Chapter 40
It’s not Jessie’s fault, Jack kept telling himself.
They’d hooked her on Night Light and nothing she did was of her own volition.
It wasn’t her fault that she’d screamed so hard the Clydes had come running.
Not her fault that Brendan, Eric and Pete Clyde had ganged up on him, wrestled him away from Jessie, and told her there was more Night Light in the bunker.
None of it was her fault.
But it still ripped his heart out.
“Come on, Pete,” he muttered to the burly fisherman tying his hands behind his back with thick yellow nylon rope. “This isn’t you. Why do you want to get involved with that shit?”
Four of the Clyde cousins stood over him in their fish house. Strings of lights in the shape of red chili peppers gave the place a surreal party atmosphere. Cans of paint lined the shelves and a mobile made from mussel shells dangled in one window. Made by someone’s kid?
“Easy for a rich actor to say,” said Brendan. “We gotta make a living out here on this rock.”
“I get that. But do you even know what you’re smuggling? Did you see what it did to Jessie? You remember her, she used to play with you guys.”
“She never liked us,” Eric pointed out. “She always stayed in the house with her books and shit.”
Jack shifted tactics. “Okay, never mind about Jessie. Imagine someone giving that stuff to your kids. Once it’s out there in the world, it’ll spread like wildfire. If we don’t stop it now it’ll be too late.”
Pete paced to the fish house window and peered out. Looking for someone? Standing guard? “We aren’t stopping until we get paid. Otherwise it was all for nothing.”
Jack glanced around at the ring of weathered, lined faces. The sun had that effect, but so did grief. He sensed it in the room, heavy and hard.
“You’re talking about Benny. He’s dead because of this.” He took a stab in the dark. “Was he planning to go to the police? Is that why they killed him?”
From their startled expressions, he knew he was right.
“The Bloodshot Eyeball shooting was a warning, but he didn’t stop, so they just got rid of him. He had guts, Benny did. And now you want to betray his memory?”
Pete strode toward him and punched him in the jaw. Hard. Shit. Jack had gotten used to stage punches, but he hadn’t had time to prepare for this one. It hurt like hell, and he had to wrestle back his automatic angry reaction. No room for that.
“Think about it,” he said, through the swelling and the pain. “You can get justice for Benny’s murder. You can avenge him. If you don’t, no one will ever pay for his death. What do you think he’d want you to do?”
“Get rich,” Brendan joked, to a ripple of laughter. “Then get revenge,” he added.
“Well, that won’t happen, because in this kind of scenario, it’s always the bottom of the food chain that pays the price. They dangle a payday in front of you to control. Whatever they’re paying you, it’s meaningless to them, just a drop in the bucket.”
They were listening. This was the kind of conversation they might have amongst themselves over a six-pack after a hard day on the water.
“You’re the little fish, they’re the big fish. They have the money, the lawyers. When this thing gets busted, and it will, they’ll be protected. You’ll take the fall. Just look at Benny. They disposed of him and they’ll dispose of you the second they need to.”
He caught glances exchanged between the four of them, and pressed on.
“Want to know how I know this? Because I do a ton of research for my show. I know a lot about criminal enterprises. They all work the same. If you’re at the top, you can get away with just about anything. If you’re at the bottom, you’re fucked. There’s only one way out.”
He waited, making sure he had their attention. Acting was storytelling, after all, and that was what he loved the most. Storytelling connected people, transported people. It required all kinds of skills that kept coming in handy. He decided to never dismiss his choice of career again.
“What?” Jimmy finally asked. “Turn ourselves in like fucking pussies? No one’s going to believe us. We all have records.”
“I’ll vouch for you. Other people on this island will too. We know you aren’t bad guys. But if you let that drug into the community, well, you will be bad guys. No one’s going to forget or forgive that.”
He knew the island community was important to the Clydes, even though they might chafe against it. They were distantly related to many of the other longtime island families. Those roots went deep; would they really want to cause harm to Sea Smoke Island?
Clyde spoke for the first time. He’d been quiet up to now, watching and listening. “They said it would just pass through here. It’s going other places.”
“Like where?”
They exchanged glances, as if they knew, but didn’t want to say. Jack did a mental fist pump—they could probably expose the entire operation, if they agreed to.
“What do you say? You guys can still be heroes here. Let me go, help me find Jessie, and finish what Benny started. Save the girl, save the island,” he added.
