by Rachel Lee
Given that Duke had already been out on a long run, she suspected that would be soon.
Sipping her latte, she waited and watched the street. More pedestrians were appearing, particularly women who seemed to be hurrying on errands. There was a small party store down the street, patronized by people who had a child’s birthday coming up, and a very small organic food store that somehow was hanging on when there never seemed to be anyone walking in or out. At the far end of the street sat a meat-processing place where you could bring your deer in the fall or a steer you wanted to use to feed your family. They’d even age the meat to make it taste better.
On weekends, a small vacant lot turned into a farmers’ market. As much good produce as could be raised around here. The environment for it had never struck her as the best, but people still managed.
Then she saw Duke striding down the street toward the diner. Of course—a long run followed by a walk. It was a wonder the man could ever hold still.
As soon as he came through the door, before they could do much more than exchange greetings, Maude appeared at the table to slap down a menu. “Coffee? Black?”
“Black, thanks.”
After Maude brought it, she groused, “A big man like you needs to eat. Figure out what you want.”
Duke stared after her, the corners of his mouth twitching. “She’d have made a good drill instructor.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.” He sipped coffee then picked up the menu. “What about you?”
“Toast and peanut butter. My favorite since childhood.”
“Sounds good. But I saw your basement gym. You could use a bit more than that toast. I think I see turnovers up there with the pies.” Then he astonished her with a wink. “Maybe some doughnuts, too.”
She laughed. It was an old joke, but most cops tried to enjoy it anyway.
He ordered a full-on breakfast plus a turnover. She suspected it was for her.
He spoke to her as he set aside the menu. “Are you incognito today?”
“Not really. Trying to draw less attention to you, but my badge is on my waist. Ben showed up at my house last night. He wants a chance to talk to you again.”
Duke nodded. “Fine by me. Maybe we can share some good memories. But he didn’t recall anything else?”
“Only how secretive Larry was, even after he arrived here. It seems he kept Ben under wraps, which was not what Ben expected at all.”
Duke frowned. “I wouldn’t have expected that of my brother.”
“After what Ben told me, neither would I. I mean, I didn’t think much about it when Larry told me Ben was his boyfriend, but I never really thought about not seeing the two of them together.”
“I knew they flew under the radar before Ben resigned his commission, but that was the last I heard about it. Six months after Ben left, Larry and I had our...rupture. I guess the two of us really need to talk. Big blanks.”
Shortly, Maude brought a heaping plate of scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage and home fries, with a side of ham and the turnover. “You want more, it’s on the house.”
“Thank you,” Duke said. After Maude had walked away, he asked, “Where did that come from?”
“Her steadily softening heart, I guess. She probably heard you’re Larry’s brother.”
“So much for a low profile.” He pushed the apple turnover toward her. “Yours.”
“Thank you.” What else could she say? He’d done something nice for her, and she hadn’t refused when he’d suggested it. Besides, as her mouth watered, she decided it was unlikely to add five pounds.
She pulled a napkin out of the dispenser and drew the small plate closer. Apple and cinnamon. The aroma was wonderful. The first mouthful was delicious.
“Anything else?” Duke asked after a bit, when his plate was half-empty and the ham was gone.
“Apart from the odd secrecy? One thing. When I told Ben that Larry’s computer was gone, he remarked that seemed strange, to kill someone over a computer.”
Duke’s head lifted. “That was it? His computer?”
“There may be other things. I don’t know yet. I was pulled off the case because I knew Larry. Obviously. But it got me thinking. That was an awful lot of violence for one laptop.”
“Damn it, Larry,” Duke growled quietly. “What the hell did you get yourself involved with this time?”
Cat couldn’t answer. Nobody knew the motive for this murder, nobody evidently knew what Larry was working on and, given his natural secrecy, it was unlikely anyone in this area knew he was gay.
Duke went back to eating, but this time clearly without pleasure. He was eating for fuel, nothing more.
Cat eventually spoke, the turnover mostly gone. “We can’t be sure it had anything to do with his work. Maybe he just ran into a bad actor. It can happen, Duke.”
“Yeah.” But he didn’t sound as if he believed it.
Neither did she. There was an awful lot of violence. Someone had to be seriously angry with Larry to do that. But she didn’t want Duke to get wound up again, not when he was being so cooperative with her. If he went out of here carrying a lance with blood in his eye, she didn’t want to think about what might happen.
Gage had given her permission. She could share what she thought necessary. Given that, she needed to direct Duke.
“I’ll call around, Duke. I’ll see how many of the people who played poker with Larry are available to talk to you, and when.”
“Okay. Thanks.” He nodded and went back to eating like a kid whose mother had told him to clean his plate. He might have lost his appetite, but he wouldn’t waste food. She liked that. She absolutely hated wasting food.
She was probably the only person around here who could have a meltdown when she discovered a rotting green pepper at the back of her fridge.
