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“I need to go,” he said, groaning a little as he stood. He hitched up his overalls and fastened the loose strap.
“You think I’m gonna let you get behind the wheel of that truck?” Nick asked. “There’s a dozen empty beer cans laying here. You get in that truck, I’ll have to arrest you.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he grumbled. “Can you justgo?”
“We’re not done,” Nick said. “When you went out with Marc Saturday night, where’d you go? And don’t tell me you don’t remember. You’re too young to have Alzheimer’s.”
The big man huffed a sigh and lumbered around in a circle, cupping his bald head in both massive hands. “Goal Post.”
“What was Marc driving?”
“What?”
“What vehicle was he driving that night?”
“His truck. What else?”
“Where’d he leave his boat?” Nick asked. “He left home driving his truck, pulling his boat. He was supposed to meet Luc Sunday morning at the Corners with it. He wasn’t pulling that boat with him to every bar parking lot in town that night, was he?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t riding with him. Who cares, anyway? What difference does it make?”
“Where’d you go after you left Goal Post?”
“I left at halftime and came home.”
“Why you didn’t stay until the game was over?”
“I was sick of listening to Marc complain about his wife, complain about his brother, complain about his life,” Dozer said. “His life looks pretty damn good to me.”
“And did Marc stay?”
“He was still there when I left, flirting with some blond girl.”
“Tulsie Parcelle?” Nick asked, wondering if maybe there wasn’t more to that story than an innocent dance at Outlaw. Maybe Stokes’s latest theory of an affair wasn’t so far-fetched.
Dozer shrugged. “I don’t know her, and I didn’t care.”
“Does Marc like to play around?”
“He’s a guy.”
“Me, I’m a guy,” Nick said. “I don’t cheat on my wife. Does he?”
“Mais, I don’t know. I mind my own business, me.”
“You’re not blind.”
Dozer heaved a big beer-tainted sigh. “Girls like Marc. Marc likes girls. Whatever else goes on is not my business.”
“Well,not your businessmight have got him killed,” Nick said. “Unless you know something I don’t…”
“Me, I don’t wanna know nothing,” Dozer said wearily. “That’s why I drink.”
“Did you see Luc that night?”
“Yeah. He was there. Another good reason to leave. Are we done now?” he asked irritably. “I’ve got another six-pack to start.”
“Yeah, we’re done,” Nick said. “For now. Stay off the roads, Dozer. You want to drink yourself to death because you can’t escape yourown head, I can’t stop you, but I don’t want you killing someone else. The last thing you need is the death of an innocent person on your conscience.”
