Wrestling the Kraken

Mahone

Mahone

Mahone was stomping his feet, trying to get the sand off, as he came out of the beach and onto the pavement. He could feel the sand inside his socks, rubbing against his toes. He was itching to take his shoes off and dump it all out. Looking up at his car, he found Stavo staring back at him. He was leaning against his car, waiting, with his arms crossed.

"Took you long enough." Stavo's voice was playful, but the undertone demanded answers.

Mahone leaned up against his car next to him, taking his shoes off. "What are you doing here? Thought I told you I'd see you in the morning."

"What am I doing here? Sheesh, would you listen to this guy? Look, what are you doing on the beach... and wearing shoes? Come on, who leaves their shoes on at the beach?"

"I do." Mahone patted his soles, getting all the sand out.

"Sandals or barefoot, but no, you gotta wear shoes, huh?" Stavo continued his ranting.

"I like to do things the hard way." Mahone glanced up at him. "Besides, have you seen our beach? Go barefoot out there and you'll step on some glass or worse." Satisfied that all the sand had been dumped out, or at least most of it, he straightened up and gazed at the ocean. From the pavement, it was hidden from view by the grass on the dunes.

"I was visiting a friend." Mahone said in all seriousness. "He lives on the beach over there." He pointed a finger at the general direction of Lanz's tent.

"The guy we're always getting complaints about, yeah, the one that worked with your wife before up and joining the circus. I see that, but what I mean is, why you felt you had to come all this way at this time of night? What was so important that you couldn't wait? That you couldn't tell your partner? I mean, come on, it's me Mahone. You know me. You shoved me right out your door."

"Ah, come on, I didn't shove you." Mahone scratched at his ear.

"You shoved me. I can still feel the kick in my bum, right here." Stavo pointed at his rear-end. "You wanna see?"

"No, I don't want to see. Get that thing away from me. I don't know where it's been."

"At your mama's house." Stavo teased, a large grin across his face.

"Hey, you leave my mama out of this, you hear. She's a sweet old lady, God bless her. And you keep it up, I'll tell her not to make you those cannolis she knows you like."

"No, don't you dare. You know I live for your mama's cannolis."

"Yeah, she's been wanting to make you a batch, but you know what, yeah, I'll call her when I get home, tell her not to make 'em."

"You do that, I swear I'll tell the Cap. it was you that swiped his donut."

"Ouch. Yikes. Throwing the gloves off, huh?" Mahone laughed, shaking his head.

"Yeah, they're all off now." Stavo laughed.

They both let the laughter die down, lingering a moment in the silence that came after.

"Come on, Mahone." Stavo said, bringing the vibe back to serious matters. "What are you doing here? I saw your face when you read that list I gave you."

"My face?" Mahone shrugged, not making eye contact.

"Yeah, your face. Don't try that with me." Stavo nudged Mahone in the arm with his elbow.

"Alright, alright." Mahone said, resigned, rubbing his face. "You really want to know?"

"Yeah, I want to know. Of course I want to know. That's what we're doing here, I'm asking. I'm your partner." Stavo pointed at his chest with both hands.

Mahone got off the car and walked in a half circle, hands in his pocket, staring at the ground. Then he stopped and raised his head. "That list you gave me. The one with people who were disgruntled towards Mr. Rossini. There's a name on that list that I know."

Stavo lifted his head up toward the night sky and sighed. "The beach guy?"

Mahone nodded, kicking at a pebble with his shoe.

"What happened? Did you know?" Stavo asked.

"No, I didn't know. That's why I came out here to find out. I had to ask him, you know. Get his story.

"Yeah, but... why not tell me? You know I got your back. What, you don't trust me or something? Is that it?

"No, of course I trust you. Get out of here with that."

"I'm just saying, you can come to me with this kind of stuff. You know that right?"

"Yeah, sure. Look, I didn't tell you, because it took me by surprise. I didn't know what to think honestly."

"So, what happened?" Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah, I talked to him."

"Yeah, so, what did he have to say?"

Mahone lit up a cigarette. Inhaled deep, then let it out. "He told me this story a while back, when he first started living out here at the beach. He wanted to get away from everybody, from everything. He left out a lot of details, then, about what really happened. Like the circus that he went and worked at was Mr. Rossini's."

"You didn't know?"

Mahone shook his head, blowing out smoke. "No, I knew it was a circus, but not this one. Anyway, before he had told me that he decided to quit. He was done working for people like that."

"What is he saying now?"

Mahone faced the car and leaned up against it, fidgeting with his nails. "He said that he had been in love with this girl named Lily..."

"Wait, our Lily? I mean the one from the case?" Stavo straightened up.

"Yeah, the same one. So he's in love with her, but she doesn't love him back. Apparently, she starts seeing Dante, who's been known to be a bit loose with the women."

"They dated, she dies, then Vivianne gets put in." Stavo surmised.

"Yeah, and get this." Mahone turned to face him. "According to Lanz, Dante dated Vivianne before Lily."

"Sheesh. You gotta be kidding me. So, what put Lanz on the disgruntled list? Barbara didn't exactly give out that many details, when she first helped me put the list together."

Mahone shifted his weight. "He says he's sure Dante had something to do with Lily showing up dead, adamant that we should be looking into him. He confronted him, before Lily showed up dead, and ended up punching the guy in the face. He had to be escorted out."

"There's no police report."

"Yeah, that's 'cause Mr. Rossini or Dante never filed one. It was known that Lanz and Lily were pretty close. Mr. Rossini must have taken the incident lightly."

They both stayed quiet for a moment. Stavo looked up at the night sky. Few stars were visible. He focused on one, trying to decide if it was a star or an airplane. It moved.

Mahone rubbed his cigarette bud on the bottom of his shoe, then flicked it out.

"You know..." Stavo began, still looking up at the sky, "...that gives your friend motive."

Mahone let out an audible sigh. "Yeah, I know."

Stavo rubbed his chin and neck, feeling the stubbles that would need to be shaved in the morning. "This can stay between us." He looked at Mahone. "Until we know more. "

Mahone turned and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, we should go."

"Yeah, hey, I'll see you in the morning alright." Stavo headed back to his car. He had parked off to the side, trying to stay out of sight as he followed Mahone here.

Mahone found his keys and opened his door. Stopping to look back at Stavo, he got in his car. About to insert the key into the ignition, he paused. His hand dropped. He knew he could trust his partner, but what if Lanz did have a motive. If he found any convincing evidence, could he do it? Bring in his own friend? He started the car and drove away.