Part 34 (2/2)
Dar closed her eyes. The beating her friend had taken was hideous. DeSalliers, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You don't know what you just stirred up. She laid her hands on the iron rails and gazed at Charlie's battered form. ”Hey.”
His eyes were mere slits, but they opened a little wider on seeing Dar.
Bud gently clasped his hands around Charlie's, chafing them.
”Called in the Marines, Punky.”
A faint hint of a smile pulled at Charlie's lips. ”So I see.”
”Take it easy.” Dar leaned on the rails. ”I'm in charge now, and I make the rules,” she said. ”They giving you good drugs?”
Charlie nodded slightly.
”Good.” Dar wrote her cell phone number on the pad sitting on the small bedside table. ”You need anything, call.” She put the pen down. ”I'm going to stop at the desk when I go out. You'll get taken care of.”
”B...” Bud straightened.
Dar just looked at him, and Bud subsided with a tired sigh.
”I've got a wire transfer coming in tomorrow,” Dar went on. ”We'll get your Uncle Guido taken care of, then I'm gonna go after DeSalliers.”
”What are you gonna do?” Bud asked.
”Find out the truth first, then I'm gonna give him exactly what he asked for,” Dar said. ”You staying here for a while,” she asked Bud.
Bud nodded.
”Inn at Blackbeard's Castle. We've got a room for you,” Dar told him.
Charlie made a m.u.f.fled sound that sounded suspiciously like laughter.
”You hush,” Bud growled at him. ”I can stay right here.”*207 Kerry leaned over and gave Charlie's arm a squeeze. ”Chase him out, okay?”
Charlie nodded, still chuckling. ”Runnin' some tests or suchlike on me. Checking my guts out,” he explained. ”h.e.l.l, if they get their a.s.ses done, I'll drag him over there m'self.” His bruised eyes went to Dar's face. ”d.a.m.ned if you don't sound just like your daddy.”
Dar straightened. ”Thanks.” She gave him a gracious nod.
”C'mon, Ker. Let's go light some fires.”
Kerry's eyebrows went up. So did Bud's and apparently Charlie's, but it was hard to tell.
Dar c.o.c.ked her head. ”What?”
Kerry circled the bed and took Dar's arm. ”You can light my fires anytime, honey,” she a.s.sured Dar. ”But you don't need to brag about it.”
Dar opened her mouth to answer and saw the smirks. She closed her jaw and gathered her dignity, sweeping it around her like a cloak as she followed Kerry's lead out of the room.
Bud glared at the door for a minute, then he released a sigh.
”Son of b.i.t.c.h, I hated doing that.”
”Buddy, Buddy, Buddy...” Charlie squeezed his hand. ”She's a friend, yeah?”
Bud stared at the bleached linen.
”We got any other friends who'd do what she's doing?”
”It twists my shorts,” Bud ground out. ”I ain't a charity case!”
”Bud,” Charlie's voice gentled, and he stroked Bud's cheek, ”for her, it ain't charity,” he said. ”She's Navy; she's family. That runs deep, you know. If anyone from back then asked, and we could, wouldn't we do it?”
”Almost anyone,” Bud muttered. ”But...” He slumped a little.
”Yeah.”
Charlie ruffled his hair affectionately. ”Well then, they gotta let me outta here, 'cause d.a.m.ned if I ain't gonna stay with you in Blackbeard's Inn.”
KERRY PUT THE phone down into its cradle and closed the room service menu. Dar was seated across from her with her laptop open on her lap, its cellular antennae poking up along the side. ”Hey, sweetie?”
”Uh?” Dar looked up, blinking at her.
”Could I bribe you to do that from here?” Kerry patted the bed next to her.
”Sure.” Dar got up and carried the laptop with her, dropping down onto the bed and waiting as Kerry fluffed the pillow up behind her. She leaned back and was rewarded with not only a 208*
backrest, but a body pillow that propped up her arm and twined between her legs. ”What'd ya order?”
”It's a surprise.” Kerry put her head down on Dar's shoulder and examined the screen. ”What's that?”
”Police reports.” Dar scanned them. ”Not that I really know what I'm looking at. I need a lawyer.”
”Sorry.” Kerry stifled a yawn. ”Though, that was actually one of the acceptable alternative careers my family would have allowed me.” She reviewed the cryptic comments on the screen. ”They were hedging their bets. I think they knew Mike wasn't going to cut it.”
Dar rubbed the side of her thumb against the laptop, trying to imagine Kerry as a lawyer. ”What kind of lawyer would you have been?” she asked curiously.
”No kind,” Kerry informed her. ”I never even considered it.”
She scrolled with the thumb pad and clicked. ”First thing I wanted to be was a fireman.”
Dar held back a chuckle. ”That shoulda told them something.”
”Mm.” Kerry chuckled softly. ”Yeah, now that I think about it,”
she agreed. ”Then I wanted to be a research scientist, but I realized in high school that I didn't have the apt.i.tude for it.” She clicked again. ”Then I found computers, and went... Ah hah!”
”Ah hah.” Dar examined the screen. It was a complaint filing, apparently by Bob's grandmother at the time of his grandfather's death. In the stark, impersonal language used by the police, the complaint involved the woman's accusation that Bob's uncle had somehow been involved in the sinking, and detailing why. Threats had apparently been made. The police had not been impressed, and merely had noted the complaint along with the comment that the woman had been extremely ”emotional” when the statement had been taken.
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