Already Gone

– 24 –



“Someone contacted me the day your case landed on my desk,” Nolan says. “It was just after I came to your house that first time. Do you remember?”

“Of course I do.”

“When I got back to my office, I found a manila envelope with my name on it. There were things inside—” Nolan pauses, then comes around the car to where I’m standing. “That night they called and told me to bury your case.”

“Who’s they?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Someone calls and tells you to cover up an investigation and you do it, just like that?”

“You’re not the only one with a past, Jake.” He takes a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket and puts one in his mouth. “They were persuasive.”

“They blackmailed you?”

Nolan lights his cigarette. “I’ve done some things I’m not proud of, things I’ve put behind me.”

“Things they know about?”

“That’s right,” he says. “All I want to do is keep my badge. Do you understand?”

I tell him I do, and it’s the truth.

I just don’t care.

“You have no idea who they are?”

“No, and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

Nolan smiles. “What kind of people do you think we’re dealing with here?”

I don’t answer.

“You had a man look you in the eye tonight and convince you that he was someone else. And he did it after your friend had worked him over. Can you imagine that kind of control?”

“How do you know he was lying?”

“He had to be,” Nolan says. “It was an act, the pain, the fear, all of it.”

“That’s not possible.”

“I’m afraid it is.” Nolan looks down at his cigarette and rolls it back and forth between his fingers. “Those are the kind of people we’re dealing with.”

“I don’t believe it,” I say. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see what I saw in that basement.”

“What did you see? Tell me.”

I start to go over it again. I tell him about the air in the room, hot and thick and heavy with the smell of blood and piss. I tell him about seeing the two of them lumped on either side of the basement. The big one strapped to the table, and the little one…

I stop talking.

The little one.

I picture him in my mind, sitting in the corner, his hands tied with wire and stretched over his head, blood running down his arms. I can still see his face, broken and bruised, one eye swollen shut, the other wide open and fearless, watching me.

Why wasn’t he scared?

My chest aches, and I can’t find the words.

I look at Nolan, and he sees it in my face. He smiles and drops his cigarette on the ground at his feet. “It is what it is.”

“But it doesn’t make sense,” I say. “If it’s true, then why are you here? Why are you involved?”

“I told you.” He motions toward my finger. “They wanted to make sure no one investigated the attack. It’s the reason I kept looking at you instead of finding—”

“No, why are you out here tonight? Someone told you to bring me here. Why would they do that?”

Nolan doesn’t speak.

I keep talking.

“If you’re right about all this, then why would they need you to come to my house and get me? If they wanted me, they could’ve grabbed me that night in the parking lot, or any other night. Why did they have you bring me here tonight?”

Nolan shakes his head, silent.

“It sounds like they wanted us both here.”

Right away, something changes in Nolan’s eyes. He steps back from the car and looks at his watch, then out toward the entrance to the park. I start to say something else, but he holds up a hand, stopping me.

“No more talking.”

I tell him that’s fine with me.

My broken nose is throbbing and sending waves of pain through the center of my skull. It hurts to breathe, and talking is worse.

I lean back against the car and adjust my wrists so the handcuffs don’t cut off the circulation. I hear the wind passing through the trees, and I try to focus on the sound, reminding myself why I’m here.

I close my eyes and think about Diane.

It makes everything all right.

When I open my eyes again, Nolan is gone.





The wind picks up and turns cold.

I pace back and fourth to keep the blood flowing. I can’t feel anything below my elbows, and every step I take sends jagged flashes of pain through my head.

I inch myself down to the ground and use the car as a shield. It helps, but not much.

A few minutes pass, and then I hear footsteps on the gravel.

I try to stand, but with my hands cuffed I can’t get my legs under me, so I stay where I am and I wait.

The footsteps get closer. Nolan comes around the side of the car. He sees me on the ground, and he reaches down to help me up. Then he takes a ring of keys from his pocket and says, “Turn around.”

When I do, he unlocks the cuffs and slides them into his jacket pocket. “Get out of here.”

“And go where?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “Just don’t be here.”

I feel the blood creep back into my hands. I shake them out and say, “I think I’ll stick around.”

“Don’t be an idiot.”

“I have to know, and I’ve got nothing else to lose.”

Nolan shakes his head. “Okay, Jake, it’s up to you. I did what they asked of me and that’s enough.”

He walks around to the driver’s side, and I follow.

“You’re leaving me out here?” I ask. “What if they don’t show up?”

Nolan laughs. “Then you should consider yourself lucky.” He opens the door, stops, then turns back to me. “I don’t know what they want with you, but you’d be smart to get as far away from them as you can.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Nolan frowns, then leans down and reaches into the car. He picks something up off the passenger seat and says, “You had this back at your house. I brought it along.” He holds out my .38. “You might as well have it, for all the good it’ll do you.”

I stare at my gun for a moment, but I don’t take it.

“I was going use it to get you to talk.”

“Not everything works out the way we’d like, does it?” He pushes the gun toward me. “Take it.”

I shake my head, don’t move.

I know better.

Nolan smiles and holds up his other hand. “No tricks, Jake, just doing you a favor. I can keep it if you want.”

I reach for the gun.

When my hand touches the metal, I hear a soft hiss then a loud snapping sound, like a branch breaking. Nolan jerks forward and something wet slaps against my face.

I close my eyes and step back.

The gun drops.

When I look again, Nolan is lying facedown on the ground. One arm is pinned under him, the other stretched out, twitching in the dirt. The left side of his head is open, and blood is spilling out in every direction.

I take another step back, unable to look away.

My mouth is open, but there’s no sound.

All I hear is the wind.