“Whaf that for?” he said as he came out of the bathroom.
“I’m calling the police.”
“No. No poleef.”
“I’m calling.”
I started to dial. Instead of fighting me for the receiver he went over to the base unit and unplugged it.
“Vinnie, don’t be an idiot.”
“What are the poleef gonna do?” He took the towels out of his mouth.
“Arrest them? Charge them with assault?”
“I went after them. They defended themselves. They just did a lot better job of it this time.”
“Why did you do this alone? What’s the matter with you?”
“I wasn’t planning on it, Alex. But even if I was…Hell, I got you in enough trouble already.”
“Oh, cut that shit out. You should know better. If you were gonna go after them, you should have brought me with you. Period.”
“I told you, I didn’t go after them. They showed up at Caroline’s house.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. Late.”
I thought back to the night before, how deserted the house looked when I stopped to knock on the door. “It must have been after midnight,” I said. “I drove by looking for you.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Why do you think? What were you doing there, anyway?”
“I was trying to get her to stop what she’s doing.”
“You know what she needs to do now.”
“No.”
“I don’t understand. How much further are you going to go to protect her?”
He wiped more blood off his mouth. “They poured it on me.”
“Excuse me?”
“You asked about the liquor smell before. I was trying to tell you they poured it on me. I smell like I took a fucking bath in it.”
I didn’t have to ask for details. I could picture it all, the whole ugly thing. Or at least the general idea. Beating the hell out of him and then pouring the firewater on the Indian.
I put the receiver back in its charger. I didn’t bother trying to plug the thing back in. Instead I pulled what was left of the ice out of the sink and wrapped it in a kitchen towel.
“Did you take anything yet?”
“No.”
I went and got him four ibuprofen out of the bathroom. “Here,” I said. “Take these and keep icing your eyes.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back.”
“Alex, do not call the police.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m serious.”
“I’m not calling the police. I promise.”
“And don’t go after them. We don’t even know where they are, anyway.”
“Vinnie, sit down and put the ice on your face, okay? When I get back, we’ll talk about where they are, and who’s going after who.”
“After whom.”
I stopped at the door. “It’s a good thing you’re already beat up.”
“Yeah, good thing.”
“Ice,” I said. When I was outside, I went over to his truck and closed the driver’s-side door. The thud was as solid as the decision I had just made.
Once again, for the thousandth time in my miserable life, it was time to do something stupid.
Chapter Eight
This is what I was thinking…After all the sitting around I had been doing, waiting for Natalie to call, waiting for Vinnie to get home…All the danger that both of these two people were in-the woman that I loved and the man who was as close to me as a brother…
Here, finally, was one thing I could do. For one of them, at least.
I went back to my cabin, took a shower, put some clean clothes on. I knew there was no rush. No reason to hurry. Stay cool, slow yourself down a little bit. Eat something so you have your strength. Put yourself together so you can do this right.
I went back to Vinnie’s cabin. He was sitting right where I had left him, holding the towel full of ice against his face.
“You’re gonna be a real sight for a few days,” I told him.
“We’ll see what we can make our friend Cap look like.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
He didn’t say anything to that. He moved the ice from one eye to the other.
“Do you have any idea where I can find those guys?”
“No,” he said. “I don’t.”
“Vinnie…”
“I don’t, Alex. If you wait until tonight, they’ll probably show up somewhere in town. One of the casinos, or at Caroline’s house again.”
“Why did they go there? Did she invite them?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “As soon as I saw them pull up…Well, as you can imagine, things went downhill pretty fast.”
“Her husband, what’s his name again? Eddie? Was he there?”
“Yeah, he was there.”
“I don’t suppose he tried to help you fight them off.”
“I don’t actually recall him doing that, no.”
I thought about it for a minute. I could have done what he said, just wait until that night, hope to find them somewhere in town. Or else…
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Wouldn’t Caroline know where they are?”
He looked at me as well as he could with one good eye. “You’re not going after them alone.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“I’m serious.”
“I’m not going after them,” I said. “Not really.”
Not in the way you’re thinking of, anyway…It was close enough to the truth, I could say it with a straight face.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll tell you after I do it. I promise.”
“I’m coming with you,” he said. He took the ice away from his face. His beaten-up wreck of a face.
“You stupid idiot…What the hell were you thinking?”
“I’ve never wanted to kill a man before,” he said. “I think I could do it now, Alex. I honestly think I could do it.”
“I believe you. That’s why you’re staying here.”
A few minutes later, I was out the door. He had fresh ice. He had water. He had soup. He had the bottle of ibuprofen.
