Bender at the Bon Parisien (A Novel)

by Pres Maxson

  Victor nodded as he poured coffee. “Thank you.”

  “I don’t think you came aboard with shoes,” Sarah said, looking at the bartender’s feet.

  “Oh, right.”

  “I have an old pair of sandals that you can take if you need them.”

  “That’s great, thank you. You have been very hospitable.”

  “Well, I have many visitors when my husband is away. Sometimes it’s people we know, other times it’s people in need.”

  “Seems dangerous,” Victor said, sitting down across from her. An all-weather area rug felt cold and hard on his bare feet. “Doesn’t your husband worry that someone will hurt you when he’s gone?”

  “Maybe,” she smiled. “But I don’t tell him half the time.”

  “Well, I’d be worried,” he said.

  “That’s sweet of you. You have enough to be worried about for yourself though,” she said. “You got thrown off a bridge.”

  “True.”

  “I’m sure that you’re in good shape now. Surely the guy isn’t still up there waiting for you,” Sarah mused.

  Victor sipped his coffee. “Well, I certainly hope not, but I can’t be too sure about it.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  Victor paused as he stared into the blackness of his mug.

  “The thing is,” Victor answered, “I did something wrong.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Something illegal.”

  Sarah shifted in her chair.

  “Oh don’t worry,” Victor continued. “The police aren’t after me or anything. At this stage, it could really just be classified as a personal problem with someone.”

  “Am I in trouble for having you here?” Sarah asked, voicing her obvious concern.

  “No,” the bartender answered. “Still, I should be off.”

  “Well, hang on. Now I’m curious. Your clothes still need to dry anyway. So, out with it. What happened?”

  With a sigh, Victor told her everything.

  * * *

  Victor stayed another night on the barge with Sarah. As he’d recounted the situation to her over coffee that morning, he’d somehow earned enough of her trust to gain the invitation.

  The bartender had learned that Sarah herself was a fairly free-spirited person. Her husband was a business-minded man, who truly seemed to love her eccentricities, perhaps due to a lack of any himself.

  “So you don’t mind him being gone?” Victor asked as the two sat on the deck at night. The soft morning sky had been replaced with stars. Instead of coffee, a bottle of brandy sat on the table.

  Wrapped in a blanket, Sarah answered, “I would of course rather have him here. But, I definitely don’t mind that he has his business.”

  Victor nodded.

  “So,” she said. “What about Trudel? The woman you mentioned this morning?”

  “What about her?” Victor grunted.

  “Will you be running away with her?”

  “I honestly hadn’t planned for that really. It never occurred to me that she would even want to leave.”

  Sarah sat with her feet tucked beneath a blanket, gently swirling her brandy with the motion of her glass.

  Pausing in thought, Victor added, “I actually didn’t really think that we’d wind up together forever anyway.”

  “I gathered, based on what you said this morning about the time in the café with her.”

  Victor took a sip of brandy.

  “May I weigh in here?” Sarah asked.

  “Sure.”

  “I think you should leave alone. Head down to the Riviera like you wanted to.”

  “I can’t. That guy Julian Renard probably has the coin by now. Who knows what’s happened to Fleuse and Jacques? Or even Trudel, for that matter.”

  “Do you think he’d be able to find the coin?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to come out of hiding sometime. What are you going to do?”

  Victor shrugged.

  Sarah continued, “If he has found the coin, this guy probably isn’t going to be after you anymore.”

  “But if he hasn’t found the coin, he’ll probably throw me off another bridge,” the bartender added with a soft laugh. They both drank.

  “Do you mind if I give you a metaphor?”

  “Not at all,” Victor said.

  “Well, my husband and I like to play chess. Sometimes, he thinks he has my king pinned down. To be honest, sometimes he really does because he is much better than I am at chess.”

  Victor snickered. He could never play games like that with Trudel. She’d take a loss too personally.

