Chapter Twelve

The Nagy boys showed up so quickly after school that Hank wondered if they’d even bothered to stop home and tell their mother where they were going. He didn’t want to be the cause of any extra anxiety for Irene. She had enough to worry about.

“Does your mother know where you are?” he asked as they clambered over the gangway into the boat.

“Yes, sir, Captain,” Ernst said in his boyish treble, his dark hair falling into his eyes. “We even changed out of our school clothes. But we ran fast to get here. The more work we can do, the more we can make to help Mama, right?”

“That’s right.” Hank suppressed a smile.

“Should we swab the deck again, Captain, sir?” Kristof, the younger of the two, asked eagerly.

“Well, no. It doesn’t need it again quite yet.” He’d been thinking about what job he could have the two boys do. Obviously, they couldn’t repair the knocking sound in the engine, and he couldn’t have them inspecting the trawlers. “Today I need you to check our nets for holes.”

Kristof frowned, looking at the net on the deck, which obviously was made mostly of holes.

“Extra holes that aren’t supposed to be there,” he clarified, and Kristof nodded.

“What do we do if we find one?” Ernst asked. “Do we fix it?”

“Do you know how?” They might. They were Tomas’s sons, after all.

“Yes sir, Captain,” Ernst answered proudly, and then his face darkened. “I mean Papa showed us how, but we never really did it on our own.”

Of course they hadn’t; they weren’t even ten years old yet.

“When you find a hole, you come and get me and show me how you’d mend it. I’ll let you know if you did it right or not.” He figured he’d have to do most of the mending himself but didn’t mind it.

The rest of the crew took to the Nagy boys right away, treating them like beloved mascots. Before long he noticed Swede sitting by the boys, patiently showing them how to mend the nets. With the boys in good hands, Hank went up to the bridge to organize things for his next trip.

Even as he sorted through charts and polished the brass equipment, he couldn’t get Alice Grady out of his mind. He never should have kissed her the other day; it made him want more, much more. And he couldn’t have it. First of all, Alice deserved a whole man, not someone as beset by demons as he was, and second of all, she was a cop, and he was a rum runner. That was a recipe for disaster if ever there was one. Either he would have to lie to her, or she would have to ignore her duty to the law, if they were going to make things work. He didn’t see either of those things happening.

Why had she come into his life? Only to remind him of the things he couldn’t have? It had been so easy to talk to her. He almost, for a moment, imagined coming home to her in that little house with the picket fence and the boy named Sean. But it was a fantasy.

The best thing he could do was to not see her again. It shouldn’t be that hard. Their paths had never crossed before this weekend. Why would he think they would cross in the future? He stared out at the sun sparkles on the water. Unless, of course, his brother continued to be involved with her sister. That could make things awkward. He sighed. It didn’t matter anyway. He spent most of his time out at sea.

Another week and he’d be out on the ocean with his crew. By the time he got back, maybe his brother would have moved on, and there’d be nothing to worry about.

As the sun moved lower in the western sky, the shadows in the bridge lengthened. He’d have to light a lamp soon if he were to continue working. A tap at his door was followed by Swede sticking his blond head in.

“Captain, the Nagy boys are ready to be paid. They say they need to go home for dinner.”

He snapped out of his reverie.

“Of course.” He reached into his pockets for some coins to pay the boys.

“They’re good workers.” Swede leaned against the open door. “The guys and I were discussing other jobs they can help us with, if you don’t mind keeping them around while we’re in dock.”

“Not at all.” He sorted through his handful of change for a couple of quarters for the boys. “I just didn’t want them getting in the crew’s way. We do have real work to do.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem.” Swede shoved his hands in his pockets. “Like I said, they’re good workers, and quick learners. They’ll help, not hinder.”

“Good to hear.”

He headed down the metal steps to the working deck where the two boys stood, hats in hand, looking up at him expectantly.

“We’d keep working,” Ernst said, revealing a gap where one of his front teeth used to be, “but Mama expects us home for dinner, and we don’t want to make her worry.”

“Of course.” Hank pressed fifty cents into each boy’s hand. “Your mother has enough to worry about, you don’t want to add to it, and you are quite right. Now, on home with you. And I’ll expect you back here tomorrow, as long as your mother says it’s all right. There’s always work for two likely lads to do.”

The grins that broke across their faces warmed his heart.

“Off with you now.” He turned away, trying not to think of those boys growing up without their father. He started back up the steps to the bridge but turned to address his crew. “And off with the rest of you, too. Go have dinner. We made good progress today. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

Soon he was alone on the Mary B. He inhaled deeply of the sea air and absorbed the silence around him. Not complete silence, of course—the water still lapped along the hull, sea gulls cried out as they circled and dove into the water, the breeze jostled the lines. These were all sounds that he could absorb, that he could sleep to if need be. Even the sounds of other people in the marina, muted conversations and hammering coming from somewhere, were still part of the silence.

He climbed the stairs back up to the bridge and closed the door firmly behind him. He took the ring of keys from his pocket and sorted through the keys of various shapes and sizes until he found the small silver one that unlocked the storage area in the bench seat under the window. He extracted a half empty bottle of rum and poured some into a glass before returning the bottle to its hiding place.

