by Dale Harsh
"OK, let's try this again. Hi! Who's on the other end a this thing?" Leaning against the counter he waited but the only thing he heard from the phone was the slightly scratchy sound of a long distance connection. His other ear on the other hand was already being accosted by the sound of loud laughter reaching through the wooden door that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house. The sound tugged at him, he could almost feel it wrap around him and try to pull him back into the other room, back into the midst of the people he'd spent too much of his life away from. "Jeeze! If ya don't come up with somethin' soon I'm gonna leave this thing on the counter here and go back to the party. Screw up your courage and spit it out!"
Just as he started to make good on his threat he heard the sharp clack of wood hitting painted wood and a shout of laughter, then "This is a mistake... Go back to..."
He snatched the receiver back and held it to his ear again, cupping his free hand over the other ear to block out the noise and make it easier to hear. "Warden?! Is that you? Hey! How ya doin' man? This is great! I haven't heard from you in a bunch a months. Where are you guys?" Then he laughed. "I'm not givin' you much of a chance here, am I? OK! I'll shut up and you talk." But the silence on the other end continued and his grin started to fade. "Warden? What is it? What's wrong?"
"She died last night."
"What?!" Casino stepped over to the table, dragging the phone cord along so that it snaked across the floor under the door. He hooked his heel around the leg of one of the chairs and pulled it out and slumped into it. It felt like he'd just taken a punch to the gut, it was hard to get another breath in and the noise from the other room, all that laughter, just sounded like a swarm of bees circling his head. "What happened? Where are you?"
"I don't know."
His mind started to race. He didn't know which question had just been answered, maybe both. There was another shout of laughter in the earpiece, deep, loud, male laughter... and there was music. "How'd she die, Warden? How'd Kathy die?"
"The baby.... Something went wrong."
Baby? Jesus Christ! This was the first he'd heard of a baby. This was gonna kill him... "Where are you?"
"It was a girl, Casino... A little girl."
He looked up when the kitchen door swung open. The young woman who stuck her head through glanced towards the ice box first, obviously expecting him to be rummaging through the bins for another beer. When she caught sight of him at the table the smile that lit her face caused his heart to break. He never expected to get married so fast after the war, but she was perfect, and for once he didn't screw around, he didn't let her get away. 'Course Ma had her all softened up and ready for him but he didn't know nothin' about that until later.
g
They'd all met her during the war when the family had been shuttling in and out of the military hospital visitin' the Warden when he was an inmate. She'd caught his eye right away but he hadn't made a move on her, not then, not with his life all messed up like it was. But as soon as the war was over and he got clear, as soon as he had his first paycheck in his hand he made the drive up and searched the wards until he found her. When he asked her to come to Sunday dinner with the family she'd smiled and accepted the invitation... When he walked her in the door the whole crowd greeted her like a long lost relative!
Leave it to Ma to pull a fast one. His folks had liked her too, soon as they saw her up at the hospital, and she'd taken to them just as quick. She'd made one trip out to the house after he and the Warden shipped back over to England and suddenly it was a weekly event. Her own family was on the west coast, way too far away to get to, so his family took her in. Sunday dinner first, then holiday celebrations, birthdays, weddings, all the things he missed she stood in for. All that time with the family and they just sort a forgot to mention it, just sort a managed to keep her outta the pictures they sent over to him, just so he could make up his own mind when he got back. Jeeze, if he hadn't a married her they would have adopted her and set him out on the street!
Man did she fit right in. And because she knew the family, because she'd been hearing stories about him for years his past didn't mean nothin' to her. When he told her he was determined to turn things around, she believed him, just like Ma did. And when he finally grabbed his courage in both hands a few months later and asked her to marry him she just looked at him and asked him what took him so long! They sat down and planned the wedding right then and there. Everyone came. All of his family, all of her family, the whole neighborhood. Even the guys. Even the Warden...
g
Covering the mouthpiece when she saw the look on his face and her smile dimmed he told her. "It's the Warden, Valerie. Go tell 'em to keep the noise down out there. I can barely hear him. And get back in here will ya? Bring Ma along." He watched her slip out the door and turned his attention back to the phone. "Where are you right now, Warden? Where are you calling from?"
