by Donna Doyle
“Go first with what?” Kelly asked, wondering how he knew that she had news.
They had had little opportunity to communicate beyond brief texts for much of the week, busy as she was with program planning and occupied as he was with the changes in scheduling, the late-night calls to the bars because of over-zealous drinkers, and having a houseguest.
“You’ve been bursting like a firecracker ever since I saw you this morning. I know something’s up. What is it?”
She didn’t dispute his observation. “I talked to Doug Iolous, the photographer. We didn’t have much of a chance to say a lot because Mrs. Stark came up to the meeting room before we’d even been there fifteen minutes. He thinks she’s staying at the library to find out what you might be telling me about—Doug calls it Chief Stark’s ‘extracurricular activities.’ And Doug said that the Starks are big campaign donors to Rep. Eldredge. He wouldn’t say how he knows, but Doug has a lot of contacts, not just in town, but in the county and even in Harrisburg, so he—”
“Knows people who know people?” Troy finished her sentence. “That’s a concern, if people are saying that Chief Stark’s wife is camping out at the library because she thinks you and I are trying to uncover what her husband might be involved in.”
“She can’t prove anything, and it’s not like we’ve been able to find out much.”
“Don’t take any risks, Kelly,” Troy cautioned her. “Promise me that.”
“The same to you. Don’t take risks.”
“I’m a policeman. There’s a difference in the risk level between a librarian’s job and a policeman’s job. Except when you’re the librarian,” he conceded with a rueful grin. “Anyway, promise me that you won’t be overt about what you’re trying to find out.”
“I promise. When Mrs. Stark came upstairs, Doug and I were talking about the program. I saw the doorknob start to turn so I knew she was out there,” Kelly admitted.
“I’m glad. So this means that we can approach Doug if we need information and trust that he’ll help and not spill?”
Kelly nodded. “He knows how to handle Mrs. Stark, too. I got the impression that she thinks he’s just a nice, easy-going local reporter without much ambition. He brought her a print of the photograph that’s running in the paper next week. The one with her husband in the mayor’s office. She was pleased.”
If Doug Iolous knew to appease the Starks with things like that, he was probably pretty canny and a trustworthy partner. Still, Troy didn’t want to venture too far into trusting anyone but Kelly at this point.
“Just watch what you say and don’t say too much.” After their meals arrived and the waitress had gone, he told her what Tia had told him about the man she recognized up at the camp.
“Is that why we’re going up there?”
“I want to see how Leo’s doing, that’s for real. I want to see if there’s any sign of this Eddie Kavlick guy. I checked him out and he’s got a record for assault, drug charges . . . nothing high-level but there’s enough there to warrant a look around. Mia is scared and with a lit fuse like Travis Shaw for an ex-husband, I don’t blame her. But she doesn’t want Leo to know, and that means that Leo can’t have his antennae going when the kids are up there. So . . . we’ll check it out and see if there are any unexplained vehicles parked in Mayor Truvert’s space.”
“That’s not likely, is it?”
“It wasn’t likely before, but your minister saw Ollie’s Jeep there and that’s what cued us to the fact that he was up there when Parmenter was.”
“I know, but there are a lot more people at camp now. The weather is warm, and people like to get away.”
“And we’ll get away too. Bring a bathing suit. It’s a good day for swimming.”
“You’re off the whole day?”
“Chief Stark has the state police taking calls today. He told them that we’re so busy with the Memorial Day events that we need coverage.”
“You’re okay with that?”
“I’m not going to argue with a Saturday off when I’ve been working into the wee hours every night. And if it means that you and I can do a little checking around and do some swimming, well, everybody wins. At least, you and I win and that’s enough for me.”
When he picked her up later at noon, Kelly got into his Suburban dressed for the occasion. She wore a white summer skirt over a brightly colored orange, green and yellow tropical print one-piece bathing suit. Over the top of the suit she had on a light green, short-sleeved blouse, unbuttoned, and she had orange flip-flops on her feet.
