Chapter 6
I recovered, of course. It wasn’t often that I resorted to tears, but when I did, they were marvelously cathartic.
By the time I wiped my eyes and rose from the floor, I’d decided that the life I’d shaped for myself over the years was too strong to be shadowed for long by something as ephemeral as desire, particularly when other shadows loomed darker.
With Peter’s departure, the pall of Cooper’s dilemma settled over me again.
On the one hand, I felt better having hired Peter; for whatever else I might begrudge the man, his competence had never been an issue.
Knowing that he was back in New York working on Cooper’s behalf was a comfort.
On the other hand, I was frustrated. I wanted to do more.
I wanted to take an active part in Cooper’s defense.
I wanted to find out who had set him up.
The problem was how to do it. I thought about it a lot over the next few days, and when I wasn’t thinking about it, I was swept up in my work. Between the two, my mind was constantly busy. I didn’t leave myself time to think about Peter Hathaway or his kiss or his “See ya.”
The potting went well. By the first of the week, I had completed three new pieces that I felt Moni would love.
As always before a show, I’d been worried.
But with those pieces done, my worries eased.
The ball was rolling. I felt reasonably confident that I’d be able to produce more than enough to make the show different.
In keeping with my determination to stay on Cooper’s case, I spent Tuesday morning with Benjie Drake.
He was the one member of the crew whom Peter hadn’t had much of a crack at, and though I knew Benjie hadn’t had anything to do with the smuggling itself, I wasn’t putting it past him to have seen or heard something that he took upon himself to judge insignificant.
He wasn’t thrilled that I’d stopped by. “Cooper’s not here,” he said.
He spared me only a cursory glance as I walked into the kitchen, where he was in the process of fixing some sort of drink that looked suspiciously like a hangover remedy, which made sense, seeing as he looked suspiciously hung over.
“That’s okay. I thought you and I could talk.”
“About what?”
“Cooper. The boat. The crew.”
He was silent for a good, long time, during which he stood at the counter with his back to me and one hand on his hip, and forced down the concoction he’d made.
Studying him from the rear, I had to admit that he was well built.
Only an inch or two shy of Cooper’s height, he had the same wedge-shaped body, the same hard lines.
I could see why girls panted after him, though, personally, I preferred more maturity in a frame.
Cooper’s body had that maturity, a fullness that spoke of time and life and love.
Peter’s had it even more, along with a sexiness the other two lacked.
But then, like beauty, sexiness was in the eye of the beholder.
I was a beholder when it came to Peter.
Miffed at the thought, I settled into a chair at the table, scowled at Benjie’s back and waited. My scowl faded. Eventually, he turned.
He looked like hell. Forget the wrinkled jeans and shirt that he’d clearly slept in. Forget the stubble on his face and the redness in his eyes. His expression was a world-weary one, far too old for his years.
“What about them?” he asked in a disgruntled tone.
“He’s in trouble, Benjie.” We both knew I was talking of Cooper. “He’s in trouble, and if we don’t come up with something, he could go to prison.”
“He won’t. That New York dude’ll keep him out.”
“Peter isn’t a miracle worker. The fact is that those stolen diamonds were found in Cooper’s possession.
” I wanted to impress that on him; I wasn’t sure if he understood its significance.
“That’s like getting caught with your hand in the till.
It’s hard to say you’re innocent when they catch you that way.
” I paused. Either Benjie was unaffected by what I was saying, or his mind was on hold. His face looked blank.
“Maybe I should come back another time.” I started to get up.
“Don’t. Say what you have to.”
What he was thinking, I knew, was Get it over with, then get out and leave me alone.
What I was thinking was that Benjie didn’t deserve Cooper, but then, it wasn’t the first time I’d thought it.
On the one hand, I wanted to like Benjie.
I wanted to be compassionate. The kid had lost his parents in a tragic way, and even before that his life had been hard.
It was sad that he acted out, sad that he thought getting drunk was macho, sad that he wasn’t in therapy.
But damn it, it was sad only to a point. Past that point, it was hard finding compassion for a boy—man—who seemed without a drop of it for anyone else, least of all his own brother.
I contemplated leaving, simply to be free of Benjie, who set me on edge each time I was with him. Then I thought of Cooper’s predicament and settled back in the chair.
