by Sarah Holman
“I was hoping I’d catch you. Do you have somewhere you need to be?” she asked with a bright smile.
Patrick returned the friendly smile and shook his head. “Not really. I guess I was just eager to get out of the classroom.”
Rachelle glanced at the sky. Patrick followed her gaze. Clouds had rolled in and provided some relief from the heat. “Yeah, these are the kind of days that are great for exploring the city. I actually wanted to invite you to join me and some of my friends at the University Pub. It is a quirky little place just off Marion Square. A bunch of us hang out there after school on Thursdays. Actually, there is almost always a group of students there. It’s a great way to get to know some of the fellow students.”
Patrick’s smile widened. “I would love to.” He motioned for her to lead the way and then fell into step beside her.
“So, what do you think of Charleston so far?” Rachelle asked.
Patrick looked around the beautiful campus grounds and then to the steeples of churches rising above all the other buildings. “I love it! Everyone has been welcoming. The city is like no other.”
“It’s pretty awesome. I spend most of my weekends poking around, and there is still so much to see.”
“So I guess you have seen Guitar Gus.”
Rachelle let out a bubbly laugh. “I’m from this area, remember? He became popular because we at the university saw how talented he was. I liked him long before the news story and magazine articles made him big.”
“Has he ever sung at University Pub?”
“He used to, but that was before he was basically given the keys to the city. He would much rather sing at the historical and tourist attractions than in restaurants.”
Patrick looked up at the towering statue in Marion Square and wondered who it was built to honor. “Will Sharleen be there, you think?”
Rachelle sighed. “Seriously, what do you guys see in that girl? She’s rude to everyone, even her boyfriend. It’s no wonder guys think girls like bad boys; they’re interested in bad girls.”
He lifted his hands. “Hey, it isn’t like that. I was worried about her. She seemed pretty upset about the death of her brother. I’m worried what she might do. She was making some pretty ugly threats against the police. I get that she isn’t the best person in the world, but that shouldn’t keep me from trying to help her.”
She shook her head. “She comes sometimes, but always with her boyfriend. Trust me, I and some of the other girls who are part of our campus Bible study are trying to reach out to her. She’s bad news for any guy who tries to get near her.”
They reached the pub and Patrick held the door open for her. “Thanks. I really do appreciate the warning.”
The pub had rich wood walls lit dimly by Mason jar chandeliers. There was an expected bar area, but plenty of booths. Rachelle walked straight through an arched doorway into another room. Patrick followed and found himself looking up at a fifteen-foot ceiling. The walls were painted to look like you were underwater and the lighting was made to give that effect as well; a fishing net covered the ceiling with plastic fish in it. The room had several long tables and college students milling around.
“Great place.”
“Isn’t it though? The food here is great. Now, if you are looking for a good dessert place, you would have to go to Kaminsky’s downtown.”
“Good to know.”
“Hi! Let me give these drinks to those people over there, and I’ll be right back.”
Patrick blinked and with effort did not react to Logan’s appearance as a waitress. She had put temporary blue streaks in her hair, wore thick eye makeup, jeans, and a University Pub T-shirt. The only thing about her that appeared normal was her cheery attitude. He looked around the group and Rachelle was greeted by a couple of girls. Sharleen was indeed at a table, but there was no boyfriend in sight. Inwardly, he grimaced at what he needed to do with Rachelle watching. He crossed the room and sat down across from Sharleen.
“I looked for you in class today. I wanted to make sure you were doing all right.”
Sharleen turned her gaze on him. Patrick was instantly on his guard. He had been around enough to know that sultry look and coy smile were best avoided.
“Aren’t you so sweet? So, I didn’t scare you off with all that stuff the other day,” she asked, leaning forward.
Patrick swallowed and kept his eyes on hers. Sometimes, he really hated the people he had to interact with as part of this work. He forced himself to give her a guarded smile. “You were upset. We all need to blow steam sometimes.”
Sharleen’s smile reminded Patrick of a snake. “I meant what I said. I may have been blowing some steam, but someone should do something about the police here.” She uttered a curse and some more ugly comments that made Patrick wish he could turn around and leave. Why did he always get the nuts? Thomas probably wasn’t having it as bad as this. Come to think of it, if Thomas were here, he would pretend to be interested and swear along with her. Too bad they couldn’t switch jobs.
“Do you plan to do anything about it?” Patrick asked.
“When you live in a police state, how can you do anything about it? They said my brother was running drugs and that is why they had pulled him over.” She swore and took a large drink from her beer mug.
Patrick felt like he had something. “The news said he was pulled over for a traffic violation. Why do you think the police thought drugs were involved?”
Sharleen sat back in her chair and, for a brief moment, something flashed in her eyes. Was it panic? Anger? Fear? “I only meant that they had better have been after something like that if they wanted an excuse to kill my brother.” She made another ugly remark and swallowed more beer.
Logan chose this moment to take his order. Patrick picked the daily special and iced tea and inwardly felt excited. Whatever was going on, Sharleen was involved. The police had kept the information about the drugs under wraps. The fact Sharleen knew meant she was involved, or at least knew about the drugs.
