Resurrection Blues

by James, Harper

  ‘And what happened to the woman?’

  Adamson nodded slowly and deliberately.

  ‘Say it.’

  ‘Yes, and what happened to the woman. Is that specific enough for you? If I’d known anyone would ever give a fuck, I’d have taken a picture.’

  ‘I want to talk to my uncle alone.’

  Adamson stood up and headed towards the door.

  ‘No problem. I need to use the bathroom anyway.’

  Crow told him where it was and they waited until they heard him slowly climb the stairs.

  ‘Is there any way he could’ve overheard us talking earlier? What he said was exactly what we discussed.’

  Crow spread his hands.

  ‘I’d have thought that was a good thing. But no, it’s impossible. The walls in this house are thick. There are two doors between us and anyone in the kitchen. What are you thinking of doing?’

  ‘I don’t know. All his demands amount to the same thing. Help prove he’s innocent. I’d have to be very sure he is before I agreed to that.’

  ‘He’s putting his life in your hands, you realize that? He’s trusting you. It’s quite a responsibility.’

  Above them, a toilet flushed, saving Evan from having to respond, to think about how he felt about that. A minute later Adamson walked back in without knocking.’

  ‘What’s it going to be?’

  ‘I need to think about it.’

  Adamson lifted his stick and pointed it at Evan’s face.

  ‘Don’t take too long. You know how it is, how your memory fades as you get older. Ask your uncle here, he’ll tell you. And the person I want you to find? They’ve got an unhealthy lifestyle, if you know what I mean. If they die . . .’

  So do the answers.

  Crow showed Adamson out. When he came back, the satisfied smile on his face said that his little experiment had been a huge success, with a blindingly obvious outcome that even Evan couldn’t fail to see.

  ‘You have to agree to his first request.’

  ‘Don’t worry about the unhealthy lifestyle, you mean? He’s not talking about too much booze and cigarettes. It’s probably a Mexican drug baron.’

  Crow gave a dismissive flick of the hand.

  ‘Everything follows from there. If you find this person and they prove he wasn’t responsible, then you can feel comfortable agreeing to the second request and forgetting all about the lighter you found.’

  ‘Which leaves the third demand.’

  ‘It’s only money.’

  ‘Tell that to my sister.’

  Crow was right. Agreeing to Adamson’s first demand helped them both. If Adamson hadn’t asked him to find someone who would alibi him, Evan would’ve needed to do it himself anyway. It still didn’t stop the feeling that he was being manipulated, wasn’t in control of his own destiny. He also knew that once he’d taken the first step, there’d be no going back wherever it led. And it wouldn’t be anywhere good.

  ‘Okay. First thing is to find out when exactly Robbie Clayton disappeared.’

  ‘Leave it with me. I’ll find out everything I can before you enter into a pact with the devil.’

  It was meant light-heartedly, but the words spoken by Crow in this creepy old house made the hairs on the back of Evan’s neck stand up. He didn’t believe in the devil, you didn’t need to when you’d come face-to-face with evil incarnate in Carl Hendricks’ basement. He hoped he made the right call on Jack Adamson when the time came.

  ‘It’s just an expression, Evan,’ Crow said, resting his hand on Evan’s arm.

  Evan waved the hand and the discussion off.

  ‘What about the other thing? The Medical Examiner, Ivanovsky.’

  ‘Clean as a whistle.’

  ‘No complaints from any of his patients then?’

  Crow smiled and relaxed visibly as Evan appeared to shrug off the effect his careless words had produced.

  ‘That’s one thing you can say for the dead, they’re very amenable, they don’t complain much.’

  ‘Nothing else?’

  ‘What, like selling body parts on ebay, you mean? If he did, he didn’t get caught.’

  ‘What about his personal life?’

  Crow shook his head, the flap of skin under his chin swaying from side to side. It made Evan think he should change his name to turkey.

  ‘No. Not even a DUI or a parking ticket. His credit history is good, no financial difficulties, nothing that might compromise him. If there’s anything, it’s very well hidden. I’ll keep looking . . .’