"I never thought I could get drunk before... But I guess I just never had enough."
Oh man! "Come on Warden, tell me where you are. Is it some place on base? Some place close to home?" He hadn't been to the base where the Warden got assigned this last time, it was too far away, and with the kids.... But he'd been on enough of them to know there was usually a boozer, an officer's club where the high hats went to relax.
"I left. I couldn't stand to be there."
"Alright. Look, I wanna get to you. I don't think you oughta be alone, OK? But you gotta tell me where you are. You gotta give me some kinda hint."
Casino didn't realize until the door swung open again how quiet it had gotten in the house. The family meal was over, they'd been gathered in the front room visiting, just sharing jokes and stories like they usually did, just enjoying each others company, reluctant to go their separate ways. The girls had the kitchen cleaned up and the kids had all played outside together in the back until they ran out of energy. The whole troop of them had been crashing around upstairs, playing in the boys' bedrooms. But now it was quiet. Ma and Valerie must have escorted everyone off the property and sent them packing for their own homes. He could hear doors slamming and the sound of car engines fading off down the street. Casino looked up as his mother rested her hand on his shoulder, and he stretched his arm out and pulled Valerie close to him when she knelt by his side.
"Tell me where you are Warden. Tell me where you are so we can get there."
"I don't know. I don't even know which direction I took when I took off."
"Then look out the window. Tell me what you see." The voice he was straining to hear was a little bit slurred, the words slow in coming like they had to be force out. And they were flat. No anger, no rage at the loss. Just flat, like they'd been pounded into the dust.
"I don't see anything. ... It's dark out there." The music in the background stopped long enough for the sound of the chime of glass and the gurgle of liquid to seep back in across the line. "I'm sorry, I have to go. Go back to your family Casino."
"Wait! Wait a minute! Warden? You still there?" The seconds stretched out, the line hadn't gone dead, he could still hear noise in the background but he wasn't sure...
"Yeah."
"Warden, I want you to make me a promise." Casino waited but all he heard was the chink of glasses, music, and what he figured was a game of pool going on wherever the call was coming from. "You gotta promise me you won't drive off anywhere... You been drinkin', man, you could get yourself killed." And he kicked himself the second the words left his lips.
"There's an idea..."
He jerked his arm away from his wife's shoulder and surged to his feet. "No you don't, damn it!" Shoving his fingers through his hair he searched for something to say, something that would matter. "You know you don't wanna do that Warden. Not like that! Not in a car. You could take somebody else out. You don't wanna cause anybody else any grief. I know you better 'n that." He held his breath, waiting... "Warden? Warden, you gonna give me that promise?"
"Yeah."
But before he could get his breath back, before his heart started beating again the line went dead. Casino pounded on the cradle that held the receiver until the operator finally came on the line. "The call I was just on?! Where'd it come from?.... What'd ya mean you got no idea? ... No I don't think this is the movies or somethin'! Listen, the guy that was just on the phone, he's a friend a mine and he's in real big trouble, see. I gotta know where he was callin' from... ..... No! I ain't the fuckin' FBI! .... Well thanks a lot, sister!" Slamming the phone down he turned and started pacing the room.
Casino stalked to the back door and turned, heading back across the room. When he came up against the wall he turned again and started back, shoving the fingers of his hands through his dark hair. When he turned the third time he almost ran into Val as she stood in his path. Grabbing her up in a bear hug he buried his face in her hair and gave thanks that she was standing there in his arms, that he hadn't lost her. That his kids were safely upstairs, that they were probably being tucked in right now and getting the latest chapter of their favorite book read to them by their grandpa. That if anything happened the family would crowd around him.... Damn it! He had to get to the Warden. This wasn't somethin' a guy could live through all on his own...
