It felt good just to walk into the place. Bennett was sitting at one of the tables, having a late lunch. His son was mixing drinks for two men sitting at the end of the bar. His wife was washing glasses. “Alex!” Bennett said. “You’re becoming a regular customer! What’s the matter, Jackie kick you out of his place?” “You’re not going to believe this,” I said. “I need a ride over to the marina. My truck is there.” “What’d you do? Swim over?” “It’s kind of a long story,” I said. Which meant I had to tell it. With Bennett getting up from his lunch and getting me a beer, of course I had to tell him the whole thing. “He thinks I was involved in the robbery,” I said, getting to the punch line. “He thinks you were involved, too.” “What is he, nuts?” “You know that shot to the ribs you took for him? He thinks it was staged.” “Yeah, it was staged all right,” he said, rubbing his left side. “That’s why it’s been keeping me up all night. All I gotta do is roll over the wrong way and ka-pow!
