Obsidian (13 page)

Jamie moved over a couple of the stools to be closer to the others. The two older men were now talking low among themselves, shaking their heads as they listened to the information coming through.

“I told you we shoulda’ seen this coming.”

Jamie leaned closer across the bar toward them.

“I told you there was something funny going on. Those trap lines didn’t get cut on their own, you know?” He shook his head.

“Shelby’s got enough to worry about without that young idiot turning up missing. She doesn’t need Josh adding his lot to it by risking his neck.

One of the old men shook his head and pushed the worn cap further back on his head. Weathered lines of age covered the hard planes of the old fisherman’s face. Years of hauling traps had left him with a permanent bronzed tan and hands that were gnarled and pointy.

“You mean the diving?” Jamie asked. He tried to keep a schooled casual look to his face as the two old men turned to look at him.

“No, though that’s cussed enough reason. I mean that things haven’t been right around these parts for awhile now. Too many strange things happening, and when everything gets out of kilter it’s sure that someone’s gonna get hurt.”

“What’s made it so weird?” He was pushing, but he needed to hear all of it.

“I mean, suddenly people who don’t have no money are starting to get some fancy ideas. Boats that weren't running good before, ain’t running at all now. And there's been some strange kind of stuff people been seein’, and it ain’t no UF an O’s. Maybe we just got too many outsiders for a town as small as Chandler.” The old man bit down on the cigar that hung unlit from his jaw.

“Where did you say you is from?”

Jamie downed the last of his beer and pushed it and a tip back across the bar. He nodded again at the bartender as he headed for the door. But his departure went unnoticed as everyone crowded closer around the bar to hear the latest news on the radio.

He stepped out the door into the night. The only light came from the single bulb on the bar’s painted sign and the light coming through the faded curtains and dirty windows of the bar.

Pulling the collar of wind jacket up a little higher, he hunched his shoulders to stay warm. The air was crisp and cold with a definite snap to it as he took in a deep ragged breath.

That had gone better than he’d expected. They hadn’t outright rejected him, as he’d suspected they might. His guess was that their reaction had more to do with his association with Case, then anything else. Case may be an outsider, but somehow he’d managed to gain their respect.

If anything, his time inside had given him the opportunity to see their reactions to Josh’s disappearance. They’d run the gamut from casual disinterest to outright speculation, but that was to be expected in such a situation. He’d done more than enough speculating himself.

Still, the information he’d gathered hadn’t been much, but it was enough to tell him that there was definitely something going on. Most of them had been tight-lipped, while some had outright speculated on the cut lines and strange sightings. All of them were curious as to where the money was coming from.

Josh’s disappearance hadn’t changed much; Jamie wasn’t quite ready to take him off the list just yet. He’d heard the argument between Shelby and her brother, and that was enough for him to be suspicious about just where Josh’s money was coming from.

The gravel crunched beneath his feet as he made his where he’d parked his bike at the edge of the lot, closest to the road. He had a few more things to look into and then he was going to throw himself into bed and get some much-needed rest.

It was then that he heard other footsteps behind him. The hair at the back of his neck stood up. It was that premonition thing, again.

Nobody had come or gone out of the bar since he’d left and he hadn’t seen anyone around when he’d walked out.

Jamie forced himself to keep walking and not tense up. He didn’t want to alert whoever it was that he was aware they were behind him. He considered his options. The road was deserted. There was almost no chance of anyone happening along at this hour. With the noise from the radio in the bar, he doubted anyone would hear him and come to his rescue. There wasn’t a light on anywhere in sight. Most of the town was in bed for the night.

He lengthened his stride as much as he could without making it obvious. The sound of footsteps increased, growing louder behind him. He was halfway across the parking lot. Quickly, he calculated the distance between him and the bike and whoever was just behind his right shoulder.

Damn, not enough time.

He had no other choice. Friend or foe he was going to have to turn and find out just who was behind him.

He counted to himself and then turned.

The first thing he noticed was a wall of flesh that towered over his own six-foot-three frame. The next thing he noticed was that there was not one, but two of these mountains. The second one was smaller than the first, but no less imposing in size.

Double damn
.

“This him?” he heard the deep rusty voice that sank his stomach to his feet as one giant nodded to another.

Time slowed to a merciless crawl as the mammoth figure pulled back his arm in a wide arc, gaining momentum with his swing.

In that instant, Jamie heard a sharp yell in the distance, but his mind could only process two clear thoughts: first, this was going to hurt like hell—and second, someone had sent these goons out looking for him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“What the…?”

Jamie’s head was buzzing and his jaw felt like it was padded with cotton. His fuzzy brain began clearing up fast as the sound of heavy footsteps and shouting grew closer.

He willed himself to lie still as he struggled to regain his bearings. Bits of gravel dug into his back as the sharp rocks pierced his shoulder blades. Already, a lump was forming on the back of his thickheaded skull.

This was where he’d landed. Damned if he hadn’t gone out cold. It’d been years since someone had managed to get so much over on him so fast. But then, it had been a long time since someone the size of a truck had hit him.

He kept his eyes shut and willed his body to stay relaxed as he adjusted to the noises around him. He wanted to make damn sure the coast was clear before anyone noticed that he was already conscious.

The shouting and footsteps stopped.

There was a rustle of clothing as someone bent over him. Jamie forced his breathing to remain calm.

“You alright?” Jamie opened his eyes when he recognized Case’s voice.

“If you don’t count the truck that just hit me.” With much effort he managed to raise himself into a sitting position, rubbing at the back of his head.

“From the look of the two I just saw leaving, I’d say that you make some mighty big and mean friends.” Case helped him struggle to his feet.

