Tom got home at ten p.m. The condo sprinklers had been on and there was the faint reek of the sewer from the reclaimed water that made the grass grow so goddamn green in this desert state. Kentucky-by-the-sea.
He stopped dead halfway up the path.
Halo Jackson was sitting on his doorstep, bleeding into a Taco Bell box.
‘Jesus!’
Halo pointed at Tom’s face half-heartedly. ‘Back at ya.’
Tom let him in, but made him stand in the tiled hallway until he had fetched a pan he could bleed into.
‘It’s stopping now.’
‘It can stop in the pan. My security deposit’s already teetering on the brink. What happened?’
‘I was getting food. For Vee and Katy, y’know? Just tacos ’n’ stuff. Got back to the house and I was getting out of the car and this guy slams me up against it and, like, twists my arm up my back. I thought it was going to break.’ Halo rubbed his shoulder and grimaced at the pain that lingered there.
‘Then what?’ Tom poured a couple of fingers of bourbon into a tumbler and put it down next to Halo.
‘Thanks,’ said Halo, but ignored it. ‘Then he goes, “Stay out of other people’s business” – and then the sonofabitch pulls all the tacos out of the bags and, like, stomps them into the ground!’
Tom couldn’t help grinning. Halo seemed more upset about the food than his bloodied nose.
‘Was there just one?’
‘One was enough.’
‘Then he hit you?’
Halo’s eyes flickered sideways. ‘Good as!’
Tom raised an eyebrow, and if Halo could have blushed, he would have.
‘He drove off. I slipped on a burrito and cracked my nose on the side-view mirror as I went down.’
Tom grinned – although he stopped fast and sucked in air when he found he’d almost split his lip again.
‘Not fucking funny. I cracked the mirror. That’s seventy bucks they’ll rip me off for that! Just cos you got a classic car, folks think you’re made of money. Nearly ripped my goddamn nose off too!’
‘So what the hell d’you come and see me for? I thought some guy had beaten the crap out of you!’
Halo looked defensive. ‘He almost did! And what he said, “other people’s business” – he must’ve meant the Pride of Maine.’
Tom grunted disparagingly. ‘Get real. He’s probably some guy who’s got his eye on Vee now that your smoking buddy’s gone. What did he look like?
‘Big. White. Bald. Nice eyes.’
‘Good sense of humour?’
‘What?’
‘Nothing. Anyway – who’d be interested in the plane?’
‘Maybe someone trying to keep from paying up on Chris’s insurance or something.’
‘You been talking about it to people?’ asked Tom.
‘Only to you and Vee.’
‘What did she say?’
‘I didn’t ask her. I didn’t go back in. I just came straight here.’
‘Nice job. Lead the bad guys right to me.’
Halo looked alarmed and apologetic but Tom gave a little shake of his head to show he was kidding.
‘You mean Vee and her kid are still at home waiting on their tacos?’
Halo shrugged, embarrassed. Tom sighed. ‘You want to call her?’
Halo hesitated. ‘Can I?’
Tom handed him the phone. He watched while Halo dialled the number.
‘You want to eat?
‘Eat what?’