Okay, not a meltdown, but she always felt bad.
Maude swung by to refill his coffee and ask if she wanted another latte. Duke answered for her. “Sure she will. She may deny it, but she does. She can take it with her.”
“Duke!” Cat felt a bit of annoyance. “I can make my own decisions.”
“I know you can. I also know that you try to be polite. That’s been obvious. If you can’t drink it all, that’s okay, too.”
Man, he had her number, she thought when he insisted on paying the bill. She at least didn’t feel uncomfortable about that. He’d ordered the turnover and coffee without listening to any objection and without getting her permission.
Served him right. It wasn’t like Gage had suggested she use an expense account. Why should she? Duke was an uninvited complication.
She decided not to go back to the office, but to take Duke to her house once more. She would have peace to make phone calls, and she wasn’t sure that any of the poker gang would be free before evening. If any of them even wanted to talk to him.
Back at her house, she paced as she made calls. First was to Gage.
“I’m going to take Duke around to talk to the poker group, unless you object.”
“That seems harmless enough. We already got everything they could share or were willing to. Just pay attention in case he teases out something interesting.”
“Will do.” Cat hadn’t expected a different answer, but this was one way to keep Gage up to date on Duke’s activities. He had asked her to keep him informed.
“One other thing,” she continued. “Nobody knows what Larry was working on. And Ben Williams commented how strange it was that someone would take only Larry’s laptop. Did we find anything else missing?”
“His phone. These days everyone has a smartphone. We couldn’t find one.”
That sent a trickle of unease running down her spine. “Damn,” she murmured.
“Yeah,” Gage answered. “You didn’t know that?”
Gage snorted. “I use what I got. Anyway, we haven’t released the scene yet. I sure as hell hope we can find if something else is gone. It might be a clue.”
“How are we supposed to know?”
After she disconnected, she wondered if she should even tell Duke about the phone. Wait, she decided. Just wait. And there was that big question: How were they supposed to know if anything else was missing? Other items, such as cash, no one would know about. From what she’d read in the reports, they hadn’t found Larry’s wallet, either. But all those things could fit with a robbery.
Except Larry’s horrific murder.
She felt Duke watching her from the kitchen. She turned to look his way. “The scene hasn’t been released.”
He stood. “You said it had been.”
“I said it might have been. Gage said we’re still not through.”
Duke frowned. “It’s taking a long time.”
“We’re a small department. Nobody wants to overlook something.”
He nodded but clearly was disturbed. “And the poker group?”
“I’ll start making calls.”
It took most of the rest of the day to reach everyone on the list. She felt as if Duke would be happy to start with just one, but that would delay setting up the rest for meetings. She just kept plugging away until she had two appointments laid out.
“Was everyone agreeable?” Duke asked.
“Some of them even sounded eager. None sounded reluctant. Only two could schedule at this time.”
“Good starting point. When’s the first?”
“Matt Keller this evening. He owns the organic food store. He said he’d come over here tonight around seven. Next is Bud Wicke, tomorrow at lunchtime. We can meet him at the garage.”
“And the rest?”
“They’ll probably spread out over a few days. They’ll call me.”
Duke nodded.
“Mostly evenings. Most of them work, and only one is retired.”
“Okay,” Duke said.
“Why don’t you get comfortable?” she asked. She was convinced he intended to remain planted here until Matt arrived. He must be worried that he might miss something.
He followed her into the living room, and at her suggestion, he sat at one end of the couch. She settled in the Boston rocker that her mother had loved so much.
After a few minutes, he spoke. “I’m wasting my time.”
“How so?”
“You already questioned the poker group.”
“You felt they might share more with you.”
He shook his head impatiently. “They knew my brother for only a couple of months. What sounded like a good idea when I flew out here is beginning to sound less so.”
Surprised, she studied him, wishing this man would be more open about his thoughts. “You want me to cancel the meetings?”
He shook his head again. “I’ve only got three weeks. I need to use them wisely, and I seem to be blowing them away. The problem is, I can’t think of another line of attack. I want Larry’s killer.”
She ached for him. Her professional detachment insisted on draining away. She couldn’t afford to let that happen. “We should go see Ben again. If you talk with him for a while, something new may emerge. Of all the people who knew Larry around here, he’s the one with the most knowledge.”
“Yeah. I want to see him again, anyway. But I can’t keep spinning my wheels.”
While she sympathized, she also knew something else. “Duke? This isn’t my first murder investigation. I can tell you something you might not like to hear, but it’s the truth.”
“What’s that?”
“Sometimes, however much evidence you think you’ve found, it’s not enough to identify a killer. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, a new piece drops into the puzzle, and you’re off and running. Patience is part of this job.”
After a few beats, he nodded.
Cat also realized she wasn’t going to be able to sit here like this and wait for Matt Keller to show up. She looked at her watch. Four thirty. There was time.
