‘I didn’t lie to you earlier,’ said Tess as she sat opposite Po in a booth of a family diner a block from Charley’s Auto Shop. The diner was busy, the morning rush on, people aiming to grab and go on their way to work. ‘But seeing as we’re playing “show and tell” I might as well get it out there. No surprises, right? I’m not with law enforcement. I used to be a sheriff’s deputy, but now I’m not, and haven’t been for the best part of two years.’
Po lounged in his seat, one long arm on the table, his fingers incessantly turning his mug of black coffee as if engaged in some formal tea ceremony. ‘Funny, isn’t it? I was a con. Now I’m an ex-con, and will be for the rest of my days. Is it the same for cops? You’re never anything but?’
‘There’s probably something in that,’ Tess admitted. ‘It wasn’t my idea to give up on my career, that decision was forced on me, and looking back I can see why, even if it was against my wishes. I’m not exactly bitter, but I regret what happened to end my spell upholding the family tradition.’
‘Your father was a cop?’
‘Yes. And his father before him.’ She didn’t feel the need to share all of her family history, and felt she’d said enough for now. But Po’s silence coaxed more from her. ‘My grandfather was an NYPD detective, my dad a patrolman on the same big-city streets before he relocated our entire family here to Portland, where he took a job with the Sheriff’s Office. Dad worked his way up the ladder to Chief Deputy Sheriff. Y’know, I’m certain he’d have made Sheriff in the upcoming elections if bowel cancer hadn’t taken him.’
‘I heard about him,’ Po said. ‘That’d be Michael Grey? The cancer took him young.’
Tess sipped her coffee. It was strong, almost to the point where it tasted burnt, but that could have been the ashes of loss swilling around in her mouth. She wondered why she was being so forthright with this man she’d barely met – an ex-con and self-confessed murderer no less – but his steady gaze held hers and was almost hypnotic. ‘Fifty-three. Way too young.’
‘It’s a terrible thing to lose a parent,’ said Po, and she wondered at his tone. Someone of his background probably had no love of cops, and the untimely death of a chief deputy was nothing to cry about. But maybe she was wrong and he really felt for her having lost his own father. Some cancers were no less a killer than a redneck with a gun.
Tess offered a tight-lipped smile. ‘I’ve two brothers, Michael Jnr and Alex, both of them older than me. They preceded me into law enforcement; both of them are still serving. Michael married a girl from Ohio, and followed her to Dayton. He took a position with the State Troopers out there, while Alex has stayed here in Maine with Portland PD.’
‘You served here too?’
‘I did. It’s how I knew who to go to when looking for a ne’er-do-well like you.’
Po didn’t rise to the bait; he continued eyeing her, turning his cup. Finally he lined up the handle so it pointed towards her. It was a cue for her to continue her story.
‘I was never expected to follow my brothers into law enforcement.’ Tess gave a grunt of mirth. ‘You should’ve seen the disappointment in my mom’s eyes the day I announced I’d enrolled. She thought I should put my college education to better use than wrangling belligerent drunks and abusive husbands. I guess she hoped I’d become a librarian, or maybe a historical tour guide or something safe like it.’
‘She was afraid for you,’ Po pointed out.
‘That’s exactly what was wrong. I used to wonder why she was so proud of her boys, when the thought of her baby girl following her menfolk into uniform curdled her gut. Yes, it was definitely fear that informed my mom’s opinion, fear that I’d be killed in the line of duty, the way my grandfather was. She wasn’t as worried about Michael or Alex’s welfare.’
‘Or she didn’t show it so openly,’ Po corrected.
Tess sipped her coffee again. Now it didn’t taste as bad. ‘Ironically Mom’s reluctance to give her blessing only spurred me on: I was determined to prove her fears were unfounded, that I could be as good a cop as any of the male Greys before me.’ To some extent Tess had, attaining the rank of corporal then sergeant in quick succession, and she’d had her eye on senior officer promotion to lieutenant soon after. But that was when her mother’s fears were almost realized. ‘The best-laid plans of mice and men, and all that jazz,’ she said.
‘Plans are like laws,’ Po said. ‘Sometimes they’re best broken. Occasionally things work out for the better that way.’
‘Now you sound just like my mom,’ Tess laughed bitterly.
‘She sounds like a wise woman.’
‘Now you definitely sound just like her.’ Tess’s laughter had curtailed. ‘She said she knew no good would come of me joining up. Pity she didn’t gaze deeper into her crystal ball and see how things would actually turn out.’
‘I take it you mean bad?’
