Frank stood up and walked to the stairs, where Bill had stood a few minutes earlier. He looked out over the ocean, as he smoked his cigar.
"You okay Frank?"
"It really is beautiful here," Frank answered, without turning.
He looked up, as he heard seagulls squawking overhead.
"I'd be careful, if I were you, Frank. That is right in line with Jarge and Mable's landing path and they have been know to drop a few bombs along the way."
Frank turned to Bill, smiling.
"Mable?"
"Bill laughed.
"Jarge has a girlfriend."
Frank looked up and saw the lighthouse replica on top or Bill's new house extension. As he did, the two seagulls flew down, landed on the roof and hassled into the lighthouse.
"Unbelievable."
Bill knew what Frank had just seen.
"We still let them in the house but they spend most of their time up there. Its actually pretty comfortable. Those two are so spoiled."
Frank walked back to Bill and refilled his drink.
"See. that is what I love about this place. It is so laid back. So simple."
"Laid back, yes.
Simple?
Don't know if I would agree with that."
Frank sat on the bench, attached to the veranda.
"I told my wife Julie all about this place and showed her the pictures I took last time I was here. She loved what she saw. So much so that she actually came along with me on this trip. She wanted to see this place first hand."
Bill nodded.
"Well you picked a great time, Frank. Autumn, here on the west coast, is beautiful, as I am sure you have seen."
"Yea. The drive up the peninsula was spectacular and when Julie saw the sunrise this morning from just outside the village, she was speechless.
And believe me, for Julie, that is a rarity."
Bill thought about Matty, Nanny Dove and the other women of the Bay.
"Yea, I know all about talkative women.
The women here in the Bay are not your typical women. They are as tough as the men and in many cases, even tougher. And they have no issues speaking their minds."
Frank laughed.
"Then Julie would fit right in here."
He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees..
"And that is where the favour comes in."
"I'm listening."
"The real reason Julie is here with me is to see how she likes the Bay. To see how she fits in, I guess and how the people of the Bay accept her."
Bill laughed.
"Frank. The people of Tuckamore Bay can be the friendliest, most gentle and genuine people you will ever meet."
Frank nodded excitedly.
"That is what I told Julie. I told her they would love her and she would fit right in."
Bill held up one hand, as he drew on his cigar.
"Not so fast, Frank. You have only seen one side of the Bay."
"Oh I am sure they have their little quirks, like all small communities do. I have visited many of these small communities, Bill and believe me, I have seen it all."
At that moment Jarge landed on the table next to Bill and started squawking.
"Really? You've seen it all?"
Bill got up and walked back inside the house, returning a few moments later with two herring. He passed them to Jarge and the seagull flew back to the top of the house.
"Lazy ass gull," Bill snapped at Jarge.
The two heard Jarge laugh, as he disappeared back into his home.
Bill sat back down, picking a feather out of his drink.
"Seriously?"
He put the feather on the table and sipped his drink.
Frank sat back and pointed at the feather.
"He still comes home to eat?."
Bill nodded.
"He is a lazy shit, spoiled seagull who is too lazy to hunt his own food.
And you were saying you have seen it all?"
"Okay, maybe not everything, but I have seen a lot.
Bottom line Bill, is this.
I want to nail Calvin Parsons and help you save Tuckamore Bay. I still have a lot of inside information and I know how to cut through some of the bullshit red tape that the government is covered in and I know I can help your wife with any legal issues she might come across."
"Matty has her own ways of getting info," Bill reminded Frank.
"She is one tough cookie."
"I agree," Frank nodded, "but now we are dealing with crooks and people who know how to make things disappear."
Bill's mind flashed back to his Uncle Fred and his attempt to scam him out of money. There was still no proof that they ever actually got out of the Bay.
"Well, as I said before, Frank, the Bay has its own security team and they deal with shit in their own way."
"I understand all that, Bill. I guess what I am really saying is I want to help you and the people of the Bay, in any way I can, to ensure that Tuckamore Bay does not disappear off the map."
Bill took a deep breath.
"And I assume that is where your favour comes in?"
Frank nodded.
"Yea. When this is all said and done and if Julie loves this place like I do, I would like to have your permission to build a small cottage here, for me and Julie to retire to."
Bill stood up and took a deep breath, staring at Frank. Actually he was staring past Frank, as Nanny Dove appeared on the lower veranda.She simply stood there, arms folded.
She stared at Bill, with a look that Bill could not decide if it was positive or negative.
"Well, Frank.
Ahhhh ...
It would not be just my decision ..."
Nanny Dove continued to stare at Bill.
"I would have to ...
bring it up with the rest of the village ..."
Nanny Dove flapped her arms like a chicken.
"Well, in fairness, I would want to discuss it with them first."
Nanny Dove continued to flap her wings.
"And of course I would have to consult with my lawyer ..."
Nanny Dove was now flapping her arms and walking around the lveranda, bobbing her head, like a chicken pecking.
"Of course, the final decision would be mine, but ..."
Bill stopped in mid sentence, as Nanny Dove suddenly stopped, lifted her apron and pointed to her midsection. She then made a motion like she was cutting off something.
It suddenly hit Bill what she was doing.
"I do have balls," he blurted out, forgetting that Frank was still sitting there..
Frank stared at Bill.
"Ah. That's a good thing?"
Nanny Dove was laughing and pointing at Bill.
"Personally, Frank, I have no idea why you would want to live here."
Bill glared at Nanny Dove.
"Some of the older residents here are fucking crazy."
Nanny Dove flipped the finger at Bill.
Frank turned quickly, looking below, at the veranda.
"Who or what are you looking at?"
Nanny Dove was gone.
"I thought I saw something run across the deck, down there. We get the occasional mouse or crab, that pops on the deck."
"I don't see anything," Frank commented, as he turned back to Bill.
"Well, you have no idea how lucky you are."
"So. I guess that is a no go for the cottage?"
Bill took a deep breath.
"Let's get all this shit out of the way first. And why don't you and your wife stick around for a week or so and see how things go."
"Well we could stay for a while, but I still have to go back to St. Johns to talk to Parsons. We didn't have the meeting the last time."
Bill thought for a moment.
"No. I have an idea."
Frank was intrigued.
"And?"
"Cancel your meeting with Parsons. I kind of believe that he wants you involved in this somehow, as an outsider. Someone who won't be directly connected with him. Someone who he can have deniability to. Someone he can throw under the bus, if things go to shit."
Frank's eyes opened wide.
"I don't know if I like that. That could prove to be a dangerous move, especially if I am implicated in anything."
Bill shook his head.
"It won't come to that. I won't let it."
Bill sat down in his chair and leaned forward.
"Look Frank, we need to somehow get Parsons here, or at least back on the west coast. We need to make him squirm a little. He is pulling himself deeper in shit and his involvement with Hirst will surely go to hell.
Right now, he is pretty confident, obviously, that he has his tracks covered, but we are still not sure what his plans are. We have some ideas, but we need proof."
"But we have the documents and the emails."
Bill agreed.
"But how did you get them? Not exactly by legal methods."
"Yea. You do have a point."
"But, at the same time, they will be our ace in the hole. Something we can work with. Something that just might draw the rats out of their holes."
"It won't be easy to get Parsons here."
"I know Frank. But maybe he is not the one we work on. Simon Hirst is the weak link here and his wife is an even weaker link. That is where we will start."
"You think Hirst will crack?"
Bill shook his head, as he sipped his drink.
"Not Hirst himself, but his wife. She is the weakest of the weak links. All we have to do is get them back here in the Bay."