Sinister Justice

by Steve Pickens

  “Wonder what that is about?” Derek asked.

  “Don’t know,” Jake said, making a mental note to see Alex soon.

  They resumed eating, Derek ordering another bottle of wine while they finished the meal. The Victorian willow china was cleared away and they ogled the dessert menu before ordering cheesecake.

  “When you have time, Jake, I’d like to ask you about your workout routine. Jason tells me you’re a walking junk-food garbage can, and yet you look incredible.”

  “Thanks. I’m actually cutting back on the weights a little bit. I’m starting to look a little too bulky,” Jake lamented.

  “If only I had that problem,” said Jason.

  “You and me both. Problem is I loathe working out. I’m fine with walking but all that banging of metal and running till you’re ready to drop doesn’t do it for me.”

  “I think you look fine,” said Derek.

  “So do I,” said Jake, squeezing Sam’s thigh under the table. “I only worry about your family’s penchant for diabetes.”

  “Which is why I walk. And diabetes be damned, this is excellent cheesecake.”

  “I feel like I’m in an episode of the Golden Girls,” said Derek.

  Laughter erupted from the table where Alex, Emma, and Miranda were sitting. Alex glanced across the room, caught sight of Jake and Sam, and immediately came over to their table.

  “You’ve been avoiding me,” he said solemnly to Jake.

  “I’ve done nothing of the kind, Alex. You’ve got yourself all wrapped up in that old boat of yours.”

  “Which you haven’t even seen yet.”

  “And I’ve had things going on, which I’m sure Sam has filled you in on.”

  “Not lately. He banned me from my own boat,” said Alex, winking at Sam.

  “You didn’t tell me that.”

  “I’m sure I told you. Didn’t I tell you?”

  “You always think you tell me things, and then you forget.”

  “No, that’s you.”

  “Be that as it may,” said Alex. “I’m going to call you, and we’re going to have lunch next week, okay?”

  “Absolutely,” said Jake, smiling.

  “Good. Now Sam, I had an idea about the boat…”

  “No, no, no!” said Sam, burying his face in his hands.

  Alex broke into a hearty chuckle. “Oh, you’re so easy. Well, I’ve got to get back to my guests. Emma wants a financial report and Miranda’s updating me on what she’s dug up on Wilde Park, since it seems Longhoffer isn’t going to give up as easily as we all thought.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Sam.

  “You’ll have to wait for the town meeting next week, but I can say I believe I found his backer.”

  “I wondered about that,” Jake said. “Reed has never struck me as being loaded with cash.”

  “He isn’t. That’s why he’s pulled my father into this, though I’m sure if I confronted him with it, he’d deny it.”

  “Your father?” said Derek.

  “Just one in a long line of sins,” said Alex with a sigh. “He’s also trying to plow under most of his neighborhood and prevent the eastern half of the Sky to Sea trail from being done. A real peach, my father.”

  “You going to be bringing this up at the next town meeting?” asked Jake.

  He patted Jake on the shoulder and before turning and walking back to his table said, “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  “Boy, there’s a mystery there,” Derek said.

  Jake smiled to himself, remembering Sam had told him Alex said the same thing about Derek. He was about to say something when his eyes caught who had just strode into the Illahee Inn.

  “Oh, shit,” said Jake.

  “What is it?” asked Sam.

  “Look who just walked in,” said Jake.

  Chapter Fifteen

  All four of them turned toward the dining room’s two tall mahogany doors to see Alex’s parents standing in the doorframe. His slate gray hair appeared glued to his head with hair cream, in a style that had gone out with the Eisenhower administration. Bright blue, red-rimmed eyes burned from his chiseled, weathered face, his expression haughty. His broad-shouldered presence commanded space, and although he seemingly took up the entire doorframe, his shoulders looked slightly hunched. She was an elegant woman in her early sixties, her graying hair pulled up in a tight bun. She wore a pale blue suit complete with gloves. Her burgundy handbag was large enough to conceal a machine gun. She had kind features, soft blue eyes, and a round, firm mouth that been turned down slightly by time.

