9. Outbound
Snitches get Stitches (8 of 10)
The clouds rolled in, and the temperature began to drop.
No storm was in sight. No storm was predicted. One was five hundred miles to the south, but even at that distance, the ocean sends clouds, winds, and crashing waves.
Maria and Rick remained off the island. Danny had hoped to spend this night in their usual spot. DNA test results would be back soon. The circus could wait. He brought the old man to the Chicken Box without being asked, hoping to induce the old man into some alcohol-related sleep.
But Coffin wouldn’t sleep.
So, they went to Tom Nevers again.
They parked outside the Kelly house with their lights off. Inside the house, the lights were off as well.
Danny looked at the Inspector. “Do we have to wake them up?”
“They know we are here.”
“We could go back to the Lifesaving station, sleep the night through, and stop a speeder or two.”
Coffin looked at him. “As if we don’t do that regularly.”
“Not enough for my tastes.”
Coffin opened the door and stepped out.
Danny followed him up the gravel to the front door. The inspector rang the bell twice and then waited.
They waited minutes past the point when Danny wanted to get back in the car. Finally, Mrs. Kelly opened the door. She wore the same purple sweatpants and shirt that she wore before. Otherwise, she appeared thinner, older, and in search of a warm, or even a cold, bed.
“Inspector.”
“Mrs. Kelly,” he said. “How are you, my sister?” She put her eyes onto his face.
“It’s two in the morning, Inspector.”
“I am sorry about that.”
She paused in silence.
“I am not waking him up. I am not waking up Mike, either.”
Coffin looked at her.
“Okay. Perhaps tomorrow.”
“Probably not.”
“We were hoping to ask Tommy some more questions.”
“Inspector,” she used each of the syllables with emphasis. “We are moving. I can’t invite you in because I have wrapped up the house. The movers come for the furniture in two days. And then we are going up to New Hampshire. I listed the house with Swains today.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be. Don’t be, it is for the best. Tommy needs a new start. Mike can come down and finish up the work he was doing, then start up again up there. Lots of work up there right now,” she said. “It’s a new start in a new place for all of us.”
“The kids who did this to Mike…”
“Are still out here. And there isn’t anything we are going to be able to do about that.”
Coffin paused. Danny looked up at him from the path. Danny knew what would happen when he left the car. The Inspector had, as well. It was a measure of the old man that he tried anyway.
“Ginny, it has been hard. I know that,” Coffin spoke softly. “And it will continue to be hard. And I can’t guarantee that everything will work out for the best. But,” he looked at her nose. “We have to speak the truth. We have to put it out there. If we reveal the truth and stand on it, no matter how hard it is, that makes a foundation. Your nightmare with these boys will be over soon, and you will have a new start, but without the truth, that start will always sputter. It’s courage. One act of courage builds a chain.”
At two in the morning, in the blue light of the stars and the cold of the approaching winter, Ginny Kelly looked at the two policemen.
“Henry,” she said at last. “I am sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks.”
“I don’t think I will see you again. You’re a good man. You, too, Danny. Have a good night.”
She closed the door.
Back in the car, Danny looked at his partner.
“Well, that went about as well as could be expected.”
The old man looked a lot older.
“What did you expect?” Danny asked him. Coffin looked at the dark house.
“More.”
“People don’t want to give more. They want to give less.”
Sergeant Abraham looked at his partner in his darkness. He put the car in gear and headed back up Tom Nevers Road. The Inspector respected what Danny thought.
“It’s all right, Henry. We’ll get Jack and Billy selling coke or something in about a month.”
Coffin didn’t look at him.
“They won’t press charges.”
Coffin nodded. He was thinking.
“Henry,” Danny said. “Henry, it’s a problem we deal with every day. We don’t portion out justice. We let horrible people carry on their horrible lives every day. We know people who sell drugs to school kids, but we don’t punish them for that. We’re not going out and arresting those folks, are we? We don’t do justice, we do peace. We go out and try and get folks to tolerate each other for a little bit. It’s all we do. We are just social workers with guns.”
Danny paused.
“And you don’t even carry one of those.”
Milestone 3: Snitches Get Stitches
Chapter One: The Monster is in the Building
Chapter Two: We are in the Elvis business
Chapter Three: The Man He Would Become
Chapter Four: One Red Hair
Chapter Five: A Knock at the Door
Chapter Six: We Take A Beating Everyday
Chapter Seven: Snitches Get Stitches
Chapter Eight: Swinging on a String
Chapter Nine: Outbound
Chapter Ten: Shall We Come to a Conclusion?
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)
Winter: A Collection of Island Living Essays set between January and April 1.
Autumn: Essays about Nantucket in Autumn.
Holidays: Essays about the holidays in November and September
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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One of the most enjoyable aspects of having a character like Henry Coffin is making him take an L. For Henry. the community is everything, so losting Big Mike and his family, even more than the rape, the assault, or even justice matters. Danny want to lock Tommy up, and he should. Justice should work like that, Henry wants him locked up as well, but he also wants the family to remain. He's wrong, but he's not entirely wrong.