MK’s house was dark when Harry got back. He debated knocking on her door, but figured if she wanted him to do that she would have left a light on. He entertained a fantasy that she was waiting for him in his bed, until he looked and saw it empty. There was no note – not a good sign.
The coffee had him buzzing so he opened a beer, plopped down on the sofa and searched through the FBI’s juvenile missing person’s website. Every time he did, he knew he shouldn’t. He knew he should give up and move on. He knew that Jamie would be so much older now that he wouldn’t even recognize him. But to stop looking meant to stop hoping and that would be just like killing his son himself. He closed his eyes, forcing them not to leak. The phone grew heavy in his hands and he rested it on his chest.
* * *
The vibrating of that same phone stirred him awake. Brightness assaulted his eyes as he opened them in the sunlight-filled living room.
“Hello.”
“Sorry, did I wake you?” It was Trooper Cirba.
“It’s all right, I had to answer the phone anyway.”
“Breakfast at ten at the diner?”
Harry pulled the phone from his ear and looked at the screen. It was 7 a.m. “Sure.”
* * *
MK’s car was still in the driveway. Harry contemplated apologizing to MK but realized he wouldn’t know what to say. There was no Hallmark card for this situation, and his father had never sat him down and said: “Son, when you’re about to have sex with a new lover and you have to run off and meet with a stripper, the best thing you can do the next day is…”
He got into his bathing suit and performed a very conspicuous running jump into the cold lake. As always, in mid-air, it seemed like a bad idea but once he had baptized himself in the clear mountain water, Harry received the vigour of an adolescent. On the shivering walk back to the house he kept an eye on MK’s place. One of the other reasons for his leap was to let her know he was awake. He grabbed a towel off the porch and then went inside unnoticed, or worse, ignored. By the time he changed into something suitable for a jog, MK’s car was gone.
“Shit.”
* * *
The run did nothing to change his mood so three quarters of the way around he decided to prove the adage “Misery loves company,” and dropped into the store for coffee, donuts, and misanthropy from Todd.
Todd’s welcome shocked and disappointed him a little. It began with a smile.
“Sit yourself down, my son. I’ve been wondering when I’d see you again. Welcome. Coffee’s on me this morning.”
“Free coffee? This isn’t the Toad I’m used to.”
“‘The Toad’? I haven’t been called that in a long time. Whereja hear that?”
“We interviewed Kevin Sweeney the other day.”
“Sweeney, he was a little weasel of a kid. Did I hear right, he’s a lawyer?”
“That’s right.”
“Still a weasel then. Want a donut?”
“You’re making me nervous, Todd. How come you’re treating me so nice?”
“Anything for the man who clocked Frank Thomson.”
“Oh, you heard about that?”
“Hell son, you’re the talk of the Poconos. I also hear you’re doodling MK. You’re reaching god status around here.”
“I am not… doodling MK.”
“But you took her out for a dinner date?”
“We went for wings at the Hillside. I’m not sure that counts.”
“’Course it counts,” Todd said, putting a donut on a plate. “Hell, you sprung for a half a dozen wings and you didn’t get laid?”
“A dozen actually.”
“Shit son, you ain’t nearly as clever as I thought you was. Ja get close?”
“Todd, you surprise me. I didn’t think you were such a gossipmonger.”
“I usually ain’t but you’ve been damned interesting lately. I’ve decided I want to live vicariously through you. You can’t imagine how many times I’ve wanted to pop Frank and, as for MK… You ever notice how she looks in that nurse’s outfit?”
Harry had, of course, but didn’t answer. Todd didn’t need any encouragement.
“I probably only got a couple hormones left but what I got – that gal percolates.”
“Well your grapevine is unreliable: the nurse and me are doodle-free.”
“Yeah well, grapevines are. Hell, I also heard you been steppin’ out with the mayor’s wife.”
Harry nearly spat out his mouthful of coffee. “What?”
“Somebody saw you driving with Helen unchaperoned.”
“As a favour to MK, I drove her to Wilkes-Barre.”
Todd laughed. “Hell, forget the dozen wings; if I did a favour as big as having to have to spend a half an hour with Helen in a confined space I’d demand to get laid for that.”
Harry kept within the thirty-five miles an hour speed limit on the Drunken Indians, and a good thing too, since Officer Barowski was waiting at the end of the curves with his radar camera. Harry was pretty sure that professional courtesy would not extend to him.
Trooper Cirba was in his booth in the corner when Harry arrived at the Oaktree Diner.