He looked up as the kitchen's swinging door caught his eye. His mother was pushing back through, still looking down, still digging through the large purse she always carried. That thing nearly drug the floor when she carried it slung over her shoulder. They'd all bought her smaller bags, ones that were better fitted to her tiny stature, but she still clung to the big satchel she'd used since they were kids. It carried everything, she said. Sometimes Casino thought she could hide one of the grandkids in there. But she'd found what she was after and by the time she'd made it across the floor to where he stood with his arms still wrapped around his wife she had a book out and was paging through it. She looked up at him as she extended the book and tapped the page with her finger.
He glanced down and the Warden's address leapt off the page at him. Releasing Val he took the book and kissed the top of his mother's head as he headed back to the table to pick up the phone. The two women trailed after him linked arm in arm. It wouldn't do him any good to call the guy's number, Casino thought, he wasn't there... He'd call the base. Somebody had to've seen the guy. Somebody had to know somethin', or be able to do somethin'. He spun the dial for the operator.
"Oh, swell! You again. Listen I need a number... think you can handle that?" His knuckle tapped off a rapid irritated rhythm on the counter and his brows drew together in a frown. "Listen, Lady...." But before he could give her a piece of his mind his mother tugged the phone out of his clenched fist. Val slipped her arms around him and brought her hands up to rest over his heart. Casino covered them with his and leaned into her embrace as his mother spoke softly into the phone.
"David what's wrong?" Val was the only one who called him that, reserving 'Casino' for when she was really mad at him, reversing family tradition. She rested her chin on his back and her words vibrated through his chest.
"Kathy died last night."
"Oh no! How?" Valerie turned her head and lay her cheek against his back, pulling him into a tighter hug.
"I don't know. I couldn't get anything outta him. All he said was somethin' went wrong with the baby... and now Kathy's dead." Val stiffened at his back and he could feel her tears dampen his shirt. Casino lifted one of her hands away from his chest, turned it palm up and kissed it before he released her and reached for the phone his mother held out for him... She'd heard too, her eyes already glistened with tears.
"You got a guy stationed there, Lt. Colonel Craig Garrison, I wanna talk to his boss. ... What? ... Oh, yeah." Shit, he'd forgotten, the Warden was the boss. Now what? He didn't want to talk to some crummy underling. "Well, you got a priest there?... A base chaplain? ... Good! Lemme talk to him. ... I don't care how long it'll take. Get him on the line!"
The assignment was a new one for the Warden, one he said he didn't really want. But he'd stayed in the Army after the war and still had to do what they told him. As Casino waited on the line he wondered if the fella he'd be talkin' to would even know what kinda guy the Warden was.
gggg
The promotions had come quickly after the group broke up, confirming their theory that Garrison's assignment with them had held him back,,, or that he'd refused advancement until they were clear and he didn't have to be lookin' out for them any more. At first he'd traveled all over the continent. Europe had been almost razed to the ground and unrest was high. The potential for trouble was astronomical. They'd all done their 'and six months' there with him. Tracking down war criminals, sniffing out the art work and treasure that had been looted and getting it back where it belonged. Even matching up missing kids with their families... If the family was important enough. The regular guy in the street had to queue up in lines and go through channels to find missing relatives. And a lot of people were missing... More than anyone expected. They'd even done some a that... Gone in to one a them camps and tried to help figure out just how many people had died there and who'd been responsible for it. But he'd pulled them out, demanded another assignment, ... when Goniff started screaming in his sleep.
After their time was up and he'd handed around the papers that said they were free the Warden had flown back to the States with them. He said he hadn't gotten them through the war alive only to see them fall back on old habits and get themselves killed in some heist somewhere. He kept lookin' over their shoulders too. Kept callin' and checkin' up on all of 'em until they were firmly planted on the path of the straight and narrow. After that he sort a faded outta sight for a while. Actor said he'd heard him back at the mansion once, workin' through a lesson... takin' a crash course in Russian.
