Page 18 of Go Home
“Hard to say,” Hugh replied.“It’s expanded and contracted.Hang on.”
He went rummaging for something inside the truck.
“How long have you guys been in the waffle business?”Marcus asked.
“They used to sell them in Rodner’s,” Remy said.“Then their electric griddle broke.Suddenly there’s all these starving teenagers wandering the streets after class, and we’re both semi-retired, so we thought…” He smiled.“They’re good kids.I mean, of course they don’t remember to put their dirty plates in the trash; they’re kids, right?”
Hugh returned, a photograph in his hand.The pétanque circle, beaming with a trophy.
“State of Maine champions, 2021, 2022, and 2023.”
“There’s like an actual league for this thing?”Marcus asked, incredulously.Kate shot him a look.
“Basque fishermen brought the game over from France,” Remy explained.
“This was taken back when we had the most members,” Hugh said.“That’s Phil – he moved down to Florida to see more of his grandbabies.That’s Kolya.Kolya died.Throat cancer.There’s the Father.”
Father Tom was holding one of the handles of the trophy.He looked flushed: booze, or success, or both.And he was wearing his clerical dog collar.
“Said it gave him a competitive edge,” Hugh said.
Kate wondered how a comment like that would have gone down with his curate, possibly with certain congregation members, too.Her personal view was that, if God existed, then He was probably indifferent to people’s fashion choices, and their jokes.But humans were not.It was possible someone could have found Father Thomas’s attitude glib or irreverent.
Hugh went on to point out himself, Remy, a scarecrow-like figure, all limbs and angles called Liam, and then he seemed all set to put the photo away.Rather hastily, Kate thought.
“The guy in the chair?”she asked.“Was he not part of the team?”
A glance whipped between the two men, fleeting, but enough for Kate to notice.
“That’s Sully.”
“Sully?”
“Ray Sullivan.”
The man in the chair was solid, with a broad neck and shoulders, long legs.Smiling, like everyone else.He sported a pork pie hat, a Hawaiian shirt, and the stub of a stogie in between his lips.The flash had caught a sheen of sweat on his forehead, and he looked like one of those guys who was always smiling, no matter what happened.
Why had they tried to skip over him?
“Where is Ray these days?”she asked.
A nanosecond of a pause.Another look.
“He’s had some problems in his life,” Hugh said, carefully.“As far as I know he’s… taking some time out.A local rehab place, I think.”
“The Sanctuary,” added Remy.“Just outside of Marburg.”
After a few more gentle questions, Kate thanked them for their time.They declined an offer of waffles, but Marcus suddenly wanted a cold drink.He didn’t suddenly want a cold drink at all, of course.Kate knew what he was doing.It was like Columbo’s “one last thing.”
“Oh yeah, one more thing, guys, what happened in twenty-four?”he asked, casually, as Hugh fetched a can from the refrigerator.
Hugh looked at him blankly.
“You said you were state champions in 2021, 2022, and 2023.I wondered what happened last year.”
“We didn’t enter a side,” Remy said.
“Too bad,” Marcus said.“Why not?”
