Jack Beale 00 - Dangerous Shoals

washed over him as he pondered his next step. Maybe it was time for a night out.
    He moved slowly and deliberately through the throng of vacationers on the boulevard at Hampton Beach. Kurt didn’t hear the “I’m sorry,” as the man in the Red Sox shirt was pulled away by an overly excited child. Kurt turned his head and watched as they disappeared into the crowd, but said nothing. He had other things on his mind.
    He was there to celebrate his expected success, not as one would a birthday, a graduation, or the victory of a favorite team, but in a more intimate and personal way. In his own twisted way, he was like a shopper in a supermarket, looking for that special ingredient that would make an ordinary meal extraordinary.
    It had been several hours since his arrival in Hampton Beach and he was getting anxious. Patience. He had to keep reminding himself to be patient and all would work out. This seaside resort was not unlike the cities that he preferred, but there was a difference and that difference was kids and families. Yes, the bars were there, and there were crowds of people in which you could remain anonymous while remaining in plain sight, but families still crowded the sidewalks. He knew that he would have to wait until much later in the night to find what he wanted.
    The central core of Hampton Beach was like an island one block wide. The northbound river of traffic was on the ocean side, and it was connected to the southbound traffic flow by alternating one-way streets like the rungs on a ladder. He had followed the northbound side south, and by the time he had reached the end of the island the crowds had thinned. Families began to bring their day at the beach to an end and the night people began to emerge. He was standing in front of the last bar on the island, looking at a Chinese restaurant, when a noisy group emerged from the bar.
    He had to step back as they tumbled past him and crossed over toward the Chinese restaurant. He could see that the group had divided into several couples and one single woman. They had no idea that they were being studied as they entered the restaurant.
    He continued to stare until the door closed behind them. Then, leaning against a light pole, he took out a cigarette, lit it, inhaled deeply, and smiled. He had found the ingredient he was looking for.

CHAPTER 61
    THE BELL ON the door clanged as Jack and Max walked into Paula’s for breakfast. He stopped at the newspaper rack while she went straight in to claim seats. Before picking out his paper, he glanced over at the counter and didn’t see many familiar faces. Most of the locals, who tended to be the first customers of the day, were gone and now their seats were filled with summer tourists. Beverly gave him a wave hello and he nodded back before turning his attention to the papers.
    In addition to The New York Times , The Boston Globe , and The Boston Herald , which Beverly kept more for the tourists, there were all the local papers. These went from traditional daily and weekly editions that mimicked the larger national papers, to local shoppers made up almost entirely of ads with little other content, to several that focused on entertainment and the arts, and, lastly, to the summer tourist papers that chronicled the happenings at all the local beaches. This last group of papers consisted primarily of photo galleries of tourists doing touristy things, mixed with ads for all the local restaurants, bars, and tourist activities. Occasionally a story would sneak in that was real news, but it was even rarer when that story was first told there.
    This morning the headlines in all of the major national papers were about some great natural disaster or a senseless random killing of innocent people in the name of someone’s idea of God. Both were too depressing to start the day, so Jack picked up several of the entertainment papers plus the tourist news and walked over to join Max at the counter.
    Beverly appeared almost instantly with coffee and menus.
    “Mornin’. How are you guys today?” she said as she filled their cups.
    Max smiled and replied, “Great Beverly. How’s things with you?”
    “Look around. That’s how things are.”
    “Busy huh?”
    “Yeah. This morning was crazy and it’s not letting up.”
    “That’s good though, isn’t it?” interjected Jack.
    “It is,” agreed Beverly. Then she leaned forward, and in a voice just above a whisper she added, “but some of these tourists are just so