabin?”
“Edwin is gone,” Mrs. Fulton said. “Alex is going to go find him.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “He’s at one of the casinos.”
“I thought he said-”
“I know,” I said. “So he had a little relapse. It’s perfectly normal. I’ll go get him and then we can all beat on him until he admits he needs to get some help with his problem.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Uttley said.
“No, you stay here,” I said. “See if you can make Mrs. Fulton some tea or something. I won’t be long. There aren’t that many places he could be.”
“Maven’s not going to like this,” he said.
“Maven doesn’t like anything I do. So it doesn’t matter.”
On my way out, I grabbed Sylvia by the elbow and pushed her into the hallway. “Goddamn it,” I said in a whisper. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Let go of me,” she said. Her green eyes shone with enough venom to kill me seven times over.
“Why did you let him go out gambling?”
“I told you, I tried to stop him. What does it matter, anyway? You don’t care what happens to him.”
“Why are you still here?” I said. “Why don’t you tell him you want to leave, go back home to Grosse Pointe?”
“I don’t think you really want me to leave,” she said.
“Is that what this is about? Are you making him stay here because you think there’s still a chance for us? Because if you are-”
“Oh please,” she said. “That is so pathetic. And so transparent. You’re the one who’s missing it, Alex. It’s so obvious.”
“Whatever you say, Sylvia. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go find your husband.”
She caught my arm as I turned to go. “Alex,” she said, her voice low and even, the anger seemingly turned off in an instant. I could smell her perfume. I knew it would cling to me. Her scent would stay with me all night. “What’s going on? Why is she so upset about Edwin being gone?”
“I can’t talk about it right now,” I said.
“Is he really in danger? Tell me the truth.”
“I promised her I’d bring him back,” I said. “And I’m going to.”
“Your promises don’t mean anything.” She said it without malice, like it was nothing more than simple truth. “I should know.”
I HEADED TO the Bay Mills Casino first, Edwin’s favorite place to play blackjack. On the way I gave Maven a call. He wasn’t in, so I left a message that I wouldn’t be at the cabin for a while. If he really wanted to, he could let an officer sit by my phone. Dave had a key. He could pretend to be me for a night.
It almost made me happy to imagine how upset he would be when he found out I wasn’t at home. I was sure Edwin was just sitting at a blackjack table, spending money as fast as he could. He didn’t even know how to play the game. I once saw him draw two sevens against a dealer showing a six. He didn’t split them. He didn’t even stand. He hit the fourteen and busted. Most compulsive gamblers at least give themselves a fighting chance
