Page 78 of Them Bones

Jerry let himself inside and nodded at some of the guys, two working in pits under a tractor-trailer, the rest sitting around a grimy chrome-edged table from the seventies playing cards.

“Jerry!” John exclaimed, tossing down his cards and getting up from the table. “This is a nice surprise!”

“Brought coffee,” he grunted, holding up the drink carton stacked with Tim Horton’s cups. The guys grumbled in appreciation and came over, picking out their orders, sipping happily.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” John asked.

His voice was cheerful, friendly, pleasant as always. But Jerry could feel it, the undertone. He knew something had gone down, and he knew Jerry knew, too.

John looked like a Bible salesman, always dressed in khakis and button-down plaid t-shirts, with scuffed loafers and a Sunday school haircut. But anyone who let that fool them was a fool, themselves. Jerry had seen John cut off someone’s finger with a table saw, once, forhaving sticky fingersthe backroom.

“Heard Cary’s back in town,” Jerry said casually, puffing on his blunt. “Wanted to say hi. Haven’t seen the kid since June.”

John’s eyes flashed. “Who told you Cary’s back?” he asked, his voice lowered so the other guys wouldn’t hear.

Jerry shrugged noncommittally, and John’s lips thinned.

“He got back yesterday. He’ll be around later, he’s… sorting some stuff out, right now.”

Jerry sucked on his blunt again, buying himself a moment. He was on dangerous ground, here, butting into Cary’s affairs. Jerry had always had a free pass to come and go as he pleased because he religiously minded his business and him and Cary had history. The coffees were fine, but the questions weren’t Jerry’s style and John knew it.

“I need to talk to him about Linette,” Jerry improvised. John’s eyebrows raised, clearly surprised, and Jerry relaxed his shoulders. “She been… worse. Worse than normal, this summer. I think she been takin’ the kids’ money more than usual. Phone been cut off a few times…”

This is good,Jerry thought. It explained the missed phone calls, and everyone knew Jerry treated the Hawtons like family.It wasn’t suspicious, him coming around asking after Linette. Unusual, maybe, but not suspicious.

“I don’t know if today’s the day, Jerry,” John said, rubbing his chin. “He’s in a mood.”

“That boy is always in a damn mood,” Jerry grumbled.

John sighed. “We’re having some problems. A bad batch. Cary went to talk to Nick last night, he handles the mix, you know? I trust him, Nick doesn’t like cutting at all never mind cuttingbad,and he uses his own talc powder, some special mixture from God-knows-where…” John scratched his chin again. “This batch was cut with boric acid. And a lot of it. Few of the guys got sick, God knows what’s happening amongst the customers…”

Jerry had always found it strange that John referred to their burnout, doped-up client base as ‘customers’, but John also sold kitchen appliances so maybe it was just habit.

“I don’ think I know Nick,” Jerry said. “How long he been around?”

“Few years, I guess. He started as a runner but the guy’s got a nose for a good cut.” John laughed at his own pun, slapping his knee.

“You ever had any problems with him before?”

“No. Like I said, I trust him. But he wasn’t there when Cary got to his place, and you know how Cary is. God forbid you not be somewhere he wants you to be, whether he asked you to be there or not.”

Jerry dropped his blunt in the coffee dregs at the bottom of his Timmies cup.

“I’m sure you’ll sort it, then,” Jerry said blandly.

John hesitated, studying Jerry for a few minutes.

“There is one thing…” John said slowly. Jerry waited, trying to look disinterested. “I asked him to look in on Laney, few months back…”

“Hmm…” Jerry said.

“Nick’s been checking in on them, since then. Quite a lot.” A shadow passed over John’s face. “I been a bit worried. That he might’ve… I don’t know. Taken a liking to Laney, or something…”

“Well, it’s hard not to,” Jerry said.

“I know, I know. And I warned him off. I can’t see him being that stupid. But that girl is just like Linette.”

“She’s nothing like Linette.”

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