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  When Perez exited the bathroom only moments later, he found Nikki talking up a streak, and Charlie leaning back in his chair with a smooth smile on his face, that hat perched on his head like he was just happy to be there.

  “I mean, come on. What choice did I really have? It was either join up or get my criminal justice degree and join the force,” Nikki said, her body leaning toward Charlie.

  Charlie just smiled and nodded, as if he agreed with every word she said.

  Perez made a point of shutting the door louder than he needed to, and the two new buddies turned to look at him.

  “Hey, Sergeant Perez,” Charlie said. “I was just getting acquainted with your partner here.”

  “So I see,” Perez said, making no attempt to hide his blatantly judgmental stare. “Look, Mr. Kelly, I’m sorry about your friend and appreciate your answering our questions. Do you think you’re just about done here in Bluff Falls?”

  Charlie shrugged. “I suppose so. Don’t see much of a reason for me to stick around.”

  Perez went over to Charlie and put a hand on his shoulder. “Trust me when I say it might be best to move on. I know it’s hard to find out that someone you care about is gone, but the sooner you put this behind you and get on with your life, go back to work and your normal routine, the better.” He felt Nikki’s eyes on him, but he ignored the stare that was just as judgmental as his had been only moments earlier, when he’d glared at Nikki and Charlie.

  “I’m kind of between things right now,” Charlie admitted.

  Perez bristled at the sound of it. The last thing the town needed was another homeless drifter, a jobless mooch, messing with the locals. He regarded the man a little closer and realized he was certainly dressed for the part. “If you’re looking for a job, I know Williston always has jobs available, as long as you’re willing to work hard. The oil business isn’t easy.”

  “Uh…” Charlie said looking awkward. “I’m on medical leave. Can’t say work is really what’s on my mind.”

  “I’m sorry,” Nikki said, leaning forward in her chair again.

  “It’s okay,” Charlie said smiling.

  “Maybe heading back home and getting some rest is the way to go then,” Perez said. “We can give you a lift to the bus station if you like.”

  Charlie looked down at the table and clicked his tongue. “I’m not really sure if bed rest is necessary for a brain tumor, Officer. I been thinking that I’d like to get out and see has much as I can instead of lying around waiting for the inevitable.” The tone in the room changed as Charlie slid back in his chair and stood up slowly.

  “Oh. I-I’m sorry,” Perez said. “I didn’t know.”

  Charlie shrugged. “It’s okay. How could you have known? Bad things happen to people sometimes. I just wanted to see my friend while I had the chance, but I guess bad things happen all over.”

  Perez and Nikki looked at each other, both at a loss for words.

  “Um,” Charlie said, “I was wondering if y’all have any idea where Kay was staying? Maybe it would make me feel better if I could help out with cleaning up her personal items.”

  “We normally leave that to family,” Perez said. He could hear his own voice trail off, his mind still on Charlie’s brain tumor, then wafting to thoughts of Elsa.

  Charlie shook his head. “She doesn’t have any. I suppose I’m about all that’s left of who she used to be.”

  Hamill looked back and Perez and shrugged. It felt like some kind of horribly grim Greek tragedy: dead friend, brain tumor, no place to go.

  “We’ve got no official place of residence noted,” Perez said, “but the lot manager of a trailer park down from where Kay was found said she’d been seen around there over few weeks prior.”

  “Oh, okay,” Charlie said. “Well, I know this sounds weird, but do you think you’d mind having someone drop me off where Kay was found? Please?”

  Perez and Hamill agreed that it would be okay. It was somewhat of a strange request, but Perez didn’t see any harm in it. The guy did seem broken up about things when he talked directly about Kay, and he hoped showing him the crime scene would give him the closure he needed to take the hint and move on. As far as Perez was concerned, the sooner Mr. Charlie Kelly left Bluff Falls, the better.