“Hey, boss, you look glum.”
“You’re fired,” he said.
“You found out about me and the mayor’s wife?” Harry said, as he slid into the booth opposite the trooper.
Cirba grimaced. “Eeew, why would you put an image like that in my head? But seriously, I got to let you go.”
“Why?”
“’Cause I can’t afford you and I can’t get HQ to pay for you.”
“Mind if I stay for lunch?”
“If you’re payin’ then sure.”
Sue came to the table, instantly sussed the cop’s mood and took their order without any chit-chat – the mark of a great waitress.
“Didn’t work out the way you planned, eh?” Harry said.
“I thought you and me would have something by now.”
“Headquarters closing the case?”
“Na, case’ll stay open but nobody is pushing and absolutely nobody is authorizing additional outside support.”
“Well, let’s have a look at what we’ve got.”
“Seriously, Harry, you’re done. Send me an invoice for the days you have done and today – if you have to.”
“Ed, as soon as I found out you were funding this thing out of your own pocket I knew I wasn’t gonna take your money. One: I make a lot more money than you and, two, I’ve had a great time. If only to clear the smog out of my lungs, these few days have been more than worth it.”
“You got manhandled by a couple of bouncers and attacked by a hillbilly in a bar.”
“You can’t say it’s been dull. Don’t forget I got to see several women naked.”
“Was one of them MK?”
“No, well actually… this isn’t a proper topic for discussion.”
“Oooh, I see. That’s why she’s mad at you?”
Harry leaned in. “Have you spoken to her?”
“I saw her at the gas station at the top of the mountain this morning getting coffee. I asked her how her bar-room defender was doing and she said, ‘I hope he and his stripper are very happy together’. What was that all about?”
Harry sighed. “Things got a little hot an’ heavy last night—”
“You don’t have to go into details, Harry, but if you do, I can handle it.”
Harry gave the cop a reproachful look. “And then the phone rang.”
“You were with a sexually aroused MK and you answered the phone?”
“No,” Harry exclaimed, “she did, and handed it to me. It was Harmony.”
“Harmony? Like Big Bill’s stripper, Harmony? Where is she?”
“Gone.”
“What?”
“She said she was going to go somewhere and start fresh.”
“And you let her?”
“What was I supposed to do, arrest her? I’m not a cop, you know?”
“Which is why you should have called me.”
“Firstly, there wasn’t a lot of blood going to my brain when she called, if you know what I mean, and secondly, I didn’t know she was skipping town until I met her at the truck stop. Should I have secretly texted you under the table so you could barge in and cuff her?”
Cirba didn’t have an immediate answer for that.
“She didn’t do it, Ed. She’s got an alibi.”
“Of course she does. God forbid we actually get a suspect in this case.” After a moment, the cop relaxed his shoulders and asked: “What did she tell you?”
“Nothing we didn’t know already. She loved Bill and was good for him. I feel sorry for her.”
“What you’re saying is – more nothin’.”
“I agree that there is a lot of nothing here but if you can hold off firing me from the position that I was never officially hired for, and will never get paid for, we might find something.”
“OK, you’re officially unfired from your unofficial position.”
Just as multiple plates of brunch arrived, a grey-haired man with a round face and a round body patted Cirba on the back and said: “I see the diet is going well.”
“Aw Doc, cut me a break, the wife’s got me eating curds and whey at home.”
The older man laughed.
“Doc Brogan, this is Harry Cull. Harry, this is the best GP in the Adirondack Mountain Range.”
Harry stood and shook hands.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you a question, doctor, but I know you can’t answer it.”
“I’m intrigued,” Brogen said.
“I spoke with farmer Jeric and he said you treated his wife. I was wondering if you found any evidence that there was water contamination from the fracking site.”
“You’re right, Mr Cull. I can’t talk about that.”
“I understand – patient doctor confidentiality.”
“It’s not just that; actually, I don’t think Gail would mind me telling you at all. It’s the company that makes the chemical soup that has me under a gagging order.”
“Come again?” Cirba said.
“When Gail had her dizzy spell, I asked Keystone Drilling to give me a list of the chemicals they use. They said they didn’t know and put me in touch with the company that makes their slickwater chemical cocktail. They had a lawyer hand-deliver the list to me. Before he handed it over he explained in detail how many millions I would be sued if I told anyone what was in the list.”
“That’s crazy,” Harry said.
“I agree with you, and the American Medical Association agrees with you too. They’re thinking about fighting this in court, but until then…” He patted the trooper on the back and said: “See ya around, Ed. Nice to meet you, Harry.”