  “But,” Sarah continued. “He is so used to being better than me at chess, that he doesn’t notice his own flaws. Sometimes, he thinks he has me pinned down, but it is really I who have the upper hand. As he kills off my players, he doesn’t realize that I have positioned his own pawns where I need them.”

  “Clever.”

  “With his own piece on the offensive, his king is open. Do you see what I’m saying?”

  “Somehow use other people to defend myself? I don’t get it,” Victor answered.

  “I lead him to believe he is winning, then I use his own pawns against him. And that’s when I win.”

  “So are you saying that I somehow have the upper hand here? That I can turn the tables?”

  “Maybe you can. This stranger who was following you thinks you’re dead.”

  “That’s true.”

  “It helps that you haven’t left this boat. Unless someone’s been watching you here—and there’s no reason to think that anyone has—then you are currently presumed dead or missing by everyone else.”

  “But I still won’t be able to go get the coin without being seen.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “I suppose I could try to sneak in.”

  “You could. It’s not a terrible idea. But consider this: Why not try to use Peukington’s pawn against him?”

  Victor sipped his brandy.

  Sarah went on, “they think they’re winning. If you were truly a bold player in this, I’d say it’s time to turn the tables.”

  Chapter XVI.

  “Where the hell have you been?!” Trudel shouted as she leapt to her feet and charged at the bartender.

  “Victor!” Fleuse shouted as Trudel sped by.

  Renard stared at the man. Victor took a step backward in the doorway as Trudel approached. I had trouble telling if she would embrace or strike him.

  “Where have you been!?” she screamed again. “You weren’t dead?!” She slapped away at the curtain as if she was angry with the folds, but I knew Victor was in there somewhere. Fleuse finally caught up with her and pulled her back, and Victor finally entered the room.

  “Take it easy, Trudie!” he said as he recovered from the mini-attack. He took a look around the room. “Well everyone is here, even Julian Renard.”

  “How did you …” Renard mustered.

  Victor didn’t let him finish. He swung just once, hard and fast. His fist connected with Renard’s chin. It wasn’t enough to put him on the floor, but it was a solid warning shot anyway. Renard rubbed his face. His expression indicated that he got the point.

  “That’s for throwing me off a bridge, asshole,” Victor grunted.

  “Where have you been?” Fleuse asked.

  “You guys opened my safe?!” Victor exclaimed as he noticed all the currency spread across the bar. “How did you get into it?” He asked as he pulled a hand-rolled cigarette out of his pocket.

  Renard huffed, “Like it did us any good, anyway.”

  “I am the one who actually got it open,” Trudel momentarily beamed with spite. “I hope you hate that, you bastard. We touched every single coin!”

  “Shut up, Trudie,” Victor mumbled with cigarette in his mouth. He was fishing in his pocket for a matchbook.

  “Don’t change the subject!” she yelled. “I need to know everything! Where the he
ll have you been!?”

  Victor was too busy taking inventory of all his coins. “None seem to be missing …” The bartender struck a match and lit the cigarette as he perused his collection, seemingly eyeing every detail.

  “Victor!”

  “Trudel,” Victor said, sounding exhausted. “I will tell you everything if you just relax for a second. There really isn’t too much of a big deal, here. This bastard here throws me off a bridge, I swim around, a woman pulls me on to her boat …”

  “A woman?! I knew it!”

  Victor ignored her and looked directly at me. “Who is this?” He asked the room.

  “Hi, I’m Peter,” I said haplessly. “This is my wife, Janie. We are on vacation, and the concierge has allowed us to come in for a drink or two.”

  “It looks as though it’s been more than a drink or two,” Victor answered as he looked around. He was right. The state of things made it seem as though a raging party were taking place. I guess it was.

  Victor continued, “And, what has happened to you?”

  “What do you mean what has happened to me?” I answered.

  “Surely your shirt didn’t look like that when you walked in here.”

  I had almost forgotten that my favorite blue plaid barely had any structure anymore. Between the rips and the burns, I must have looked as though I had just escaped a shipwreck.