  The implication was clear. It would be a waste of time.

  ‘One more thing,’ Evan said. ‘Are there records you can check to see if a particular aircraft has been involved in an accident or a crash, anything like that?’

  ‘Of course. The NTSB database.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘National Transportation Safety Board. They investigate all incidents and publish a report. Why?’

  Evan told him about the visit to David Eckert and the hunch he had about the plane he wouldn’t let Lauren fly being involved in an accident. He got out his phone and found the photo he’d taken of Eckert’s Grand Caravan jump plane. The registration number was clearly visible on the side of the fuselage, along with the company name on the tail fin. He handed it to Crow.

  ‘Might as well look it up now.’

  Crow went to his laptop and opened the NTSB aviation accident database. Only then did he look at the phone in his hand to enter the registration number. He did a double-take, turned back towards Evan.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The company name on this plane—Jumpin Jake’s’

  ‘It’s the company owned by Lauren’s father’s partner, David Eckert. Her father, Jake Kincade, used to own part of it before he disappeared.’

  ‘He’s not the only one. George Ivanovsky used to own a chunk of it too.’

  Chapter 33

  EVAN’S PHONE SUDDENLY RANG in Crow’s hand before Evan had a chance to respond to Crow’s revelation. Crow handed it to him. It was Arturo Rivera.

  ‘Hello? Who is this?’ Arturo said.

  It was as if their conversation of the previous day had never happened.

  ‘It’s Evan Buckley. We arranged to meet tomorrow evening at six. In Bar Coyote.’

  ‘Did we? I don’t remember that. Do I know you?’

  Evan had the distinct impression that he knew all about him by now, even if they’d never met.

  ‘I spoke to your ex-wife yesterday.’

  ‘That bitch? I haven’t seen her for five years.’

  The sentiment was the same as in their previous conversation, but that was all the truth there was in Arturo’s words. Evan had seen him with his wife not twenty-four hours earlier. He’d seen the shock and dismay as he recognized who it was that had woken him. Even if Evan accepted that he’d forgotten about their own conversation and agreement to meet, he wouldn’t forget the way she’d slapped and hustled him out of the bar.

  He prepared himself to listen to a script prepared by Eva Rivera.

  ‘I can understand why,’ Evan said, trying again to get Arturo on his side. ‘So, are we good for tomorrow at six?’

  There was a long pause, maybe while Arturo consulted the notes Eva had prepared for him. Evan wondered what hold she had over him after all this time, whether it was in any way connected to Lauren.

  ‘Sorry. I . . . uh . . . can’t make it tomorrow.’

  ‘That’s a shame. How about—’

  ‘In fact, I’m going to be out of town for a while. Why don’t you give me a call in a couple weeks? I’m sure it can wait until then, whatever it is.’

  Evan didn’t bother to ask why he wasn’t interested in what the it might be. There was no point in antagonizing him, pointing out holes in his story. That could wait until they met which would be a lot sooner than Arturo expected.

  ‘Okay, if that’s—’

  ‘Sorry, gotta go.’

  He was off the line so fast i
t sounded like he’d been taken short and needed to make a dash for the men’s room. Evan stared at the dead phone in his hand.

  ‘Something you said?’ Crow suggested with a grin.

  ‘Must have been. Lucky we arranged to meet tonight and not tomorrow. A slip of the tongue.’

  ‘What? Twice?’

  Evan shrugged. That’s the way it goes. He’d had a feeling as soon as he heard Arturo’s voice that he wouldn’t agree to meet after Eva had gotten to him. He imagined the poor guy thinking he’d chance it, risk going there tonight, thinking he’d at least get one last night before he had to lie low, before Evan came looking for him.

  Evan found the picture of Eckert’s plane again to check the NTSB database. They went back to Crow’s laptop and entered the registration number into the search box.

  ‘Nothing,’ Crow said. ‘That aircraft hasn’t been involved in any aviation accident the NTSB has investigated.’

  ‘Do they investigate everything?’

