I MET JAMES AT THE APARTMENT. He told me he’d slept till noon in between two calls from Cap’n Crab threatening his employment if he didn’t get his ass into work. But James has a great sick voice. You’d swear he was going to die. He groans, sputters, wheezes and pretty soon you decide he isn’t long for the world. Lindsey at Cap’n Crab told him he’d better be in tomorrow for sure. She didn’t fire him, but I think she’s sweet on him, so he gets a pass.
“When we have employees, Skip, I hope to hell they’re better workers than we are.” He lay on the couch sucking on a long-neck beer.
“If they don’t show up, we’ll have to do all the work.”
“Yeah.”
I straddled a dining room chair, the screws stripped from the metal legs. It was perilously close to collapsing and we had a bet on how many more days it could support us. The bet was only for five bucks. Probably an immature act on my part.
“James, Fuentes hasn’t called. If the man doesn’t watch the news, he probably doesn’t know about the bodies.”
“Call him, pardner. I do not want to get into this mess tonight unless he knows what’s going on.”
I dialed the number. This time he answered on the first ring.
“Mr. Moore. I assume you’re still dropping off the mail tonight?”
“I am, Mr. Fuentes. However, I may have some bad news.”
“I don’t recall you calling me with good news.”
“No. I haven’t. However, this may be the worst. They found two bodies in the burned-out building. One of them was missing a ring finger.”
He was silent, but I could hear him breathing on the other end.
“Mr. Fuentes?”
“Holy Mary, mother of God. Do they know?”
“No. The last time I heard, they had not identified the body of that person.”
“Then there is hope. Continue with your plans, Mr. Moore, and keep your mouth shut. Please. I’ll look into this matter. I know some people on the Miami police force and I’ll make some immediate inquiries.” Abruptly he hung up the phone.
“He was pretty shook up?” James asked.
I thought for a second. “He sounded shook up. Not like I think I would sound if I’d lost a son, but, you know, shaken.” It wouldn’t be too long before I could relate.
“Do we drop off the mail?”
“He said to go ahead with the plans. Then he told me to shut up. What is that? About the tenth time? Anyway, maybe he’s in denial. He said, ‘Then there is hope,’ so I’m thinking he believes Vic may still be alive.”
James drained the bottle of beer and rolled it like a bowling ball into the kitchen area. “You haven’t talked much about Em. How did the meeting go?”
How did it go? “It was awkward.”
“You’d think, after all the history, that it wouldn’t be that tough.”
“But it is.”
“How did you leave it?”
I shouldn’t have told him but I did. “I proposed. Sort of.”
His eyes got wide and he slowly sat up. “You really did? This is big, compadre.”
“Not as big as her situation.”
“Situation? You mean Em being pregnant?”
“Yeah. Pregnant. Anyway, she said no.”
“She’s not thinking rationally.” He stood up and went to the refrigerator, grabbing another beer. “But, then, neither are you.”
I bristled. “What would be wrong with that scenerio?”
“Wrong? Jesus, Skip. You’re my best friend, okay. I’d trust my life to you, but come on, buddy. You’re immature. I mean really. You’ve got a job with absolutely no future and…”
I got off the chair and walked to the door. I needed some fresh air. “And I live with an asshole roommate who not only is an asshole but a complete idiot. Fuck you.” I walked out and slammed the door, almost taking it off the hinges. The door, like everything else in our apartment, was dirt-cheap.