Dr. Schmidt looked at me from over the top of his glasses. “Given the first thing he said when he woke up was ‘Hope is going to kill me,’ I think they’re pretty good.” He winked and squeezed my hand. “I’ll let you know when you can see him.”
In the waiting room, Peggy was sitting between my mother and Boon. She stood up quickly when she saw me and gave me a hug when I reached her.
“I just got the message,” she said. “How is he?”
“He’s doing okay. He’s got some work to do to get better.”
“I’m so sorry I missed your call. Who ended up getting Kat?” Peggy asked.
I frowned at her. “I take it you haven’t talked to Alex?”
“Alex? No. He was sleeping when I left the house this morning.”
“Damn. I was hoping you’d have some insight as to why Jack was there.”
Peggy gave me a confused look. “Jack was where?”
I turned to Boon. “You said earlier that you knew something about it.”
“Wait. Jack was at my house?” Peggy asked. “Is that where this happened?”
Boon held up his hands. “I said I can take a guess. Given Finn and Jack’s history, it doesn’t surprise me that they’re tangling with one another again.”
“What exactly is their history?” I asked.
“Yes,” Peggy added. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
There was a long pause while Boon looked at me and then at Peggy and then back at me.
“Christ,” he muttered.
“Can someone please tell me what happened and how Alex is involved before I have a heart attack,” Peggy pleaded.
“I’m sorry, Peg,” I said, pressing my fingers against my eyebrow. “Jack showed up at your house and Alex was there and Jack was angry and Alex thought it was about Jess but then it came out that it had to do with some stolen traps. Jack left in a hurry, and Boon got a call from Ryland that he’d pulled Jack out of the water and to call an ambulance and here we are.”
I said this all in one breath, and my mother stuck her bottom lip out and said, “Whew.”
“Alex and Jess left to get Kat and now they’re all at my house. And what history?” I demanded, turning to Boon.
Boon didn’t speak, but he didn’t need to. His expression told me it was something I wasn’t going to like.
“I’m going to check on the kids,” Peggy said quietly.
“I’m going with you,” my mother blurted out, gathering her purse with the quickness one usually reserves for emergency-type exits. Peggy squeezed my hand and mouthed, Call me. My mother gave Boon a hug and turned to me, pressed her face against my cheek.
“Now, you tell Jack that tomorrow is a new day,” she told me in a chirpy voice.
“Mom,” I said wearily. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Boon smile. But when I looked over at him after they left, the smile was gone.
I crossed my arms. “He didn’t cut his hand on the engine, did he?”
He motioned for us to move to the chairs in the far corner of the room. When we were seated, he looked at me.
“I’m guessing not.”
“Guessing?”
“Yes. Guessing. I heard there was some shit going down on his boat the other night. I asked him about it this morning, and he told me to mind my own business. Then he went out on the boat and the next thing I know, Finn’s in my office, handing me a wad of cash, telling me he stole out of Jack’s traps, his face smashed in. I’m not a detective, but I’m guessing the cut on Jack’s hand was probably a right hook to Finn’s face, not the engine.”
“Wait. Back up. Finn stole his catch? When? How?” I thought of Peggy. I’d talked to her on Sunday. She’d said she hadn’t heard from Ryland in days.
“We didn’t get into details. I took the money, and he said he was going to buy some bait, head out to Jack’s traps, and make it right. I got on the phone and called Jack. No answer. Tried the radio and got the same. Then Finn’s calling me from his boat, screaming at me to call an ambulance, that he’s got Jack on the deck, barely breathing.”
My mind raced, trying to process it all, to piece it all together.
“Why would Ryland steal from Jack’s traps? Was that his territory? Is that the history you’re talking about?”
Boon studied me, a somber expression on his face. “This is where I’m out of this, Hope,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what you know. You need to talk to Jack about it.”
“Well, given that the first time I heard Ryland Finn’s name was when he was standing in my living room, I’m assuming I don’t know anything.”
Boon’s jaw dropped. “He was at your house?”
“Yes. Earlier this summer. I invited them over. Jack was angry, said he never wanted Finn in our house again. I brought his name up a couple of weeks later, asked Jack why he didn’t like him, and he wouldn’t answer. Said it had nothing to do with me.”
Boon shook his head, studied his hands. I sighed and sat back in the chair, frustrated.
“Just tell me what it is, Boon.”
“He’s such a pain in the ass,” he muttered. Then, “I don’t want to get in the middle of this.”
“It’s a little late for that.”
“Hope. This isn’t my information to give.”
“Well, apparently Jack can’t give it either,” I said. “And look where it landed him.” I waved to where Jack was, somewhere in the hospital, hooked up to tubes and lines and monitors.
Boon swore under his breath, shifted in his seat.
“Boon, please. As his friend. And mine.”
He was silent, staring at the floor.
“Whatever it was, it was a long time ago. This is ridiculous.” I was angry now, and it came out in my voice. “Was it about fishing? About a girl? What?”
Boon groaned and threw up his hands, faced me. “I don’t see how this is going to help, but what do I know? It was a girl. Hannah something. I don’t remember her last name. She moved here our senior year, got serious with Finn right away. They were that couple, you know? Pretty cheerleader meets the football guy, the golden couple. Only problem was he had a drinking and steroid problem, and she had a temper. They’d have these colossal fights in the middle of the school parking lot. Didn’t matter who was around. Anyway, the summer after we graduated, she got a job working at the Wharf Rat as a waitress.”
“Enter Jack,” I said.
“Yes and no. He wasn’t interested. And that made her more interested. I swear whenever we pulled in on the boat after hauling traps, she’d be on the patio, watching for him, waiting to take her break just at the right time. He didn’t stand a chance.”
“She was pretty?”
“Not pretty,” he said. “Beautiful.” But his voice was hard.
“You didn’t like her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Finn was a jealous guy. Add the alcohol, the steroids, and he’s a gasket waiting to blow. I think he cheated on her, pissed her off one too many times, and she used Jack to get back at him.”
“Used him how?” I asked.
He looked at me, waited. “For his stunning conversation skills,” he said after a minute.
Boon had his eyebrows up, and when he saw that I understood what he meant, he rolled his eyes. I took a deep breath and motioned for him to continue.
“You sure?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Jack got pretty lit after work one night, drinking beers with me and Eddy on the dock. She showed up after her shift, and that was that. Game over.”