‘Very bad …’ She halted. He’d almost prised private details of her life from her. There was no benefit in telling Po her story. He was a stranger, and a convicted criminal. She didn’t owe him her life story, and when she walked away she didn’t want him to know any of the intimate details. Hell, she wasn’t even sure why she’d accepted his offer of coffee, other than he’d practically steered her to the diner by force of will. She told herself that she’d accompanied him so that she could walk out on him on her terms; proving who was stronger. The man was infuriating and the sooner she saw the back of him the better. Except, well, she wasn’t exactly sure that was the truth. She desperately needed this job, and the timescale was slim and getting shorter by the second. Sower’s bail hearing was looming: could she afford the time to find another guide? And who was to say she’d find anyone less annoying? As much as it aggrieved her to admit it, she needed Po.
Around them the bustle of the morning crowd continued, the waitresses still took orders and shouted out prepared drinks. The coffee machines steamed and hissed. Chairs scraped and the murmur of conversation was incessant. But to Tess it was as if a veil of silence fell over them. Across from her Po waited.
Ah, hell, she decided, why not? Her woeful demise was in the public record, if he wanted to find it out. If he wasn’t interested, then he wouldn’t bother looking, so where was the harm? Perhaps he’d see her differently if she hinted that she wasn’t the ‘stuck-up flaky bitch’ he thought. Or perhaps it’d assure him that she was. Whatever. ‘You’re not the only one who has killed a man,’ she said, sitting back, her fingernails tapping the table as she waited for his reaction.
He turned the handle of his cup toward himself. He fed one of his callused fingers through the too-small handle, raised the cup to his lips. He didn’t drink, just watched her through the steam. Finally he said, ‘Sometimes cops kill criminals. It happens.’
‘Yeah,’ Tess said, ‘they do.’
Except the man she shot wasn’t a criminal.
‘Criminals also kill cops,’ he said, as if it somehow balanced out the universe.
Her thoughts went immediately to Mitch Delaney’s horrific fate, and then and there decided that everything hung on how Po responded to her next words. ‘And you think that’s right?’
‘It’s just the way it is,’ he said. ‘Don’t know about the rights or wrongs of it; I guess each case has to be taken on its merits.’ Again he waited, prompting for more. But she wasn’t playing his game anymore. She stood up.
‘You’re leaving?’
‘I need to get moving. It’s obvious you’ve formed an opinion of me that you don’t like. I can’t see things working out between us.’ Tess started by him.
‘Nuh-uh.’ Po closed his fingers over her wrist. ‘We aren’t finished yet.’
‘We’re finished.’ Tess jerked her hand out of his grip, but she didn’t stride away as intended. She glared at him, conscious that others in the diner were glancing their way. She snorted, sat down again. ‘Look, Po, I get it. You have a right to know what you’re getting into, but you don’t need to hear my life story to form a judgment about me. You’ve spotted the injury to my wrist, decided I’m weak, and if that’s your opinion then fuck you!’ Now was the time to storm out. But she didn’t, she waited and she resented the fact that she needed this man’s help so much. It didn’t help when he only offered a lazy smile. ‘Ah, hell, I’m tired of these games. Stop toying with me: do you want this goddamn job or not?’
‘Maybe a trip home wouldn’t be so bad,’ he concurred. ‘Especially on someone else’s ticket.’
Tess exhaled sharply. But she forced herself to relax. ‘It isn’t a vacation I’m offering. You’ll be working for me, and there’s no time or place for personal agendas. Do you understand?’
‘I understand,’ he said, but not whether he agreed to the terms.
‘OK, so we’re good?’
‘We’re good,’ he said. ‘How soon do you plan on leaving?’
‘You don’t want to know how much I’m paying?’
‘The money’s not important. As long as I’m not out of pocket then I guess I’m still earning.’
His comment gave Tess pause. How could he admit that payment wasn’t important after she’d just warned him against pursuing a personal agenda? Maybe that wasn’t it, though. Maybe he wasn’t as altruistic as everyone else she’d ever known, or more likely he was toying with her again, still enjoying his little power play. Whatever, she’d no time for games. Whether or not he needed the money she did, and wasting time here wasn’t how to earn it. ‘OK, let’s get going.’
‘So soon?’
‘You might want to grab a change of clothes. We could be gone a few days.’
‘Don’t I get to know who it is we’re looking for first?’
‘We’ve wasted enough time already,’ Tess said, deciding it was time to show exactly who was in charge. ‘You can stay here and finish your coffee, but if you want this job, you can learn what you need on the way.’