North of Nowhere

Chapter Nine

I wanted to do something, get in the way, demand to talk to somebody, tell them they were making a mistake. But I knew I’d be about as effective as Vargas’s little dog, barking and nipping at their heels, without changing a damned thing. So I just sat there waiting in my truck, the windows down so I didn’t suffocate in the heat, watching the cops go in and out of Jackie’s place. At one point, Jackie was led out the front door. He was blinking in the sudden glare of the sun, his hands in cuffs. I got out of the truck and stood there watching as they took him to one of the Soo police cars. What could I do?

They opened the back door for him. He looked up just before he got in, caught my eye, and gave me a look that I couldn’t quite figure out. I’ve seen a lot of people taken away in a squad car. First-timers look completely stunned and defeated, the way an animal looks when a lion has it by the throat. Career criminals, on the other hand, try to look cool about it, like it’s no more than a taxi ride. Jackie didn’t look like either one of those. Hell, he almost looked like he was amused by it all. He gave me a little smile and a nod before he bent his head down and slid into the car.

I resisted the urge to follow them all the way to the police station. I knew it would take a while to process him, and even longer if they tried to question him. The best thing I could do at that moment was stick around and try to find his son, make sure he was okay, and ask him if Jackie had a good lawyer.

The cops were there about another hour. The state troopers left first, then the Soo police. The last man out apparently had the key to the place. He locked the door and tested it to make sure it was shut tight, and then he and his partner got in their vehicle and kicked up some gravel on their way out of the parking lot. With everybody gone, the place had an eerie calm to it. The only sounds came from the bees buzzing in the wildflowers on the edge of the parking lot, and the waves breaking on the rocks a hundred yards away.

I got out and went to the front door. There was a handmade sign stuck on the inside. It read “Closed for the day.” I looked in. It was dark. I knocked on the door.

Nothing.

I went around behind the building, to Jackie’s private entrance. I knocked. I knew that Jonathan was keeping a room just above that door. He’d be sure to hear me if he was there.

Nothing. Where the hell was he?

As I walked back to my truck, a car pulled into the parking lot. A man got out, somebody I’d seen at the bar a few times but had never talked to. “What’s going on?” he asked me. “Is Jackie open?”

“Jackie is closed,” I said. “Come back tomorrow.”

“Why is he closed?”

“Come back tomorrow.”

The man huffed at me and got back in his car. On his way out, he kicked up even more gravel than the cops.

As I drove into the Soo, I called Leon’s office. He wasn’t there. I left a message for him to call me as soon as he could. I called his home number next-no Leon, no Eleanor. I left the same message.

Then I called Jackie’s number and left a message for his son. I’ll be at the station, I said. Come on down when you can.

When I got to the City-County building, Jonathan was already there.

“Alex!” he said when he saw me. “I’ve been calling you!”

“How’d you get here?” I said. “I didn’t see you at the Glasgow.”

“At first they told me I should stick around,” he said. “Then later they told me to leave. They said to call the station later to find out his status. But hell, where was I gonna go? I’d be going crazy. So I just came down here.”

“I must have missed you,” I said. “Tell me everything that happened.”

“Let’s see,” he said. He took a long breath and ran his fingers back through his hair. “They came this morning. I don’t know, maybe nine o’clock, nine-thirty. There were half a dozen Soo policeman, and half a dozen state troopers. Chief Maven was with them. He said they had a warrant to search the entire building. There were a couple of guys there having breakfast-Maven chased them out, told them we were closing down for the rest of the day. They had my father sit down at one of the tables with a Soo man watching him the whole time. Then, God, they went through everything, Alex. They started in the bar and just worked their way through the whole house. My room. My father’s room. Maven came down-that’s when he told me to leave. I think the official arrest happened as soon as I was gone.”

“What did they find?” I said. “Do you have any idea?”

“No, Alex. I can’t even imagine.”

“Have they told you anything about what’s happening to him right now?”

“They said he’d be here a while. I don’t know if they’re questioning him now or what.”

“If they are, I hope he has the sense to keep his mouth shut.”

“He didn’t do anything, Alex.”

“I know that,” I said. “Even so, he should keep his mouth shut for now. What about a lawyer? Does he have a lawyer, do you know?”

“There’s a man in Brimley,” he said. “He’s done work for my father before. You know, a will, stuff like that. I gave him a call but he wasn’t in, so I left him a message to get down here.”

“Okay, good,” I said. “If all goes well, they’ll set bail by the end of the day.”

“We’re gonna bail him out, right? We don’t want him spending the night in jail.”

“We’ll bail him out,” I said. “Don’t worry. We’ve got to get a bondsman down here. Problem is, I think Leon is still the only bondsman in town.”

“So we get him.”

“No, we can’t do that,” I said. “I’ll explain later. I’m trying to remember-when Leon got into that business, he told me that the next closest bondsman was all the way down in Mackinaw City. There’s a phone book over there-go look up ‘Bail Bonds’ in the yellow pages and see if you can find him. I want to go talk to Maven again.”

“Okay, if you think that’s a good idea…” He didn’t look like he thought it was. I wasn’t so sure myself, but I didn’t know what else to do.

