“What if they need other people to testify—you know, establish a pattern.”
I thought about that. “Not unless it’s absolutely necessary to convict him.”
“All right. I’m sure glad she didn’t wind up with him.”
“Me, too.” I sent up a silent prayer of thanks.
“George asked me to come back to Skowhegan this weekend,” Eddie said.
“George? Not Leeanne?”
“Well, she did, too, but he asked if I wanted to join you all for hunting.”
“Great. Ride up with us.”
Chapter 24
Friday, November 12
The alarm woke me at six for running. Jennifer catapulted onto my chest.
“Happy birthday!” She kissed me and stroked the back of my head, where my hair was getting long again. I wished she’d forgotten about my birthday.
“You want to be married to an old guy?”
“I want to be married to you, no matter how old you are.” She ran her hand through my hair, scrutinizing it. “Nope, no gray yet.” Next to her, the running routine looked very unattractive.
She told me to bring Eddie back for breakfast, and she had pancakes and bacon ready when we got there. Abby came down, and we fixed the last details of the trip. Eddie and I would come straight home at five. Jeff couldn’t get off until six, and he and Beth would leave then. I’d gotten my gear ready the night before, and Jennifer had packed our clothes.
“When do we eat birthday cake?” Abby asked.
“Mom’s fixing it. When we all get up there, we’ll party,” Jennifer said.
I pouted a little. “I have to wait all day for my presents?” Jennifer slugged me.
Mike called while we were still at breakfast. “New homicide, Harv. Your unit needs to take this one. Illegal alien with a bullet in his head at the Custom House Wharf.”
“I’ll put some men right on it.”
I told Jennifer I had a new case, but didn’t give her the details. Much better to keep her thinking pleasant thoughts.
“This isn’t going to put the kibosh on our trip, is it?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Hey, you know the Invincible Duo,” Eddie said with a grin. “We’ll probably wrap this one by noon.”
Jennifer looked skeptical. I finished my coffee, trying to give her the illusion that I wasn’t in a hurry.
She was just beginning to need maternity clothes, and I wanted to be sure she and the baby were warm and comfortable on the trip. As Eddie and I left for the station, I told her sternly, “You go to the store today and buy yourself some clothes. Abby, make her go.”
“We’re going,” Abby confirmed.
“All right.” I kissed Jennifer. “Love you.”
Eddie rode to work with me, like old times, and I told him what I knew about the homicide, which wasn’t much.
The sky was gray, and it was spitting snow. “I hope they get enough snow for tracking the deer in Somerset County,” Eddie said.
As soon as we reached the police station, I sent Arnie and Clyde to the wharf. Arnie called in a little later and asked if Nate and Eddie could go down and help. I sent them, hoping Eddie wouldn’t be needed for very long.
I was alone with paperwork until eleven o’clock, when the psychologist came. We’d met before, and we got along. We stayed at my desk with a fresh pot of coffee, and I told Paula she could go home before the snow got any worse. I gave Dr. Slidell the basics on the shooting at my house. He asked me a few questions, and then we swapped hunting stories.
“Guess you’re all right, Larson,” he said as he headed for the elevator at noon. “I’ll give the chief my report this afternoon.”
I drove home and ate a quick lunch with Jennifer and Abby. Jenny was modeling maternity jeans and a fuzzy blue, long-sleeved top that made her extra cuddly.
“I like it, but you should have bought more,” I said.
“The snow was getting heavy, and we figured we’d better get home.”
That made sense. I hoped it would taper off by the time we left for Skowhegan.
“This trip is going to be great,” I told her. “No seminars, no homicides. Just fun.”
*****
Mike and Arnie were going hunting on Saturday, too, and they were drinking coffee in our break room when I got back from lunch, arguing good-naturedly over where to be at the crack of dawn.
“How’s it going?” I asked Arnie.
“Not bad. We’ve got a couple of witnesses. I think we’ll have a suspect in custody this afternoon.” He looked at his watch and stood up. “Time for me to get back down there. I left Clyde in charge.”