  “Oh, right. Yeah, it’s in bad shape.”

  “There’s an extra one of mine behind the bar, I think. You can wear it if you want,” Victor offered offhandedly. It didn’t occur to me to put on the old shirt behind the bar.

  “Thanks,” I said as I grabbed the flannel. The new shirt was a little dusty, but it was comfortable, warm, and dry.

  “Do you want to take over back here?” I asked.

  “No. I’m sure that you’re doing fine. Besides, my job here is probably gone since I’ve been missing.”

  “Actually,” I mused as I buttoned the old black-checkered shirt, “they obviously don’t have a replacement for you yet.”

  If he heard me, he didn’t care. “So …” Victor said, switching gears. “Who has the coin?”

  “It’s not in here,” Fleuse sighed. “We’ve checked everywhere.”

  “I will not let you ignore me,” Trudel spat. “I don’t care if you never want to see me again, but I am owed an explanation!”

  “Who said that I never wanted to see you again?”

  “Well you leave for a few weeks, so I have begun to get the idea!”

  Victor shrugged. “So I was not around for a little while, who cares!? It’s not like we are married or anything!”

  “Don’t you think she deserved to know where you were?” Fleuse interjected.

  “You couldn’t keep her warm for me, Newman?” Victor jabbed with a smile. Fleuse grimaced. Trudel almost cried.

  “You bastard. I hate you,” she choked off.

  “Victor,” Renard interrupted. “Welcome back. You can sort out all your issues with this woman later. For now, maybe you can clear something up for us, because this evening is becoming more than frustrating.” Renard slowed his speech pattern and spoke deliberately. “Give me the Peukington coin, and we can call it a night. Right now.”

  “Argh!” Pistache finally piped up. “It’s obviously not here! This is a dead end, Renard.”

  “No, it’s here,” Victor cut-in. “Unless someone smuggled it out of here this evening.”

  “No one has left,” Renard grunted.

  “Well, someone got it then,” Victor said.

  “What do you mean, someone got it?” Janie asked, unable to restrain her curiosity.

  “Well, it was hidden in here, and it’s not there now,” Victor said.

  “Was it in the safe?” I asked.

  “Obviously not,” Victor grunted. “You’ve gone through my private things with such care. Surely you would have noticed had it been there.”

  “What was with that napkin?” Janie asked. I knew that she was dying for some answers.

  “Well, that’s it. It was a reminder of my hiding spots among other things. It didn’t lead you to the coin?”

  “We found your letter under the bar,” Trudel interrupted. She obviously didn’t care about the coin. “What was that shit?”

  “What were the names on the napkin?” Pistache wondered aloud as well.

  “Okay Trudie. First of all, you can’t threaten to kill me and not expect me to worry a little. I’d had a few drinks and hid that envelope.”

  “I never said I’d kill you!” she hissed with a flourish of her hand.

  “You did too!”

  “When?!” she shouted.

  “That night here. After one of your shows,” Victor raised his voice.

  “Excuse me,” Pistache interrupted. “Does this have anything to do with anything?”

  “No,” Victor shot him a look. “She is just crazy, and I was drunk.”

  Trudel ignored the comment and shouted at Victor, “Well, I didn’t mean it. I love you. I could never hurt you!”

  “I think you said that you’d stab my eyeballs with toothpicks,” he answered. “Anyway, I’m really not that worried about it.”

  The blood behind Trudel’s face warmed ten degrees in an instant as she struggled to conjure up a response.

  “I hate you so much,” she again specified.

  “What about the names?” Janie repeated Pistache’s question.

  “Well, I do that pretty often, I’m sure you understand,” Victor said with a glance in my direction. “I’m working for tips back there, so I’m trying to remember everyone’s name in the place. Sometimes there just are too many folks to get right off the top of my head. I just wound up using that particular napkin for my hiding places as well.”

