Chapter 8 #2
“You will.”
“I won’t. This is Adam’s turf.”
“Hogwash!” Swansy muttered, suddenly impatient.
She stopped rocking, and without the creak of the runners on the floor, the room seemed starkly quiet, a perfect foil for her high, wavering voice.
“It was always more your turf than Adam’s.
Face it, girl. Right from the start, you were the one who fit in here, not Adam. ”
“But this was where he lived. This was where we lived. This town, that little house on the bluff are all part of my life with Adam.”
Swansy sighed. “Know somethin’, girl?”
“No. What?”
“If Adam hadn’t died, you’d never have stayed together.”
“Swansy!”
“It’s true. So you can set this place up in your mind as a shrine, but if he was alive, he’d have left.”
“But … but he loved me,” I argued in a small voice.
“I’m sure he did, but he wasn’t as strong as you. He’d’ve stuck with the fishin’ as long as he could, then he’d’ve made you choose between this place and him. I’m guessin’ you’d’ve chosen this place, so don’t talk about it being Adam’s turf.”
I was feeling a little defeated. “You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. I see that y’ve lived here alone for double the time you lived here with Adam.
I see that y’re on the other side of thirty and still sleepin’ in an empty bed.
And I see that if you keep on the way y’are, y’ll find yourself an old lady like me with no one to leave her house to when she dies. ”
I glared at her, then grumbled, “You see an awful lot, for a blind lady.”
“When the Good Lord took my sight, He gave me something in its stead.”
“Yeah. A sharp tongue.”
“Better a sharp tongue than a deaf ear. I ain’t got no deaf ear. I hear what you’re saying, and what you’re not saying, and if you’re coming to me for advice, then that’s what I’m givin’ you.”
“I don’t like it.”
“So what’re you going to do?”
“Change the subject.”
“Fine,” she bit out, then went quiet. After a full minute she resumed her rocking. Her expression, which had been as cross as her voice moments before, slowly gentled to the one I knew and loved.
Nothing had been settled. I felt as confused as I’d been when I arrived. Somewhere deep inside, I knew that Swansy wasn’t all wrong, but I couldn’t quite separate the right part from the wrong part, and the whole thing was getting me down. I needed a diversion.
“Swansy, about this business with Cooper,” I began, testing the waters to see if she’d go along with the change. I took her silence as a positive sign. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Don’t know when you’ve had time to do that,” she murmured to herself—wholly for my benefit. I figured she couldn’t quite let me get away scot-free, but it could have been worse.
“I’ve been thinking,” I repeated, gaining courage as I turned my mind in the direction of those thoughts. “Something isn’t quite right.”
“Course not. Cooper’s in trouble.”
“I know that, and I know that Peter is doing everything he can possibly do on the legal end. Still, something isn’t quite right.”
Swansy rocked.
“On this end,” I added.
Swansy rocked.
“I’ve been thinking. Someone has to know something he’s not telling us.
I can’t believe that a total stranger waltzed onto the Free Reign, went straight to Cooper’s cabin, straight to the laundry bag with his name on it and stashed stolen diamonds there, then waltzed back off the boat without anyone knowing a thing about it.
Cooper never leaves the boat unattended.
Someone was there the whole time. All along, we’ve contended that the person on guard was asleep when whoever it was stashed the diamonds. I keep wondering about that.”
Swansy continued rocking, encouraging me on with a soft, “Um-hmm.”
“The guard is assigned on a rotating basis, so theoretically any one of the crew members could have been on duty when the diamonds were stashed. Peter and I talked with each of them. Except for Benjie.”
I watched her closely, but she gave nothing away. So I went a step further. “Those men are all hard-working guys. When they finally agree to talk, they’re blunt, heart-on-their-sleeve fellows. Neither Peter nor I had cause to doubt any of them. But we weren’t able to talk with Benjie.”
The creak of the rocker came and went, came and went.
“Benjie is the only member of that crew who has the slightest blemish on his record.” I threw an arm to the top of my head and looked toward the ceiling.
“I mean, I know it’s absurd even to be thinking this, because he’s only twenty, and he’s strictly a two-bit troublemaker, and I can’t imagine how he’d possibly have connected with anyone big enough to be involved in smuggling diamonds into the country—” Grabbing a breath, I looked back at Swansy.