It didn't surprise Casino, the way things were goin'. Berlin and Germany divided like it was, the Reds shakin' their fist in the face of the countries that had so recently been their allies. Who better to go in and snoop around for the Army. Garrison knew most a Germany, ... Hell! He knew most of western Europe like the back of his hand. They lost track a Actor for a year right around that time too, but, totally outta character for him when he got back in touch with them he never would say a word about where he'd been, or what he'd been up to.
Casino waited for one a the phone calls to tell him the Warden had bought it somewhere on some mission. Then when he didn't hear for months at a time he was just as certain the guy was dead somewhere, doin' somethin' the government would never admit to and they'd never find a body to bury. It had gone along like that until three years ago. That's when Kathy came along.
It had taken them a long time to worm the information outta Garrison. At first it was just a word or two that would slip out when he talked with one a them on the phone. 'We' or 'us' when he talked about some trip he'd been on somewhere in the States. It hadn't begun to dawn on them until they'd all gotten together for the christening of Casino's youngest kid. The Warden couldn't make it, he sent along a gift but he was on assignment somewhere overseas again. After the party, when they were sittin' around the table well after midnight sharin' brandy like old times they started comparin' notes. A couple a months after that the Warden wrangled himself stateside duty and announced he was getting married. It had been almost eight years since the end of the war. He was the last of the group to take the plunge and they'd all but given up on him.
g
The voice in his ear brought Casino up with a jerk. "Hello? Who's this I'm talkin' to?" He shot a look at his mother and rolled his eyes. "Look Sergeant I know it's late... It's not gettin' any earlier here either but in my town the priests and the ministers, they work twenty-four, seven, ya know. No, you can't help me... Yeah! Thanks, I'll wait."
The door to the kitchen swung open again and Pop came through leaning on the cane he'd been stuck with ever since the stroke two years ago. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Before he could open his mouth his mother'd answered for him. "It's Frederick. Kathy died last night."
"My God. Is that him on the phone? Is he all right?" Laying his arm across his wife's shoulders he guided her to the table, pulled out a chair and helped her settle into it. Lowering himself down into the chair next to her he reached out and took the hand she held open on the table, lacing his fingers in between hers they both watched as Valerie came to sit with them, leaving Casino standing at the counter with his back to the room.
g
Craig and Kathy Garrison had been married, not three blocks away, in the backyard of the house where Casino's parents lived. They were just going to have a civil ceremony, just a quick trip to the justice of the peace... until Casino's mother found out about it and put her foot down. Once she got Kathy on her side the Warden had no choice, he had to surrender. They could still have a civil ceremony she told them, it could still be just as simple as they wanted it to be... They just had to wait a couple of weeks so she could get enough food together for all the guests... The argument that neither one of them had any family to speak of was lost on her. Garrison had been adopted in when he'd been laid up with them during the war and Kathy was made an honorary member of the family until they tied the knot and made it official. Like Val, Casino joked with him, the folks had taken to Kathy right off and admitted her to the ever increasing fold without the paperwork that officially tied her to 'one a them'. The Warden could a stayed home and phoned it in. Once the girls got together there was gonna be a wedding, all he had to do was show up and bring the ring. He could either go along for the ride or be ousted by his intended. But Casino warned him, if he did that Ma was a died-in-the-wool matchmaker and she'd have Kathy paired up before he had second thoughts and changed his mind....just so all their plans wouldn't have to be scraped.
All the guys had been there, even Chief. They'd sent a letter to the trading post out near his home and to the company he worked for. It was the company letter that got through to him. He didn't really need to go into town much so the mail piled up there... and he didn't have a phone. He flew in on his own, his wife wouldn't risk bringing the baby into the 'outside' world before she'd had her first birthday. Actor came stag too. His wife was off on some conference she couldn't, or wouldn't get out of. And Goniff, he brought the whole family. Wife, kids, his mom, Eddie... even his aunt.
