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Back Blood in the Water
Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

Buddy walked along Allen Street, toward Boston Harbor. His hands were stuffed deep into his jacket pockets against the cold, his mind churning through the excuses he might offer to explain his absence the previous Friday. He had no family to speak of, but he could still claim that he’d had to attend to a sick relative. It seemed far-fetched, and he wasn’t sure he could pull off the deception effectively. He tried to imagine some work-related task he might have been diverted by, but that would be too easy for the union officers to check up on.

It occurred to him that he might be best off telling a form of the truth—he missed work because he had the chance to get laid. That was an excuse that most of the rank and file would accept, perhaps even applaud. But it probably wouldn’t be countenanced by the upper managers. Besides, he didn’t want to answer the explicit and vulgar questions that would then be asked. It was odd, but that felt disrespectful to Diamond, and even though he was certain that it was a doomed relationship, he couldn’t deceive himself that he wasn’t in love with her. He shook his head at the absurdity of it.

He’d hoped that his absence wouldn’t have been noted or remarked upon. It wasn’t unusual for longshoremen to miss a shift or two. They could be, by nature and temperament, a transient and sometimes unreliable crew. It had occurred to him that perhaps no one would have even noticed.

He knew now, though, that wasn’t the case. There had been two messages on his phone from Toby White, the gimp who assisted Cormack with harbor scheduling and administration. The first was a message indicating that Buddy and Nate had been reassigned to a lobster boat for the morning. The second was a call to make sure he’d gotten the first message.

This was bad news. If Nate and Buddy had been assigned to the offload of the Greek ship, he wouldn’t have been missed. Dozens of workers would be crawling over the ship, working the giant cranes and moving the enormous shipping containers, and the absence of one man wouldn’t have made much of a difference. But because he and Nate were supposed to have been on a small lobster boat, his absence would have caused a significant inconvenience. Buddy knew that was the cause of the annoyance in Toby’s voice in the second message.

The union office was half a block away, and as nervous as he was about his weak excuses, he was eager to get inside. His jacket was old and poorly insulated, and the cold was cutting through him now. He could feel the steam in his nostrils freezing as he exhaled. He doubled his pace as he drew closer to the office door.