each other, you understand.”
“What was this person doing? Did your neighbor get a good look at him?”
“No, he didn’t. He moved like a man, that’s all he knows. He said he was here one moment, and then gone. He just disappeared.”
“Something strange is going on here,” I said. “Somebody’s playing games with us. With all of us.”
“Cat and mouse,” he said. “And you want to know who the cat is, don’t you…”
I looked him in the eye. “That’s the idea.”
“I know why you’re doing this. Jackie is the best friend you have in this world.”
“I’m doing it for all three of you.”
He smiled. “It’s okay, Alex. No matter why, I want you to know how much I appreciate it.”
“Don’t thank me until I get somewhere.”
“I have no doubt you will,” he said. “Jackie talks about you all the time. He says you’re the most stubborn man who ever lived.”
“The pot calling the kettle black, that’s what that is.”
“Have you seen him since this morning?”
“No, not yet. I’ll go there next.”
“Tell him not to worry,” he said. “Tell him he has a good friend watching out for him.”
“I’ll do that,” I said. I thanked him again, and then I left, going back out past the casino, and then west, out of town, into the woods, heading back home to Paradise.
It was cat and mouse, like Gill said. And I had one more mouse to talk to.
Chapter Twelve
I tried Swanson again on the way to Paradise. His secretary must have recognized my voice, because she told me he was still in court and suggested maybe I’d like to leave a message this time instead of hanging up on her. I thought of saying something cute like, “Tell him it’s his worst nightmare,” but thought better of it. “Tell him Alex McKnight called,” I said. “Tell him I really need to speak to him as soon as possible.”
“Do you wish to engage his services in some way?”
“I don’t need his services,” I said. “Just some answers. Good day.”
I hung up the phone, hoping she’d give him the message exactly as I said it. If he’s suddenly unavailable for the next few weeks, that’ll tell me a hell of a lot.
I was about to dial Kenny’s number again, then remembered he probably hadn’t even heard my first message yet. I put the phone down, told myself again to take it easy. Getting too anxious wouldn’t help anybody.
I kept telling myself that as I rolled into Paradise and stopped at Jackie’s place. I was surprised to see that it was open for business again, with the usual six or seven cars in the parking lot. The police invasion of that morning, just a few hours ago-if I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.
And Jackie himself, standing behind the bar mixing a drink, didn’t seem as if anything unusual had happened that day-until he looked at the fingerprint ink on his hands and tried to wipe it off with a towel.
“Tell me something, Alex,” he said when he saw me. He was already putting a Canadian on the bar for me. “This gunk they use for the fingerprinting, why is it so hard to get off?”
I sat on a stool at the bar. “Jackie, are you all right?”
“What do they make it out of, Kryptonite?”
“Jackie…”
“If I use rubbing alcohol, will that work?”
I felt like reaching over the bar and grabbing the front of his apron. “Jackie,” I said, slowly, “please tell me how you’re doing.”
“I’m fine,” he said, finally looking me in the eye. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Your son told me you went for a walk on the beach.”
“Did me a world of good, too. I’m gonna have to start doing it every day.”
“Tell me what happened,” I said.
“Can we talk about this later?”
“No, we can’t.”
He threw the towel down on the bar. “What do you want me to tell you? You know what happened. They came with a search warrant, they took me in…”
“What did they find here?”
“Stolen goods,” he said. “They found stolen goods in my bedroom.”
“Are you going to tell me what it was?”
“Do I have to?”
“Actually, I think I can guess,” I said. “I just saw Gill, and he told me about the Indian artifacts somebody left on his doorstep. Turns out they were pretty much worthless, which tells me one thing.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“It had to be a setup. Somebody took the money, Jackie, and they made it look like you and Bennett and Gill were behind it. In your case, I’m guessing they left some kind of thing that people would naturally associate with you. Maybe something Scottish. Am I right?”
He looked at me for a moment. “Yes.”
“What was it?”
“It was a mug,” he said. “An old pewter mug.”
“I think I remember it,” I said. “In Vargas’s display case. What, did it have something engraved on it?”
“It was the Royal Navy flag,” he said. “And the Scapa Flow emblem on the other side. It’s an old naval base in Scotland.”
“And would you have any reason to steal that kind of thing?”
“It was pretty beat up,” he said. “I don’t imagine it would be worth much.”
“Okay, then. That makes sense.”
“If you say so.”
“Why did you take it inside?” I said. “Didn’t you realize it came from Vargas’s house?”
“I don’t know what I was thinking of, Alex. Obviously, I made a big mistake.”
“What were you gonna do with it?”
“I wasn’t sure,” he said. “I might have asked you at some point. I never got the chance.”
“What did they ask you at the police station? I hope you didn’t say anything without your lawyer being there.”
“Of course he was there. I’m not stupid. They told me we were looking at felonies, but that things would go a lot easier if I gave up the men who pulled off the heist. That’s the word your friend Chief Maven used, the ‘heist.’ He’s quite a character, isn’t he… And he has such a fond regard for you.”
“He should be looking for whoever really did this,” I said. “But I don’t think he’s going to. Did they set a trial date yet?”
“No. My lawyer thinks they’ll hold it over our heads for a few days, try to get more information out of us.”
“A few days…”
“I won’t crack,” he said. “I’ll never rat out my accomplices.”
“This isn’t a joke, Jackie. You could go to jail over this. I want to talk to a few people, starting with Mr. Swanson.”
“I’m sorry I got you involved in this, Alex. Now I want you to just let it go. I don’t want you to go knocking people’s heads around.”
“Too late,” I said. “Heads have already been knocked.”
“Damn it, will you leave this alone, Alex? For once in your life, will you please just stay out of it?”
I took a hit off the bottle and put it back down. “When you came to my cabin the other night,” I said, “and