  All four of them turned to see if he had spotted his parents in the doorway.

  “Oh shit,” said Sam.

  “He hasn’t seen them yet,” whispered Jake.

  “Talk about speaking of the devil…” Jason trailed off.

  “Those two despise one another, don’t they?” asked Derek. “I’ve seen Blackburn the Second in the office. I wondered what the hell he and Reed were doing. I knew he couldn’t be there just to rant about how Alex ousted him from the family business.”

  Just at that moment, Alexander Blackburn II spotted his son sitting at the table. He marched stalwartly across the room, nearly colliding with Jake’s chair. The room had gotten deathly quiet since he had entered. One woman had frozen with her fork halfway to her mouth; another was chewing her breadsticks with such ferocity Jake wondered if her jaw would be able to take the force of it.

  Alexander Blackburn shattered the silence by barking, “Well, I see they let anyone in here.”

  Alex looked up from the table at his father towering above him, and he managed a thin smile. “Hello, Pop.”

  “Don’t you call me that.” Blackburn hissed. “I have no son. My son died the day he stuck a knife in my back.”

  “Oh come now, Dad,” said Alex quietly. “What a boring dig. You can do better than that.”

  “Alex,” said Vivian Blackburn, looking between her husband and son, a pained expression on her face. “Please, A.J., not here.”

  “Shut up, Vivian. I’m having a word here with the son of a bitch who threw me out of my own company like I was yesterday’s trash. How kind of him to leave me with my savings and investments, even though that is nearly gone because of all the lawyers I’ve had to hire trying to break down his illegal takeover.”

  “It wasn’t illegal, Dad. And that’s why you’ve gone broke paying lawyers, because there is nothing you can do.”

  “But the ungrateful little bastard didn’t stop there, did he, Vivian?” Blackburn ranted, his voice growing louder. “Not only did he throw my ass out on the street, he tossed out every one of my board of directors. Freddy Thompson killed himself, you know. I hope you’re happy about that.”

  Alex’s expression became stony. “Just good business, isn’t it, Dad?” he asked, his voice like sharpened steel. “Isn’t that what you said about Maureen Barnham? Just good business?”

  The sound of A.J. Blackburn’s fist hitting his son’s face was flat and somehow not dramatic. Alex’s head flew backward, blood pouring from his nose. Jake and Sam were instantly on their feet, as was Emma Kennedy.

  “Now you listen to me, old man,” Alex said, turning to face his father, his voice filled with barely controlled fury. “That is the last time you hit me, do you understand? The next time you try will be the last time you draw a breath on this earth.”

  Blackburn stared his son in the face, his nostrils flared, breath coming in heaves. His fist was still balled at his side, his face a mask of hatred. Next to him, Vivian Blackburn wept silently, her hands covering her mouth.

  “I think you had better leave, Mr. Blackburn,” Emma Kennedy said.

  “That’s a swell idea,” said Jake, moving in next to Blackburn.

  He returned his gaze to his son, unclenching his fist. “You just wait. All of you. You just wait until I’m done with this crop of bumpkins you call a town. Wilde Park is just the beginning. You mark my words. Come on, Vivian, let’
s get out of here.”

  “And I will thank you to never set foot on the premises again,” said Emma.

  Blackburn turned and looked as if he was about to say something, but again eyed Jake, whose arms were crossed in front of him, and decided better of it. He stomped out of the dining room, Vivian Blackburn trailing after him like a wraith.

  Jake turned to Alex, who was dabbing at his nose with one of the cloth napkins. “I’m sorry, Emma. I’ll pay for everyone’s dinner,” said Alex.

  “What are you, nuts? That was the best piece of dinner theater this town has ever seen,” she said, as patrons slowly began talking and resuming their meals. “I should charge double.”

  Alex laughed as he stemmed the flow of blood from his nose. “Ah, I knew there was a reason I went into business with you.”

  “That old Irish sense of humor,” Kennedy agreed.

  “Alex, are you okay?” Miranda asked.

