Bloodlines

Jack’s house was locked up and showed no sign of disturbance. O’Co

Jack sounded listless, but he told O’Co

“I’ll definitely be there,” O’Co

“For a drunk,” Norton said, looking around the tiny living room, “Corrigan leads an orderly existence.”

O’Co

“Going to bring him a bottle?” Norton asked.

“No. I don’t want to kill him.”

“Kind of surprised you had to call him to find out where the spare key was. Surprised you don’t have a key to this place yourself. After all, he’s got one to your place, right?”

“He looks after my place when I travel. Helen looks after Jack’s place when he goes somewhere. She lives nearer than I do, and I guess they got into the habit years ago. I didn’t know where the spare was because Jack never leaves it in one place all the time, but I’ve never known him to forget where he’s hidden it, drunk or sober.”

“You finished here?”

“Yes.”

Over di

“I don’t believe all hell just accidentally broke loose among four sets of people who were as co

Norton didn’t say anything for a long while, then shrugged. “A possibility. Until I know what happened to the bodies, couldn’t say one way or another. I know the chief isn’t going to stand for anything other than the simplest explanation. He won’t want to hear about boats that didn’t really have anybody on them. But if the bodies are on land, we’ll find them easier than if they’re in the ocean.”

“I’ve been thinking about the car, the one Jack saw the farmer bury.”

“Maybe saw. Maybe didn’t. He’d had a skinful-as usual-and so many blows to his head, it’s a wonder it’s still attached to his neck.”

“I believe him.” O’Co

“So the part about the eucalyptus grove could be real,” Norton acknowledged. “If you said to me, ‘Jack claims he was in a eucalyptus grove,’ that would be one thing. So many of those trees around, it wouldn’t be hard to believe. But seeing a farmer bury a car in the middle of the night? Makes no sense.”

O’Co

“Look, Co

“He remembers things, even when he’s been drinking. Like the key.”

“This is bigger than a key, and in less familiar territory.”

“I think he saw it,” O’Co

“No,” Norton admitted. “But I’ve heard him talk when I knew he was confused by the booze. Add the whacks he took on his skull… he could easily be mixing up separate memories, combining them into one.” He held his hands up in a gesture of helplessness. “It would be hard for me to call this a lead.”

O’Co

Norton must have seen this in his face. He said, “All right, all right. Tell you what-if the bodies don’t wash ashore within the next week or so, I’ll get someone to canvass the farms near the marsh, ask if anyone has seen anything odd going on around there.”

“Anything else going on in the investigation?”

“We’re checking again for fingerprints at the Ducane house and in the boat and in the car that was left behind at the marina. We’ve got that new ninhydrin method now-we can sometimes find prints on paper.”

O’Co

For the next two days, O’Co

One of the worst moments came when Jack asked him to look in his coat pockets, to see if his keys were there. “I might have left them in my coat at Lillian’s.”

“You probably had them taken from you. Remember? We found the saint’s medal on the giant. Besides, you told me the keys were still in your pocket when you woke up in the grove.”

“I might have been mistaken.”

“You have a cut and key-shaped bruise on your thigh.”

“Maybe the giant cut me with his own.”

O’Co

“What note? Read it.”

O’Co

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s nonsense, that’s all.”

“Give it to me, Co

Reluctantly, O’Co

O’Co

“Damn it!” Jack said, covering his eyes with his hand. “Damn it!”

O’Co

Jack kept his eyes covered, his bruised and swollen fingers over the bandaged one, the palm of his hand covering the less injured one.

“Oh God. She died thinking that son of a bitch might be her father,” he said. “Who the hell would put a sick idea like that into her head?”

“The husband who was about to be divorced?”

Jack let his hand fall and looked at O’Co

Worried that getting this upset would harm him, O’Co

“I think of her being out there… lost in the sea, in darkness. Of her being cold. And alone. And afraid.”