Keeping Secrets

by L A Dobbs

  The chairs at the bar were comfortable solid-wood swivel chairs with black-leather-cushioned seats. Jo took her favorite spot in the corner and ordered a beer and a basket of curly fries with a side of mayonnaise.

  Sam ordered a Mooseneck, the local beer he favored. Jo swung her seat around to face the room, the heels of her black boots hooked into the rungs of the barstool. In the corner, younger people were dancing to the jukebox music. She recognized Sam's daughters, Hayley and Marla. Hayley was taller, with long, thick dark hair, Marla a little shorter and bleached her hair blond, cut in a bob. They spotted Sam and Jo and waved.

  The beers came, and Jo swung back around, sliding an un-manicured fingernail under the corner of the label, peeling it back just a little bit.

  Sam swigged his. "Do you think we should have Reese look into Tyler's bank accounts?"

  "I don't know. I mean, I know she can be discreet, but this seems like it's big. What if Tyler was into something? I don't want her to get involved if it could mean trouble for her," Jo said.

  "Yeah. I don't want to ruin her career before it gets started."

  "What about Mick? Has he found anything that would indicate why Tyler had a big deposit?" Mick Gervasi was Sam's best friend and a private investigator they sometimes used to look into things that they couldn't look into in their official police capacity. Since they weren't supposed to be investigating Tyler's death, they had Mick doing much of the groundwork.

  "He's out of town. Still looking into the grandson."

  Jo nodded. Billie, the owner of the bar, was approaching with the fries, and she didn't want her comment to be overheard. Billie shoved the fries at her with a friendly nod then turned to the other end of the bar, where someone was hailing her for a drink.

  "I can look into Tyler's bank account." Jo dipped a fry into the mayonnaise then popped it into her mouth. She usually smothered her fries in ketchup, but using mayonnaise was "a thing" that the locals did, and after four years, she was finally trying it. Much to her surprise, it was actually quite tasty. Not tangy like ketchup--more smooth. Maybe she'd add mayo to her fry-eating repertoire more often.

  "Sounds good," Sam said. The jukebox turned to a slower song, and Hayley and Marla rushed over to Sam. They greeted Jo like an old friend as they squeezed in on either side of their father, brimming with energy, their faces happy and flushed from dancing.

  Jo's chest constricted as she watched Sam and his daughters. Seeing the look of joy on his face as he hugged each one of them hammered home the fact that she had no one.

  She'd never married. Never had kids. Probably because of what had happened when she was young. Her early childhood had been wonderful, but when her sister had disappeared, everything had changed. Her parents had turned into emotional zombies, and life had never been the same. She hadn't talked to her father in decades, her mother had died of grief, and her only remaining sister had turned to drugs.

  Hayley glanced at Jo's beer. "Can I buy you another?" She winked at Jo, and Jo's heart warmed at the secret that passed between them.

  When Jo had first come to White Rock, the twins had been in high school. On one of her regular rounds, she'd caught Hayley in a car with an older boy out at the lookout point. Not only had their clothes not been where they should've been, but there had been beer in the car, and they were underage. The beer had been unconsumed, so they hadn't been drinking and driving. Jo had let them off. She wouldn't tolerate drunk drivers, but she didn't like busting kids that weren't causing any real trouble. Hayley had begged her not to tell Sam, and Jo never had.

  The shared secret made Jo feel as if she was part of something, and it reminded her of the way she'd felt all those years ago when her family was still a real family.

  Jo nodded, and Hayley signaled Billie for a refill, which Billie promptly placed next to the beer Jo was currently working on. She'd managed to drink three quarters of it and peel off half the label, which now sat in a soggy pile on the bar beside the bottle. Hayley and Marla were still too young to drink, but apparently Billie didn't mind taking their money for Jo's beer. It might not have been quite legal, but since Sam was probably really the one paying, no one would complain.

  The jukebox started up again, and the girls turned to Sam. "One more dance, Daddy, and then we'll go out to eat."

  Marla looked over Sam's shoulder at Jo. "Daddy's taking us to The Chophouse for steak. You want to come?"

  Jo wouldn't dream of imposing. "Sorry. Can't, but thanks for the invite."

  The girls hurried off. Jo finished her first beer and started on the second, drinking more slowly this time. One and a half was her limit when she was driving.