“Who’s this?”
Patrick swallowed at Jasper’s voice but didn’t turn around or respond.
Sharleen looked up at Jasper and smiled sweetly. “This is just a boy from class. We were just having a nice chat.” Her voice was as threatening as poison covered in a layer of sugar.
The next moment, Patrick felt himself being hauled out of the chair and spun around.
“You stay away from my girlfriend, ya hear?”
Patrick tried to shake the man off, but the grip was tight. He would rather not use his martial arts training at the moment. “I was trying to make sure she was okay. She was upset the other day and I—”
Patrick felt the crack on his jaw, and his head started spinning. It took a moment to register that Jasper had struck him. Several girls were screaming. Someone was shouting to call the police.
“Jasper, you’ll get in trouble,” Sharleen drawled, looking down at her perfectly painted nails.
Patrick blinked rapidly as Jasper let him go. “Come on, babe. We’d better get out of here before the cops show up.”
Sharleen stood and sent Patrick a smile that would have looked at home on the cat that swallowed the canary. In an instant, they were gone, and other students poured in around him asking if he was okay and offering him drinks.
Rachelle placed the ice cubes from her drink into a napkin and pressed it to Patrick’s jaw.
“I tried to warn you,” Rachelle said in an apologetic tone as if she felt she should have tried harder.
“You did. I guess I thought I knew better.” Patrick pressed the ice to his jaw. While he hadn’t been expecting that kind of reaction from Jasper in a place as busy as this, he guessed it was worth it. He had found a connection they could look into.
Gus
Friday, June 12 11:00AM
“With water and pineapples,” Brian repeated, looking down at his phone.
Kate glanced over his shoulder to see the tweet from Guitar Gus. “Not exactly
great clues as this whole city is surrounded by water and pineapples are everywhere. Do you know why they are such a big deal here?”
They walked down the street, the temperature and humidity already feeling warm.
“Nope, no idea. I guess we will have to wait and see what his next tweet is. Now, why don’t we check out Charleston City Market? A lot of local art is sold there.”
Kate nodded, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “That sounds good. Maybe some people who aren’t supposed to have art for sale will be there.”
“Like CDs?” Brian winked.
She nodded and followed his lead as they changed directions.
“Mind if I ask a question?”
Kate looked at him, knowing her eyebrows were high on her forehead.
He smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not out to pry secrets from your soul. However, you and I have spent less time together as any two members of this…family. If we’re going to be stuck together, we would do well to know stuff about each other.”
She nodded and felt the tension drain from her shoulders. It would be nice to talk about nothing meaningful but have a pleasant discussion.
“So, what’s your favorite food? What do you dislike? It would be horrible for your brother to take you to a restaurant you hate…unless he wanted to make you angry on purpose.” He winked at her.
Kate couldn’t help but smile. “I like salads and good sandwiches with lots of vegetables. Italian is also good. I’m not really into pizza, fast food, or Chinese.”
“You just knocked out my favorite foods!” Brian said with a grin. “Of course, Tex-Mex is also a big hit with me. I don’t suppose they have much of that here.”
They stopped at a crosswalk and waited for the “walk” sign.
“Okay, your turn to ask a question.”
Kate chewed on her lip for a moment, thinking. “Are you into history?”
Brian nodded as they moved forward with a crowd to cross the street. “I love it. However, I’m a rebel when it comes to history. I think most people twist history to fit their own agenda. The Confederate states are a prime example of this.”
She almost rolled her eyes, but she stopped herself in time. “Are you one of those people that think the South should have won?”
He grinned. “Men make plans, but it is God’s plan that always prevails. The scripture states that clearly. The North winning was all part of God’s master plan, but I do think most people fail to understand what the South was really fighting for. Read the secession papers of the South. You’ll see slavery was one of only many reasons they were leaving the Union. It’s not nearly as cut-and-dry as modern historians would have you believe. Ah, here we are.”
Kate lifted her gaze. A red brick and yellow plaster building stood in front of them. Steps with green railing led to an upper portion. People came in and out of arched doorways on the street level.
“So what kind of art do they sell here?” Kate asked.
“Lots of different things. Locally woven baskets, paintings, glassware, and such. It should be fun.”
They strode in, and the sound of many conversations filled the air. They stopped to watch as a woman wove a basket. Kate quickly found that the handmade baskets were something Charleston was famous for. While there were all sorts of artisans around, basket making seemed to be the predominant craft. Both Kate and Brian asked a couple of times about Guitar Gus CDs, but every time they were directed to one of the stores that had a contract to sell them.
Kate’s phone dinged, and she pulled it out. She had received an alert that Guitar Gus had posted another tweet.
@WhereisGuitarGus: Fountains are inspiring. #whereisguitargus #CharlestonSC
Kate tapped Brian on the shoulder and held up the phone for him to see. He pulled out his own phone. When he met Kate’s gaze, he had a smile on his face.
“Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Waterfront Park.”
Kate kept hold of his arm as they pushed through the people. “What?”
Brian smiled at her as his blond hair was tossed by the breeze. “The pineapple fountain.”
Kate shook her head. The city did seem obsessed with their pineapples. She had seen quite a few different pineapple items for sale at the market. Brian led her through the tourists, down Meeting Street and then Queen. After four blocks, she found herself staring at the lovely white structure. A pier jutted out of the water, and a roof had been built over it to block the sun’s heat. Swinging benches invited those walking through to sit and enjoy the view and breeze. Trees had been planted at intervals, bordering gravel paths. Brian led her further down the path, and the soft strains of the guitar met her ears. They found themselves part of a crowd. A young man with a guitar stood in front of a fountain made to look like a pineapple. He started singing.
Down by the water, near my South Carolina home
Stands a fountain proud, with the symbol of our town
People from the outside think it’s kinda weird
But to me, it will always be very dear.
His strumming became more vigorous.
Pineapple fountains, and majestic ocean view
How could anybody see and still be blue
Pineapple fountains, and majestic ocean view
You’re part of me, a part of home
Kate listened as the song went on, but her focus was on the young musician. Most of the street musicians she had known had been bearded men past their prime looking for a way to earn some money. This young man was clean-shaven, and had a lot of passion in his music. It was easy to overlook some of the corniness of the lyrics. This was what he loved, his music and the city. Yet, could that be an act? Could making money be more important to him? He couldn’t make a lot at what he was doing. Had he turned to methods that weren’t legal to support his music?
Applause broke out when the song ended. Several people rushed forward to get pictures and to have albums signed.
“We found Gus!” three teens shouted into their camera as they took a selfie with the famed musician. They laughed and moved on, and Brian and Kate moved forward.
“Man, you’re seriously good,” Brian said.
Gus looked up at Brian, a shy smile on his face. It was hard to think this was a celebrity, local or not. He had a rather plain face and dark hair in a crew cut. He wore cargo pants and a white T-shirt with hash-tag “Where is Guitar Gus” on it.
“Thanks,” he said, glancing between Kate and Brian.
“One of the reasons my sister and I chose Charleston is that we’ve followed your Twitter account for a couple of months. We wanted to see you and the places you talked about. Where were you on May sixteenth? No one ever found you that I could tell.”
Gus’s shy smile returned. “A nursing home. My grandmother asked me to come and play for the residents. Since I wasn’t at a tourist sight, I guess no one could figure out where I was.”
Brian raised a hand. “High five, man.”
Gus hesitated for a moment, then gave a soft high five.
“Any chance you’ll tell us where you will be tomorrow? We didn’t have time to buy CDs, and we wanted to get you to sign them.”
Gus shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t ever know where I’ll be in advance. I go where the music takes me.” He adjusted his guitar and started strumming again.
Brian and Kate listened as he started the song over again. After a few moments, they walked down the gravel path to the pier. There was an open swinging bench, and they took advantage of it.
“He isn’t what I expected,” Kate said. “I thought he would be full of himself from all the attention. He seemed a little proud in front of the camera.”
Brian used his legs to get the bench moving, the breeze off the Cooper River providing a cooling effect. “Some people just ham it up in front of the camera, but it could also be how they present the film they take as well.”
“I guess so. It is sad that someone is ripping off such a sweet y
oung man.” Unless he was part of it. Although after meeting him, Kate found it hard to believe.
“They rip off thousands of other artists every day,” Brian said. “Piracy is very prevalent nowadays, and it’s done mostly online.”
She shifted and looked out toward the water.
“I’m sorry. Did I bring up a hot-button issue? I didn’t mean to.”
She sighed and looked down at her hands. “Kim and Logan talked about it the other day. They tried to drag me into the discussion. I don’t really have an opinion. I just don’t think it’s a big deal.”
Brian turned his attention out toward the water as well.
“What? You don’t agree?”
There was no grin or teasing on his features when he turned back toward her. “I know you’re finding all of us overwhelming, and we’ve been pushing too hard to get into your life. I can keep silent about some things and wait until you’re ready. Now, where are we going to eat?”
Kate wasn’t sure why, but she felt a little disappointed that he hadn’t pursued the issue. Shouldn’t she be thrilled? Sometimes, she didn’t even understand herself.
You Can’t Save the World
Friday, June 12 1:00PM
Kim bent over Patrick and placed some arnica gel onto his jaw. He tried not to wince, but the skin was tender to even the slightest touch.
“If you had come yesterday when this happened, it wouldn’t hurt so bad,” Kim said, spreading the gel along his injured jawline, not stopping when he groaned.
“I thought I could sleep it off.”
“Like a headache?”
Patrick huffed. “I admit, it sounds stupid now, but after getting done with the police and listening to everyone give me advice about how to deal with Jasper in the future, it sounded reasonable. Besides, at least I have the first bit of information for your evidence board.” He swept his hand to the board that was set up in the middle of the hotel meeting room. It was their center of operations for this case.