Roche Harbor Rogue

by D. W. Ulsterman

  “I thought you sounded British,” the waitress said.

  Fin put his glass down. “Beg your pardon?”

  “The accent. You’re from England, right?”

  “No, dear girl. I’m from Pittsburg.”

  “Really? I’ve never been to that state. I had no idea people from Pittsburg talked so funny.”

  “Pittsburg isn’t a—” Fin shook his head. “Never mind. Off with you then so we can do our drinking in peace.”

  “Hold on,” Adele said.

  The waitress turned around. “Yeah?”

  “Do you know Prunella Brown?”

  “Sure. Everybody knows Prune. Why?”

  “We’re on our way to see her at the museum as soon as the rain starts to let up. Will she be there?”

  “I don’t know her daily schedule, but she comes in here for lunch all the time. Like, almost every day. She gets a small salad with the dressing on the side and a glass of water—no ice. Never anything different. Not even once. Old people usually creep me out, but she’s pretty cute.”

  “And what time does she normally come in?”

  “Same time every time—noon on the dot.”

  “Does she eat alone?”

  The waitress nodded. “Most times, yeah.”

  Adele held up two twenties. “This is for the beer and the information. It was a big help.”

  The waitress’s eyes locked onto the bills. She snatched them from Adele and then glanced at Roland. “Mr. Banker should be the one paying.”

  “I try and I try,” Roland said, “but she stubbornly refuses my charity.”

  The waitress twirled her hair as she looked Roland up and down. “I wouldn’t refuse you anything. Nothing wrong with being rich. Nothing at all.”

  Roland sipped from his beer. “I’d rather be good looking like my friend Fin here.”

  The waitress looked at Fin then went back to Roland. “You’re better looking than him for sure.”

  “Thank you,” Roland replied. “It sounds so much better when you say it. You’ve restored my confidence. I’m a new man now.”

  “Uh, okay. Can I get you anything else?”

  “Actually,” Fin said. “How are the chips?”

  “Chips? You mean fries?”

  “Sure. Are they any good?”

  “I guess. I get complaints about other things but never the fries. You want me to bring you a plate?”

  Fin winked. “That would be lovely, my dear.”

  “Did you just wink at me?”

  “I suppose I did. Is that a problem?”

  “Well, do you want the fries or not? You winking like that makes it seem like a joke or something.”

  “Ah, my apologies. Yes, I would like a plate of chips to share with my friends.”

  “Fries.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  The waitress looked at Fin like he’d suddenly grown a second head. “You keep saying chips, but you mean fries, right?”

  Fin nodded slowly. “Riiight.”

  “Okay. I’ll have them out in a bit.”

  After the waitress left Adele put her face between her hands. “There’s ten minutes of my life I’ll never get back.” She checked the time on her phone. “It’s more than an hour until noon. I guess we stay here and wait until then and hope Prune actually shows up.”

  “Fine by me,” Roland said.

  “More time to enjoy the Guinness and chips,” Fin added.

  Adele looked outside. The storm was still getting worse. The wind bent the trees along the shore nearly in half. While they waited, they talked of Marianne Rocha. Roland was convinced it was the FBI agent Randal Eaton who had tipped her off to the pending bank deal.

  “It doesn’t really matter who it was at this point,” Adele told him. “You need to get in front of her report. An interview in my paper like I suggested before will help you do that. I recommend we get it ready for the next issue.”

  “Not that either of you care, but I’ll tell you what I think,” Fin said. “This big city reporter, she’s just trying to rattle your cage a bit, Roland. Get you to reach out to her and ask what’s going on and to delay the story. She’ll say you two need to talk—likely during dinner. That’ll be her way back in. She wants to see you again is all. And can you blame her? You’re just so darn cute.”

  “I’m not too worried,” Roland replied. “I’ll just have Adele beat her up again.”

  The fries arrived. Fin sampled the first one after dabbing it in ketchup. “Not bad,” he said. “Not bad at all. You Yanks seem to know your way around a potato. I’ll give you that.”