Goniff had actually been the first to leap into wedded bliss... Who'd a thought he'd have a dame stashed over in the next village. It was a big surprise that she wasn't a bar maid at the Doves, but she turned out to be a shop clerk, in a bookstore... a real brainy type. And they tied the knot before all the papers had come through on the 'discharge' from the Army. Her folks were gone and she didn't have anybody to leave behind when they finally shipped them back to the States. Goniff came home two months ahead of her, just long enough to get a job and find a bigger apartment before she showed up with a flight of 'war brides'. Six months after that Eddie showed up. The couple'd started the paperwork to take him on as soon as they got married but he'd had to stay behind with the Marley's 'til the final OK came in. Four kids later and they were still going strong.
g
The phone crackled in his ear, "Hello!" and for a moment he thought the connection had been lost and he'd have to start over. "Hello!?" The phone crackled again and he strained to hear the voice on the other end through the noise. "Listen there's a lot a static on the line. Is this the base chaplain?.... Great! Father... Padre... What do I call you? Alright... Captain Edmunds I'm callin' about Lieutenant Garrison.., Sorry. Lieutenant Colonel Garrison.... That's right. You know the guy? ... Well he's in trouble." Casino stepped over to the table, pulled out a chair, sat down with his family and started feeding what he knew and what he was afraid of to the guy on the other end of the phone.
"That's just it, I don't know what happened. All he said was somethin' went wrong with the baby and she died. We didn't even know there was gonna be a baby." He listened a long time before he took a pen from his pocket and scribbled a couple of numbers on the paper Val handed him, giving the minister his number at home and at work before he thanked him and hung up the phone. Somewhere during his conversation Pop had gone into the other room and come back with the brandy bottle. He poured two fingers in a glass and slid it across the table. Casino leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath before he knocked it back and sat the glass back on the table.
"Edmonds, ... that's the base chaplain, he's gonna check with the infirmary and see if they know what's going on. He's gonna let the security guys know too so they can check and see if he's on the base somewhere...see if they got any idea when he left and which way he was headed if it happened there and he took off like he said he did." He accepted the glass his father had refilled for him and took another sip. "He's gonna call the state patrol if they don't find him on base, once he finds out what kinda car the Warden's drivin'." Casino took another sip and let the alcohol burn it's way down the back of his throat. "He said not to worry.... He said even though he 'doesn't know Lieutenant Colonel Garrison' he's sure he wouldn't do anything 'foolish'." He tipped the glass up and finished off the drink, setting the glass down with a 'clunk' as he dropped his head in his hands.
"He wouldn't do anything like that! Fredrick wouldn't do anything 'foolish'...." His mother met his eyes and held them when he looked up. "....He promised you."
"He promised me he wouldn't drive the car. That leaves a whole lot a other options open to him." Val put her hand on the back of his neck and Casino tipped his head back, trapping her cool fingers against his flesh a moment before he turned to look at her.
"You don't really think he'd do anything? Do you?"
"I don't know... I don't think so... not on purpose anyway. But his head isn't on straight right now. He's drinkin' and he's probably blamin' himself for what happened. All kinda crazy things are probably goin' through his head and he doesn't have anybody around him to tell him they're crazy...."
"Would he call one of the other guys?"
Casino thought a minute and shook his head. "I don't know. He might a tried. He'd never get a call through to Chief, but he might a tried one of the others." Ma was already shoving her phonebook across to him and he had no doubt the numbers were there... She kept track a everybody she ever met.
