Chuck Logan - After the Rain

Joe continued on across the road, finishing the soda in several long gulps. As he tossed the can, he noticed the green Ford Explorer was back, parked next to his van. He walked directly to it, tried the door. Locked. But the window was open a crack. Joe went to his van, rummaged in back, came back with a coat hanger, straightened it, hooked one end, slipped it through the crack, rotated it, and pressed the straightened end down on the lock button. He opened the door, ducked low, checked the glove compartment, the front seat. Almost immediately he found a holstered.45 under the driver’s seat with a Minnesota deputy sheriff’s badge. He took the pistol and badge, shut the door, got in his van, tossed them into the back. He started the van, pulled onto the highway, and removed a satellite phone from the glove compartment. He activated the phone and pressed in a number. When he had the connection, he said, “I delivered the message, but I’m not so sure about this.”

“Hi yourself,” Nina said.

Dale realized he was holding his breath and she was looking at him, taking in his appearance, assessing him, and being patient with him. She knows I’m Ace’s brother, and all the rest. She’s patronizing me. Finally in a burst of released air he said, “I’ll bet you went to the prom, didn’t you?”

She cocked her head and laughed, a feminine laugh that was pleasant to hear, like she was spontaneously amused.

“See,” Dale said, “I made you laugh.”

“I guess you did.”

“And you did go to the prom.”

“Guilty as charged.”

“Were you the best-looking girl there?”

She shook a cigarette out of a pack on the table, lit it with a blue plastic lighter, and blew a stream of smoke at the ceiling. Then she tilted her head as if to let her mind roll backward. “Actually, I was about third or fourth in line for looks. I was on the skinny side.” She brightened. “But I’ll bet I was the smartest.”

Dale thought, but did not say, Oh yeah? Then what are you doing in this nowhere place? He studied her intently for several heavy heartbeats. He had no idea what a woman cop would really look like. All he’d seen were the ones on TV and in the movies, and they all had bigger chests.

He just nodded. “It’s good to be smart. But it helps to be pretty, too.”

She diplomatically didn’t answer that. She just shrugged her shoulders.

Dale smiled and said, “When Ace breaks your heart, I’ll take you out. I’ll be real nice to you.”

That amused her, too, because again she smiled a big smile, parting her teeth. She had good even teeth. And a hearty laugh. “I’ll tell him to keep an eye out for the competition.”

“Oh, I ain’t the competition. In fact I don’t mind being the last in line. I don’t mind sloppy lasts.” He broadened his grin, showing his gums, as she adjusted to the remark. Drew herself up. Tensed. Like she could bound right out the chair and pound him through the floor with kung fu or something. He imagined what it would be like to have all that vitality under his control.

“Dale? That’s your name?” she said in a measured, no nonsense voice that gave away the lie of her act, the way it presumed to arrange life in straight lines, like she knew all the rules. He nodded his head, his smile oblivious to the warning in her tone.

“Dale, that crack was pretty obnoxious.”

He shrugged. “Just want you to know I’ll never lie to you.” He stared at her hard, marking her with his eyes.

“I guess we just ran out of things to talk about. So why don’t you move it on down the line.”

Dale wiggled his fingers. “Bye.” He walked past her and went up the stairs. As he went up, Gordy came down the stairs, smiled tightly, and went into the office.

Nina lowered her eyes and stared at the twist of smoke coming off her cigarette. Jesus, what’s cooking with these guys? Joe Reed was scary and Dale was creepy. Gordy was barely under control. And Ace-he was rowing across an ocean of booze, striving to maintain an even strain between mania and depression.

Dale walked into the apartment and said, “I seen your new girl.”

“Nina?”

“Uh-huh. Her husband came by the shed this morning pretending to look at my old Deere. You fuck her yet?”

“Nah, it ain’t like that. She’s going through a bad time breaking up. We’re just sort of fellow travelers.” The husband , he thought, moving toward the front window.

“Losing your touch?” Dale said.

Ace stopped and regarded his brother with gentle eyes. He had never allowed himself to be angry with Dale, regardless of what he said. “What’s on your mind, Dale?”

“Gordy come and talked to me about her.”

“Yeah?”

“He’s nervous, thinks she’s here to snoop.”

“What do you think?’

“I think Gordy has reason to be nervous. More than you. That’s what I think.”

Ace clapped his brother on the shoulder. “So he’s got a reason to be nervous, huh?”

“Yep. Joe says Gordy’s running too much dope; Pseudoephedrine in bulk down from Winnepeg, some coke, and that hydroponic grass they got. Joe says he’s attracting sharks.” Dale pointed down the stairway. “Maybe federal sharks.”

“A fed, huh? I ain’t so sure. She just don’t strike me as a cop.”

“Has she been asking around, kinda snooping after something?”

“Mainly she’s been pissed from the minute she walked through that door. At her husband mostly, but I get the feeling she’s pissed at the world in general.”

“Still, you gotta be careful, brother. You gotta do something about Gordy.”

“Christ, Dale, Gordy does all the work around here, he keeps the books. How am I going to replace him?”

Dale shrugged. “Hell, I can keep books, you know that.”

Ace shook his head. “Nah, I don’t want you mixed up in this. You sell off the last of the junk across the road, padlock the door, and go to Florida.”

“I wanna help. What if I could get him to quit running dope. How about that?” Dale said. “You always looked out for me, except when you were in jail that time. Just fair I do something to help.”

Another sore point. Ace’s easy smile masked a swell of remorse. Would it have made a difference if he’d been around during the end of Dale’s senior year, when he turned funny, inward, a little weird? Probably not.

“Sure. Talk to Gordy if you think it’ll help. But don’t take any shit. If he gets antsy, you tell me.” Ace continued to the front window, eased the curtain aside with his finger.

Dale smiled. “I’ll give him a talking-to he won’t forget.”

“You do that,” Ace said, facing away, looking out the window. Hello. What’s this? Across the road he saw Broker walking next to Deputy Jimmy Yeager. Broker got in a green Explorer that was parked in front of the Shuster shed. Yeager got in his cruiser on the road. Then Broker followed Yeager east toward town.

What do you suppose they’re up to?

Dale nodded and left him, went down the stairs, ignored Nina, who was still sitting at Ace’s table, smoking, drinking coffee, and reading the Grand Forks Herald . He walked up to the office door.

“Guess Joe’s pissed at me, huh?” Gordy said, looking up from the desk.

Dale said, “I can fill you in on where he’s coming from-say, later tonight. You got anything going on?”

“Maybe.”

“Mind if I come along?”

Gordy shot a wary look at Nina in the other room, took a pen from his chest pocket, and wrote “ 9 P.M… here ” on a notepad. Then he tore the paper in half, then in quarters, and tossed it in the trash can behind the bar.

Dale nodded and started for the door. As he left the bar he sang out, “Be seeing you, Nina…”