  Chapter 5

  The sun had nearly set by the time Officers Perez and Hamill dropped Charlie off at the lot where Kay had been found. It wasn’t so much that he’d lied to them about his relationship to her, as he hadn’t considered himself any other way. He hadn’t seen her in nearly a decade, and that day at the carnival was the longest time they’d spent together. Still, it’s a man’s job to do something about it when something so careless, so senseless happens. Kay had gotten strung out and Charlie decided that, as much as any other more official reason, was why he was there in the first place—even if it was too late to save her.

  He waved goodbye and thanked the officers for dropping him off, telling them he needed some time to himself. They seemed like nice enough people. Perez was too serious but a decent guy. Ms. Nikki Hamill was cute, in her late twenties, full of energy, and looked like she could rip out more pushups than Charlie on his best day. Strange to find nice people in the worst places, Charlie mused. It had been the same over in Africa and the Middle East. Of course, North Dakota was a long way from the desert, but it still felt so isolated, so far away. In the big picture, things were horrible, but one on one, there might be a smile or a gesture that kept the humanity in it all, small moments of beauty in a very ugly world. It made Charlie wonder if those moments made life in bad places better or worse.

  It made Charlie sad, as sad as he’d felt in longer than he could remember. It wasn’t that Kay was dead, since they’d been apart for so long that those bonds were practically severed anyway. Rather, it was how, why, and where she died that bothered him. It was such a bleak area, practically a dump. The vacant lot her body was found in offered no view of anything other than trailers and a few scant trees that didn’t look like they had any intention of blooming. There were discarded beer cans and fast food wrappers everywhere. Kay had died alone and dirty, and that broke Charlie’s heart. No one should have to die like that, he thought.

  Being the kind of man he was, Charlie didn’t really like the idea of sadness. He preferred to focus on the horizon and get things taken care of, and he was more than certain there would be at least a few people in town who could help him to fill that need. His first stop was the office trailer of the woman who’d told the police that Kay had been loitering around the trailer park. It was a crowded place for sure, and there were barking dogs about every other lot and a bustling of people, mostly oil workers just getting off from their shifts, looking to tie one on. There was plenty of yelling and laughing as the boys and girls blew off steam in a community sort of way that could only come from close living and high pressure. It was sort of nice in a familial sort of way, nothing like the parks Charlie had played around growing up, where everyone was at least a little suspicious of everyone, most on some kind of government assistance. All of the residents of this trailer park had jobs. They were simply living in temporary housing, like lovely Dee Dee.

  The air was still but cold, and Charlie made note to buy a jacket if he came across any funds. The trailer park itself didn’t serve to make him feel any warmer. The trailers were set in rows, like a small neighborhood with wheels. Charlie guessed the residents were a mix of income levels, because he saw singlewides, doublewides, and modulars. Some looked pretty new, with fresh siding and windows that still had installation stickers on them. Others looked a lot more worn, with ratty wooden stairs leading up to the doors and white trash-looking lawn chairs out front, strewn with beer cans and fast food wrappers. That seemed to be a running theme, wadded-up yellow hamburger wrappers floating around in the breeze like tumbleweed in old Westerns.

  Charlie knocked on the door of the trailer that had an askew “Manager” sign hanging from it. He could hear a grumbling from the insid
e.

  Finally, the door swung open, as if kicked. “What do you want?” snapped a middle-aged woman wearing a sleeping gown and housecoat. She held a Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboy in her hand and didn’t look all that interested in entertaining guests; she could barely keep from rocking back and forth and looked to be well into that case of tallboys.

  “I’m sorry to be calling on you so late, ma’am,” Charlie said as he took off his hat and held it between his hands, “but I was just wondering if you might be able to help me find someone.”

  The woman looked him up and down quizzically and slurred, “You ain’t sellin’ nothin’, are ya, mister?”

  “No, ma’am,” Charlie said.

  “Not one of them Jehovah’s Witnesses neither? I don’t need nobody tellin’ me I need Jesus. I ain’t in no mood for that shit.”

  Charlie smiled and shook his head. “No, ma’am.”