He lowered himself into his captain’s seat and sipped the rum, while enjoying the vista of the Arthur Kill and Staten Island. It was better when all he could see was water, but this would do. It was no surprise he liked the open feel of the water around him. It was a far cry from the trenches in France that still gave him nightmares. When on the open sea nothing could sneak up on you. No bombs could drop on your position from some hidden vantage point, obliterating the men to the left and right of you. You were safe at sea.

He hated these sojourns on land while waiting to set out again on the next fishing trip.

He drained his glass, waiting for the numbing effects of the rum to give him the courage to go home to the confining walls of his parents’ house.

The clatter of feet on the metals steps startled him, and he slammed the glass down as someone pounded on the door.

“Captain! Uncle Hank! Captain Hank!” It was the clear high voice of one of the Nagy boys.

He opened the door to see both boys standing there, faces tear streaked, eyes panicked.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s Sari. We can’t find her. Will you help?”

“Sari? Your sister?” He was already following the boys back down the stairs. “When was the last time anyone saw her?”

“Mama put her in for a nap before we got home from school, and when she went to check on her later, she wasn’t there. She’s been looking everywhere.”

“Okay, let me get you two home, and I’ll find out where your mother has already looked. We’ll find her. I promise.”

He didn’t know if that was a promise he was going to be able to keep, but he’d sure do his darnedest.

He could get back into town quicker with a car. He steered the boys toward his parents’ house. “I need one of the cars,” he announced as he walked through the door, the boys looking around at the grandeur that was the Chapman family home.

“Is something wrong?” His father came out of the den to meet him.

“These are the Nagy boys,” he said. “Their little sister is missing. I need to look for her.”

Douglas came down the stairs. “Come on. I’ll take you where you need to go.”

“I just need the car,” Hank said, hating every moment they were wasting. “I am capable of driving.”

“I know. But I can help look. Or whatever anyone needs. Let’s go.”

They piled the boys into the back of the car and Douglas drove them over the causeway into town. They pulled up in front of the Nagy house and the boys hopped out and rushed inside, heralding their arrival.

Hank hurried up the front steps two at a time and let himself into the house, following the boys. He stopped short when he saw Alice and her sister, Marty, standing in the living room with Irene.

“Oh, Hank! Thank God!” Irene rushed to him, and he took her hands in his. They were ice cold and shaking. “Sari is gone! I look everywhere. I don’t know what to do.”

“You’ve called the police?” he asked, eyeing Alice, though he noticed she was not in uniform.

“No,” Alice answered taking a step forward. “I was going to teach Irene how to type.” A black typewriter case lay at her feet. “Marty was going to watch the children. We just got here.”

Marty rushed to Douglas as he came in, clutching at him.

“We have to help her find her little girl.”

“We’ll find her,” Douglas assured her, taking her in his arms. For a brief, crazy second, Hank wished Alice had rushed into his arms like that.

“Where have you looked?” he asked Irene. This was no time for petty jealousy. “Have you searched the house?”

“She wasn’t in her bed and I called for her. I’ve looked in all the rooms.”

“Did you search under the beds and in the cupboards?” Alice asked, with the authority and clear-headedness that came from being a police officer. “When Marty was little, she used to hide in one of those places and then fall asleep. She sent our mama into a panic any number of times.”

“Boys!” Hank said in his best captain voice. “I want this place turned inside out. Look in any place Sari could fit. No stone unturned. If she is in the house, you will find her.”

“Yes, sir!” The boys scampered off.

“Are there any places that Sari is likely to run off to?” Alice asked before he had a chance to. But it was exactly the question he would have asked, so he had no complaint.

“She doesn’t go anywhere without me.” Irene wrung her hands. “She’s only five. I don’t know where she would go.”

“Where have you looked?” Hank asked before Alice had a chance.

“I’ve been to the neighbors’ houses and the splash pool on School Street and even up to Main Street. I took her for a soda at Woolworth’s last week, and she’s talked about it since. But there was no sign of her all the way up to the Amboy Road.”

Upstairs they could hear the boys scurrying around, looking in cupboards and under beds. Hank didn’t think the girl was here, though, no matter how much he hoped one of the boys would suddenly proclaim that he’d found her.

“Would she have gone toward the marina?” Hank asked. “Did she know her brothers were going to be helping me?”

“I don’t know.” Irene could barely hold back a sob.

“Alice and I will check the causeway.” He took charge, falling easily into his role as captain. “Douglas and Marty can check in town again. You wait here in case she comes back on her own.”

Irene shook her head, grabbing at his hand. “No, no! I can’t stay here and do nothing. I must go look.”

Douglas unwrapped Marty’s arms from around him. “You’ll come with me,” he said to the widow. “We’ll check in town again. Marty will stay here with the boys.”

The boys in question thundered down the stairs. “She’s nowhere upstairs,” they exclaimed breathlessly. “We have to check downstairs. Maybe she’s in a kitchen cabinet.”