  ‘I don’t know. But they’d definitely investigate anything that involved fatalities.’

  That rules that out, Evan thought to himself. There must be another reason why Eckert wouldn’t let Lauren fly. But it still bugged him. Eckert had been very specific that he didn’t want Lauren to fly that particular plane. After something had happened.

  ‘Gets under your skin, doesn’t it?’ Crow said as if he was reading Evan’s mind.

  ‘Can you find out if anybody else owns a piece of that company? Or has previously.’

  ‘No problem. You want me to do it now?’

  Evan shook his head. He had enough to think about already, he didn’t need any more complications until he’d had a chance to think about what he already had. And Crow’s house with its dark, dusty rooms was making him claustrophobic. He suddenly felt the need for daylight and fresh air before he went to confront Arturo Rivera in a dimly-lit bar.

  And that wasn’t all.

  He felt the presence of the unidentified man in the photograph looming over him. He had a premonition, an uneasy sensation in the pit of his stomach, that every new revelation would only lead him in that one direction.

  Chapter 34

  EVAN WAITED UNTIL after eight p.m. before he turned up at Bar Coyote. He had a feeling Arturo would want to make the most of his last evening in his favorite bar before being cast out into the wilderness. He wanted Arturo to have a few drinks inside him to ease his tongue and take the edge off the fear of his wife, but not so many as to impair his memory.

  As soon as he walked in, he spotted Arturo sitting at the same table as the previous evening. Evan walked past him to get to the bar. A different bartender was on duty, an older woman with bright red lipstick that went well over the real boundaries of her lips. That put an end to any ideas of resuming the previous night’s conversation and gossip about Eva Rivera’s family.

  ‘I’ll have two of what Art’s drinking,’ Evan said when she walked up.

  She opened the fridge, grabbed two bottles of imported beer. Evan carried them to Arturo’s table and put one of them down in front of him. Arturo looked up in surprise as Evan sat down opposite him.

  ‘Think of them as a going away present,’ Evan said.

  The look of surprise turned into a confused frown.

  ‘You told me earlier you were going away for a while. When you called me. I thought I’d drop by and help give you a good send off.’

  The penny finally dropped. Arturo’s features went through a few more moves before settling on a mix of apprehension with a hint of irritation behind it for being caught out so easily.

  Evan took a swallow of his beer and looked around the room, nodded appreciatively at the comfortable background noises—glasses clinking, men talking in both Spanish and English, a jukebox playing country music. He leaned forward. Automatically, Arturo did the same.

  ‘This is a nice place. I’d be really pissed if my wife, sorry, ex-wife, stuck her nose in and tried to stop me coming here.’ He jabbed the table top with his middle finger to emphasize the point. ‘Really pissed.’

  Arturo was looking at him as if he was wondering how strong these imported beers really were.

  ‘But she looks like the sort of bi . . . woman who’d do that sort of thing.’

  There was a hint of a smile at the corners of Arturo’s mouth at Evan’s deliberate slip.

  ‘What did she say not to tell me?’ Evan whispered and leaned in even closer. ‘And what’s she gonna do if you don’t jump to it and do as she tells you? Give you another slap?’

  For an instant Arturo’s face froze. Then, slowly, his smile rebuilt itself and he laughed.

  ‘I know what you’re trying to do. Almost calling her a bitch to get on the right side of me, and all the rest of it. Trying to get me riled up because I won’t stand up to her.’

  ‘I saw her drag you out of here yesterday, too. Embarrassing you in front of the guys you see in here every day.’

  Arturo shook his head and pointed at Evan with the bottom of his beer bottle, amusement in his eyes.

  ‘It won’t work.’

  Evan shrugged, opened his hands wide.

  ‘Worth a try.’

  ‘Because I already made up my mind. I don’t care what she says. I’ll listen to what you’ve got to say and decide for myself if I want to answer your questions. It’s not just about her.’

  Evan was surprised, and pleased, to hear it. Arturo had raised Lauren the same as Eva had. He had every right to make up his own mind. Would he have gotten the same response if he’d come in at six? Had the two hours sitting at this table drinking strong beer helped Arturo grow a bigger pair of cojones? It didn’t really matter so long as he was talking.

