North of Nowhere by Steve Hamilton Page A

“I need a ride over to the marina. My truck is there.”
    “What’d you do? Swim over?”
    “It’s kind of a long story,” I said. Which meant I had to tell it. With Bennett getting up from his lunch and getting me a beer, of course I had to tell him the whole thing.
    “He thinks I was involved in the robbery,” I said, getting to the punch line. “He thinks you were involved, too.”
    “What is he, nuts?”
    “You know that shot to the ribs you took for him? He thinks it was staged.”
    “Yeah, it was staged all right,” he said, rubbing his left side. “That’s why it’s been keeping me up all night. All I gotta do is roll over the wrong way and ka-pow ! It’s like somebody sticking me with a cattle prod.”
    “You need to go to the hospital,” Margaret said from the sink. “It might be broken!”
    “Go on,” Bennett said, waving his hand at her. “What are they gonna do? They don’t even tape up broken ribs anymore. They just give you pain killers and send you home.”
    “So you get pain killers,” she said. “What’s wrong with that?”
    “I don’t need pain killers,” he said, giving me a little wink. “I’ve been married for forty years. I’ve built up a natural immunity to pain.”
    “I’ll show you pain,” she said. Which got them started again. But it was all good-natured, and I just sat there with my cold beer watching them. It was a hell of a lot better than being out on that damned boat.
    A couple of beers later, Bennett finally took me across town to the marina. “What is this, a Ford Explorer?” I said, looking around the inside of it. “It’s nice.”
    “Yeah, it’s got four-wheel-drive,” he said. “Runs like a tank in the winter. You still got that old truck, I see.”
    “Why not?” I said. “It still runs.”
    “Yeah, just like me,” he said. “Hey listen, take care of yourself, eh? I’m sorry you got involved with this in the first place. Hell, it’s all because Jackie hates playing poker with only five guys.”
    “It’s all right, Bennett.”
    “What do you figure Vargas is gonna do now? It sounds like you made an enemy today.”
    “He’s all noise,” I said. “Don’t worry about me.” I thanked him and let him go. I took a quick look over the fence at the last dock. I couldn’t see Vargas’s slip with all the yachts in the way, but I didn’t think his boat was back yet.
    I got in my truck and headed west, back to Paradise. I felt a little tired and sore. “God, what a horse’s ass,” I said out loud. “Moo Duk Kwan, I’m gonna have to look that one up.”
    When I got home, I checked on the other five cabins. Everybody was out somewhere, enjoying the day. I went back to my own cabin, cleaned up a little bit, sat down, and tried to read something. But I couldn’t concentrate. I kept seeing Vargas’s foot coming at me, missing me by maybe an inch. And the great red welt I had put on his bald head. And the teeth on that dog.
    You’re gonna have nightmares about that dog, I said to myself. You’re gonna have nightmares about a three-pound Chihuahua.
     
     
    A few hours later, I made my way down to the Glasgow Inn. Jackie was there behind the bar. He still looked a little tired, and every few minutes he’d stare off into nowhere, like he was watching something going on a million miles away. I figured he still wasn’t over it yet.
    I didn’t tell him about my little lunch date with Vargas. That one I’d save for another day.
    As I had dinner there, I caught up with the local paper, the Soo Evening News , “serving the Eastern U.P. daily since 1903.” I always start with the police beat on the second page. The man who writes up the crimes is a real character, and he always puts his own unique spin on everything he reports. My all-time favorite was still the item titled “Unlicensed Operator.” Somebody had gone into a store and left a dog in the car, who proceeded to knock the stick into first gear. The car rolled into the street,