3. Surmises
Missing Julian (3 0f 13)
(Maria came back to find Julian, among other reasons. Many people are looking for Julian. Every man makes a presence, and their absence leaves a hole. This is the second to last section of Milestone.)
Back in the squad car, in the warm and flatulent air Pip had produced, Coffin pinched the skin between his eyes.
“Danny,” Coffin intoned his partner’s name.
“Yo.”
“Maria’s boyfriend was a Brazilian boy named Julian. He gave her a Krugerrand.”
Danny turned. “We know that. She showed you the coin two days ago.”
“Right. Let’s think about it.”
They played this game. Danny asked obvious questions and the inspector made obvious answers until they came to questions that weren’t so obvious, and answers that may not reveal themselves.
“How did a very young man get a Krugerrand and, even better, why did he give it to Maria?” The sergeant asked.
“Maybe it’s a promise.”
“What do you think he is promising?”
“Marriage? Escape?”
“How about sex?”
“Steven was amazed I had that coin,” Coffin added. “It was more valuable than that.”
“High school kids think sex is pretty valuable.”
“Steven was terrified.”
“High school kids,” Danny repeated. “He steals the coin from Dad, gives it to his girlfriend, Dad gets pissed, and the kid hides.”
“Why does Dad have a Krugerand? Does he have more?”
“Maybe Dad is a criminal. Perhaps he has many more.”
The night glittered in patterns.
“Dad and his friends are quiet and secretive. They scare the piss out of Steven.”
“Criminal.”
Danny was also examining the stars.
Henry shifted in his seat. “So we could imagine that Julian’s father or grandfather is a criminal who came to Nantucket to hide. We could imagine that he has more than one Krugerand. He has a crew of men. Great workers, Steven says. They don’t drink or do drugs. They watch soccer on TV and work. They’re laying low.”
“And Steven is scared?”
“He is.”
“I like our surmises.”
Henry returned to Pip, who had rolled onto his back in order to help the Inspector.
“Henry, where is Julian?”
The old man nodded.
“He has no license, no car, and no money. He can’t buy a boat ticket. The steamship doesn’t take Kruggerands. And his father is committed to him.”
“And Maria said that Dad didn’t want him to have a phone.”
“Which makes sense if he is laying low.”
“Maria thinks he beat his son.”
Danny nodded.
“And Julian broke Billy’s thumb.”
“I saw that cast. I figured it was football.”
“Not according to Maria.”
“Billy may not have taken that in a sporting way.”
Coffin paused in his therapeutic work. Pip nosed him. Danny looked at his partner.
“Julian is a young man in love. He tries to be with Maria a lot, because that’s what kids do. Billy catches them, gives Julian a hard time, and Julian breaks the tough guy’s thumb.”
“I think so.”
“Then, sometime later, Maria gives Julian a burner phone. Julian gives her a Krugerand.”
The old man nodded.
“Must have been a big night. The phone would piss off Dad.”
“As would the Krugerand.”
“Like I said. Big Night.”
Danny tapped on the steering wheel. “You think they had plans?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll never know.”
“Or we already do.”
“Then, Maria gets texts from him. And she goes to the Rangers party and gets assaulted.”
“Raped.” Coffin said.
“Just so. And the word “Remember” written on her ass.”
“Which we know Billy does.”
“We do.”
“And Billy has a broken thumb.”
“So, how did Billy get the phone? They must have found Julian somewhere.”
“Steven says they are missing a bike.”
“And they beat the fuck out of the kid. They took his phone.”
Coffin remained in thought.
“Julian’s not dead.”
“No?”
“I would think we would have found a body.”
“It’s a big island.”
“Not if you are a hungry seagull.”
Danny resettled himself. “I don’t know. But let’s assume that. He isn’t with his Dad. He isn’t with his girlfriend.”
“Nope.”
“And he isn’t with Dicky and his coffins.”
“Where is he?”
“Maybe Jack or Billy knows.”
Danny set the pieces in front of him.
“I’ll tell you one thing. Jack and Billy had better keep their eyes open for the Brazillians.”
While the Inspector was parked a hundred yards away, Jacob Marley came to visit Rosie.
She had drifted off while some wholesome-looking white boys were flipping cabins in North Carolina. She woke atop the unfolded clean clothes. They were still clean, of course, but they were smushed.
She had hoped for another fifteen minutes of sleep. Just to close her eyes.
The horn on the 6:30 steamship sounded as it left the dock.
She closed her eyes and readjusted the pile of shirts underneath her head. And then, very softly, she heard the sound of someone retching.
It was a cough, followed by a splash. Then another cough, and another splash.
Not much of a sound. For most people, it was nothing to roll over to. A quiet trip to the bathroom in the early morning.
Not for Rosie.
Back in her own sensitive days, she used to run the water to hide the sound. But she knew that sound.
Oh, yes. She knew that sound.
Her heart dropped. She sat up and listened to the slow, heavy footsteps of another day.
She had known. Marley had wordlessly told her. She knew. Can’t avoid it.
The Inn on Brant Point (Novella)
Milestone 1: The Boy Who Climbed the Windmill
Milestone 2: Remember
Milestone 3: Snitches Get Stitches
Milestone 4: Survival Ain’t Pretty
2. She Could Recognize Trauma When It Woke Up in her House.
Some of my writing…
Barr’s For Life: A substack of essays and claptrap
The Boat at the End of Lover’s Lane
(NEW) The Girl Who Ran the Polpis Road
The Inn on Brant Point (Novella)
Her Lover on Monomoy Road. (Novella)
Her Father Came Home to Deacon’s Way (Novella)
Love Letters (Novella)
The Fisher King (Novella)
The Costs of Faith (Novella)
Winter: A Collection of Island Living Essays set between January and April 1.
The Boys: A collection of essays about my two sons, written as they grew.
Rolling in the Surf: Essays on Teaching.
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I have been looking at pictures and titles and the novel for awhile, so that I took my off the ball for titles. In other thread, I have the title of a chapter as "Rectory" and I wonder why no-one reads it. I am an idiot.
Also, its lead picture is a portrait, of a priest, by Eakins. Another crowd pleaser.
I am an idiot
Maria has been pregnant for six weeks. there have been a lot of other drama in her life, a lot of other things going on. I think (and in a longer version of this) there was a lot of "I refuse to acknowledge the obvious" going on. when I cut this down, I lose some psychiatric depth.