“What about over the weekend?” I asked. “You and Eddie and I are all planning to be gone. Do we need to cancel our trip?”
“I don’t think so,” Arnie said. “Clyde was getting a line on the suspect. I can stay tonight if I need to, but I think things will be under control.”
He left, and Mike said, “Sorry, Harv, I shouldn’t have shot the breeze with Arnie.”
I shrugged. “He’s entitled to lunch.”
“You got his replacement picked out?”
I sat down across from Mike. “I’m down to two. Jimmy Cook or Tony Winfield.”
He tipped his chair back against the side of the snack machine. “I’ll look them over. I’d lean toward Jimmy, all else being equal. Tony’s too young. Keeping Eddie’s history in mind, of course.”
I nodded. “That’s all I ask. Jimmy must have enough experience to qualify for the detectives’ exam in the normal way. But I’d be happy with either of them.”
“Think Clyde will be?”
I hesitated. “If he’s not, I’ll switch things around and put him with Nate.”
Mike nodded. “Clyde working out all right?”
“His work is fine. I haven’t gotten close to him.”
“You won’t.”
“Too bad.”
“Wishing you hadn’t picked him?” Mike asked.
“Maybe. I like a tight unit. I miss Pete like crazy. Every time I want a legal opinion I have to call somebody outside.”
“You had quite a bit of legal training yourself.”
“Mostly pre-law. I didn’t get that far into the good stuff.”
Mike shrugged. “We could see if one of the officers wanted to take legal training.”
“What, pay to educate a man and have him leave us for the private sector?”
“We’d have to get a commitment out of him.”
I shook my head. “The city council wouldn’t approve it. Your budget would go down in flames.”
“Speaking of budgets—”
“Let’s not.” I didn’t have a lot left to do on it, but I’d ignored it for the last couple of weeks.
He laughed. “Okay. So, Jimmy or Tony.”
*****
At five o’clock I left, feeling a little apprehensive. The suspect wasn’t in custody, but Arnie had called in and assured me they would have him soon. He released Eddie, but kept Nate and Clyde, and he asked for a contingent of uniformed officers from the evening shift for backup.
Jennifer ran out to the driveway when Eddie and I pulled in. I’d had Eddie put his truck in the garage that morning, to leave it inside while we were gone.
“Everything’s ready,” Jennifer cried, embracing me.
“Great. We’ve just got to change. You want me to shave?”
“Take your razor and shave at Mom and Dad’s.”
Abby packed sandwiches and drinks for us to eat on the road. Eddie and I loaded the luggage and hunting gear into the Explorer, and I wondered which bag my present was in. The snow was falling steadily now, and as we went north it accumulated. Plows were out, keeping the interstate clear, but when we got off in Fairfield, the side roads weren’t so well groomed. Several inches had piled up on the flat by that time.
Leeanne greeted us all with hugs except Eddie. She was still a little shy around him. They smiled at each other, and he took of
f his Winchester cap and put it on her, then pulled his duffel bag and Marlin 336 rifle out of the back of the Explorer. Everybody helped unpack, and we were pretty well settled by the time Jeff and Beth pulled in.
Beth hadn’t had her mittens off ten seconds when Jennifer let out a scream hugged her, laughing and doing her happy dance.
Abby went over and joined them with a whoop.
“What’s going on?” George looked at his oldest son.
Jeff gave him a guilty smile.
By this time, Marilyn and Leeanne were also swarming Beth.
“Let me see,” Leeanne cried, and Beth held out her left hand. A diamond sparkled on her ring finger.
Everyone talked at once. The girls all wanted to know when Jeff had proposed, and where. Randy and Travis gawked at the ring, but seemed at a loss for words. Finally things settled down, and I went out to Jeff’s truck with him to bring in their luggage.
“Congratulations, brother,” I said.