  She held a suspicious gaze on Charlie for a moment. “Who ya lookin’ for?”

  Charlie took Kay’s picture out of his pocket and showed her. “I know it’s an inconvenience, ma’am, but I understand that the police were already by and said you’d seen her around.”

  “Oh,” the woman said, “the dead girl, huh?” She took the picture from his hand and looked at it more closely before taking a long slurp of beer. “Shameful,” she said, shaking her head. “She was a pretty little thing—well, not when I seen her, but she was in this picture, huh?”

  “Yes, ma’am, she was,” Charlie said.

  “You can cut it out with that ‘ma’am’ shit, son. You make me feel like I’m yer damn grandma or somethin’. Name’s Dory.”

  Charlie smiled again. “Dory? That’s a nice name.”

  Dory smiled back at him in the kind of mirroring way people do when one holds a smile too long.

  “Do you think you could tell me where you last saw her?”

  Dory thought for a moment. “Hard to say. I seen her around quite a bit, but I didn’t notice her going into any of the trailers. Mostly, she just walked around, hangin’ out with folks.”

  “Do you happen to know who those folks were, Dory?”

  Dory’s face turned to a frown. “Fuckin’ right, I do. Mostly a couple pieces of shit who live on the other side of the lot, Clarence and Dick.” Dory took another long gulp of beer, and her old, wobbly knees buckled slightly. With a little luck, she’d pass out, and Charlie’s unexpected interrogation would be little more than a foggy memory for her—dismissed as a fermented hops-induced dream.

  “Clarence and Dick?” Charlie repeated.

  “Yup. But they oughtta both be named Dick if ya ask me,” she said, then let loose with an unexpected yet impressive belch.

  “Do you happen to know their trailer number?”

  “Says I’m the manager on that sign there, don’t it?”

  Dee Dee was in the middle of plucking her eyebrows and juggling her cell phone against her ear when she heard a knock at her trailer door. Her face brightened when she saw Charlie, and she felt herself blush when he referred to her as “little lady” and gave her a peck on the cheek as he stepped up into the trailer. He was sweet in a funny kind of way. Dee Dee said a quick, “I’ll call you back,” and hung up her phone. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you again,” she said to Charlie.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d open the door for me,” Charlie said in return as he walked across the trailer into the kitchen and set his hat on the counter next to the sink.

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Oh come on,” Charlie said as he ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, matted down from his hat and kind of greasy. “I’m sure there are better-looking guys with a lot more money and brighter futures knocking at your door. I have no problem admitting to that.”

  Dee Dee frowned; she didn’t like to hear Charlie talk that way and told him so. “I like you, Charlie…a lot.” He was sweet to her, but not in that manipulative way like he was just trying to get in her pants. He listened when she talked, even after sex. It was almost like he got off on it, though it wasn’t sexual. He just seemed to like listening to her. No one had ever treated her that way before, especially not after the boob job. Even the ones who tried to act compassionate and chivalrous ended up being full of shit and turned to dogs the first chance they got. Sure, there were other guys in her life, but Charlie was different. He was a really good guy, and she was sure he wouldn’t hurt a fly and she felt safe when he was around. “Don’t talk like that,” Dee Dee said. “Of course I wanted to see you again.”

  “I’ve been feeling guilty all day. We didn’t get a chance to have breakfast together,” Charlie said, wearing his smooth little smirk. “And I still didn’t get to try those waffles.”

  Dee Dee smiled back at him, but she was in the middle of getting ready for work.

  Charlie looked disappointed but said he understood. “I still owe you breakfast though,” he said.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll hold you to it. If you want, you can come in and see me today. I’ll make sure the door guys don’t charge you a cover.”

  “Thanks,” Charlie said. “I think I’d like that, but it’s still kind of early for me. I thought I might blow off some steam.”

  Dee Dee raised an eye to Charlie, assuming they’d reached the part where it was all going to be about sex. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but every time she thought it would, Charlie threw her another curveball.

