I had the keys to his truck.
Before I left, I stole them. I didn’t want him to follow me down there. Then it occurred to me that he might have a spare key, so I opened the hood on his truck and disconnected the battery terminals.
Then I figured, yeah, that’ll slow him down for two minutes. I went back to my truck, got the big wire cutters and snipped off both connectors.
Now you’re grounded, I thought.
I headed out to the main road as the sun cleared the trees. Hell, maybe the temperature would break sixty today. There was always hope. I headed east yet again, tearing up the same old road to the Soo. An empty road, as straight as if drawn with a ruler. I drove even faster than usual, which is saying something. I’m not just an ex- cop, but an ex-cop who took three bullets on the job, so there isn’t a state trooper, county deputy, or local police officer in the state of Michigan who would give me a speeding ticket.
Okay, maybe there was one particular chief of police who would gladly ring me up, but as far I knew he never sat out here with a radar gun.
It was just after ten when I hit Sault Ste. Marie. I drove to Caroline’s house on Seymour Street. This time I saw Eddie’s beat-up old truck in the driveway. I pulled in behind it.
Nobody answered when I knocked on the door. I knocked again, louder. Finally, I heard movement somewhere inside. When the interior door opened, there was Eddie, looking like he’d just spent the last few hours laid out on a morgue table.
“The hell you want, man.” He had sweat pants on and no shirt. Which was the last thing I needed to see at this hour. Or any hour.
“Remember me?”
“You’re Vinnie’s friend.” His voice was slightly muffled through the glass storm door.
“Very good. Where’s Caroline?”
“She’s sleeping.”
“Wake her up.”
“No way.”
I grabbed the storm door handle a split second before Eddie. We had a brief tug-of-war until I got it open and stepped inside the place. I was ready to nail him if I had to, but he was already moving backward.
“The fuck you doing,” he said. “What’s the matter with you?”
“What happened here last night?”
“It was Vinnie’s fault, man. He shouldn’t have been here.”
“He was trying to look out for your wife. Because obviously you’re not going to.”
“You can’t come in here and talk to me like that.”
“And yet somehow I’m doing just that. Go wake up your wife.”
“I’m gonna call the police.”
“You go ahead. We’ll all have a lot to talk about.”
“What’s going on out here?” Caroline said. She came into the room wearing an old blue bathrobe. Her eyes were still swollen with sleep, her dark hair all over the place.
“It’s what’s-his-face,” Eddie said. “Vinnie’s buddy. I told him you were asleep.”
“My name is Alex,” I said. “I think we met briefly at the bar.”
“Yeah,” she said, “right before you guys took the place apart.”
“That wasn’t exactly my idea. But speaking of Vinnie-”
“I’m putting some clothes on,” Eddie said. “If you don’t mind.”
“Go right ahead,” I said. “There’s a couple of things I need to ask your wife about.”
When Eddie left the room, Caroline kept standing there. She didn’t invite me into the kitchen for coffee. She didn’t ask me to sit down. She looked down at the carpet and rubbed the back of her neck.
“Where are they?” I said.
“Who?”
“You know who I’m talking about.”
“I don’t know.”
“I think you do.”
“Please go,” she said.
From another room I could hear Eddie banging drawers. It sounded like he was getting dressed in a hurry.
“I’ll go when you tell me where to find them.”
“Why do you want to know that?”
“You know why. They beat the hell out of Vinnie.”
“You want them to do the same to you?”
“That’s not my plan.”
I heard a door slam. Then footsteps outside.
“You should stay away from those guys,” she said.
“So should you.”
She shook her head. She still hadn’t looked me in the eye.
“I know what you’re doing,” I said. “With the prescription medicine.” I didn’t want to rat out Theresa, the woman from the clinic, but I would if I had to.
“You don’t know anything.”
“How much money are you making?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“I can’t imagine it’s worth it.”
“Like I have a choice.”
I thought about that one for a minute. Then I heard Eddie starting his truck. What the hell, I thought. I’m parked right behind him.
I went to the front window and looked out, just in time to see him backing up a few inches, clipping my bumper, and then gunning the truck forward in a sharp turn across his own front yard. When he hit the street he was gone in two seconds.
“Where’s he going?” I said.
“I think you make him nervous.”
I turned and looked at her. This time, I really saw her for the first time. It wasn’t the sleep that had made her eyes so swollen. As I moved closer to her, I could see the purple bruises. I had officially never seen so many bruises on so many people in one week before.
“Did Eddie do that to you?”
“Please go now.”
“He’s making you do this,” I said. If he were still here, I’d very much want to bounce him off every wall in the room. “He’s making you get the pills and sell them. Am I right?”
“I’m not talking about it. I don’t even know you.”
“You don’t have to do this. Any of it. You can leave here right now.”
“Get out.”
“I’m serious. Vinnie will help you. I’ll help you.”
“I said get out.”
“Okay,” I said. “If you don’t want us to help you…Fine. Just tell me where they are and I’ll go.”
“I’m not telling you anything.”
“I know Vinnie won’t talk to the police about what you’re doing, Caroline, but I will. Do you understand me? I’ll call Chief Maven right now.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“I have no choice. The next time Vinnie runs into those guys, either they’ll kill him or he’ll kill one of them. Either way, his life is over. Don’t you care about that?”
She didn’t answer. She was starting to rock back and forth now.
“So tell me where they are,” I said, “and I’ll leave you alone.”
“You’re an asshole.”
