Дэвид Балдаччи - King and Maxwell

“I’ll get my ex on it.”

“I think I need to be doing something too.”

“Michelle, we’ve been warned off. At least you have.”

“We have a gun to return, Sean.”

“So you want to go to their house?”

“We don’t have to be that direct, do we?”

He considered this. “No. You have an idea?”

“I think I have an idea,” she replied. “But it’ll be better if I go alone.”

TYLER WINGO CUT THROUGH THE WATER as fast as he could. He was at swim practice at a local aquatic facility that his school used. The facility had multiple pools, but since this one was the largest the adult members also used it. Tyler touched the tile wall and came up for air. He slipped his goggles off, cleared them of condensation, and put them back on.

In the lane next to him a female swimmer wearing a swim cap and goggles was just about ready to push off. Tyler grinned and timed it so he pushed off at the same time. He was feeling the need to rip through the water like a dolphin. And it didn’t hurt that the woman was tall and lean and attractive, at least the glimpse he had gotten of her. Despite all his troubles, he was sixteen with hormones about ready to explode and he suddenly felt the urge to show off.

As he cut through the water he wondered how far ahead of her he would be at the end. He contemplated what he might do when she broke the surface of the water and saw him already there. Could he come up with something clever? In reality, he was terribly shy and would be unlikely to muster the courage to say anything. But still, she would at least see him.

Then as he looked to his right the only thing visible were her long feet. Stunned, he redoubled his efforts, swimming as he never had before. He gave it every ounce of stamina he had – and still she was actually pulling away from him.

When he touched the wall and stood, she was leaning on the lane divider rope. Her cap was off, her goggles on her forehead. And she was staring directly at him.

“Wow. What a coincidence seeing you here,” said Michelle.

“You’re not even breathing hard,” said Tyler, who was gasping. “I thought you said you didn’t swim?” he added in a hurt tone.

“I said I preferred keeping above it and dry. I didn’t say I couldn’t swim.”

“You’re really fast for your age.”

“I’ll take that as a mixed compliment.”

Tyler looked around. “Where’s your partner?”

“He doesn’t like the water nearly as much as I do.”

“I know it’s not a coincidence you’re here. What do you want? I’d thought we had, you know, finished stuff.”

“I still have your dad’s Mauser.”

“Oh, crap, that’s right.”

“It’s in my bag. I can give it to you after I finish up here.”

“Hey, Tyler!”

They looked over to see Tyler’s coach, an older man in dungarees and a sweatshirt with a whistle around his neck, staring at them.

“Yeah, Coach?”

“Since this is swim practice do you think you can tear yourself away from the nice lady to actually practice your swimming ?”

Tyler turned red. “Okay, Coach. Sure.”

“I’ll be waiting in the lobby,” said Michelle. “How do you get home usually?”

“A friend.”

“I’ll take you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I think it’s a great idea, Tyler. I think you need to think things through on your own. Not just do what people are telling you to do. I’ll be in the lobby. It’s up to you if you go with me or not. I’ll give you the Mauser either way. I put it in a canvas bag so no one can see it.”

Michelle slipped her goggles back on, turned, and kicked off to do more laps.

Admiring her athleticism, Tyler watched her cut through the pool lane. Then he dropped back into the water and started swimming to the other side, though his strokes weren’t nearly as clean.

When he came out of the locker room about an hour later Michelle was waiting for him in the lobby, a canvas bag in one hand and a knapsack over her shoulder. She had on a knitted cap with her damp hair bundled under it, jeans, a North Face jacket, and a long muffler wrapped around her neck.

Tyler’s hair was slicked back and his jeans hung low; his sneakers had no laces and he wore his high school hoodie. He crossed the lobby to her.

She held up the canvas bag. “Here it is. You riding with me or taking your usual way home?”

Tyler looked around at the other team members passing by. He nodded to some and knuckle-smacked one boy who lustily eyed Michelle and then grinned at Tyler and mouthed the word, Sweet .

The boy said in a normal voice, “See you tomorrow, Ty.”

After he passed by, Michelle said, “You go by Ty?”

“Just to some of the guys,” Tyler said absently.

“So what’s it going to be?”

“Can we stop for some hot chocolate? The water was freezing.”

She handed him the canvas bag with the Mauser.

At a nearby Starbucks, Michelle bought Tyler a hot chocolate and herself a latte. They got back into her Land Cruiser. Tyler stared around at all the mess on the seat and the floorboard.

Michelle scooped the junk off the seat and tossed it into the back.

He peered into the backseat, where the piles of junk were even more pronounced.

“Is that a shotgun back there?” he asked, his eyes wide.

“Yeah, but it’s not loaded. I’ve been meaning to clean my truck out for like two years.”

“It might take you that long,” muttered Tyler as he stared at the piles.

“I get enough crap from my partner about my untidiness, thank you very much.”

“So what do you want?” he asked.

“I think you know.”

“I don’t.”

“A military policeman was waiting for me outside Panera after we met. He read me the riot act about trying to shake you down for money.”

“I didn’t know about that.”

“But someone did come and talk to you, right?”

Tyler sipped his hot chocolate and didn’t answer right away. He stared up at the sky.

“Looks like more snow is on the way,” noted Michelle as she glanced over at him. He seemed so conflicted that her empathy for him suddenly swelled.

Are my maternal instincts finally kicking in? How scary is that?

More miles passed in silence.

“We’ll be home soon,” prompted Michelle.

Tyler kept staring out the window. “They told me not to talk to you.”

“Who is ‘they’?”

“The Army.”

“So guys in uniform?”

Tyler glanced at her. “They weren’t wearing uniforms. They had on suits.”

“So how do you know they were from the Army?”

“Because they were there to talk about my dad. He was in the Army. Who else would they be?”

“Did they show you some ID?”

“Yeah, but they flashed them so fast I couldn’t see what they said. Besides, I wasn’t really focused on that.”

“Was your stepmom there?” Tyler nodded. “So what else did they tell you?”

“That you were probably trying to take advantage of me. That you couldn’t find out anything they hadn’t already told me.”

“About your dad’s death, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“And what did you say to that?” she asked.

“I… I didn’t say much,” Tyler admitted.

“What else did they say?”

“That you could cause trouble for us. That it might mess up our getting stuff from the Army – you know, like benefits.”

Michelle sighed, but then looked angry. “So they really laid a guilt trip on you. Talk about taking advantage of someone.”

“I don’t want to mess things up for my dad, Michelle.”

“Trust me, neither do we. Are you going up to Dover to get your dad’s remains?”