“I hope we don’t have to run,” Troy said, eyeing her footwear.
“That’s all you know,” Kelly said. Opening her backpack, she pulled out a pair of sneakers.
“Prepared for everything,” Troy grinned. “What’s in the basket?”
“Food,” she said succinctly. “We can bring Leo lunch.”
Leo was pleased to see them, and enthusiastic about the picnic lunch that Kelly had provided. “I’m not much of a cook,” he admitted as Kelly placed Tupperware containers of fruit salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, chicken salad, devilled eggs, dill pickles, tomato slices and lettuce, along with a plate of fresh buns, a dish of hot dogs and beans still warm from the oven, and a tray of chocolate cupcakes.
“Did you make all this?” Troy asked. She couldn’t possibly have gotten it all together after they left The Café; he’d just told her about going to the lake at breakfast.
“I like to have picnic food around during the summer,” she explained, “so I have it ready to bring if I get an invitation. I made the hot dogs and beans and the cupcakes this morning.” She smiled at Leo. “You didn’t invite me, so I’m crashing the party.”
“You can come up any time, even without food,” Leo said as he handed out the plates and utensils which Kelly had brought in the basket. She had even brought a pitcher of fresh lemonade which Troy knew hadn’t come from a grocery store carton, along with a pitcher of iced tea. “Millie came up with the kids and Mia a couple days ago and we had a bonfire for roasting hot dogs. Mason wasn’t very happy with Millie. She wouldn’t let him roast his own hot dog. She didn’t want him close to the fire.”
“Did he stay away?”
“I let him stand by it as long as he wasn’t too close. Folks up here look out for one another; I saw some guy talking to Mason. Must be a newcomer; I didn’t recognize him. He might be a relative of someone. Like I said, everyone looks out for everyone.”
“Was he with one of your neighbors?”
“I didn’t notice. I’ve been kind of preoccupied the past few days. But Mason was all right. He’s safe up here.”
Troy, his voice deliberately casual, asked, “You haven’t seen any vehicles parked in Mayor Truvert’s space?”
“I don’t expect to, now that they caught Olivetti. Truvert hasn’t been up here and I’m glad for that. I suppose he’s been glad to have his brother-in-law working just down the hall again.”
Leo didn’t try to disguise the resentment in his voice.
“For the time being,” Troy said. “Stark’s back to his pattern. The state police are covering today. Stark says it’s because of all the OT I’m racking up from working so late.”
“I’m still drawing a salary. For doing nothing. I don’t expect that to last long once the number-crunchers figure out that it’s costing the town to pay me when I’m not working. Millie used to work, she was a nurse, but that’s some years ago. I don’t know what would be involved for her to go back to it.”
“Leo, don’t start thinking that you’re going to be out on the street. Just because Stark won this battle doesn’t mean he’ll win the war.”
“He can win the war if no one fights it,” Leo said.
Kelly put a comforting hand on Leo’s arm. “We’re going to fight it, Leo. And we’re going to win it. Don’t give up.”
11
Reflection
Troy was glad that he’d had the Saturday off to spend time with Kelly an
d to see Leo. He was surprised that Leo hadn’t been alarmed by the appearance of a stranger at the camp community where everyone knew everyone else who had a place there. Mia must have disguised her apprehension very well for Leo not to have noticed anything amiss. Troy hoped that Mia had followed his advice and alerted her mother to what she had noticed at the camp; someone in the family had to maintain vigilance so that the kids could remain safe. It seemed odd that Leo had failed to interpret the presence of an unknown person as significant.
When he arrived home that night, the house was empty, but Troy had given Sean a key so that he could come and go according to his own schedule. Arlo had been fed and given fresh water; although the dog was eager as always to be let outside, he had obviously been taken out by Sean before he left.
After bringing out a can of soda and hooking Arlo to the leash, Troy sat on the porch swing, stretched his feet out and lazily rocked back and forth. Rain was forecast for the night, but so far there was no trace of it, although the clouds obscured the sky and hid the stars and moon from view.
