AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Trace leveled a stubby finger at the hat. “Told ya. I’m here to pick up something for a friend. He told me about the house.”
“Where is Marten? He’s alive?” Hailey dived for the black hat and skimmed her fingers across the rim.
“Isn’t that what the note said?” Trace leaned on his crutch and fetched a cigarette from his other pocket.
Joe lunged for Trace and snatched the cigarette from his hand. “No lighting up in here. Are you crazy?”
“Some say I am.” Trace tapped his head. “But you know about that kinda crazy, don’t you, soldier?”
“Are you getting any help for that?” Joe handed the cigarette back to Trace. “Not in the house.”
“Here and there. Couple of shrinks volunteer at Mission Hope.” He pocketed the cigarette.
“How do you know about that note? About Marten?” Hailey twirled Marten’s hat around her hand.
“Crazy dude, that Marten. Talks kinda funny, too.”
Joe asked, “Where’d you meet him?”
“Met him on the rocks down by Fisherman’s Wharf. He was comin’ out of the bay like one of those escaped prisoners from Alcatraz.”
Hailey shook her head. “No prisoners ever escaped from Alcatraz—and lived to tell about it.”
“They never found that bunch, just their makeshift rafts.” Trace winked. “You never know.”
“Back to Marten.” Joe tapped the toe of his boot.
“Yeah, came out of the water, told me he was hiding from some people and just faked his own death. I told him the best way to be invisible in this city was to be homeless. Got him suited up and took him to the shelter with me for a meal.”
“Did he say he was pushed from the ferry?” Hailey perched on the arm of a chair. “Do you want to sit down?”
“Not staying that long.” Trace scratched his scruffy beard. “Dude said he jumped.”
“I thought he was dead.”
“I guess that’s what he wanted.”
Joe glanced at her, his eyebrows peaked over his nose. “Nice of him to worry his friend. Is that when he got the locker, when he went to the shelter with you?”
“Yep. Saw the locker and figured it suited him just fine.”
“Wait a minute.” Joe held up his hands. “If he got that locker after he nose-dived off the ferry, how did he get that key to Joost?”
“Joost must’ve been lying.”
“Joost is the big blond guy—” Trace held his hand a few inches about his head “—talks funny like Marten?”
“That’s him.” Hailey clenched her teeth.
“Then Joost lied, ’cause Marten dropped off the locker key with him after making a copy for himself. Then I guess Marten lived longer than he expected, because he went back to the locker and replaced the letter he had in there with the note telling you he was alive.”
“How in the world did Marten expect me to know what that key unlocked?”
“Has ‘Mission Hope’ written right on it.” Trace cocked his head.
“It was worn off.” Joe rubbed the back of his neck. “Did Marten tell you to keep an eye on the lockers?”
“Yeah, and I did. I saw you two going in there and I would’ve been there sooner if I’d noticed that guy following you, but I kinda got caught up in the card game. I still saved you, didn’t I?”
“You did.” Hailey flipped up the hat and put it on her own head. “Where is Marten now and what does he have planned next?”
“I don’t know where he is. What he has planned next?” He tipped his head toward Hailey. “He wants his hat back.”
Joe pushed off the sofa where he’d been leaning and jumped at Trace, causing him to drop his crutch. “You tell that selfish SOB to come forward now and admit the truth so Hailey doesn’t have to keep looking over her shoulder. You see all this? It’s all because of that crazy...dude, Marten.”
Trace hopped backward, away from Joe. “I’ll tell him, I’ll tell him. Just don’t follow me, man. Don’t expect me to take you to him. He’ll disappear again. He warned me about you.”