“Thanks.” He grinned from ear to ear. “Beth wants to set an early date. She said it worked for you and Jennifer, it can work for us.”
“Things got a little crazy at our wedding,” I reminded him.
Jeff laughed. “No offense, but Beth doesn’t hang around with all the crazy people you do. We’re talking about Christmas Eve.”
Marilyn had done some creative organizing to fit everyone into the farmhouse. Jennifer and I had her old room again. Winter coats filled all the hooks near the back door and piled onto the bench beneath. The row of boots made walking near the back door hazardous.
The girls were all giggling and carrying on in the pajama party mode, and Travis had Eddie, Jeff, and Randy playing ping-pong in the barn. It was chilly out there, and I didn’t think the game would last long.
George was settled in his armchair with the paper, and I sat down on the couch and picked up a Field & Stream off the coffee table.
“How’s my daughter doing?” George asked, folding the local section.
“Jenny’s good.”
“Done being sick?”
“I think so.”
He opened the sports section. “Didn’t like that burglary business.”
“I didn’t like it, either.”
“Jennifer sounded a little upset when we talked to her the next day.”
I laid down my magazine. “Well, it was pretty traumatic. I wish it hadn’t happened, but it did. I’m having an alarm system put in.”
He lowered the newspaper and locked eyes with me. “You think you can take care of Abby, too?”
“Well, I’m doing my best, George. We like having her there. She’s a big comfort to Jennifer.”
He nodded. “And what about Leeanne?”
I swallowed. “What about her?”
“You trust this man?”
“With my life, every day.”
“But with my daughter?” He was anxious, and I knew all his girls were dear to him.
“Yes. Eddie’s rock solid.” I was glad I could say it and mean it. A year ago, I couldn’t have done that.
Before he had time to grill me about Beth, Jennifer and Abby came pounding down the stairs and went into the kitchen. “Mom! We’re ready for the cake!”
Abby pulled on a jacket and went to the barn for the guys. They came in blowing on their hands and laughing, telling about Travis’s super serving technique that popped three balls into the goats’ pen. They got two back, but one of Leeanne’s pets beat them to the last one.
When all the preparations were ready, they called us into the dining room, and Marilyn carried the cake in with forty-two candles blazing.
“Quick, Jeff, where’s the hose?” Abby said.
I couldn’t blow them all out at once. “You won’t get your wish,” mourned Leeanne.
“I already got it.” I smiled at Jennifer.
There was a pile of wrapped boxes on one end of the table, and they made me sit there while they sang to me. I hadn’t had such a blowout for my birthday since…well, ever. Marilyn dished up ice cream for the girls to distribute with the cake, and I picked up the first box. A new pocketknife from Eddie. I opened the blades, inspected them, and nodded, content.
Beth had cross stitched a montage of detective motifs—magnifying glass, smoking pistol, badge 373, and a dagger. Mysterious little footprints sneaked around the edge, and in the middle, “Captain Harvey A. Larson, Priority Unit.”
I said, “Guess I’ve gotta hug you on this one, Beth.”
Marilyn was snapping pictures. “So nice to have all the children home,” she said. “Can we do this again at Thanksgiving?”
“I think we need to visit Harvey’s sisters, Mom,” Jennifer said.
“And I’ve got to work on Turkey Day,” Jeff added.
Abby scrunched up her face. “Me, too.”
“That’s what comes of having half your family in public service and medical jobs,” Beth said with an apologetic smile.
“Christmas, then,” George suggested.
Leeanne said, “Jeff and Beth will be on their honeymoon.”
“That’s a little sudden, isn’t it?” Marilyn looked wide-eyed at Jeff.
Jeff just grinned. He sat with his arm on the back of Beth’s chair, and she was firmly established as part of the family.
“We’ll be together in Portland for the wedding,” Abby said.
George frowned at her. “I thought the wedding would be in Freeport.”
Beth winced. “We decided my family’s church isn’t big enough, so we thought we’d have it at Victory Baptist. It’s our home church now, anyway.”
