North of Nowhere Read Online Free PDF Page B

eating you alive, they don’t know about black flies.”
    “Mosquitoes are like surgeons,” Bennett said. “They got those little needles, in and out. But black flies, those goddamned things just gnaw on your flesh like blood-thirsty little zombies.”
    Vargas shook his head as he got up to refill his glass. “It’s something to think about, I guess.” He was probably imagining a giant airplane dropping insecticide all over Whitefish Point.
    Kenny looked us all over one by one, shaking his head. He knew what we were doing. This was what Jackie meant when he told me there was another reason why they played cards with Vargas, this whole idea of helping him rethink his development plans. But that look on Kenny’s face seemed to say, “You can fight it all you want. But it’s coming. If not this year, then next year. Bay Harbor is coming.”
    The phone rang while Vargas was pouring himself another shot of Macallan. He picked it up and said, “Vargas here.” Then he excused himself, told us to deal him out a couple of hands.
    We played without him. It wasn’t quite the same. Too quiet, for one thing.
    “Tell me, Kenny,” Bennett finally said. “What’s it like working for him?”
    “Why do you want to know?” Kenny said.
    “Just making conversation,” Bennett said.
    “I’ve got a house there myself,” Kenny said. “In Bay Harbor. That’s how it is to work for him.”
    “Fair enough,” Bennett said. And that was the end of that.
    When Vargas got back to the table, something had changed. He left his Macallan sitting untouched on the bar, took out a real glass and filled it with three fingers of Jack Daniels. “You had it right, Alex,” he said. “This does feel like a J.D. night.”
    “Everything okay?” Gill said. “You seem a little tense all of a sudden.”
    “I’m an old first baseman,” he said as he sat down. “I’m always tense. Right, Alex?”
    “My deal,” I said. “You know the game.”
    “Five card stud,” Vargas said. “And speaking of studs, where’s Mr. Swanson tonight, anyway?”
    “Don’t know,” Bennett said. “He said he couldn’t play tonight.”
    “He couldn’t play last time either,” Vargas said.
    “He’s a busy guy,” Bennett said.
    “Yeah, he’s busy,” Vargas said. His voice was getting colder by the second. “Fortunately, we’ve got Alex here to take his spot. I guess you’re not as busy as Swanson is, eh Alex?”
    “I asked him to play,” Jackie said. “So we’d have six guys. Is there something wrong with that all of a sudden?”
    “No, not at all,” Vargas said. He emptied his glass, then got up for a refill. He brought the bottle back with him this time.
    “It’s a shame you didn’t get a chance to meet my wife, Alex. Her dog you got to meet.” He looked around the room. “Where’d that dog run off to, anyway?”
    “He’s under the table,” Gill said.
    “What’s he doing down there?”
    “He’s licking himself.”
    “Okay then,” Vargas said. “Now that we’ve established that…” He poured himself another triple, spilling some on his precious table. He didn’t bother to clean it up.
    “Maybe you should ease up on that,” Jackie said.
    “Always the bartender,” Vargas said. “Don’t worry, I’m not driving tonight. My wife took my car, anyway. She left me the little Miata, which she knows I hate. The car, I mean, not the dog. It’s like driving a little tin cigar box.”
    “King high,” I said. “It’s your bet.”
    “Five bucks,” he said. “On the king. You wanna know something funny, guys? You wanna know who that was on the phone just now?”
    Apparently, nobody did. He told us anyway.
    “That was a private investigator,” he said. “Did you know that there’s only one private investigator in the whole county?”
    Oh no, I said to myself. Please, God, no. This will not be good.
    “He struck me as kind of a goofball at first, quite honestly. But I gotta hand it to him. He’s got some energy.