  Soon the fries were gone. Fin ordered everyone a second Guinness. Adele nursed hers slowly, checking the time every few minutes and trying not to grow impatient. She looked up when the restaurant’s front door crashed open and Prunella walked in behind a gust of wind, shaking the rain off her coat. Looming over her was a tall, silver-haired shadow with raven-like dark orbs that immediately stared across the room at Adele.

  “You see what I’m seeing?” Fin whispered.

  “Yeah,” Adele said.

  “Didn’t the waitress tell us that Prune eats her lunch alone?”

  Adele couldn’t take her eyes off Bloodbone. “I guess today is different.”

  Indeed, it was.

  29.

  P rune motioned for Adele and the others to follow her. “Let’s take my usual table in the back so we can talk in private. And make it quick. I need to get some food in me.”

  Bloodbone extended his arm in the direction Prune was going. Everything he wore except for the crystal was black: black jeans, black denim shirt, and black hiking boots. He looked at Adele and nodded. “After you.” His voice was a low, smooth baritone that was somehow both soft and loud at the same time. His deeply lined face was a similar contradiction. When he turned his head and the light caught it a certain way, he appeared impossibly ancient. Then the light would shift, and the face suddenly gave off a more youthful and vibrant glow. Whatever Bloodbone’s true age, though, the body remained undeniably strong. His posture was straight, the shoulders broad, and the long-fingered hands powerful.

  “No, after you,” Adele said. “I insist.” She didn’t want Bloodbone walking behind her. He nodded again and in two long strides caught up to Prune.

  “So that’s what a 100-something-year-old Native American witch doctor looks like, yeah?” Fin whispered.

  Adele felt something on her shoulder. It was Roland’s hand. He asked her if everything was okay. She said yes while moving to the table where Prune and Bloodbone sat waiting.

  Prune looked up, smiled, and then pointed at Roland. “I’ve met the other one with Adele, but who are you?”

  “I’m Roland Soros.”

  Adele caught Bloodbone looking Roland up and down. “I knew your grandfather,” he said.

  “You did?” Roland replied. “Really?”

  “Yes. It was another time and a very different world than this one.”

  Roland took the chair directly across from Bloodbone.

  “Go on,” Prune told Adele and Fin. “Join us at the table. I promise we won’t bite.”

  Prune’s salad and water arrived. Fin had another beer. Bloodbone didn’t order anything. He sat quietly with his hands folded in front of him while staring at the others with his unusually dark eyes.

  Adele cleared her throat. “Uh, Ms. Brown, were you expecting us?”

  Prune put down the cup of dressing she was pouring over her salad and shrugged. “Does it matter? We’re all here now, right?”

  “It does matter,” Adele said. “If you knew we’d be here I’d like to know how.”

  Prune plopped some lettuce into her mouth. “Karl knew.”

  If that was true Bloodbone wasn’t saying. He continued to just sit and stare.

  Adele decided to stare back. “Mr. Bloodbone?”

  “Yes?”

  “You knew we were coming?”

  “I knew you were on the island. I saw you pul
l up in your boat earlier.”

  Prune had a sip of water. “And that’s when he came and told me.”

  Adele kept her eyes on Bloodbone. “This isn’t the first time we’ve seen each other, though, is it? You were at the Speaks property the other day. I saw you standing under the trees. How did you know to find us there? We didn’t tell anyone where we were going. Not even Prune.”

  “I saw you there as well,” Fin added while staring at Bloodbone’s crystal.

  “I told him where you two were,” Prune said. “First you were up at the clearing and then you were down at the Speaks place. Why you’d ever want to go there I’ll never understand, but that’s how Karl knew. It was me. I told him. See? No big mystery.”

  “Right,” Adele replied. “Which brings me back to how anyone, including you, would know Fin and I were at the Speaks property.”

  Prune waved her hand. “Oh, that. It’s simple. The bikes you borrowed from me? They’re equipped with GPS tracking. The tourists are losing them all the time so I stuck trackers on them a few summers back so they could be more easily located.”

