3
Holly walked into the Ocean Grill in nearby Vero Beach, a barnlike, old-fashioned Florida seafood restaurant, and found Hurd Wallace waiting for her. Hurd was still tall and thin, but his black hair was half gray now. They hugged.
“Long time,” she said.
“Too long.”
They were shown to a table and given menus.
“What brings you back to Orchid Beach?” Hurd asked.
“Something really weird,” Holly replied. “A vacation.”
Hurd laughed. “You haven’t changed; you always worked too hard.”
“Well, there’s always too much work and never enough time to do it,” she said.
“Are you enjoying your work?”
“I really am.”
“I guess you have a bigger ocean to cast your net.”
“Bigger than you can imagine. I wish I could tell you about it.”
Hurd held up a hand. “I didn’t mean to fish; I know you folks never talk about anything.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
They ordered iced tea and lunch, and soon Holly was enjoying tiny bay scallops in a lot of butter. “So, how’s police work these days?”
“Much the same, but we do more drug work now.”
“Yeah, I still get the local paper, and I read about that.”
“Most of the officers you knew are still with us; a few new ones.”
“I’ll stop by and say hello.”
“I’m retiring,” Hurd said without preamble. “Today’s my last day.”
Holly was shocked. “I thought you’d never do that,” she said.
“I’ve been offered a job with the state police as head of a new investigative unit. The money and the pension are better, and I don’t have to move to Tallahassee. I can work out of the department’s offices here in Vero.”
“Well, congratulations, Hurd. Who’s replacing you? Anybody I know?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Hurd said. “I expect you recall the circumstances under which you left the army.”
“Of course.” Holly and another female officer had brought charges against their commanding officer for sexual harassment, attempted rape and rape. Holly had managed to fight him off, but the other woman, a young lieutenant, had not. When the man was acquitted by a board of his fellow officers, Holly realized that she had no place to go in the army, so she retired. The chief at Orchid Beach, Chet Marley, an old army buddy of Ham’s, had offered her the job as his deputy. When he had been killed, Holly had replaced him. “Why do you bring that up?” she asked.
Hurd unbuttoned his shirt pocket and took out a sheet of paper. “I Googled you,” he said. He unfolded it and handed it to her. It was a newspaper account of the trial and her testimony. “I wish I had done it sooner.”
Holly scanned it. “It’s accurate,” she said.
“The city council has hired Colonel James Bruno as the new chief,” Hurd said.
Holly felt as though someone had struck her. Bruno had been her commanding officer.
Hurd saw the shock on her face. “It was a fait accompli before I found out who Bruno was; there was nothing I could do.”
Holly recovered her voice. “How did this happen?”
“Ironically, the council’s experience with you had been such a good one that they decided to look for another MP officer. Bruno looked good on paper, so they interviewed him. Apparently, your name didn’t come up at the time.”
“Does the council know now who he is?”
“I wrote a memo to the chairman, so that it would be on the record.”
“Is it still Charlie Peterson?”
Hurd shook his head. “Charlie died last month: heart attack, at his desk. I’m surprised you didn’t see it in the paper.”
“I guess I’m behind a few issues,” she said. “Who is his replacement?”
Hurd sighed. “Irma Taggert.”
During and after Holly’s first meeting with the Orchid Beach city council and during Holly’s entire tenure as chief, Irma Taggert had been a constant thorn in her side. “That horrible pain in the ass?”
“One and the same,” Hurd said. “She had seniority on the council, and the town’s bylaws made her chairman until the next election, which isn’t until this fall.”
“Hurd, Irma would have voted to hire James Bruno, even if she had known who he was—maybe because he was who he was.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Hurd said.
“Let me tell you what’s going to happen,” Holly said. “Jim Bruno will use spit and polish mixed with charm to get the people on the force to like him. The man does have charm, I’ll give him that. Then, when he feels secure, he’ll start in on the female officers, and he’ll find a way to get rid of anybody who doesn’t come across. This is going to be bad.”
“I wish there was something I could do,” Hurd said.
“You can take the women aside and let them know who they’re dealing with. They need to be warned.”
“That I can do,” Hurd said.
“Does he know I’m in town?”
“No. I don’t think anyone but me knows, except Ham and Ginny, of course.”
“When does Bruno start the job?”
“He’s already in the office.”
“Does he know I was chief before you?”
“I don’t know, but he certainly will soon. Your name is bound to come up in the normal course of things. Maybe I’ll tell him myself, just to see the look on his face.”
“I’d be interested to know how he takes the news,” Holly said. “Oh, and don’t mention it to Ham; he might go down to the station and shoot Bruno.”
“It’ll be in tomorrow’s paper,” Hurd said.
“I’m having dinner with them tonight; I’ll break it to him and then sit on him if I have to. Ham was at the trial, you know.”
“I didn’t know.”
“He retired a couple of weeks after I did, and I think it was so he wouldn’t have to serve on the same base with Bruno. Or maybe even in the same army.”
“I wouldn’t want Ham mad at me,” Hurd said.
“You’re right about that,” Holly said.