Dead Harvest

  Dumas cocked his head, shot me a puzzled look. "What?"

  "The suitcase. I tried to put it in the locker, but it didn't fit, so I figured I'd just take out the contents, leave 'em in the locker like you said."

  To my surprise, Dumas laughed – a big boisterous fullbodied laugh that set his chins quivering. "It didn't fit? Shit, ain't that a hoot!"

  "Yeah, a regular laugh riot."

  "Ah, you know what they say – the best laid plans and all that. You didn't leave it there, did you? All unwrapped and everything?"

  "No, I didn't leave it there," I snapped. "It's in the car."

  "And where's the car?"

  "It's safe."

  "Good boy, good boy. So you been waiting here for me ever since?"

  "That's right."

  "Sounds like you've been having yourself one bitch of a day. Why don't you come inside and we'll discuss it over a drink, like civilized men? Maybe I can explain myself a bit, you'll see I ain't as bad as I might seem."

  I don't know why, but I released him. Dumas straightened his jacket, picked his cap up off the sidewalk, and gestured for me to head inside.

  He led me to a booth in the back – his usual, it seemed, the one I'd met him in before – and flagged down the bartender, ordering a beer and a shot apiece. When they arrived, Dumas downed his shot and took a pull of beer. I ignored mine. He eyed me a moment, giving me a chance to reconsider, and then shrugged.

  "Listen," he said, "I'm real sorry about this mornin'. You weren't meant to see that."

  "That doesn't change the fact I did."

  "You're right, of course. I guess I owe you an explanation."

  "What good is explaining gonna do?" I said. "I'm no dope peddler."

  "Nor am I, Sam – nor am I. But I am in shipping, and if there are people willing to pay mightily for their shipments to arrive in time and unmolested, who am I to turn them away? What is in those shipments is their concern, not mine. And OK, yeah, maybe this time, I knew what was in the suitcase, but so what? These folks ain't giving this shit to schoolchildren, they're running a business. As in, if people wanna buy it, it's none o' mine."

  "You can't expect me to just look the other way, pretend I never saw what I saw. The world doesn't work that way."