Dead on the Island Read Free Page A

didn't have to, not even for old time's sake."
    Dino laughed. "That knee still bothers you,
huh? Well, I didn't help on account of that. You were a buddy, and
you needed help. So I helped. It didn't work out, but I tried." He
picked up his glass and tried to take a bite off one of the ice
cubes that was left. "So, you gonna help me with this one?"
    "Maybe. Tell me what it is, first."
    "I don't think he trusts you, Dino," Ray
said. He was standing somewhere behind me.
    "It's not that," I said. "It's just that you
might be asking something that I really can't do. Or won't do. So
tell me who you want me to find."
    "Get the picture for him, Ray," Dino
said.
    I didn't hear Ray leave the room, but he
must have. In a minute he was back, holding a cardboard folder. The
outside of the folder had a sort of woodgrain look, just like the
folders we'd gotten our own high school pictures in twenty years
before. Ray handed me the folder.
    "Take a look," Dino said. I opened the
folder. Inside was a five-by-seven color glossy of a girl about
sixteen or seventeen. Straight hair, the color we used to call
mousy blonde. Blue eyes, a strong nose, a firm mouth. She had a
prettiness about her, but there was nothing fragile in it.
    "So," I said. "A nice looking kid. She the
one that's missing?"
    "That's right," Dino said. "Two days
now."
    "And you want me to find her."
    "Right again. No wonder you were such a
hotshot investigator."
    "No need to be touchy," I said. "Whose
daughter is she?"
    "A friend's," Dino said, looking at his
empty glass.
    "That won't get it," I said. "If I do this
little job for you, and I'm not saying I will, I'll have to talk to
her parents. Kids disappear for a lot of reasons. Some of them are
right at home.”
    "Not this kid," Dino said. "Take my word for
it."
    I handed the folder back to Ray. "This isn't
going to work," I said.
    "Goddammit, Tru!" Dino jumped to his
feet.
    I stayed in my chair. "Look, Dino, I work
the way I work. In a case like this, I always talk to the parents.
Besides, it's bound to be complicated. I'm sure you've already
tried a few things yourself, like you did for me."
    "Tell him, Ray."
    "We've checked with the cops," Ray said.
"We've put out feelers in other cities where we still have
contacts. I've been to the bus station here and in Houston. And in
a few towns in between."
    "What'd you find out?" I said, but I figured
I knew.
    "Not a goddamn thing," Dino said. "Not one
solitary goddamn thing. The cops don't know from nothing. Nobody's
seen her. She's just gone. Just like--"
    "Like Jan," I finished for him. "You can say
it. I won't mind."
    "She's younger than Jan," Ray said. "It's
not the same thing."
    I could have told him that he was making a
mistake right there. You never assume anything. If you do, you
mislead yourself. But I didn't tell him. Instead, I said, "What
about her friends? Teachers? Does she work? When was she last seen?
I've got to talk to her parents and find out things like that."
    " I can tell you," Dino said.
    "This is beginning to smell," I said. "I
don't think I want to be involved in it, even if I owe you." I
stood up.
    "You're gonna have to tell him, Dino," Ray
said.
    "Shit," Dino said. He looked at me hard and
then said, "All right, goddammit. Sit down. I'll tell you."
    I didn't move.
    "Please," Dino said. "Please sit down. Is
that polite enough for you? You want pretty please with sugar on
it?"
    I sat down. Ray handed me the folder
again.
    "There's not any parents," Dino said. "I
mean, there's not any father. The mother is one of my uncles'
girls."
    I looked at Ray.
    "He's telling it, not me," Ray said.
    "She stayed in town after the houses closed
down," Dino said. "Nobody knew where she'd worked before, and she's
a respected woman now. She had the kid a few years after leaving
the houses but before she'd really established herself. She was
naturally a little upset at the idea that part of her past might
come out in an investigation, and she asked me to see what I