There was a receptionist sitting there at the front desk. I waited for her to get off the phone and then I asked her if I could see Chief Maven. She told me that Chief Maven was extremely busy at the moment, and asked me if I wanted to leave a message. I asked her to please call him and tell him that Alex McKnight wished to speak to him immediately regarding today’s arrests. She thought about that for a second, then picked up the phone and called him. “He’ll see you now,” she said. “Do you know where his office is?”

“I’m afraid I do.”

He was waiting at his door when I got there. I went in and sat down in my usual chair.

“I assume you wish to add something to your original statement?” he said. “The one you gave to the officers on the night in question? I’ve got some paper here if you want to write it down.”

“Am I a suspect now?”

“Not at this time, no. But if you do know anything else about this matter, and you wish to make a statement now…”

“I don’t know anything else.”

“Even though your best friend and two of his friends all appear to be involved in this, you have no further information yourself?”

“They were not involved,” I said. “The only other information I have for you is that you’ve made a big mistake.”

He leaned back in his chair. “A big mistake. So I should be letting them go right now. Is that what you’re saying?”

“I want to ask you a couple of questions,” I said.

“McKnight, I got a lot of work to do here.”

“First of all, when can I see Jackie?”

“When he makes bail,” he said. “Assuming he does. It hasn’t been set yet.”

“Did he ask for a lawyer?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t talked to him yet.”

“What’s on this videotape you’ve got?”

“I can’t discuss that.”

“You said Prudell made the tape,” I said. “I don’t see how that was possible. He called Vargas that night. He was apparently following his wife around. According to Vargas, she was at a hotel with Swanson. If he was tailing her, how could he have taped anything at Vargas’s house?”

“Same answer,” he said. “I’ve got nothing to say about that right now.”

“He wasn’t there,” I said. “It’s as simple as that. Even if he supposedly came over to the house, I tell you, he wasn’t there. What could he have taped?”

Maven looked at his watch.

“Those three men were lying on the floor,” I said. “At gunpoint. What the hell can be on a videotape that would implicate them? This doesn’t make any sense.”

“I can see why you’re puzzled, McKnight. I’ll say that much.”

“Vargas did this,” I said. “You’ve got to realize, Maven, this is all Vargas. I had a run-in with him yesterday. He warned me he was going to do something.”

“I’d advise you to stay away from Vargas. In fact, I’ll do more than just advise you…”

“What did you find in Jackie’s bedroom?” I said. “Money from Vargas’s safe? Is that what it was? Is that what you found at Bennett’s and Gill’s?”

Maven just looked at me.

“You said receiving stolen goods? Does that mean the money? There were no other ‘goods’ stolen. They just trashed the place and left.”

“McKnight…”

“Whatever it was, you don’t think it could have been planted there?”

“I’ll keep that theory in mind,” he said. “Are we about done here?”

“That’s my friend in there,” I said. “This is a man who once turned around and drove a hundred miles back to a restaurant, just because he realized he hadn’t left enough money on the table. If you think he had any part in this, you’re wrong. And I’m sure that goes for Bennett and Gill, too. Something is very wrong here, Chief, and I’m gonna find out what it is.”

“I figured you’d get to that one, McKnight. Only this time, you’re not a private eye anymore, remember? This time, you’re a material witness who happens to be about one inch away from being detained yourself. What you will do is remain in the general area in case I need you. What you won’t do is get in the way of this investigation. I realize that’s a tricky concept for you. So I’ll make it simple. Go home to Paradise. Stay there until I tell you otherwise. That’s it. Think you can do that?”

I stood up. “Just out of curiosity,” I said before I went to the door, “what happened to the ‘new Chief Maven’ I was talking to a couple of days ago?”

“He’s still here,” he said. “For you, I figured I’d bring out the original model. Just for old times’ sake.”

When I got back out to the lobby, business had picked up. Ham O’Dell was there now, towering over everybody and looking like he wanted to break something. I saw a pair of men from the Sault tribe, as well.

“Alex, what the hell is going on?” Ham said. “Nobody will talk to me. I came in this morning and the place was closed down. There were cops all over the place. They said my dad had already been arrested.”

“We’re all gonna work on this together,” I said. “Jonathan, did you get hold of the bondsman?”

“He’s on his way,” he said. “I figured Ham could use him, too.”

“You’ll need ten percent of whatever the bail is,” I said. “Can you both do that? If not, I can help out.”

“Whatever it is,” Jonathan said, “I’ll get it.”

“Same for me,” Ham said.

“You might want to ask those gentlemen over there about Gill,” I said. “But I don’t imagine they’ll need a bondsman. The tribe will probably bail him out.”

“God knows they have enough casino money,” Ham said.

I let that one go.

“Did you reach Jackie’s lawyer?”

“I did,” Jonathan said. “He’s on his way, too.”

“Okay, then both of you guys better just sit tight here. I don’t know how long they’ll be in there, but it’ll be a while before the bail is set.”

“What are you gonna do?” Jonathan said.

“I’m gonna find an old friend,” I said. “And talk to him about a videotape.”