  “Yeah, it’s not broken or anything. The old man can still pack a wallop though.”

  “What the hell was that all about?” Jake asked, kneeling next to Alex.

  “A very old wound that I rubbed some salt in. I shouldn’t be too surprised that he flipped out like that,” he said, taking notice of Jake’s arched left eyebrow. “Ah, you want an explanation.”

  “No, he doesn’t,” said Sam, tugging Jake up. “Come on, Nosy, show’s over.”

  Jake gave Sam an insolent look and turned back to Alex. “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, Jake. I’m fine. I’m sorry if I spoiled your dinner.”

  “We were on dessert anyway,” said Jason.

  “Jason,” Jake said, exasperated. He turned his attention back to Alex. “Call me tomorrow, okay?”

  “Will do,” said Alex, dabbing his nose. “And Jake? Thanks for coming to my defense.”

  “Any time, Alex. Any time.”

  * * *

  They had said their good-byes to Jason and Derek and headed for Wilde Park. It was another flawless, clear night, with the sliver of a waning moon slowly rising over Mount Baker. Frost had started to form on the grass by the time they arrived, and Jake was happy he’d decided on his heavier coat. They took the path that led down to the water, and on the beach they found the trunk of an old Douglas fir, long polished smooth by the waves, and sat down, listening to the gentle lap of the waves on the shore and the gurgle of the creek beside them.

  Sam glanced around for a moment, and then passionately kissed his husband.

  “Yowsa,” said Jake, feeling the blood rush to various parts of his body. “What was that for?”

  “For being gallant.”

  “Oh, knock it off.”

  “Well, you were. You jumped right to your feet ready to pound that old bastard were he to try something again.”

  “I would have, you know. I don’t know how anyone—a father in particular—could hit someone like that.”

  “Well, Alex did mention rubbing salt in an old wound.”

  “Yeah, but hitting Alex would be like kicking a puppy, you know?”

  “You have a point. Although when he told his father if he ever hit him again it would be the last thing he did, that was a tone I’d never heard before. I could see Alex pulling the trigger on someone.”

  “Sam, that’s an awful thing to say.” Jake shrugged, moving in closer to Sam to share the body heat. “You’re right, though. I mean, it was just…”

  “Icy?”

  “Yes,” said Jake. “Like this log. My bum’s going numb.”

  “Yeah, mine too. But it’s such a pretty night.”

  Jake closed his eyes, listening to the comforting gurgle of the creek as it emptied into the Bay. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, looking across Ferryboat Channel over to Rosario Island. The lights of the tiny village near the ferry dock glimmered in the clear air, the rest of the island a dark mass behind it. The small ferry Rosario Islander cut across the channel, its navigation lights shining brightly in the darkness. To his right, the lights of Arrow Bay blazed in a steady orange glow.

  “What’d you think of Derek?” Jake asked Sam.

  “I like him well enough.”

  “But?”

  “Even though I’m glad he didn’t start quizzing us about Leona, I can’t say I entirely trust him.”

  “Jason probably warned him not to. I wish he’d deterred him with more hunting stories. Dinner was kind of awkward.” He paused. “I don’t trust him either.”

  “The Weinberg thing was hanging over everything the entire time,” said Sam.

  “Like the drunk uncle at Christmas no one likes to talk about. Something I didn’t understand about what Derek said about the Examiner. Was Reed Longhoffer actually relieved of his post?”

  “From what I gather, the younger brother, David, is en route to Arrow Bay as we speak. Marion sent out the S.O.S. and included the copy of last week’s Examiner to him as evidence. Reed is probably going to be replaced on his post as soon as the younger brother comes back, but right now they’re playing it cool and letting him think he’s won.”

  “I also wonder what Alex meant about Longhoffer not giving up on the park here.”

  Sam sighed heavily. “That worries me too. Reed Longhoffer is a slippery one. If he can force the sale of this land by some odd loophole, he’ll do it. And knowing he’s in league with Blackburn Junior doesn’t exactly fill my heart with joy and mirth.”