  Fin propped his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Fine, you were told we were at the old abandoned house, but then where’d you go? It was like you were there and then you were gone—poof.”

  “That’s right,” Bloodbone said.

  Fin scowled. “Eh?”

  Bloodbone looked at Fin with narrowed eyes. “You’ve traveled far to be here.”

  “The accent pretty much gives that away.”

  Bloodbone shook his head. “No, it’s your pain and not the accent that speaks loudest and most clearly—the fear of loss. Your father shared that in common with you. As you likely already know, I knew him as well. We’re all orphans of the past, Mr. Kearns. Don’t allow it to define your present and future.”

  “I’m no orphan. I have a mother who needs my help and that’s why I’m here.” Fin leaned forward again. “Say, how’d you know my last name?”

  “I told him,” Prune bellowed. “Geez, enough with the third degree.”

  Fin had a long swig of beer and then wiped the foam off his upper lip with the back of his hand. “How much for the crystal around your neck, Mr. Bloodbone?”

  “It’s not for sale. Besides, it wouldn’t help.”

  “Help with what?”

  “With what motivated you to come here from Ireland.”

  “And what would you know about any of that?”

  Bloodbone’s soft, confident tone remained unchanged. “It’s all but done, Mr. Kearns. I’m very sorry.”

  Fin’s eyes flared. “You messing with, me old man? Because if you are, I don’t appreciate it. Not one bit.”

  “That’s enough,” Prune warned. “Be respectful or be gone.”

  Fin emptied his glass and stood. “Fine. Gone it is then.” He nodded to Adele. “I’ll be outside waiting. Take your time. No worries.”

  “But it’s still raining,” Adele said.

  “A little rain isn’t going to hurt me any, but staying here and listening to the stink coming out of his mouth just might make me do something I’ll later regret—namely cracking his skull open with a chair.”

  Bloodbone looked up at Fin. “That’s your fear talking. All things pass, Mr. Kearns. When the darkness comes, don’t lose hope. Be patient and keep her memory close to help light the way forward. That’s what she would most want.”

  “Don’t tell me what she’d want. You don’t have the right. And you damn well better stop talking about her like she’s dead.”

  Adele watched Fin wrap his hand around the empty beer glass and worried he was very close to making good on his promise to smash Bloodbone’s skull in. Thankfully Roland intervened. “Get you another beer, Fin?” he said. “My treat.”

  Fin shook his head. “Nah. I’ll be outside like I said.”

  “That’s too bad,” Prune said with a sigh. “I’m sorry to see him upset.”

  “He’s so very much like his father,” Bloodbone added. “When he was a younger man, Delroy could be quick to anger as well. He always said it was the Irish in him.”

  “And what can you tell me about my grandfather?” Roland asked.

  Bloodbone began to rub the crystal between his gnarled fingers. “Charles Soros was a complicated man.”

  “Ah, everyone says that.”

  “Likely because it’s true.”

  “Tell me something about him I don’t know.”

  “Is that why you came here? To hear stories of your grandfather?”

  “Go ahead,” Adele said. “Tell him something.”

  When Bloodbone’s dark eyes fixed on Adele, it made her want to run away and hide. “And that is why you’re here as well?” he asked. “To learn more about Charles Soros?”

  “No, I’m here to learn more about you. We have time, though, so answer Roland first.”

  Bloodbone pursed his lips. “Mr. Soros should speak to the nun about such things. It is her story to tell not mine.”

  Roland and Adele shared a quick glance. “Ophelia?” Roland said. “What story does she have to tell me that she hasn’t already?”

  Bloodbone’s face remained unreadable as he leaned back in his chair. “The truth.”

  Like Fin before him, it was now Roland who appeared annoyed by Bloodbone’s penchant for secrets. “What truth?”

  “Your truth, Mr. Soros.”

  Roland clapped his hands together and got up. “Okay, I’ve had enough of this. And I’ll tell you another thing.” He pointed at Bloodbone. “I think you’re a fraud. I’ll be outside waiting with Fin.” He squeezed Adele’s shoulder. “Holler if you need me.”