“Go,” Marty said, with a light touch on Douglas’s arm. “I’ll keep an eye on the boys. And if she really is in one of the cabinets, we’ll be sure to get word to you.”

Douglas and Irene headed toward town, while he and Alice turned toward the causeway. The sun was setting behind them, lengthening the shadows.

“It will be dark soon.” Alice stood straight and tall, all business, which made sense given the task at hand. “Perhaps we should get a lantern.”

“I have one on the boat,” he assured her. “If we get as far as that without finding her, we’ll get it before turning around and looking some more.”

“If she went this way, do you think she could have fallen in the water?” Alice kept her voice low, even though Douglas and Irene were already clearly out of earshot. “Do you think she can swim?”

If she came this way, it was very likely she could have fallen in the water. It was also very likely she did not swim. “We’ll find her,” was all he said.

They walked slowly, looking from side to side, calling her name, knocking on the doors of the few houses along the causeway to see if anyone had seen the child.

“Little Sari?” the old woman who lived in the last house asked. “I saw her skip past a couple of hours ago. Called out to her, I did. She’s such a little thing, and I thought it was mighty odd she was out on her own. But then, you never do know with foreigners. They have their own ways.”

Hank’s fists balled up in anger at the way she spoke about foreigners as if the Nagy family, because they came from Hungary, were inferior in some way. With a featherlight touch, Alice put her hand on his arm.

“You say you called out to her,” she said to the woman. “Did she tell you where she was going?”

“Something about the boats. She was going to help her brothers work on a boat. Some nonsense like that. I told her to go home. She was too young to be out and about on her own.” The woman said with a definite air of self-righteousness.

“And did she go home?” Alice asked, and Hank was amazed at how calm she was able to sound.

“I assume so, if she was an obedient child she would have, but…” The old woman shrugged. “You never can tell with these foreigners.”

Hank took a step forward, but Alice’s gentle touch held him back.

“Thank you,” Alice said and guided him away from the woman’s front door.

“What were you going to do?” she asked as the door shut behind them. “Beat up an old woman?”

Realizing how ridiculous that would have been, he shrugged. “I suppose not, but…”

“No buts,” Alice said, her voice firm. “We know we are on the right track. There’s no time to waste.”

Of course she was right. She was maddeningly right.

They walked side by side, alert to any clue that might lead them to Sari. Why had he decided he shouldn’t see Alice anymore? Just because she was a cop and he was a rum runner? Because he didn’t want to impose his damaged self on anyone? Nothing felt more natural than to be working with her. She was calm and organized, not at all like the fluttery females he often found himself spending time with.

They reached the bridge over the Woodbridge River, and he prepared to cross, heading toward Sewaren and the boats.

“Wait,” Alice said, reaching out for his arm. “Would Sari know where the boats are? Would she have followed the river?”

It was a good point. If she had gone all the way into Sewaren and the marina they would have seen her on their way back into town, but no one had. Would a little girl, knowing that boats go on water, have followed the river instead?

To the north of the bridge the area was too swampy for even a child to get far, but there was a path on the south side. It was muddy and overgrown with brambles and nettles, and it led right to Jiggy’s hut. The last thing Hank wanted to do was bring Alice to Jiggy Malone. But if there was any chance Sari might have gone this way they had to check.

“You’re going to ruin your shoes,” Hank said as they slogged along the path.

Alice looked down at her feet and picked one foot gingerly out of the mud. “I suppose so.” She shrugged. “It really doesn’t matter, does it? I can buy new shoes. Sari would be a lot harder to replace.”

She stooped to study a thorn and called to him.

“Look, a scrap of cloth. Do you think it could be from Sari’s dress?”

They hadn’t even bothered to ask Irene what the girl was wearing. They should have asked.

“It might be.” He called out the girl’s name once more.

“A footprint!” Alice shouted jubilantly. “And it’s about the right size!”

Hank breathed a sigh of relief. At least up to this point she hadn’t fallen in the water. He called the girl’s name again. Louder. And then paused, listening closely for any response. Perhaps she had fallen and gotten hurt. Perhaps they would hear a whimper from her instead of an answer. He had to be alert to anything.

But there was nothing. He couldn’t imagine what Irene would do if she lost Sari so soon after losing Tomas. He had to make sure that didn’t happen.

Ahead of him, Alice was searching the area diligently. She was putting her all into this search. Perhaps it was due to her job as a police officer. It was the kind of thing she was trained to do. But he rather felt that to her it was personal. That finding Sari meant as much to her as it did to him.

Alice called out Sari’s name, but he was afraid her voice wasn’t resonant enough to carry far. He echoed her call. This time they got an answer. But it wasn’t the cry of a little girl. Instead a man’s voice called out, “Ho! She’s here!”

Alice looked back at him, startled.

“We’ve found her!”

They had, Hank realized as a wave of relief washed over him. To be more specific, Jiggy Malone had found her, for that was who had called out. There’d be no keeping Alice from meeting Jiggy now. He just hoped that in discussing Sari, there’d be no talk of rum running.