“I was saying,” I repeated, quite willing to drill it into Benjie’s head, “that the diamonds were found in Cooper’s cabin. Someone obviously put them there.”
“You already know what I think,” Benjie said and turned around to drag an opened bag of potato chips from the shelf.
“He was framed. But by whom? And why? You work on the boat, Benjie. Do you think it was one of the others?”
“How should I know?” he mumbled through a mouthful of chips.
“You should know because you work with them.”
“So does Cooper. Does he know?”
“He says he’ll vouch for each of them.”
Benjie’s mouth twisted dryly. “Smart Cooper,” he muttered under his breath.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged. “That he knows. If he says they’re innocent, they’re innocent.”
I decided to overlook his sarcasm. “Maybe not. Maybe there are some things he doesn’t see. Maybe there are some things you can see that Cooper, being captain of the boat, can’t see.”
“I doubt it.” He shoved more chips into his mouth.
“Think, Benjie. Think.”
“You think I haven’t?” He chewed fast, then swallowed.
I could see that he was angry, but if his anger produced even the slightest clue, it was worth it.
“What do you want me to do—pull something out of thin air just to give you someone to blame? You love Cooper. In your eyes, he’s perfect.
You’d probably be happy to pin this on anyone else just to clear him. ”
“I want the guilty party found. That’s all.”
“And then what? You’ll drum it into Cooper’s head that you’ve saved his life, so he’ll be forever beholden to you? He won’t marry you, y’know. He won’t ever marry you.”
I was taken aback by the venom in his tone.
It sounded as though he hated me, but I couldn’t imagine why.
Okay, so we’d never been the best of friends, and that had created some tension because Cooper and I were the best of friends.
But Benjie and I had never come to blows.
I closely guarded the feelings I had about him, so that no one but Swansy—and now Peter—knew them.
I’d never shared them with Cooper. I would never bad-mouth Benjie to him.
Rather than take the defensive and argue that Benjie’s reasoning was all wrong, I said, “Of course, Cooper won’t marry me—any more than I’d marry him.”
“Bullshit. You’d marry him if he asked, but he won’t ask.”
“You sound like you two have discussed it.”
“We don’t have to. I have eyes. I see what Cooper’s feeling and what he isn’t. I’m not that dense, Jill.”
“I never thought you were dense. All I thought was that maybe something happened on the boat, something that seemed perfectly normal at the time but that in hindsight could be looked at a different way.” I held up a hand.
I didn’t want to fight, not with Benjie, who was just then more boy than man.
“Okay. For the sake of discussion, we’ll assume that the crew of the Free Reign is innocent.
We know that the diamonds had to have been stowed in Cooper’s cabin while the boat was docked at Grand Bank, since that was the only stop she made. Who could have done it?”
He looked at me as though I were the dense one. “Any one of a hundred people who were walkin’ around the docks.”
“Did you notice anyone paying an unusual amount of attention to the Free Reign?”
“Sure. There was a waitress at a lunch place right there. We went out the first night. She couldn’t take her eyes off the boat after that. Couldn’t get enough of catching looks at me. I know, ’cause I watched her, too.” He cupped his hands in front of his chest and grinned. “Great pair of jugs.”
I made a face. “That’s disgusting.”
He looked at my breasts. “Yours aren’t bad, either.” The grin vanished when his eyes rose. “But it doesn’t mean a thing to Cooper. He wouldn’t give a damn what kind of boobs you got. He’s not interested.”
Unable to help myself, I cried, “Benjie, what’s with you?
Why are you so hung up on my relationship with Cooper?
I know he’s not interested in me, either for marrying or for sex, and I’m not interested in him those ways, either.
If you think I’m going to barge in and steal some of his attention away from you, you can relax.
I won’t do that. I’m no threat to you.” It seemed absurd that he’d think I was.
If he’d been ten, or twelve or fifteen, I might have bought it. But at twenty?
Tossing the bag of chips to the counter, he tugged open the refrigerator, took out a halfgallon bottle of milk, put it to his mouth and drank.
My first thought was that it was going to spill all over him.
My second thought, when it didn’t, was that he was obviously practiced in drinking that way.
My third thought was that it was a pretty unsanitary thing to do.
My fourth thought was that it wasn’t my job to tell him.