“Tick-tock.” They all startled as a cool female voice interrupted them. “Anyone who wants to be a hero better speak up now.” Tina stood in the door of the fish house, a gun trained on the Clyde crew, a flashlight tucked under one armpit.
The sight of her felt like a jolt of electricity reorienting the entire world. She had smudges of dirt on her face and her hair was more tangled than he’d ever seen it, but he could have kissed every inch of her.
Then he caught sight of Jessie hovering behind her, sweating profusely. “Tina, watch out—”
“It’s okay. I know what Jessie’s going through. We’re good.” She shot a glance at Jessie, who confirmed with a nod.
Jessie shifted her body so he could see her hands tied behind her back with a trailing vine. “I told her to do this,” Jessie said, her voice shaking. “I trust her, but I don’t trust myself.”
His heart broke all over again, but a glance at Tina sent reassurance rushing through him. It was her sheer competence that got him. He could trust her with Jessie.
“Okay, guys, time to wrap it up,” she said briskly. “I will be taking statements, and the best deals go to the early birds. Jack, your phone?”
He gestured toward his pocket. She had to walk past the Clyde cousins to reach him, which she did without a trace of fear or intimidation.
The Clydes watched her every move.
“You’re a cop?” Pete asked incredulously.
“Harbortown PD. It’s not my first time out here dealing with miscreants.” She reached Jack and fished his phone from his pocket.
“Wait, are you the one that arrested those Carmichaels?” asked Brendan.
Tina sketched a little bow. “That would be me.”
“If you went after the Carmichaels, you’re all right with us.” Clyde spoke as if that was the final say on the matter. “We’ll talk to you. Pete, untie our old buddy Jack.”
Jack kept his chuckle to himself. So he was suddenly an old buddy? Fine, so be it. As soon as he was free, he jumped to his feet and hurried toward Jessie.
She shrank away from him, as if she was too embarrassed to look at him. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s okay. It’s okay.” He put his arms around her and rocked her. As she sobbed against his chest, he kept a careful eye on the Clydes.
Despite Clyde’s declaration, Tina was still being cautious, training her gun on them while she tried to dial with her other hand.
He let Jessie go and strode to Tina’s side. “Give me that gun. I’ll hold it while you dial.”
She laughed a little. “You know, I’ve watched every episode of Dark of Night and I noticed that you never actually fire a gun.”
“That’s because Denver Black relies on his clever mind instead of firepower. But I can hold it very realistically.”
“How about you dial and I’ll hold the gun?”
“That works too.”
He dialed the number she gave him, while she got the Clydes corralled in the corner of the fish house.
“Which one of you guys wants to talk first? Or are you all in? I can do a group rate, I don’t mind.”
They thought that was funny enough that it made them relax. They spoke for a few minutes amongst themselves, then Clyde turned back to Tina. “We’ll tell you everything we know. But you have to promise to arrest whoever killed Benny.”
“I can promise we’ll investigate. I will personally monitor the case. But I can’t promise an arrest. That wouldn’t be accurate. I aim for accuracy.”
Clyde’s gaze flicked to the gun still pointed at them. “All right. Do your best.” He managed to make it sound like a demand, despite the gun.
“I always do,” Tina said dryly. “Any progress there, Jack?”
Someone had just answered. “I’ve got the Harbortown Police Chief’s office on the line.”
“Put it on speaker,” Tina commanded. Jack did so. “This is Officer Tina Chen, with four witnesses—no, five,” she glanced at Jessie, who nodded, “ready to testify about a smuggling operation on Sea Smoke Island. Perhaps you’d like to put me through to the chief?”
She winked at Jack; he loved seeing her like this. In her element, doing her thing, excelling.
Then she blew a kiss at him, and he loved that even more. “I might love you, by the way,” she told him.
He couldn’t contain the wide grin that spread across his face. “I might love you too.”
“Huh?” said a gravelly voice on the speaker.
“Oh, hi Chief. No, not you. I mean, you’re a great boss, but you’re no match for my TV crush, who’s now my real crush. Anyway, back to the smuggling. There’s a task force out here, right?”
“Yes. But you were supposed to stay out of their way.”
“I did. I promise. But if they want to make any arrests, they’d better come to me. I’m sending GPS coordinates now. If they meet me here, I’ll take them to the evidence. I have two suspects locked up and five witnesses ready to testify.”
“Goddamn it, Chen. I should have known.” He gave a reluctant chuckle. “Guess you need to go on vacation more often.”
“Take that back.”