“Why don’t we go to Mahoney’s?” she said. “It’s been a long time since my breakfast, and he makes great BLTs. Maybe have a beer, since I’ve been in that mood since Larry’s murder.”
He was agreeable. In deference to time, they drove in her car.
“I should drive my rental over here,” he remarked. “At least my knees won’t be ramming my chin.”
She laughed. For the first time, it felt good.
* * *
THE GUY THEY were working for could only be contacted at night, so the first man had to wait. His call this morning had been dismissed with a brusque “I told you. After 4:00 a.m Zulu only.” 9:00 p.m local time.
That hadn’t made anyone happy, but they had to deal with it. The way they’d spent so much of their lives dealing with whatever happened, whether they liked it or not.
Then the second man let out a “Yesss!”
The other two looked at him. He was still obsessively holding Larry’s cell phone. He waved it. “I found some names and numbers. They weren’t on his contact list, but in his reminders list. They all have local area codes.”
The third man nodded and smiled. “We’ll get them now.”
The first man wasn’t as delighted. “We have to locate them. Then scope out where they live and figure out how to get in without being seen. And we still don’t know what the hell to look for.”
After a few minutes, the second guy spoke. “It has to be a flash drive.”
“Why?” demanded the first man. “We were talking about reporters keeping notes on paper because they couldn’t be hacked.”
“I was thinking,” the other man answered. Man Three chortled sarcastically, but the second man ignored him. “Thinking,” he repeated. “If you’re going to give someone a bunch of information to protect or hide, you’re not going to give them the paper. You’re going to copy a lot of the crucial stuff to a flash drive and encrypt it.”
They regarded the idea almost glumly.
“A flash drive won’t be easy to find,” said the third man. “How will we know if we have the right one?”
“Take as many as we find. Bet they’re near a computer, where they shouldn’t stand out.”
“Or between the mattresses, or in the cupboard, or...” The first man trailed off. “Better than where we were yesterday.”
“Marginally,” Man Three remarked. “Hell. But at least we’ve got a starting point.”
Man One rubbed his face with his hands. “Let’s get that fire up again. I want me some coffee.” Then he zeroed in on the second man again. “Find anything on that computer?”
“Hardly. Didn’t I tell you the battery is dead? I need a plug. Recharge it or run it on AC.”
The third man spoke. “Just don’t tell me you don’t have the adapter or the recharger.”
“I got them. But I gotta plug it in.”
Man One leaned back while Man Three tossed some dry twigs on the fire. Soon it was crackling but not smoking.
“Okay,” said Man One. “That’s the easiest of our problems. We can charge it at Larry Duke’s house tonight, depending on whether they’ve still got a cop watching it. And speaking of Duke? His brother’s in town, I heard earlier.”
“Daniel Duke?”
The first man nodded.
“Damn,” said the third man. “It’s like playing whack-a-mole. Start to solve one problem, and another springs up.”
After that, no one spoke at all.
* * *
MAHONEY’S PROVED TO be just the pick-me-up that Cat needed. The country music wailing quietly in the background, the voices of people talking and Mahoney’
s warm greeting and his promise to give them the best BLTs.
Mahoney put a cold diet cola in front of her and a large glass of draft in front of Duke.
The place still hadn’t heated up for the evening, so it was relatively quiet. Soon after five, the bar would be jammed.
Duke spoke. “This the only watering hole around here?”
“No. There are roadhouses around the county, serving scattered ranches. I imagine they did better in the days when every ranch employed a lot of cowboys. And there’s one only a few miles outside town. Local bands play, it has a dance floor, that sort of thing.”
“Popular?”
“Oh yeah. Can’t beat the dancing, for one thing. A lot of the college students head out there for that, but they have a good mix of customers.”
Mahoney brought the sandwiches, one for her and two for Duke, and conversation between them flagged. In the lull, Cat looked around and realized some of the patrons were staring at Duke.
Had they heard who he was and why he was here? Given the local grapevine, she thought that might be it, though she harbored a fleeting hope that maybe a few of them wanted to talk about Larry. If that was the case, she hoped she wasn’t putting a damper on it.
While they ate, more patrons began to drift in. By the time they finished eating, the bar was at least half-full.
The hum of conversation had grown stronger, and occasionally laughter punctuated the background noises. A good night was on the way at Mahoney’s.
Cat would have liked to kick back, enjoy a couple of beers, then go home to her basement gym and take a stab at working off her sins, but no. She was driving, first of all, and secondly, the man beside her seemed to be getting a bit restless. Probably impatient for the conversation he was awaiting with Matt.
“You in a hurry?” she asked as he finished his sandwiches.
“Sort of. Not really. Hell, we got time.”
She glanced at her watch. “Yeah, but that’s not necessarily a reminder that will make you less impatient. We can go if you need to move.”
He turned his head, looking across his shoulder at her as he leaned into the bar. “I used to enjoy spending an evening like this.”