  ‘I take it you’ll still be coming in here every night same as usual.’

  Arturo grinned at him.

  ‘You bet your ass. You said it, it’s a nice place. She told me you were asking about Lauren’s family before we took her in.’

  Evan wanted to get a feel for how truthful Arturo was likely to be before he spent any more time with him. He pulled out his phone and found the group photo. He put the phone on the table between them. Arturo glanced down, then looked back up sharply.

  ‘Eva won’t be happy about you taking a picture of that. I don’t suppose she knows you took it.’

  ‘No. Do you know that man?’

  Once again, he pointed to the man with his arm around Kristina’s shoulders.

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘Do you remember his name?’

  ‘Oh yes.’

  That was a very different response to any that Evan had got so far.

  ‘Third time lucky.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Arturo said.

  ‘I asked Eva and David Eckert the same question. They both said they couldn’t remember his name.’

  Arturo nodded but didn’t pass any comment on the reliability of Eva or Eckert’s memories. That wasn’t quite true. He picked up the phone and studied the image more closely. Evan watched his face, saw the mouth harden, the jaw clench.

  ‘I wish I had such a convenient memory.’

  ‘I heard you stopped him from talking to Lauren’s husband at the funeral. Put a hand on his chest to stop him.’

  Arturo looked down at his hand as Evan said the words. Evan did the same, saw the little finger was bent and twisted at an unnatural angle. The fingernail was missing. His breath caught in his throat, his chest tight as the image of a rail and a set of handcuffs in the back of a van crossed his mind, an old toolbox containing bloody pliers in the corner.

  He looked up at Arturo’s face, met his eyes staring straight back at him.

  ‘It’s not as bad as it looks.’

  ‘I suppose you slipped, hit it with the hammer when you were replacing shingles on the roof.’

  Arturo shrugged. Accidents happen.

  ‘Who’s the man in the photo?’

  ‘His name is Valentine Waits.’

  All around Evan conversations stopped and fo
otsteps hung suspended, after-work drinkers frozen briefly in their lives.

  ‘Something wrong?’ Arturo said. ‘You know the name?’

  Evan shook his head and it was as if the world around him released its breath and movement resumed.

  ‘No.’ It came out as a little squeak. He cleared his throat, tried again. ‘No.’ Much better.

  ‘So,’ Arturo said, cocking his head like a curious dog might, ‘tell me if I’ve got this right. I’m expected to answer your questions and tell the God’s honest truth. You’—he poked Evan on the shoulder—‘on the other hand can lie your face off any time you like. Is that how it goes, or is it me?’

  ‘I know the last name, Waits. I came across it recently, that’s all.’

  ‘That’s all? I wouldn’t like to see what happens to you when you get a big surprise. You carry spare underwear around with you, just in case?’

  Evan took a long cold swallow of beer, draining it, feeling it make its way down inside him. He wished he’d ordered two. Arturo pushed the untouched bottle Evan had bought across the table to him.

  ‘Looks like you need it more than me. And don’t worry, you can tell me about it later if you want. I’m not going to clam up because you don’t know the rules to I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.’

  Arturo took a mouthful of his own beer, his deformed finger sticking out at an odd angle.

  ‘Did you have that roofing accident after you put your hand on Waits’ chest?’

  Arturo grinned at him.

  ‘I thought you didn’t know the guy. Or are you just good at guessing? You want to know why I only happened to hit my pinkie with the hammer and not the rest of them?’

  ‘Because nobody’s that clumsy?’

  ‘You got it. And because we’re family.’

  Evan mouthed the word family, wondering if Arturo was trying to test his theory, see what happened when he got a big shock. Arturo nodded to let him know he’d got it right.

  ‘Used to be family,’ Arturo said, correcting himself.

  ‘Because you’re not with Eva any more, you mean. Even if you are still married on paper.’

  The look on Arturo’s face told him he was way off.