It was a good night for sitting out on the porch and thinking while the neighborhood was quiet and the streets were devoid of activity and noise. There was much to think about and methodically, Troy ran through the thoughts in his mind that had been waiting all week to be organized.
He was heartened by Sean’s appearance. His friend seemed to have recovered his health, physical and emotional. Before Sean’s visit, Troy had removed all alcohol, from the beer in the fridge to the holiday whiskey in the cupboard. Sean had gone through a period in his life after leaving the army when he’d turned to the bottle as if it were the friend who kept showing up at the right time. Which was the wrong time, but there was no easy way to make that point.
But so far, Troy hadn’t noticed any trace of that need. They had had two beers at the baseball game the night he picked Sean up at the airport. No doubt Sean had had drinks when he visited family and friends, but when he came home, he was none the worse for it. Maybe working at a physical job like landscaping was good for him; it had certainly put him back in shape. Sean was a good guy; he wasn’t the only soldier who had found that war turned him into something he didn’t want to be, but he seemed to be kicking that trait. There was good news there.
Leo was another matter, not because he drank or suffered from demons that couldn’t be exorcised, because nothing could be further from the truth. Leo was battling the frustration that anyone would feel for being demonized by a lie. Travis Shaw was getting mileage out of his accusation that he had been coerced into confessing to murder because he feared his father-in-law’s retaliation if he did otherwise. Was Kelly’s suspicion correct? Had the Starks called in political favors owed by Representative Eldredge to get a news crew to Travis Shaw in prison so that he could protest his innocence? The town council had reacted in knee-jerk fashion to that, so desperate to avoid more bad publicity that they had suspended Leo and brought Roger Stark back as chief of police. They’d been too fearful of consequences to actually proceed with an investigation into Stark’s conduct the first time, but it was all too easy to let Leo be blamed now. They’d voted to keep him on the payroll, but Troy knew they’d done that only to assuage their own discomfort at the decision.
Leo couldn’t be faulted for feeling bitter, but it was a concern that his usually heightened sense of protectiveness regarding his family hadn’t been in place when his grandson was talking to a stranger at camp. Mia had noticed it, though. Had this Eddie Kavlick noticed her? And had he meant for her to do so? Was Travis behind that as well, and if so, how was he managing to pull puppet strings from prison? From what Mia had told him, Travis wasn’t a big-time player in crime. He followed orders and did what he was told to do.
Had he been told to plead guilty, not by Leo but by someone else, so that, at the right time, he could come forth with the account that damned Leo and made Travis appear to be a victim? How manipulative were the Starks, and how much power did they actually wield? Enough to get a legislator to do their bidding? Enough to influence an ex-con? And if so, to do what? There was no reason that
Troy could perceive for the Starks to want Lyola Knesbit to be murdered. Lois Knesbit had taken over Lyola’s position as church treasurer, but those kinds of jobs paid little and were generally done by people who regarded it as much service as employment. And now that Lois Stark was on this kick about identity theft, according to Kelly, and wanted everything to be paid in cash, the job would be even more onerous. She had a thriving insurance business and she spent most of her day at the library; presumably she worked as church treasurer on the weekends. It didn’t leave much time for the social life that he knew the Starks, well-known in the community, had enjoyed before their son was accused of murder and sent to prison. Did Mrs. Stark want to be busy so that she didn’t have to think about her son in prison? Or was she trying to redeem the family’s reputation by reinforcing her position in the local organizations?
Chief Stark. The man was a walking 8 by 10 glossy in public, the image of the town policeman who spoke to little kids in school to tell them that the policeman was their friend, who showed up at town council meetings to assure an anxious public that they were safe. But he’d shown his hidden side on the day he returned as chief of police when he gave Troy the warning to stay out of trouble. Was he worried that Kyle and Troy would let their loyalty to Leo interfere with Stark’s ideas for how the police station should be run? Or was he still carrying a grudge against Troy because he had been the one who had pursued the investigation that had ultimately exposed Scotty Stark as the murderer of the girl who’d been killed in Daffodil Alley on Halloween night?
