Chapter 19

She could not believe her eyes. In fact, she was certain that she’d be put into therapy if she related what she saw to anyone. But there they were: Marian Randall and Julian Willis, together! To approach or not to approach them that was the question! Oh yeah, for sure it was one helluva question. She made the decision. She’d be talking to Ava first. Oh yeah! Ava had to be first.

“You saw who? You saw them where?” said Ava.

“I know. I couldn’t believe it either. I still can’t believe it. Shades of high school,” said Bea. “And it was at the Blue Boar.”

“High school hell! Shades of the senior prom,” said Ava. “And the Blue Boar.”

“Hmm, yes, now that you mention it,” said Bea. Ava Willis felt herself momentarily transported back to that May night in 1968 when arguably all of their lives were changed forever.

“If you saw them together up here, well in Bullhead, then they might be living together. I did find out, not long ago, that he was up here across the river; but her too? We, Blake and I, did talk to the man, in Phoenix. But he didn’t want to talk to us, not at all. We didn’t push it at the time. Though we did happen to mention that we had moved to Laughlin. And now I wonder if he maybe did move up here to be near us,” said Ava. “Actually, Blake did say that he thought that that might be a long shot possibility.”

“You thinking of maybe contacting him?” said Bea.

“We have been thinking about it, actually planning on it; and introducing him to his daughter too, but...”

“I’ll be talking to Blake tonight,” she said. “I guess we’ll just have to see, but we’re not rushing into anything without knowing more.”

“Maybe talk to Marian before the man,” offered Bea. Her friend was nodding, tentatively nodding.

“A distinct possibility,” said Ava. “But first will be Blake.”

“I’m not going to ask if there is any possibility that Bea is mistaken. It’s clear that there is not any such possibility. I will be talking to Jacob today. I hate the idea that we are actually planning on spying on the man, and that is what we are planning to do here, exactly what we are planning to do. That said, the idea that he might have moved up here if only subconsciously to be near us is making more and more sense, at least to me,” said Blake. And I mean with our plan to introduce him...”

“Yes, to Candace, and yes I hope we’re right,” said Ava. “But something else Bea said might be worth considering.”

“Yes?” he said.

“That we talk to Marian first. See if there is anything there that we might be able to use to leverage the man to lighten up,” she said.

“Okay ... yes, okay. Still, I would be a little concerned that if she is on his side that we might end up shooting ourselves in the foot. Still, maybe...” he said. His wife smiled.

“Marian isn’t Julian. He might not want the money, but her?” she said. It was Blake’s turn to smile.

“I see what you mean. Yes, we have to be careful. If she just up and suggests to him, however obliquely, that we have rewarded her in advance for being good to him, as unlikely as something like that might be, we might still end up shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said.

“Enough money would make us proof against that, at least with her,” she said.

“Still...” he said.

“We just have to be careful. She has to know that all we want to do is help the man. That’s what would make us proof against the wrong kind of exposure, not just the money per se,” she said.

“Okay then, Jacob does some research per Marian first. For the moment Julian is on the back burner,” he said.

“Who?” said Jacob Paskin esquire.

“Marian Randall, but she likely has a married name, not sure about that. Randall was her maiden name. She went to high school with Ava, Bea and Julian too back in the day. They’ve got history. Ava, says that at one-point Marian and Julian had been an item; I mean in high school,” said Blake. Jacob was nodding.

“I see,” he said. “Okay, I’ll have my man on it before the day is out. And I am right in assuming that Julian is not supposed to be in the know about any of this, right?”

“Yes, you have that right,” said Blake.

“And the woman, this Marian, is not to know either, I have that right too, right?” he said.

“Right again,” said Blake.

“Okay, we’re on it. Should be only a couple of days,” he said.

The two conspirators shook hands. The game was afoot.

Regis Gallant, and that actually was his name, was content. Content because sometimes the work was easy, most of the time it took time and he usually had to find the time in his busy week to get the info he needed to make his boss, Jacob Paskin, happy. But today was a good day. He knew where the man worked; hence, it was a good bet that the woman would be hanging around said workplace. Well, he’d been wrong about that. She hadn’t been hanging around the place; she was working at the place. The man had gotten her a job there, at the Sand Bar.

The IPA he was sipping tasted good. And the woman had served him herself. She was a cute thing. He knew it was her because he had a picture from a high school year book; it was twenty-five years old, but there was no doubt that it was her, none.

“Another one of those?” said Marian, to the tall handsome stranger. The man smiled.

“Yes indeed,” said Regis. She had an engaging voice and smile, he thought.

She headed down to the other end of the bar to the supply of IPA. She returned and delivered it to the man.

“You’re new here,” he said. He was fishing.

“Yes, a friend got me the job. Been on duty for the last month,” she said, trying to make idle conversation: it’s how one was usually able to increase the size of the gratuity.

“I thought so,” he said. Marian Carton wandered off down the bar to answer a waving arm.

“A nice-looking gal, kinda slim, long hair, and apparently liking her new job, which I was able to find out she’d gotten as a result of the recommendation of her friend, our main man,” said Regis.

“Okay,” said Jacob Paskin. “So, the main man wasn’t there?”