“You could have it in L.L. Bean’s, by the fish pond,” said Randy.
“Right, and the reception in the camping display,” Jeff said sarcastically. Beth’s father worked for Bean’s, but there was a limit to employee perks.
Jennifer handed me another package. Marilyn and George’s box for me held two Harvard T-shirts, cranberry and forest green. They’d updated the logo a little.
“Great,” I said. “His and hers?”
“No, those are both for you,” said Marilyn. I gave Jennifer a wink.
Next I opened a book on the lighthouses of Maine from Leeanne and a deer call from Jeff. Abby had made good her promise and bought me an up-to-date version of Trivial Pursuit.
“Okay, are you ready?” asked Jennifer.
“What, more?”
Jeff went out and came back in carrying a large package. A very large, flat package. It reminded me of the one we’d found in the tobacco smugglers’ SUV, and my pulse quickened. Jeff brought it over and set it down on edge in front of me. I looked at Jennifer, then at the package, then back at Jennifer.
“Open it,” she said.
I took a deep breath and started peeling off the paper.
The Caron, of course. My girl before I’d known her, the full color, hand-painted, two-thousand-dollar, jumbo version of the little framed snapshot on my desk. I stood up and hugged her fiercely. “I’m going to cry,” I whispered in her ear.
“It’s okay.”
I dug out my handkerchief. “So how many people knew about this?”
“Just Beth. She’s been hiding it at her house for a month. She and Jeff brought it up in Jeff’s truck tonight.”
“A month?” I said. “When did you buy this?”
“The day after we first saw it.”
I eyed her with new respect. “You told me it would be foolish to spend so much on it.”
“I know, but when I thought it over, I could see how much it meant to you, even if it wasn’t really me, so I decided to use some of my software money.”
“Jennifer, it is you,” said her mother.
“Sure,” said George, setting the frame on the buffet, leaning it against the wall. “That’s the fence in the lower pasture. You used to wear that little green shirt all the time.”
Jennifer stared at the painting. At last she shook her head. “I don’t remember anything about it.”
Jeff said, “T
hat artist lady camped down there for days, painting pictures of the barn. We sneaked down to watch her.”
Jennifer just shook her head.
“Selective memory,” said Jeff.
I reached for Jenny’s hand. “She took your picture and painted this later. She gave me the photograph when we were up here a couple of weeks ago.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“No, I didn’t want to disappoint you. The painting had been sold, and I thought we’d lost it forever.” I laughed and hugged her again. “The snapshot’s on my desk at work. I’ll show it to you when we get home.”
“Wow.” She gazed at the painting. “Where are we going to hang it?”
“In the sunroom. Where the Van Gogh is.”
“Where does Van go?” Abby asked, and everyone laughed.
I said, “I think he goes in the study, where the picture of me is, and that comes down.”
“Absolutely not,” said Jennifer.
Everyone started giving suggestions for rearranging our art, and the phone rang. Marilyn answered it in the kitchen and came back to get me.
“It’s your man, Arnie Fowler.”
I frowned and realized I’d left my cell phone upstairs. I strode to the kitchen and picked up the receiver. “What’s up, Arnie?” Marilyn swung the kitchen door to, and the noise from the dining room died away.
“It’s Clyde.”
“What happened?”
“I’m at the hospital with him.”
“He took a bullet?”
“No, I think it’s a heart attack. We had to chase the guy. We got him, and one of the patrolmen was cuffing him, and Clyde just went down.”
“Is he going to make it?”
“I don’t know. I rode in the ambulance with him. His wife’s coming in.” Arnie sounded drained.
“Okay, I’ll come down,” I said.
“You don’t need to. Mike’s coming in.”
“No, I should be there.” Clyde was one of my men. I couldn’t not go. “I’ll be there before midnight.”
Chapter 25
Jennifer begged to go with me.
“Stay here, gorgeous. I want you to rest.”
Found Art (Maine Justice Book 3) Page 27