  “No,” Charlie said, “not that, darlin’, but don’t you go teasing me now. I went and identified my friend’s body.”

  Dee Dee looked back at Charlie and apologized a blue streak. She couldn’t believe she had already forgotten about that.

  “It’s okay,” Charlie said, “really. I was wondering if there are any gun clubs or rifle ranges around here, some place to help me vent.”

  Dee Dee laughed. “Of course, we’re practically in Montana, you know. If you don’t mind waiting for me to get ready, I can drop you off at a nearby place on the way to the club.”

  “Is there a place a little further out of town? I can’t say that after where I just was I have all that much interest in hanging around town, my mind wanders and I don’t want to think about Kay right now. I just want to get away for a minute,” he said.

  “Hmm. I’m not sure. You can check the Yellow Pages in the drawer,” Dee Dee said, then bounced off to find part of her favorite outfit, the one with the little black skirt and suspenders, throw on some glasses and a neck tie and guys went crazy for the sexy teacher fantasy.

  Charlie found a range about thirty miles outside of town.

  Dee Dee smiled. “I guess I can take you,” she said, “but you’ll owe me one.”

  Charlie thanked her and raised his own eyebrow for a moment. “Now what did I tell you about teasing me?”

  John Graves rubbed the stubble on his chin as he looked across the counter at the funny-looking guy in the even funnier looking hat. “Let me get this straight,” John said, “you want to buy two bullets?”

  “Yes,” Charlie said, his face not letting on any sign that it was some kind of joke.

  “Only two?”

  “Yes.”

  “Not just a box of ammo?”

  “I only need two,” Charlie said.

  “Mister, that’s like tellin’ the kid at the drive-thru that you only want two fries with that. Why only two?” John asked.

  Charlie shrugged. “It’s kind of a long story, but the short and sweet version is that it’s an inside joke between me and a friend. It’s really just a souvenir more than anything, and it’d be a waste of money and ammo for me to buy a whole box.”

  “I can’t break up a box and only sell you two. Ammo ain’t mix-and-match. You can buy a box, take two out for your practical joke or whatever it is, and give the rest to somebody who uses…uh, what caliber were you looking for?”

  “Sig P225, but I really don’t need a whole box.”

  “Basic 9mm round, huh? Nothing special there. Tell you what…
” John looked around the room, which was occupied by several men, sitting at old, rickety tables in folding chairs, telling stories and claiming their amazing shots and groupings for the day. He saw Luke Jenkins a few tables away and called him over.

  Luke headed to the counter with his bowlegged mosey of a walk. “What’s up, John?” Luke asked, slapping his hands down on the counter; it sounded like he’d had a few already.

  John pointed his chin down at the holster on Luke’s hip. “You’re packin’ your Sig today. You got a couple rounds this guy can buy?”

  “What…like a box?” Luke asked.

  “Nope,” John said. “Just wants two bullets.”

  “Two?” Luke asked.

  “Yup,” Charlie said. “And don’t worry. I’m more than happy to pay you for them.” He set a five-dollar bill on the counter.

  Luke stared at him like he was crazy. “Shit, buddy, you can almost just buy a box for five bucks,” Luke said.

  “He says he don’t want a whole box—just a couple for souvenirs,” John explained, shrugging his shoulders just to show he didn’t know what the hell was going on either.

  “It’s an inside joke,” Charlie said.

  Luke let out a little burp, laughed, and said, “Why not?” He discharged the magazine from his sidearm and popped out two 9mm rounds, then handed them over to Charlie.

  Charlie more than happily handed Luke the five-dollar bill and didn’t ask for change.

  Luke wandered back to the table, laughing, sure to make a joke of the tourist wanting a souvenir.

  “Anything else?” John asked, curious as to what other kind of weird shit the guy in the hat would want.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Charlie said, pointing over John’s shoulder to the counter.

  “What, the tumbler?” John asked.

  “Yeah. I saw one of those in that movie—you know, the one with the big worms.”