The calls were brief, he had to keep the line free until Edmunds called back. It didn't take long to fill Goniff, and then Actor in on what he knew... He didn't know anything, damn it! No. They hadn't heard from him. Yeah. They'd wait right by the phone until he called them back. The hour it took for Captain Edmunds to call again seemed like one of the longest in his life. When the phone finally rang he snatched the receiver off its cradle so fast he nearly knocked the phone off the table. "Yeah! Who's this? You get anything?"
gggg
Goniff pulled the closet door open and hung up his own coat before leaning over to kiss Casino's wife on the cheek. He'd been a regular visitor since they'd gotten back, even before they'd gone into business together. He stood up with Casino when him and Val got married, been to Christmases at the house with Beryl, and they'd swapped Godfathering duties when the kids started comin' along. "I got hold a Chiefy, he's on his way out."
Casino frowned at him as he released him from the hug. "How'd you manage that?"
"He's got one a them ham radio outfits. The fella on the top floor's got one too so I just asked him to give it a try and he got him on the wire." The little man shrugged. "Guess there ain't much in the way of entertainment out there. I seen Actor's car outside. How long's he been here?"
"Just long enough to hang up his coat and go into the other room. Go on in," Casino waved him through. "Val's gettin' coffee together in the kitchen. I'll be with you guys in just a minute."
Goniff wandered down the hall and turned into the large living room, ducking his head as he greeted the tall man standing with his back to the room. "How's it goin' Actor?.. I can still call you that, right?"
The cultured Italian turned from the view outside the window, he hadn't really been seeing what was in front of his eyes anyway. "What else would you call me, Goniff?" He was across the room in one stride, holding the smaller man's hand in a warm handshake.
"Blimey! The way yer writin' all them papers and collectin' up them degrees I thought for sure you'd be makin' us call you 'Doctor' by now."
"Until you become a patient I think we can dispense with that." He smiled, it was hard not to, even under these circumstances.
"Well then I'm safe a havin' ta do that. I don't need none a that headshrinkin' stuff that you get up to. M'heads already small enough." They both turned as Casino carried the tray of coffee into the room and set it on the low table in front of the sofa. "You got some more news, I can see it in your face."
Casino poured coffee in the cups on the tray and taking one for himself, settled into the large chair that sat next to the sofa. He waited for the other two men to get their coffee and find their spots. "They cased the hospitals around the base and found the one where she died. Can't get nothin' outta the doctors about why though, damn it!"
"Casino a doctor must protect the patient's privacy. They are restricted from talking to anyone other than the immediate family."
"Well they ain't got any body else so that'd be us, wouldn't it!? And the 'patient' is dead! Jeeze! What kinda privacy does Kathy need now?" He took a deep breath and got a handle on his frustration. At least he didn't have to waste any time makin' his apologies. These guys knew him, knew his outburst wasn't aimed at them. "The body was already gone." Bodies he thought, and his heart slammed up into his throat for a second. " ... Edmonds found out which mortuary picked them up and talked to the guy that talked to the Warden."
"You mean he'd been there?" Goniff slid forward on the sofa. "When?!"
"Best Edmunds could figure he hit the place about three hours after she died."
Goniff frowned around at the others. Three hours? He'd a been flat on his face, curled in a ball in a corner,,, for three days after he'd a heard that kind a news. "He's set up the funeral?"
"Yeah. For ten days from yesterday.... Jeeze!" Casino ran his hand through his hair and looked away to stare out the window a moment before turning back to the others. "That's their anniversary."
Actor placed his coffee cup on the tray and got to his feet. "Casino if you have the number to that mortuary I think I would like to speak to the man who arranged Katherine's ceremony. May I use your telephone?"
"Yeah. Sure! The name a the place and the number's on the pad next to the phone." Casino leaned back in the chair and listened as Actor put in the call. He hadn't lost his touch. The only difference now was when he told them he was a doctor he wasn't lyin'.
