Chris Whitaker - We Begin at the End

“Everyone did.”

“Tallow Construction. I see their boards up sometimes. I had a client a while back, husband was laid off by Tallow, he turned to the bottle.”

“The market is tough. It’ll turn.”

“Especially if they start building all those new homes.”

He stood and topped up her wine. “I went to see Milton again.”

“The butcher. I remember him at school. Does he still smell of blood?”

“He does. He’s certain, he heard arguing, and he’ll testify he saw Vincent and Darke get into it outside Star’s place. And he’ll speculate it was over Star.”

The agreement was there, uneasy at first, but Martha was settling into it. Walk would work the King case, and anything he found he would bring to her, and she would unravel it and repackage it and tell Walk if it was worth more than a damn in a court of law. She was clear enough, though, under no circumstances would she go to trial. They’d build the case as best they could and then pass it over to a trial lawyer. And if Vincent wouldn’t retain one then at least she’d tried.

“Did you have a chance to look at the papers?”

“Sure, what else would I be doing? It’s not like I need sleep or anything.”

He smiled as she left him, went out the side gate to her car then returned with her briefcase. Walk cleared the dishes away while Martha spread papers out over the table. Citronella burned, five candles battled the night sky and gave them just enough light.

Tax returns, statements, company filings, going back twenty years. All Walk could pull on Dickie Darke.

“The records are straight and ordered, Walk. Darke earns decent money. Maybe two fifty a year. Nothing really raises any red flags. I went back far, when he bought a small home on Lavenham Avenue, Portland.”

“Oregon.”

“I guess that’s where he’s from. He remodeled and sold it on for a thirty-thousand-dollar profit, which he declared in full. Modest expenses. Then another a block away, made forty-five. And then nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Must have found another income. Four years of nothing. And then he stepped it up massively, seemed to move from town to town, working his way along the coast, wherever he could make a buck. Just like that.”

“Always real estate?”

“Mostly. A place in Eugene, another in Gold Beach. In the summer of ’95 he arrived in the Cape, bought the old bar on Cabrillo and spent a year trying to get a license.”

Walk remembered the night it opened; again, no fuss or launch party, just light in the darkness.

“The first year it grossed half a million dollars.” Martha sipped her wine. “The second year it doubled. It was a goldmine, Walk. And that’s just what he declared, place like that, it’s all cash, right? It might be all he had, but it was all he needed.”

“So he leverages that to buy the King house. At least he would have.”

“There were payments, though, eye-watering payments.”

“To who?”

“My guess would be whoever invested with him. Not a bank.”

“Loan shark?”

“Could be. His credit history is sketchy, lot of moving around, would’ve made it hard to borrow from a regular bank. And then he bought the house on Fortuna Avenue.”

“Dee Lane’s place.”

“And the house on Ivy Ranch Road.”

“The Radley house.”

“Small houses, just rentals. And an investment in a development called Cedar Heights.”

Walk had seen the advertisements in the local newspaper.

“Sorry, Walk. Nothing strange at all in this.”

Walk sighed.

“That club he owned. It’s called The Eight, right?” Martha said.

“Yeah.”

“I had a girl from there come in. She had problems with a boyfriend. I think she mentioned Darke once.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“Maybe. I’ll ask.”

“We need to know about those payments.”

“All I’ve got is an account number.”

“Could be something.”

“Or nothing. I know the case file now. What you’ve got is a whole load of nothing. And what you need is a smoking gun. Nothing short of that.”

He stood when his cell rang, saw it was Milton. The man sounded breathless, out for his evening walk, burning off some of the meat. He spoke for a minute.

Martha gathered the papers. “Everything alright?”

“Milton runs Neighborhood Watch.”

Martha raised an eyebrow.

“He’s the only member since Etta passed. He said there’s a 10-91 on Sunset. I’d better head over.”

“10-91?”

Walk sighed. “Stray horse.”

He drove to Sunset, didn’t even think of running the lights.

A sedan outside the King house, so nondescript Walk figured them for cops.

He pulled the cruiser up right behind, flashed his lights once then got out and walked up to the window.

Two men, neither moved to roll down a window. Walk watched the empty street, the empty lots, the moonlit waters of the Cape. A strange car stood out. He tapped the glass gently. Slowly the driver turned, maybe fifty, head of dark hair and handsome.

“Can I help you with something?” Walk smiled.

The man looked at his friend, older, maybe sixty-five, beard and glasses. “Did we do something?”

“Not that I know of.”

“So fuck off then.”

Walk swallowed and felt the adrenaline kick a little. “And if I don’t?”

A smile came back, just small, like Walk should have known something he did not, and could still be punished for it.

“We’re looking for Richard Darke.”

“Darke doesn’t live here.” Walk didn’t draw but kept a hand there to show his intent.

“Any ideas where we can find him?”

Walk thought of Darke, the payments, the kind of men he was most likely in business with. “I don’t know where he lives.”

“You see him, tell him we’re not going away,” the older guy said, not looking at Walk.

The driver started the engine.

“I need you to step out of the vehicle.”

The driver looked up at Walk, then at the King house behind. “Darke’s good at spinning plates, till one drops.”

“I said I need you—”

The driver closed the window and pulled into the street.

Walk considered chasing, radioing, instead he watched them coast Sunset, hand still on his gun.

* * *

She took Robin’s hand as they opened the gate and walked over toward the two horses, grazing side by side.

“Can you eat with us one time?”

Duchess muzzled the black gently, patting his nose with the flat of her hand. “No.”

Then she muzzled the smaller gray, tried to pet her but she moved her face away. Duchess liked her.

She roped the muzzles and led them gently, Robin keeping far to the side. He ran the last steps then closed the gate behind, like she’d shown him.

When she was done she told them goodnight, then found Robin on a patch of grass by the water. He knew not to go too close, though he could swim well, she rode three buses to the lido in Oakmont each Saturday for close to a year because they taught kids for free.

When she got close he scooted away.

“You’re pissed at me.”

“Yes.” He balled a fist and kept it in his lap. He wore shorts, thin legs, knees grazed. “You shouldn’t have said that to Tyler.”

“He shouldn’t have pushed you down.”

Hollow night fell as quick as dusk began, the warmth lifting till nothing but cool remained.

“Alright.”

“It’s not alright.” He hit the grass with his fist. “I like it here. I like Grandpa and I like the animals. I like Miss Child and the new school. I don’t need …”

“What?” she said it quiet but the challenge was there. A month back he would have stayed silent.

“You. I’ve got Grandpa and he’s an adult. He can care for us. I don’t want you to fix my food.”