The Currency of Time Ch. 03

"Stevens, listen to me. Hang on a little longer. Your daughter, the one in college, will have a free ride as far as she wants to go. And when she's out in the world, she'll always have the Hunt Bank and Lancaster Oil at her back."

Stevens seemed to smile, although I wasn't sure if he was still with us.

"And when we get back, I'll tell her that her father died like a soldier, carrying out his duty to the end."

I think he did smile at that and the life left his body.

I went to Overhouser, but he was already cooling. Henry walked over to Larry, took his pistol from his hand and fired four more shots at point blank range into his skull. Blood spattered.

"He was already dead."

"I know, but it made me feel better."

I ran for the clinic but I knew what I'd find. Windell lay wrapped in his blanket, which when unwrapped revealed a soggy, bloody mess. I couldn't help thinking what it must have felt like, lying there too groggy to fight back as he was being killed.

I went to Maria's bunk. He had wrapped her too, but pulling the blanket back uncovered the red ruin of her throat, which had soaked down into the fabric underneath her. In death her features had relaxed, so that she didn't look like she was dead, only sleeping.

Maybe I felt worse for her. Windell and Overhouser had been my friends, but they were part of my crew. I'd have died for them and I thought they would have done the same for me.

But she was not part of our business. Maybe she was a whore, almost certainly, but she hadn't set out to kill us. She had fallen in love with the wrong scumbag and she'd still be alive if I had left her in the bar or dropped her off somewhere on our way to the powerboat.

I went back to the den and found Davidson and Henry taking straight shots of some very expensive whiskey and bourbon. Overhouser, Larry and Harper-Stevens lay where they had fallen. They had covered Overhouser and Harper-Stevens with blankets. They left Larry out naked to the world, as if he didn't deserve the dignity of being covered in death.

"Not much we can do for them now," Davidson said. "We should be at the next port where we can hire aircraft to fly us back with their bodies.'

Looking at Larry, I said, "He doesn't deserve a burial. I think I'll just toss him over the side and give the sharks or bottom feeders a treat."

"I think he was married," Henry said. "He might have had children. Whether we take him back or throw him to the sharks, I think we should keep what happened here to ourselves. Why punish his family for something they had nothing to do with."

"Matt, if I was you, I'd find another profession than the law," Davidson said.

When Henry gave him a questioning look, Davidson said, "You'll never make a successful lawyer. You're too decent. Lawyers have got to be assholes. It's in one of the Bar rules."

"Some of the best people I've known have been lawyers. And some of the worst," Henry said.

Pointing to an empty glass sitting in front of me, he said, "Pour yourself a drink, McCarthy."

I poured whiskey and held the glass up as Davidson and Henry did the same thing.

"To absent friends," and we clinked glasses. And drank expensive booze while the dark seas sped away beneath our feet rushing into the night.

An hour later I was at the wheel. The yacht almost sailed itself, but I'd done some boat handling and we were getting close enough to more traveled waters and a city where we could arrange transport of bodies back to the states that we needed to be careful. We had radar and sonar and radio communications but sometimes eyes on the sea helped.

I figured I'd have some time to think about everything that had happened, but Davidson came up behind me.

"You mind some company?"

"No. I thought you'd be getting a few hours' sleep, though."

"Don't need as much sleep as I used to. Besides, I had a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about."

"As long as they're not-"

"Deirdre Lancaster and Julian Gutman were married three months after you left the United States."

"You're my elder and I was raised not to lay hands on an elder. But if you're not gone very soon, I'm going to do my best to remove you."

"You probably could, but you can't remove Deirdre from your head."

"Is that what this is about? Did she give you instructions to make sure I know how her life is progressing? I know she's a valued customer of the Hunt Bank, but how big a whore are you for valued customers?"

"It's not like that. Just let me speak for a couple minutes, and then it's over. I won't say anything else."

"She did her best to get me killed with that damned check and now she's trying to blow my peace of mind all to hell. But, go on. The next thing I know she'll be sending bounty hunters after me. But try to make it short."

"She and Julian were married three months after you left. She filed for divorce a year later after innumerable fairly public affairs on his side. Before the divorce could be finalized, despite her offer of a one million dollar settlement, he hired a hitman to kill her. The hitman, of course, was an undercover officer. Gutman, the moron, panicked and tried to escape when they were arresting him and he shot the undercover officer. Killed him.

"He was charged with first degree murder of a police officer in the commission of a felony, and a plot to kill the owner of a $250 million company. The State Attorney didn't try to bargain, just convicted him and got him the death penalty. He's in Raiford right now where he'll probably be for a long, long time since the death penalty is being phased out.

"I can't tell you how I know, but unimpeachable sources tell me that he's having more sex than he's ever had in his life, but I doubt he's enjoying it all that much. He is a very pretty man."

I looked out at the inky water passing below us and tried to feel satisfaction at the thought of Gutman being fucked senseless every night by cons who probably weren't sensitive lovers. But it didn't make me feel better. It just made me sad for everything that had been thrown away.

"I've burned up the check and the letter from her. Now I know how her life is going. Do me a favor, Davidson. When we hit land, I'm going to make arrangements with a local church to give Maria a decent burial if they can't find her family. I'm taking Windell and Overhouser's bodies back to their families. You take your bodies home. And tell Deirdre to leave me alone, forget me. I don't want her getting any more innocent people killed."

"You know that if you'd just cashed the check five years ago, this would never have happened, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know, Davidson. That is what makes this harder. But I couldn't cash it."

He put his hand on my shoulder.

"I understand. More than probably anyone else, I understand why you couldn't. Doesn't make it any easier."

That's the part of life that really sucks. You always have to deal with the consequences of your actions, no matter how long it takes before the bill comes due.

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