Which brought his thoughts to Kelly. Troy smiled as he recalled Kelly in her bathing suit. She was tall and tanned from so much time spent outdoors, and she sure didn’t look like anyone’s idea of a librarian as she swam across the lake with long, slicing strokes through the water. And when she emerged from the water, her red hair soaked against her head and her trim figure . . .
Troy smiled. Sean would be surprised, that was certain, if he met her. There was no reason, Troy told himself, why they shouldn’t meet. Even if his relationship with Kelly wasn’t defined in quite the manner he’d like it to be, it had roots that ran deep. He trusted her; she was sterling in her qualities, and there was no doubting that she would have his back if a crisis broke. As he would have hers.
This Doug the photographer guy . . . Kelly knew everyone in Settler Springs. Just because they shared high school moments didn’t mean that it was anything that was going to re-ignite. She had an ex-boyfriend in her life, but it wasn’t the photographer. And while it was true that he and Kelly weren’t a couple, she made time for him in her life, and her life was busy. Their Saturday runs at the Trail had resumed with regularity now that the weather was no longer hampered by winter snow; breakfast followed automatically, and with the meal, a sharing of thoughts and concerns that intersected their lives, particularly as they were both so enmeshed in the investigations that had become almost routine. The spontaneous time spent together, like that Friday evening felt-like-a-date at Logretti’s, and today’s swimming at the lake were extras, but they did happen, and Troy hoped there would be many more of them as the summer went on. He intended to do his best to make them happen.
12
Outlaws
“Check the Krymanskis,” Chief Stark said, his hand on the doorknob of his office. “If there’s trouble in Settler Springs, a Krymanski is probably involved. You should know that by now. Three robberies in the past ten days and you don’t even have a clue?” He shook his head. “I think you’ve forgotten how to do your job. It’s time we get everything back to normal.”
Neither Troy nor Kyle responded. Troy had come in to work an hour before Kyle’s shift ended so that he would know how the morning had gone. There had been another robbery; Kyle had gone to the location, an ice cream stand, that had been broken into overnight. The robbery had taken place while the stand was closed
; there were no security cameras to reveal the identity of the thief; the bills in the cash register had been taken, the change had been left.
Chief Stark closed his office door.
“I don’t think it’s the Krymanskis,” Kyle said, his voice low so that he could not be overheard by Chief Stark in his office.
Troy shook his head. “No, but I’ll check around and talk to some of them. See what they know.”
Back to normal. Blaming the Krymanskis for every crime in Settler Springs from littering to larceny, that was the Stark modus operandi, and it didn’t matter whether or not they were even connected to the deed. They were guilty because they were the Krymanskis.
He went home for his supper break, because Kelly was busy at the library, working on the program, and couldn’t leave. He heard voices as he entered and when he walked into the kitchen, he saw Sean at the stove, frying something in a skillet, while Skip Kryamnski stood at the counter, slicing tomatoes.
“Just the guy I want to see,” Troy greeted him.
“I don’t like the sounds of that. Whatever it is,” Skip help up his hands in a gesture of surrender, “I didn’t do it.”
“Your alibi is that you’ve been here, cooking the whole time,” Sean said.
Troy sat down. “What’s cooking?”
“Nothing fancy, just burgers,” Sean said. “Almost done.”
“You could have grilled them,” Troy said. “The grill is on the back porch.”
“Next time,” Sean said cheerfully.
Skip derided his own domestic abilities, but the tomatoes and onions that he’d cut up looked okay to Troy as he built his hamburger and bit into it appreciatively.
“What did you mean about me being just the guy you wanted to see?” Skip asked.
Sean’s hamburgers were high altitude and built to give the bun a workout. Troy waited until he’d finished chewing before responding. “Have you heard anything about the robberies in town?”