Ken Douglas - Ragged Man

“ The last thing I want is to be a party to murder, two thousand dollar campaign contribution or no.” Rick noticed Harpine had doubled the amount.

“ I thought I’d promised three,” Rick said, winking.

“ Oh, yeah, I forgot.” Harpine winked back.

“ Nate will get you there,” the woman said, interrupting them and then was interrupted herself by the sound of the car as it backed out of the garage. “It might be old,” she said of the battered pickup, “but it runs fine. It’ll get you there.”

“ Hop in,” old Nate said, “time’s a wastin’.”

Rick opened the door, slid into the passenger seat, cranked the window as the man backed the car around, so that it was facing down the dirt track, away from the house. Then he threw it into first and put his foot to the floor. The old man knew how to drive. “We’ll make it in time, son, don’t you worry none.”

The pickup kicked up dust as the tires bit into the dirt and the taste of it on his teeth reminded Rick of the race in Australia. Somehow, in some weird way, all of this, everything that had happened since he had returned-Judy’s encounter on the beach, the Donovan’s murder, the Bootleg murders, J.P.’s kidnapping and perhaps Ann’s death-were all connected with something that happened there.

“ Hold on son,” the man shouted above the engine’s roar.

Rick snapped to attention in time to brace himself as Nate expertly applied brake pressure into the turn off the dirt road and onto the highway. Three quarters of the way into the turn and he had the throttle to the floor. Nate knew how to drive.

“ I’ll have to slow down when we reach the bend. That shithead Malloy sits there with his new toy.”

Rick didn’t know what he was talking about but found out as they approached a bend in the road and Nate hit the brakes, slowing to a respectable fifty-five. When they rounded the curve, they saw a Palma City Trooper sitting on his Harley with a radar gun pointed at them.

“ Little shit really gets off with that thing,” Nate said.

As they passed the trooper, Nate picked up the speed.

“ Aren’t you afraid he’ll come after us?”

“ Naw. He’s too stupid to turn around.”

Minutes later, doing fifty in a twenty-five, Nate spun onto Main Street, speeding through the center of town like he was on the freeway.

“ I’ll have you there in less than a minute.” And true to his word, the old man was slamming on the brakes, laying rubber onto the pavement, bringing the truck to a stop where the Palma Pier met the land.

“ I got you here with twenty minutes to spare. Not bad for an old man.”

“ And I appreciate it” Rick pulled a banded wad of bills out of a hip pocket.

“ That’s a pile of money.”

“ And it’s yours. There’s ten thousand dollars here.” He handed the banded bills to the old man.

“ You don’t have to give me all this. We had a deal.”

“ If I save the boy, it was worth it and if I don’t, I won’t need it.”

“ Well, we can use the money. That’s a fact.”

“ One more thing,”

“ What’s that?”

“ I probably won’t be coming back for the plane.”

“ Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”

“ I gotta go,” Rick said, and the two men shook hands.

“ You be careful, son.”

“ Yeah.” Rick got out of the car and jogged down the pier toward the Seawolf.

Rick heard the hum of the motor drop a key as its RPM was lowered. He spent the thirty minute trip from Palma to Tampico below, on one of the top bunks, pretending to be asleep. He counted himself lucky that he was able to buy a ticket, get on board and get below without running into Wolfe Stewart.

He didn’t know if Wolfe knew the police were looking for him and, as much as he wanted the man’s help, he couldn’t afford to take the chance. It was better, he reasoned, to err on the side of caution.

He felt the boat slow to a stop and then reverse. Shortly, he heard the sounds of the crew above, tying the Seawolf to the pier. And when he heard the sounds of the Tampico anglers boarding, he jumped out of the bunk and climbed the stairs into the morning sun. He glanced quickly around the boat and satisfied himself that Wolfe was still on the bridge. Then with a head-down-straight-arrow walk, he left the boat, passing the boarding anglers on the gangway. Nobody gave him a second glance.

Off the boat, he looked down the pier, toward town, half expecting to see an army of police with high-powered rifles trained on him. He was pleased to see instead, Judy Donovan running in his direction.

He jogged toward her, meeting her halfway. He put his arm around her waist and led her back toward town.

“ I don’t want anybody to know I’m back.” He held her close, managing to hide his face from at least half of the people on the pier.

“ I didn’t tell anyone I was meeting you.” Then she asked, “how did you know my phone was tapped?”

“ Maybe it’s not. I’m just a little paranoid. But when someone is running around killing off your friends and the police are trying to pin the murders on you, maybe being a little paranoid isn’t such a bad thing.”

“ J.P.’s okay,” she said.

“ What?”

“ Sheriff Sturgees called a little while ago. J.P. somehow wound up in Jesse Terrenova’s police car out at Donkey Road and called for help. He sent Lincoln Hewett, one of his new, young deputies, out to get him.”

“ What about Jesse?” Rick asked.

“ Probably goofing off somewhere with Stacy.”

Rick shook his head. When they reached the end of the pier, she led him to the parking lot and a new Mitsubishi Montero.

“ We can talk in the car.” She unlocked the passenger door. He climbed into the four-wheel-drive vehicle, stretched over and unlocked the driver’s door for her and she climbed behind the wheel.

“ New car?” he asked.

“ I was on the way to the airport, when a sudden urge took me into the dealership. Before I knew what happened, I was driving out in a sporty, new four-wheel-drive SUV and I’d cancelled the Hawaiian vacation.”

“ When will J.P. be home?” he asked, watching as she ran her hands over the steering wheel. She’d put on his old, leather, wheel cover, the one Ann had given him so long ago.

“ Maybe now,” she said. “Sheriff Sturgees said that they would question him for about fifteen minutes, then bring him straight home.”

“ Aren’t you in a hurry to see him?”

“ By now he’s with the sheriff, he’ll be okay. Besides, I wanted to see you. And anyway, your note said you needed the gun.” She handed him a leather overnight bag. “It’s wrapped in a beach towel.”

“ Thanks.” He wondered about the wheel cover. Why had she taken it off his Jeep?

“ Come here, Flash.” She pulled him close, reached out with a hand, brushed his hair aside as she ran her tongue along the length of the scar behind his left ear, sending shivers of temporary pleasure from the scar to his spine. “Does that still drive you crazy?

He pulled away shocked, trying to wipe what just happened from his mind. He didn’t have time to think about it.

“ I need you to do something for me,” he said.

“ Anything.”

“ Get Wolfe Stewart to hold the boat till I get back.”

“ How long will you be?”

“ I don’t know, an hour, maybe two, maybe longer. You’ll have to get him to cancel his fishing trip. Tell him it’s a matter of life and death. Tell him someone kidnapped J.P. Tell him Ann was murdered. And tell him when I come back to the boat, I’ll have that son-of-a-bitch in tow.”

“ He’ll hold the boat.”

“ You’re sure?”