“But, damn it, Benjie is so hostile. I think he knows something.”
My words hung in the air for a good long time before breaking apart like so many pieces of dried mud. I waited for Swansy to pick up the gauntlet in Benjie’s defense. After all, she’d known him far longer than I. She remembered when he’d been born.
But she didn’t pick up the gauntlet. Instead, she said, “Could be.”
I grew instantly alert. “Could be?” I repeated expectantly.
She rocked silently.
“Lord, Swansy, don’t stop there. You know something, don’t you?
” When she didn’t answer, I said, “This is Cooper’s future we’re talking about.
The trial won’t be happening for a good three months, and in the meanwhile he’s going through hell.
We both know that he’s innocent, but if you know something else—”
“I don’t know something. But there are certain possibilities.”
“Like Benjie being involved in the smuggling. Why would he have done it? Who would he have done it for? And how could he stand around here and keep his mouth shut when his own brother is taking the flak?”
As Swansy rocked, she pursed her lips. I schooled myself to remain silent. After all, if she could pull a Swansy on me, I could pull one right back on her.
It worked. After a time, she said, “Nothin’ was ever simple when it came to Benjie.
There’s a whole lot goin’ on in his mind.
Maybe he has a right to it. I don’t know.
An’ maybe he has a right to take it out on Cooper.
I don’t know that, either. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he knows more than he’s lettin’ on. ”
“I’m going to talk with him,” I said and started to rise from the chair.
“Stay put,” Swansy ordered. She waited until she heard the rustle of the cushions before sitting forward in her rocker and reaching for my hand. “Think first, Jillie. Don’t do anythin’ rash. I may be all wrong, and if that’s so, you’re only gonna stir up hard feelings.”
She had a point. But I couldn’t sit and do nothing.
Besides, I was a fast thinker. “Okay,” I said.
“I’ve thought. And what I’m going to do, very calmly, is to talk with Cooper.
He’s protective of Benjie, so I won’t make any accusations, but a few subtle questions might do it.
I want to know whether Cooper has any suspicions of his own. ”
Giving my hand a squeeze, Swansy sat back in her chair and resumed rocking.
No one was home at Cooper’s house. I busied myself visiting people in town until noon, when he returned. He wanted to know first thing about my trip, so I gave him a rundown on the show. Then he asked about the night I’d spent with my family.
“They’re the same,” I said lightly. “They always will be. Dad and Ian are like two peas in a pod. They see life in terms of dollar signs. Samantha is the social climber. My mother is the political power broker. Dinners at the Madigan house are high-pressure affairs.”
Cooper watched me closely with those dark eyes of his. “You seem pretty calm. It didn’t throw you so much this time?”
“No. Maybe I’m finally getting stronger.”
“Maybe you had other things on your mind.”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t sure how much of that I wanted to broach with Cooper.
I was trying to decide, when he said, “Peter called before I left this morning. He mentioned that he’d spent time with you.”
“He did?”
Cooper nodded slowly.
I moved to fill what promised to be an awkward silence. “I watched him work. He has associates running here and there doing research and preparing motions while he focuses on the creative end. It’s very impressive. I wish you could have been there.”
“No, you don’t.”
The look on his face told me I wasn’t going to get away with much. “You’re right. It would have been embarrassing, what with us making love on top of the desk.” I took a quick breath, then raced on. “Cooper, we have to talk about Benjie.”
Cooper’s mouth twitched at the corners. “Did you really do it on a desk?”
I made a face. “Of course not.” Then, serious again, I repeated, “Benjie, Cooper. Is anything special going on with him?”
“But you did make it together?”
I sighed. “Do I ask what you do with your women?”
“No. But this is different. Peter is the first man I’ve met in a long time who’s strong enough for you.”
I looked him straight in those opaque eyes of his. “I want to talk about Benjie.”
He eyed me right back. “I don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s no need. Benjie is my concern. No one else’s.”
I’d already blown my chances for subtlety, so I went right to the heart of the matter. “I think he’s hiding something. I think he knows more about those diamonds then he’s letting on.”
Cooper’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What makes you think that?”
“He’s been so surly lately. He resents my presence, and Peter’s presence. I think he’s afraid we’ll uncover something he doesn’t want uncovered.”
“Like what?”