Deep Water by Katherine Nichols

Author:Katherine Nichols
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2017-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

1976

“PELÓN! WE GOT ONE!” DUNNE yelled. “Progress. Hot damn.”

“Who?” Ralph Shaw wandered over from his desk, clutching a Styrofoam cup of coffee that he muttered was cold and thick enough to have been brewed the week before.

“Paul Acree. He was an early player, but fell out of favor along the way, probably because of his drug addiction. The guys bought him out and stopped calling him a while back, and now he’s desperate.”

“Stopped calling him?” Shaw ran his hand over his skull as if he were navigating a thick head of hair. “Is that code for something?”

“Actually, no. There’s a strange sort of decency about them. If they want you out, they’ll offer a payout and sort of disappear. This guy was busted for burglary, and he went into withdrawal while they held him. At one point he even started crying that one of the guys called him a ‘total dickwad.’ Said they hated him ‘for no reason.’ ”

“Except that he is, apparently, a dickwad.”

Dunne grinned. “And a weak link. Even gentleman smugglers don’t take kindly to weakness.”

“What do you want to do?”

“If he’s willing to bring us more information, let’s set him loose. There’s no honor among thieves. So let’s see if we can get closer to what we really want.”

* * *

“Look who I found!” Eddie reached up and threw an arm around Bob Lahodny’s neck, putting him in a mock headlock. “He came back to the States just to celebrate my twenty-second birthday.”

About thirty people had gathered at Eddie’s new rental house in Solana Beach, which offered panoramic views yet remained sparsely furnished enough to force most guests to stand. “And look. He wears jewelry now!” Eddie fingered the chunky gold of the Baht chain Bob wore around his neck and defended it as “traditional” and “authentic,” immediately stopping himself when his gaze landed on Lou’s gold chain. The evening had progressed enough to leave Eddie with an even more diminished capacity for self-editing. He hoped Lou’s enthusiasm about seeing Bob again would allow the comment to slip by unnoticed.

“Great to see you again.” Lou offered his former student a hug. “Where have you been?

“Everywhere,” Bob said.

“You look different,” Lou said.

“So do you!” Bob laughed. “These pants look like they cost five hundred dollars.”

Lou looked down. “That’s about right.”

“And the collars sure got big,” Bob laughed. “But you’re right, I am different. Got an education, saw the world, did a little smuggling and a lot of meditating. Are you still going to Bula?”

Lou laughed. “Our sanctuary on First Street? No, we all live up here now, and spend less time in Coronado. Besides, I’ve found a different kind of spiritual awakening.”

Bob nodded. “Fast cars, designer clothes, beautiful women?” His eye caught Kerrie in the living room. “Or maybe it’s woman—for now. She’s amazing. Anyhow, Eddie told me what you guys have been up to lately.”

Silence. Lou sipped the wine he’d brought to the party. “I thought you’d be climbing the rungs toward bank president somewhere by now,” Lou said.

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