  “A match made in hell. Two times the oily deviousness for the price of one. And then there was the somewhat cryptic statement he made.”

  “‘Wilde Park is just the beginning.’ Doesn’t sound like anything pleasant to me.”

  What I can’t figure out is why those two are so determined to stop the Sky to Sea Trail from being completed.”

  “Don’t kid yourself, Jake. While you know I support it, and love the unique character this town has with the greenbelts Professor Mills spoke so eloquently about, it locks up a lot of real estate. The town’s nearly reached its building cap. Unless they expand the city limits again, the Sky to Sea is going to basically shut off any more commercial development in town.”

  “Those two old bastards—”

  “Jacob.”

  “They’re old bastards, Samuel, you’ll have to deal with the obscenity. In any event, those two sons of bitches—”

  “Now you’re doing it to goad me.”

  “—could do more for expanding commerce in this town by rehabilitating some of the buildings in Old Town.”

  “I agree in principle, and certainly something should be done, particularly with the old hotel, but none of the buildings in Old Town could house a SuperLoMart. Arrow Bay is such a tourist draw and is such a pretty little town. I don’t understand why anyone would want to destroy that.”

  “Me either,” said Jake. “But I assume that’s why Alex has the intrepid Ms. Zimmerman on the case?”

  “No one knows this town better than our lovely librarian. I don’t think there’s a skeleton in this town’s ample supply of closets that she doesn’t know about,” said Sam, shivering. “Okay, beautiful out here or not, I’m freezing my butt off.”

  “Well, we can go home and warm up your butt.”

  “I was thinking of a long soak in a hot bath.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you are.”

  “I didn’t say I’d be in the tub alone,” said Sam.

  “Ah, lovely old claw foot tubs. I knew there was a reason we kept it in the house.”

  “You mean aside from the fact it weighs a bloody ton and could only have gone out of the house via a hole cut into the roof,” said Sam, rising.

  They started back up the hillside and into the park proper. The cold had chased most of the day users of the park away hours ago, and the trails were empty. They decided to loop the long way around to the parking lot to get a bit of a walk in. Bracing as it was and despite the temperature of Sam’s posterior, neither of them wanted to let the cold, quiet night flit away without being fully appreciated.


  “How’s your headache?” asked Sam.

  “Gone, finally. Must have started to go when I was talking to Rachel. It was good to hear from her finally.”

  “She’s such a wonderful person. I just wish she could find someone equally as wonderful for her.”

  “I’m sorry things are going so badly for her, but I’m happy she’s finally getting out of D.C.”

  Sam stopped suddenly. He turned to his right, peering into the thicket of wild roses bordering the creek.

  “What is it?”

  “I thought I saw something.”

  “Maybe it’s Misty Snipes, come to cook your children and eat them,” said Jake with a yawn.

  “Oh har har. Don’t you ever catch something out of the corner of your eye and can’t tell what it is, but you’re sure you saw something there?”

  Jake gave Sam an appraising look and said, “How long has it been since you had your prescription updated?”

  “Oh, quit being Mr. Clever.” Sam stopped suddenly. “Did you see that?”

  “See what?”

  “I just thought I saw somebody go into the bushes.”

  “Probably Gladys. She scared the hell out of us the last time we were here, remember?”

  “I don’t think it was Gladys.”

  “Where about?” Jake asked.

  Sam pointed to a thicket of huckleberry and sword ferns enveloped in a swath of shadow. The streetlamp nearest them cast the far edge of the path into deep gloom, and it was nearly impossible to see between the branches.

  “In there?” Jake asked, picking up a large rounded chunk of granite from the edge of the path.

  “About there, yes.”

  “Okay Gladys Nyberg, you’ve got until the count of three, and I’m throwing this rock in. One, two, three.” Jake hurled the rock into the thicket with a quick rocket launch of his muscular arm.

  “Ouch! Son of a bitch!” Detective Adam Haggerty leapt up from the brush.

  “What the hell are you doing creeping around in the bushes?”

  Haggerty was rubbing the back of his head. “That’s assaulting a police officer, I’ll have you know,” he said.