“Tomasetti, I’m okay. Really. You can’t leave work to rescue me every time I get into a scuffle.”

“This was more than a scuffle. The fall alone—”

“I’ll have Glock drive me over to Pomerene. A quick X-ray, a wrap for my wrist, and I’ll be good to go.”

He falls silent. I know he’s not happy with the situation. But this is ground already covered, and I know he doesn’t want to rehash it, especially over the phone.

“I’ll be home before dark,” I tell him. “What do you say we meet out at the pond and catch a few fish?”

After too long a pause, he says, “I’ll buy the bait.”

“In that case, I’ll meet you at the dock,” I tell him, and disconnect.

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

If someone were to ask me in January or February if I’m planning to spend the rest of my life living in northeastern Ohio—or anywhere in the Midwest for that matter—my answer would be something along the lines of Hell no! Are you nuts? Ask me the same question on an evening like this one, when the breeze is like silk on your skin, the frogs and crickets and the last of the birds launch into their end-of-day serenade, and the moon is a pale yellow sphere rising above the treetops to the east, I’d respond with Why would I ever want to live anywhere else? It’s evenings like this one that make those long winters worth the wait.

It’s dusk and I’m sitting in a lawn chair on the small wooden dock, looking out over the pond, and there’s no place else in the world I’d rather be. The cattails on the far side teem with dragonflies and a few early evening lightning bugs. A turtle snoozes on a rock a couple of feet from the bank. In the cottonwood tree on the north side of the pond, a male cardinal laments the end of the day. A glass of iced tea sweats atop the cooler next to a citronella candle. A six-pack of Killian’s Irish Red chills inside. I brought the bamboo fishing poles, both affixed with the requisite red-and-white bobbers. On the outside chance Tomasetti wants to show off his casting prowess, his rod and reel with the lure most likely to catch the big bass that’s been taunting him for weeks now is lying on the dock alongside the poles.

“Looks like you started without me.”