Free Wild Thing: A Novel by Josh Bazell Page A

guy on the stool trade glances. “There’s a couple good bars in Soudan you could check out,” the bartender says.
    “I’m not talking about the bar,” Violet says. “The bar’s great. I’m talking about the town.”
    “Oh, that,” the bartender says.
    “Right. Ford,” the guy on the stool says.
    “Yeah,” Violet says. “Ford.”
    The guy on the stool says “Personally, I blame the mayor.”
    “Most people do,” the bartender says.
    “Why? What’s wrong with him?”
    “He’s something of a dickhead,” the guy on the stool says.
    “Who hangs out with even bigger dickheads,” the bartender says.
    “Who he makes look good by comparison.”
    “He also inspires a lot of resentment.”
    “Or so he likes to think.”
    “What do you mean?” Violet says.
    “We’re just fucking with you,” the guy on the stool says. He nods toward the bartender. “He’s the mayor.”
    “And
he
owns the Speed Mart and the liquor store. Congratulations: you’ve just met the second- and third-biggest employers in Ford.”
    “Nice to meet you. Who’s the first?”
    “CFS. By a long shot.”
    “Debbie employs more people than you or I do,” the guy on the stool says. “Unless by ‘employs’ you mean ‘pays them with money.’ ”
    “Hey now,” the bartender says.
    “You mean Debbie the psychopathic waitress?”
    “You’ve met Debbie,” the guy on the stool says.
    “Yeah. What’s her fucking problem?”
    As he’s about to answer, the bartender says to Violet, “You wouldn’t happen to be an officer of the law, would you?”
    “No.”
    “No offense. It’s just that you look like someone from a TV show.”
    “Oh, start. But no: I’m not an officer of the law. Either in reality or on a TV show.”
    She watches them try to figure out how to politely ask her what she
does
do. “I’m a paleontologist.”
    The guy on the stool turns to her. “Like in
Jurassic Park
?”
    “Exactly like that.”
    Although the only part of the
Jurassic Park
movie Violet now considers realistic is how everybody calls the male PhD “Dr. Grant” and the female PhD “Ellie,” she doesn’t mind the association. Both the book and the movie were instrumental in her choice of career. And they’ve turned paleontology into a job that everybody thinks, at least, they can relate to.
    “I call bullshit,” the bartender says.
    “I’ll show you my badge,” Violet says.
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. There’s a badge for being a paleontologist. What’s wrong with Debbie?”
    The two men look at each other. “Well… she’s had it rough,” the bartender says.
    “That’s true,” the guy on the stool says.
    “What happened?”
    “She lost a kid a couple of years ago,” the bartender says.
    “Shit,” Violet says.
    “Which maybe isn’t an excuse for flipping out, but maybe it is.”
    “Could well be,” the guy on the stool agrees.
    “There were some kids behind her restaurant,” Violet says.
    The bartender shakes his head. “The Boys just work for her. None of them is her son. She just had the one, Benjy.”
    “What happened to him?”
    The two men trade glances again.
    “What?” Violet says.
    The guy on the stool shrugs. “That’s… not all that clear.”
    “What do you mean?”
    After a moment, the bartender says “Benjy and his girlfriend got killed skinny-dipping in a place called White Lake.”
    Violet almost chokes on beer.
    “You’ve heard of it?” the bartender says.
    “Yeah. How did they get killed?”
    “Police ended up deciding they got cut up by a boat propeller.”
    “But you don’t think that’s what happened?”
    “It’s what the police decided.”
    Violet studies them. “You guys are fucking with me again. You’re trying to make me think it was the monster.”
    They stare at her.
    “You’ve heard about William?” the guy on the stool says.
    “William?”
    “William, the White Lake Monster.”
    “Okay,” Violet says. “First off, now I
know
you’re fucking with me. I’ve