Even before they got outta England he'd been researchin' schools that might take him, makin' sure that he could work as a therapist after he finished up and got the shingle to hang out. He didn't have to go far to find work.... The military snapped him up even before he finished school, and he'd been workin' with veterans and active duty soldiers ever since. His wife of the moment didn't seem too taken with his calling, not enough money in it. Money didn't seem to mean much to Actor anymore. Oh he still wore a good suit a clothes and drove a fancy car. He still knew a good glass a wine from vinegar and his investments would always keep him comfortable, but once he got his nose in those psychology books money and what it could buy moved way down his list of things that were important. He just hadn't managed to find a wife that shared his views yet, even though he'd tried three times. The talent that made him such a good con man, the ability to read people, figure out what they really meant, what they wanted by the look on their face, or the way they held their body instead a just listenin' to what was comin' outta their mouths made the shrink business a snap for him. Casino took another hit of coffee. Those nuts never had a chance.
The deep accented voice carried easily from the hall where the phone sat on its shelf. "Yes, I'm afraid I am very concerned. You say he was quite calm?.... I see. And he said nothing of his own plans? .... Of course. I understand. ... May I leave my number in case he contacts you before I reach him? ... You've been very kind. Thank you for your assistance."
"Well Dr Freud, you come up with anything new?"
"Come on....."
"It's all right Goniff..." Actor took his seat and pulled at the crease in his trousers as he crossed his long legs. "The owner of the funeral home was the one who assisted with the preparations. He said the Warden was very calm, very methodical. He's made all of the arrangements, signed all of the papers. He even signed a waver allowing the funeral home to obtain as many original death certificates as they may require.... Now and in the future."
"Jeeze!"
"Knock it off, Casino. That's just the Warden. He's always been like that. Seein' to it everything got done, all the possibles covered." Casino'd always been like that too, Goniff thought. Ever since he met him. Always thinkin' a the stuff that could go wrong first. He might laugh an' joke about more now, but his head still worked the same way as it done back in the war... Back when he'd go toe to toe with the Warden over the jobs the Army handed 'em or the way the Warden wanted 'em done. Pessimistic optimist he called hisself. Thinkin' an plannin' for the worst while he was secretly hopin' for the best. He kept it a pretty big secret some a the time too... Goniff didn't know how they'd ever gotten him through waitin' for that first kid a his!
"The word is possibilities, Goniff. And it's more than that. The man said his manner was flat, that he never even had to take a moment to compose himself."
"What d'you think it means, then? You got all them letters after yer name."
"Damn it! We already know what it means."
"Well I'm not fallin' for that one!" Bloody Hell! That was enough! "Kinda life he had when he was a tyke? Kinda stuff he went through during the war? Kinda stuff we all seen after, and what he's been tied up with since? Why he's had more'n enough reason to put a gun in his mouth and pull the trigger before this and he ain't done it!"
"Gee! Thanks Goniff! And here all I was worried about up til now was the chance a him drivin' his car in front of a train, or off a cliff somewhere." Casino pushed to his feet and fired off an angry stare that turned to a helpless shrug before it made it across the room to the transplanted cockney. "I feel loads better now."
Goniff clambered up from his place on the sofa and stepped over to lay a hand on his friends back. "All I'm sayin' is the Warden's way tougher than you'r givin' him credit for, mate." But he was worried too. Just because a fella had managed to stand up to all them things in his past didn't guarantee he couldn't be knocked over with a feather if it hit him just right. And this was one bloody big feather. He looked up as Actor joined them. "Go on, Actor. What d'you think?"
"I think that when the Warden went to make the arrangements for Katherine's funeral he was in shock. I think that his logical mind took complete control because he hadn't found a way to deal with his grief." He placed a hand on each man's shoulder. "I don't want to read too much into it but I am very concerned that he has virtually disappeared now and that he has left himself no reason to return, not even one last deed he must perform for her at the funeral. I don't believe it is in his nature to commit suicide." Actor stared steadily back at them as they searched his face for answers. "But an incident like this can shake a person to the very core and cause them to go against their own nature."