  “Focus, Lacquer,” Renard said. “Just cough up the coin. I’m running out of patience.”

  “Well, it was right there!” Victor exclaimed with a motion toward me.

  Renard immediately snapped his head as his eyes frantically scoured the bar area. “Where exactly?”

  “Well, it’s no mystery! Fleuse, Jacques, and Trudie all know where it is. The Americans probably even saw it back there.”

  “What? Where?!” Renard asked.

  “The star on the map you found. I saved that napkin for a reason.”

  “We thought the star was you,” Janie interjected.

  “Why would I need to know where I was?” Victor answered.

  “That’s what I tried to tell them!” Pistache exclaimed.

  “It’s like at the mall,” I said.

  “What?” the former bartender answered. “The star was the coin, not me.”

  No one else in the room seemed to react extraordinarily to the situation, and Janie and I suddenly knew that we had been on the outside of something the entire time. Did the others really know where the coin had been all along?

  “I don’t see it!” Renard continued as he moved to the edge of the bar.

  “Well, of course you don’t. It’s not there now. Someone grabbed it,” Victor snapped.

  “Where are we looking?” I asked.

  “The clock, obviously,” Victor motioned directly behind me. “That’s where it’s been for the past few weeks at least, right where Fleuse inlaid it.”

  I wheeled around to the clock. I hadn’t originally noticed, but there was a small space on the ornate face of the timepiece that was missing decoration. The inlay was so detailed that I hadn’t seen the empty slot at first.

  “He built it into the face of a clock,” Janie explained to herself with a degree of satisfaction. “Hid it in plain sight.”

  “Where is it now?” Renard barked as he addressed the room.

  “Someone has it,” Victor said casually. “I’ve kept an eye on this place.”

  “How could you have kept an eye on this place if you were with another woman?” Trudel asked.

  “Dammit! Are you serious?” Victor snapped. “Just take it easy.”

  “No
, Victor!” Trudel yelled as she stood tall. “The time has come for us to break up!”

  “You think?” he answered with a snide tone.

  “Too long, have I waited for you. I assumed you were dead. Now, you waltz in here, so rude to me. I will not have it.”

  “Okay,” Victor said with a shrug. He began to pickup each coin on the bar one by one and created small stacks.

  “And now,” Trudel continued in a rage. “I have found that you spent the last few weeks with another woman. Well, that’s the last straw for me.”

  Without looking up from organizing his currency, he answered, “Well, I wasn’t involved with her, but I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

  “How can you be so cold to her?” Fleuse asked, now also standing.

  Victor rolled his eyes still without turning around. “Ah Fleuse, still trying to be her knight in shining armor? Typical.”

  “She deserves better, Victor. And frankly, so do I.”

  Now, Pistache was standing as well. Sensing a changing tide in the room, Victor turned around.

  “Why did you hide from us?” Pistache asked.

  “Seriously, my friends. Take it easy,” Victor said.

  “Why not find us?” Pistache asked.

  “You very well know that I couldn’t let Renard here see us together. I wanted him to continue thinking I was dead.”

  “You could have snuck into my shop,” Fleuse offered.

  “Please. He’s been watching your shop. I never felt as though there was ever going to be a safe time to get either of you alone.”

  “You could have at least found me,” Trudel added with tears in her eyes. “I still don’t believe he was ever following me.”

  “He was,” Victor answered. “Besides, what was I going to say? It was pretty much over between us anyway.”

  Trudel’s eyes widened with hurt. “Well at least you could have told me that! Coward!”

  “I’ve had it!” Fleuse suddenly erupted. I didn’t think he could yell like that. “You’ve got a great girl here, Victor. I’ve watched you squander your relationship and take her for granted for far too long!”

  “You can have her,” Victor snapped. “There. Are you finally happy?!”

  “That’s it.” Fleuse said in disgust. He immediately turned toward the curtain. “The coin isn’t even in here, and we’ve all put up with a lot tonight. I’m going to do what I should have done hours ago.”