Cirba looked at Harry and shook his head. “This shit is fucked up.”
“That’s no lie,” Harry said, surprising himself with how spontaneously the phrase came out. “Listen to me, I’m starting to sound like a local.”
Sue cleared the plates and refilled the coffees.
“OK, now that I’m back on the case, let’s review. Bill was shot on Wednesday, late morning.”
“By someone who called him from the phone booth outside the supermarket,” Cirba said.
“What? When did we know that?”
“Today. I got the records from the burner phone the mayor bought Big Bill. There are only three numbers on it. One is the mayor’s, another one Sara Snook, who I am assuming is Harmony.”
Harry took out his notebook and showed the number Harmony had given him.
“Yeah, that’s the one. And then there was a call on Wednesday morning from the payphone outside the supermarket.”
“Let me guess,” Harry said. “No security video?”
“Correct. No camera outside, but there is one in the supermarket. It’s trained on the tills so that only helps if our killer bought milk.”
“It’s not impossible. Have you looked at the tapes yet?”
“I’m waiting for a warrant.”
Harry raised a questioning eyebrow.
“The supermarket owner is a conspiracy-theory nut libertarian. He’s making me jump through hoops ’cause he can. I promised him I would look into black helicopters and fluorine in the water if he just handed them over, but he’s not budging.”
“There are no other numbers?”
“Nope.”
“Did the mayor call him on the day of the shooting?”
“Twice – once in the morning and once about an hour after he was shot – which doesn’t mean anything. He could have called after he shot Billy so as to allay suspicion. I checked about his meeting with a client at Tamarack Lake: he didn’t have time to do the shooting and make it to the meet.”
“So the mayor is off your list?”
“He’s got motive but not opportunity,” Cirba said.
“Yeah well, he doesn’t feel right to me.”
“Nobody feels right to you. That’s one of the reasons I’m trying to fire you.”
“Let’s look at who else we got. How about the strip club owner?”
Cirba shrugged. “I don’t like the guy and he is, or was, Mob, so I wouldn’t put it past him. But killing Billy ’cause he got in a scrape in his club is a bit much, even if he is a sociopath. I mean, if he killed everyone that misbehaved in there we’d be waist deep in dead bodies.”
“What if he still is in with the Jersey trash Mob? He could have killed Bill to make sure the sale went through.”
The trooper nodded to that.
“Feather?”
“Feather is a lot of things but he ain’t no killer. You sure Harmony didn’t do it?”
“Again, she’s got an alibi.” Harry handed over the piece of paper with the information about the woman Harmony said she was having lunch with in Scranton. “I haven’t checked it out but I’ll bet good money it’s legit.”
“That leaves Frank. You feel any different about him since he took a swipe at you?”
Harry laughed. “If anything I feel better about him. We kissed and made up. He puts up a good front but deep down he’s a bit of a mess. The man’s lost both of his brothers. Hey, what about his baby brother – the one that ran into the statue?”
“Jonny?”
“Yeah him. Did they ever find out who his drug connections were? Could be an old grudge?”
“Maybe,” Cirba said without enthusiasm. The trooper flipped through his notebook. “Only other suspect is Ryan Rogan.”
“Who? The kid that found the body? When did he make the list?”
“He was the first on the scene, so first on the list.”
“Motive?”
“Accident? Or maybe he didn’t want Bill to sell the land?”
“That motive makes tissue paper look thick.”
“Hey, I thought we were spitballing here.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Harry said leaning back. “You’re right. That is a lot of nothing.”
“That’s why I’m firing you.”
“Is the house rented for the whole week or are you evicting me too?”
“Didn’t your good buddy Frank tell you? To make up for taking a swing at you he’s not charging rent for the week.”
“That’s nice of him,” Harry said. “It also doesn’t seem like the action of a murderer.”
“Maybe that’s what he wants you to think.”
“Frank is not that much of a thinker. You, Ed, on the other hand, are thinking way too much.”
“Or not enough.”
“Maybe.” Harry held out his hand for a shake. “So, you have no objections to me playing junior state policeman till the end of the week?”
Cirba shook. “If I’m not paying then I’m delighted to have you along. You sure about this?”
“To be honest with you, Ed, the odds of us figuring this thing out ever, let alone by the end of the week, are slim but I’m getting quite attached to this little corner of paradise.” Harry looked out the window at the quaint Main Street of Oaktree, Pennsylvania and added, “And that’s no lie.”