A Stolen Season by Steve Hamilton Page B

legal, don’t worry. He looks younger than he is.”
    “And where is he now? Is he still in the hospital?”
    “Yes. In Sault Ste. Marie. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
    “Do you know that for a fact?”
    “I don’t know what you mean, Alex.”
    “Did you talk to the doctor?”
    “I talked to Harry. He’ll be fine.”
    “He looked pretty banged up last night. I’m surprised he’s even awake today.”
    “Alex, as I told you, we just came out here to show our appreciation.”
    “That didn’t seem to be your attitude last night,” I said. “As I recall, you accused us of hitting you. Like we’d actually be out there on the bay, waiting for someone to come by so we could ram them.”
    Cap didn’t say anything. He kept looking at me, straight in the eye. Jackie stood on the other end of the bar, watching us. He must have been wondering what the hell was going on.
    “I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here,” Cap finally said. “Everything happened so fast last night. I think we were all a little in shock or something.”
    “Yeah. Or something.”
    He started tapping his fingertips on the beer bottle. “Okay,” he said, drawing out the word. There was a little smile on his face.
    “Before you guys got in the boat,” I said, “did you happen to run into a little trouble at the casino?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “At the Bay Mills Casino. Did you happen to have a little altercation with someone who works there?”
    “There may have been a little misunderstanding. Some Indian trying to act like a tough guy.”
    “The pit boss, you mean.”
    “Yeah, whatever. Without the casino he’d probably be selling little totem poles to tourists.”
    “I kinda doubt that. Anyway, he’s a friend of mine. You guys gave him some nice bruises.”
    “This is a small town,” Cap said. “Didn’t I tell you, Brucie?”
    I didn’t see the big man’s reaction. I was still looking at Cap.
    “Why are you really here?” I said.
    “I told you.”
    “Okay, then. You bought me a drink.”
    “Maybe there is one more thing.”
    “Surprise.”
    I saw it in his eyes just then. The little flash of anger. It came quick, like it wasn’t that far away to begin with. Not far away at all.
    “There was a box in the boat,” he said. “About this big.” He held up his hands about four feet apart.
    “What about it?”
    “It was yellow and black. Airtight. You know, designed to float.”
    “What was in it?”
    “Some valuables. Wallets, cash, that kind of thing. It’s just a box to keep things safe. Like a lockbox.”
    “I never heard of a lockbox that floats.”
    “It was in a boat,” he said. He seemed to be measuring his voice carefully now. “Everything in a boat should float, don’t you think?”
    “You may have a point. But why are you telling me all this?”
    “I was just wondering if you happened to see it.”
    “No, I didn’t.”
    “It was in the front of the boat,” he said. “At one point, I remember seeing it. I was going to grab it, but that was when the other guy jumped in to turn off the motor. And then after that I think we were all pretty occupied with Harry. You know, making sure he was still alive and everything. I never saw the box after that.”
    “I never saw it at all. It probably just floated away.”
    “I’m not sure about that.”
    “Or else it sank. It might have gotten damaged and filled up with water.”
    “You’re answering pretty quick. Are you sure you don’t want to think about it?”
    I counted to three in my head. “I didn’t see it. I didn’t touch it. I don’t know anything about it. I can’t help you.”
    He finally blinked. He looked down at his bottle. I could see the veins in his forearms standing out as he worked his hands. If something was going to happen here, it was me and Jackie against the two of them. And the biggest man in the room was right behind me.
    “Do you…,” he started to say, slowly, “have any idea…”
    “Cap,” Bruce