  Prune chuckled while she jabbed at the last bits of salad on her plate. “Boys can be so sensitive.” She finished her water and then looked at Adele. “I’ll have your friends go with me back to the museum. That’ll give you and Karl a chance to talk alone.”

  “That’s fine if that’s what Mr. Bloodbone wants.”

  “Please, call me Karl. And yes, speaking with you alone is my reason for being here.”

  “You make it sound like your plan all along was to get both Fin and Roland angry enough that they’d want to leave.”

  Karl’s eyes warmed and he looked like he might smile. “Our being alone will help me to feel more comfortable about giving you some of the answers you seek.”

  Prune put a ten-dollar bill on the table and then stood. “That’s my cue to get going. Just stop by the museum when you’re done. Your friends will be there waiting. Karl, as always, it’s been a pleasure. Don’t be a stranger.”

  Karl finally smiled as he reached up and gently squeezed Prune’s hand. “I’ll make sure to do a better job of stopping in to visit. Oh, I almost forgot to ask how the hip is doing.”

  Prune slapped her thigh. “It still pains me a bit. That chaga mushroom tea you gave me last summer did help some. I’m an old woman, Karl. If a wonky hip is my biggest problem, I’ll count myself blessed. Now, get back to your conversation with Adele and stop worrying about me.”

  Adele felt a stab of apprehension as she watched Prune leave. Karl was rubbing his crystal again. She wondered if he was nervous being alone with her as she was with him. “Might we take a walk?” he said.

  “In the rain?”

  “It’s about to stop.”

  Adele shrugged. “Sure. As long as you’re not taking me into the woods to bury me.”

  “Why would I want to do that?”

  “It was meant as a joke.”

  Karl smiled. “I know.” When he stood, his upper body was hidden in shadow making him appear to have lost his head.

  Adele pushed the image out of her mind, looked away, and got up. “Where do you want to walk to?”

  “The water. I know a path few take. We can speak freely there.”

  “And nobody will be able to hear my screams, right?”

  Karl stepped forward, cocked his head and nodded. “That’s true.”

  “Very funny.”
/>
  Again, Karl smiled. “I know.”

  As soon as she was outside Adele looked up. “Just like you said. The rain stopped.”

  “It always does . . . eventually.”

  “Hold on,” Roland called out. Adele turned around as he was walking toward her. “Prune said you were okay with being alone with him. I just wanted to confirm that with you.”

  “Yeah,” Adele said. “I’m good.”

  “You sure?”

  “Roland, it’s fine. Really. Mr. Bloodbone and I are going to have a little walk and talk and then I’ll meet you and Fin back at the museum.”

  “Is your phone charged?”

  “It is.”

  “Okay, you call me for anything, and I’ll come running.”

  “I know. There’s no need to worry. Isn’t that right, Mr. Bloodbone?”

  Karl straightened to his full height and looked down at Adele and Roland. “I may be the one calling you for help, Mr. Soros. I have a knack for telling when a person knows how to take care of themselves and Adele is clearly one of those.”

  “Yeah,” Roland said. “That may be true, but you make sure she gets back without a hair on her head out of place. Understood?” He turned to Adele. “You have an hour to show up at the museum before Fin and I start turning this island upside down looking for you. And don’t make me have to call in the big guns to help us.”

  “You mean Lucas?”

  Roland shook his head. “Not Lucas—Tilda.”

  “Oh,” Adele said. “Nobody wants that.”

  “Exactly. So, get back safe and good luck with getting whatever information it is you think he has for you.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  After Roland left Adele was ready to go, but Karl remained looking in the direction of the museum. “That young man cares for you a great deal,” he said.

  “And I care for him.”

  “He loves you.”

  “I’m not here to talk about that with you, Mr. Bloodbone.”

  “Very well. Are you ready?”

  “For what?”

  Karl started walking. “For the truth.”

  The clouds parted. Adele welcomed the sun’s return. She moved to catch up, anxious to know Bloodbone’s version of the truth.