“Those tree trunks weren’t my friends. If they were then I’d hate to see my enemies. You didn’t happen to get a real good look at them did you?” Jamie wavered for a moment before he regained his balance. This was going to hurt in the morning. Hell, it hurt now. He put his fingers to the soreness and puffiness of his jaw.

“You don’t know them?”

Jamie just shook his head. “I haven’t been here long enough to make enemies like those two. They must have just hated the sight of me.”

He wasn’t about to tell Case that there was any number of people who could resent his being in Chandler. One of them might even be him.

“I’m glad you came along when you did.” Jamie said. “Who knows what kind of condition I’d be in if you hadn’t sent them running.”

“You just need to learn to pick on guys your own size, Rivard.” He crossed his arms over his massive chest.

“I’ll remember that for next time.” Jamie rubbed at the sore spot a bit longer.

Squaring his shoulders, he gave Jamie scrutinizing look. Jamie leveled a look of his own back at him, unflinching. “It wasn’t by accident that I came looking for you, Rivard. I need to ask a favor.”

Well this could be interesting. “Sure, shoot . . .” He struggled to find his balance as he got to feet.

“I need you to head back to the boarding house and keep an eye on Shelby for me.”

“Did they find Josh?”

Case shook his head as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“I just came in from the wharf. They found his boat, but they still haven’t found him.”

That couldn’t be good. “No sign at all?”

Case shook his head. “None. The damned fool has disappeared off the face of the earth. Thanks to you the Coast Guard is already on scene. As near as they can tell the boat is untouched, except most of his diving gear is missing.”

“What do you mean by ‘most’ of the gear missing?”

With a sigh, Case looked out at the darkness beyond the ring of light that illuminated them.

“The only diving gear they found was his best tank. It’s the one he usually uses and it’s the one that had twenty minutes of air left in it. The other tank had a faulty valve on it.” His words were gruff and Jamie could feel the tension behind his words.

“Well, if they found his good tank then he must not have been diving.”

Case shook his head. “The rest of gear, his flippers, his wetsuit, his mask, they were missing off the boat.”

“Maybe there is another explanation. Maybe he was snorkeling off one of the islands and got stranded. There are any number of islands he could be holed up, waiting out until help arrives.”

“That’s what the Coast Guard is hoping for. Unfortunately, we’ve got a pretty big storm coming up the coast that is pushing high seas. I’m afraid that if they don’t find something soon they’re going to have to cancel the search for a while.”

Neither of them needed to add the rest of that ominous news. The longer Josh went lost, the less likely of recovering him in one piece.

“So, you’ll check on her for me? I was at the house with her, but I’d like to help out with the search. Given what happened to her husband I think the wharf is the last place Shelby should be.”

Jamie hesitated. There were a million reasons he shouldn’t go back there. And yet, those reasons didn’t mean a damn when he knew that she needed him.

“I just have to make a stop by the store first.”

Taimon was worthless, Caruso decided. He had the size and the intimidation factor, but he was seriously short on brains.

Taimon held his revolver in hand as they stood in the shadow of the vacant Cannery. The black metal caught and glinted in the minimal light they had to work with.

“Put that thing away you idiot.” Caruso said. “You’ve caused enough problems for tonight. I told you to take care of Rivard and you couldn’t even finish the job. Now, we’ll need to lay low here in case that other guy got a good look at us. You better hope he can't finger us.”

“Rivard didn’t see a thing. He couldn’t have. He was too busy kissing the ground. I’d have finished him off, if the other guy hadn’t charged at us. He was making enough noise to wake the dead.”

Taimon stuffed the gun back into his waist harness and folded his arms across his chest in an impatient gesture.

“If you’d done your job, it wouldn’t have mattered if Rivard had seen you or not. Now, we not only have to worry about whether Rivard got a good look at us, but whether the other guy can ID us.” He was going to have to do some fast-talking with the old man, if he was going to turn this around.

“I don’t see what you’re worried about. We’ll just finish him off next time. For now, we’ll just stay here until we can slip back to the boat.” Taimon pulled a knife from his belt and began running the sharp tip beneath his fingernails.

Caruso stepped forward until his face was just a few inches from Taimon’s. Taimon tended to be a bit of a loose cannon when left on his own. So, it was up to him to make it clear who was in charge and what their objective was.

“You idiot, we’re sitting on a huge amount of trouble that has yet begun to pay off. If we’re going to pull this off, then we can’t take a chance of getting the old man mad. Right now, he controls the flow of inventory in and out. Without him, we’re out of business.”

Taimon met him eye to eye, but there was a faint flicker in his look. Taimon knew that what he was saying was true. Without the old man they were out of business and sitting on a potential time bomb.

“We just have to be patient and find a way to get rid of Rivard without making everyone else suspicious,” Caruso said, thinking aloud. “After the flub up at the bar someone is bound to be on the lookout for us.”

“We’ll get him.” Taimon said, not really concerned. “How hard can it be to find him in a town as small as Chandler?”

Caruso just shook his head. Taimon didn’t understand. He was used to the city, used to anonymity that places like Miami offered.

He started running through his options in his head. Before they could go after Rivard again, they had something else they needed to do.

“There’s no chance of us doing the pickup tonight. Fouling up this job has screwed up our chances of collecting the drop. Besides, we still haven’t gotten word on what to do with the guns when we get them. I heard on the radio that the Coast Guard is already in the area looking for a lost fisherman. We’ll just have to lay low for a day or two until they're done.” He let out a tired sigh. “Next time, just make sure that you finish Rivard off for good.”