Page 6 of Nightshade
“Yeah, so do I,” Stilwell said.
Stilwell got in the John Deere, turned the key, and backedaway from the barn. In the street, he put it in forward but was blocked when another cart pulled in front of him. It was a six-seater from Island Mystery Tours, the green papier-mâché alien lying chest-down on the roof, its three-fingered hands grasping the sides as if holding on for dear life.
Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, the owner-manager of the franchise, jumped out and approached him.
“What the hell are you doing, Stilwell?” he asked angrily.
“I’m pretty sure Henry already told you on the phone,” Stilwell said. “He’s got a copy of the search warrant and the receipt. You can figure it out from there.”
There was a line of sweat forming on Baby Head’s smoothly shaved scalp. He had a tattoo of a diamond ring on his neck below his left ear and a full sleeve of tats on his right arm depicting skulls, flowers, and a three-digit number Stilwell didn’t recognize but guessed was the area code of his place of origin.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, man,” he said.
“Maybe so,” Stilwell said. “It wouldn’t be the first time and it won’t be the last.”
“I know about you, man. We all know about you. You were on thin ice when you got here, and now you’re about to drop right through. Hope you got your water wings on.”
“Can you move your cart now, sir? I need to get back to the station.”
“Fuck you.”
Terranova jumped back in his cart and pinned the pedal. The cart drove up and into the cart barn, forcing Gaston to move quickly to get out of the way.
Stilwell headed back to town, stopping briefly atop Mount Ada to take in the beauty of the mountains and the crescent-shaped harbor below. The Casino looked like a cupcake with red icing.Several boats had already come in since he’d picked up the judge earlier.
Arriving back at the sub, Stilwell saw Lampley about to head out in his freshly charged patrol cart. He pulled up next to him.
“How’d it go?” Lampley asked.
“I found blood on a saw handle,” Stilwell said. “I’ll get it to the lab and see what happens.”
“Don’t hold your breath on that.”
“I won’t. You handle court?”
“Yeah, it went quick.”
“What happened with Kermit?”
“Harrell gave him three months’ community service. Told him to work it off in the sub.”
“Perfect. I’ll make a to-do list and put it on the board. Everybody can add to it.”
“Okay.”
“Where are you going now?”
“Just doing the circuit. No calls yet. The calm before the storm.”
“Copy that.”
Stilwell threw him a mock salute and pulled his cart into its assigned parking space. Before he got to the door of the substation, he took a call from the harbormaster’s office.
“It’s Tash. We need you over here on the skiff dock right away.”
Tash Dano was the assistant harbormaster. Stilwell had met her on his rounds when he was first assigned to the island. He had met with everybody in any position of power or authority in the small community, from the mayor of Avalon down to the assistant harbormaster. Most were standoffish because deputies assigned to Catalina seemed to come and go quickly; they left as soon as they were rehabilitated in the eyes of the mainland command staff. Theisland was known as a way station for the department’s freaks and fuckups and therefore it was not worth the residents’ investment of time to get to know any of its personnel. Tash was different. She had invited Stilwell to lunch and even gave him her own tour of the island. She had lived there her entire life and had no plans to leave. Stilwell immediately liked her.
“What’s up over there?” he asked.
