Dovetail: A Novel(85)

“A wooden one, then.”

“I guess.”

“That would make sense, given the time period.” She gestured toward the boat at her feet. “Want to go for a ride? It might make your nightmares end completely.”

“Doesn’t it belong to someone?”

“No doubt, but we’ll just take it out and be back in no time at all. I can finally show you the island. It’s not too far.”

“And if the owners of the boat come here in the meantime?”

“We can leave a note on the pier if you want.” Kathleen snapped open her purse and pulled out a small spiral-bound pad of paper and a pen. She flipped back the cover and wrote:

BORROWED YOUR ROWBOAT. WILL BE BACK SOON.

KATHLEEN DINSMORE

With a flourish, she dropped the pad onto the pier and stuck the pen back in her bag.

“If you’re willing to put your name to the crime, I’m okay with it,” Joe said with a smile.

“If I get prosecuted, you can visit me in prison.”

“I’ll bake you a cake with a file in it.”

“I never got that. What would I do with a file?” She reached down and pulled the rowboat parallel to the pier, then sat down and swung her legs over. Joe held the boat steady while she climbed in, then got in and sat opposite her.

“File the bars in your cell?”

“Ha! Do my nails is more like it,” she said. “A file would be worthless. I’ll tell you what: if you’re going to the trouble, you might as well bake me a cake with some dynamite inside it, or a shovel. Something useful.”

“I’ll do my best.” Joe gestured to the oars. “You do know you’re in the seat to row? You want to switch?”

“No, I’ll do it for a while, and then we can trade off,” she said, lifting the oars and lowering them into the water.

She never stopped surprising him, in a good way. He nodded and sat back, admiring the capable way she eased the oars back, then dipped and pulled them forward, propelling the boat farther and farther away from the Barn Dance. The strains of the song “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” drifted across the surface of the water, a musical backdrop just for them. Joe tapped his palm on the side of the boat in time to the music and studied Kathleen as she happily rowed them toward the island. The Barn Dance had been a letdown, but this evening was turning into a good night after all.



Ricky stood on the shore and watched as the couple in the boat receded into the distance, disgust rising from his gut. Kathleen was really on a date with that guy, complete with slow dancing and a romantic boat ride. That guy. Unbelievable. He couldn’t believe the pansy-ass was making her row. What kind of man would do such a thing?

In his opinion, Joe wasn’t a man at all but a skinny kid aiming higher than his reach. She had to be dating him out of pity. The idea of this man-child touching Kathleen—kissing her, putting his filthy hands on her—made him want to puke. The rage that welled up in him made him all the more convinced that he was doing the right thing by maneuvering to take back what belonged to him.

If she didn’t know it already, Kathleen would see Joe’s true colors by the time the night was through. Ricky knew he would shine by comparison. He still remembered her saying how safe she felt in his presence in their early dating days. And while they were together, she’d often comment on his height and broad shoulders. He couldn’t help but draw the conclusion that his strength, size, and confidence had been a draw for her.

And now she was out with Barney Fife? She was so mixed up, it wasn’t even funny. The girl didn’t know what she wanted.

He walked onto the pier and saw the notepad; her words made him smile. Proper Kathleen. So polite, she would have made a good librarian. He picked it up and flipped through the pages. Finding them all blank, he dropped the pad in the water, watching as it momentarily lingered on the surface. He gave it a shove with the toe of his shoe, and it sank, the words lost to the water.

He heard Kathleen’s voice float over the water and Joe’s in response, although he couldn’t make out the words. He kept his eyes on the boat, noticing that they were heading toward a plot of land that seemed to be growing right up out of the lake. An island or a peninsula? Hard to tell. Within a few minutes, they were there. Joe hopped out and pulled the boat up on land, then helped Kathleen out.

Ricky mentally reconfigured his next course of action. His original scheme had counted on Joe’s truck breaking down and Ricky, the masked assailant, beating the hell out of him by the side of the road. This plan was brilliant in a way, but risky. Some nosy parker could come upon the scene at the wrong time and ruin everything. If his identity was revealed, it would wreck his chance of reconciliation with his wife.

This boat outing changed things, possibly for the better. If they could rewrite the script, he could too. Ricky was not about to be outmaneuvered.

Among the rowboats, there was one canoe and a boat with an outboard motor. He unmoored the motorboat and started the engine, which roared to life. As he steered the boat away from the pier, he smiled, knowing he’d catch up to them in no time.





CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR





1916


When John lifted Alice by the waist and swung her out of the boat and onto the shore, she laughed, carefree as a child. After so much time in service to her family at home, she now had an entire evening to devote entirely to herself. It was selfish on her part, she knew, but also long overdue. It had been risky to leave the dance without a chaperone, but she was able to justify her actions. Other people were impetuous all the time, and no one gave it a second thought. Wasn’t she entitled to one evening of foolhardy behavior? Soon enough, John would be gone, and she’d be back to the stove and the washboard, once again mending clothing and weeding the garden. She didn’t mind the work, at least not all that much. Someone had to do it, and she was more than adequate to the task, but one evening away from her chores was not too much to ask.