Gin Palace 01 - The Poisoned Rose

Haven?”
    “I went to Yale. It makes sense that I’d hide in a city I knew well, wouldn’t you agree?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m thinking maybe my family will see my living there as a kind of self-imposed exile and decide to leave it at that and not try to find me. Like I said, they’re dangerous and they’re crazy, but they’re also business-minded. Why waste time trying to lock me up if I’ve sent myself away.”
    I wanted to ask her why they wanted to lock her up but didn’t. Instead, I said, “In my experience, people with resources tend to be more than willing to exhaust them. If finding you is that important to them, I can’t imagine they’d see the fact that you’re living across Long Island Sound as that much of an obstacle. They’d hire men to go to New Haven and look for you.”
    “Which means no one will be looking for me here, and that’s all I really want. I don’t want to leave the East End. It’s my home. So all I’d have to do is stay out of sight.”
    “That’s easier said than done.”
    “Scully knows a few things about staying hidden. He can help me.”
    “Who?”
    She paused, as if to consider whether or not she’d just made a mistake by saying his name. “Skull,” she said.
    “That’s him in the pickup.”
    She was uncertain suddenly as to how much she should admit. Finally, she said, “Yeah.”
    “I’d like to talk to him, if I could. I’d like to ask him a few questions about last night.”
    “He says it would probably be for the best if you two avoided each other for the time being.”
    “Why’s that?”
    She shrugged. “I really don’t know.”
    “You said he knows some things about hiding.”
    “He does. He thinks of himself as my protector.”
    “And the dead kid at the cottage. What was he to you?”
    She didn’t answer at first. “His name was Tim Carter,” she said finally. “He took care of me, too. For a while, anyway.”
    “You know that Scully ran out on him without even calling an ambulance. Just left him to die.”
    She nodded. “He told me all about it. He also told me that you tried to save Tim’s life. Did it without even stopping to think about it, which means you are by your nature compassionate.”
    “So you know that we were shot at by someone outside. Someone who just happened to show up the same time I did.”
    “Yes.”
    “Any idea who that someone was?”
    “Tim had enemies.”
    “You and he used to live together, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “You don’t seem all that broken up over his murder. Or surprised, for that matter.”
    “We were over a while ago. We meant nothing to each other now. Anyway, what happened to him, he brought it upon himself.”
    This seemed an odd statement—and cold for someone so concerned about compassion.
    “How so?” I said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “How did he bring it upon himself?”
    “He wasn’t anywhere as clever as he thought he was. And for what he had gotten himself into, he needed to be very clever.”
    “What had he gotten himself into?”
    “Let’s just say he was in over his head.”
    “I don’t suppose you want to give me a little more than that.”
    “The less you know, the better it’ll be for you.”
    “And you.”
    She nodded. “And me.”
    “That’s not good enough. I was present at the scene of a murder. I’m going to need more.”
    “Tim was in the drug business,” she said. “Someone was after him for money he owed. Has been for a while.”
    I thought about this, weighing whether or not me having approached the cottage from the front as someone else approached it from the rear could really have been a coincidence.
    What choice did I have but to take her word on this? What would she and her “protector” gain by ever telling anyone I was there? And if Frank Gannon really did value me as much as he said he did, why would he send a man to kill Carter while I was there trying to talk to him? Standing beside him?
    To look for any other possible explanations would be to invite paranoia.
    I’d been at the wrong place at the wrong time. A simple nexus of bad luck—my life was filled with those, no?
    “Are all your friends like those two?” I said finally.
    “What do you mean?”
    “They carried guns, for starters. Carter had a police record. And, according to you, enemies. Scully looks like he might have both. What’s a rich girl from Halsey Neck Lane doing mixed up with guys like that?”
    “What’s a boy from Gin Lane doing hiding from the world