  "Hey, there's Kevin over there. I hardly ever see him come in." Sam jerked his chin toward the corner, and Jo looked to see Kevin talking to someone who was seated at one of the tables. She didn't know who they were, but they look to be about Kevin's age. Probably a friend. He glanced up and caught her eye.

  "We should invite him to join us." Jo motioned for him to come over even though she wasn't sure if she actually wanted Kevin to join them. She still had a funny feeling about him, but maybe that was because she hadn't really given him a fair chance.

  "Hey guys, I just dropped off some treats at the station for Lucy and stopped in for a quick one. Lucy really likes those bacon treats, and you can only get them down at Grovesner's over in Colebrook." Kevin stood in front of them, looking as if he wasn't sure if he should stay or not.

  Sam gestured to the seat next to him. "Have a seat."

  Kevin sat, and the three of them faced forward, their elbows on the bar. "Did you talk to the Donnelly family and give them the news that the medical examiner made a positive ID?"

  Sam shook his head. "Gonna go there first thing tomorrow. I think they already knew it was him. I mean, he was missing, so where else would he have been?"

  Kevin nodded. "Still hard hearing it for sure."

  "Yeah."

  Jo pushed the basket of fries toward Kevin. "Want one?"

  "No, thanks. So do you guys still think it was a suicide?"

  Jo had been thinking about that all afternoon. She was suspicious by nature, especially after what she'd seen happen in the investigation of her sister's disappearance. She knew people weren't always what they claimed to be. And she knew people kept deep, dark secrets.

  In college, she'd studied psychology and was somewhat of an expert in human behavior. She was hoping Mike's kids would be there when they went to tell Margie about the positive ID. She wanted to see their reactions. Margie had obviously been upset, and no wonder with her current prognosis. It didn't seem fair to heap this on her, and it also didn't seem fair for Jo to be suspecting one of her children. But, as Jo had learned when she was ten years old, life wasn't fair. She had to consider all angles.

  "Can't say for sure," Sam said. "We need to establish three things without a doubt before I'm comfortable and willing to rule it a suicide. One is the presence of the weapon at the scene. That one we got. The second thing is to be sure the wounds could have been self-inflicted. With the condition of the body, it's hard to tell. And the third thing is motive or intent. I'm not convinced that Mike was intent on taking his own life. Sure, Margie said he was depressed, but many people are depressed and they don't kill themselves. We need to see if he attempted suicide before, and need to dig a little further before we can comfortably close the case as a suicide. Don't you agree?" Sam glanced at Jo and Kevin, who both nodded.

  "Yep. Needs a little bit more investigation, in my book," Jo said.

  "Would you look at that asshole?" Billie stood with her back to them, her neck craned as she looked up at the TV over the bar. On the TV was Mayor Harley Dupont in a shiny pressed suit, his fake smile radiating out from the screen in a way that made Jo want to jump on the bar and punch it.

  What was he doing on TV? Jo tilted her head to listen, and her ears were assaulted by Dupont's tinny voice listing off all his accomplishments as mayor. They were coming up on an election year, a
nd Dupont was really pulling no punches to try to get elected. He'd even taken credit for getting the government grant that had allowed them to take Lucy on as a K-9 investigator. It had actually been Reese that had done the work, but none of them complained as long as they got to keep Lucy. The dog, who had been a stray with an uncertain future, had a good nose for police work.

  "Bad enough we have to deal with the guy in person--now we have to watch him on TV too?" Sam said.

  "Gotta wonder how he can afford commercials," Jo said as she picked at the label on her new beer.

  "With the way he's swaying the rezoning laws to be in Thorne's favor, I wouldn't be surprised if Thorne was helping him out," Sam said.

  Kevin's brow creased. "You think Dupont can be bought?"

  Jo snorted. "Are you serious? You've seen how sketchy he is. And you know he's had a role in blocking some of the search warrants we tried to get on some of the drug cases that we suspect lead back to Thorne." Jo didn't actually know how much Kevin knew about that, but by the way he nodded, apparently he had been paying attention. Maybe he wasn't as much of a slacker as she thought. Maybe he was just naïve.

  "I did see them having lunch together at Lago last month," Kevin said.

  Jo angled her chair to look at him. She'd seen them having lunch together too, and she'd also seen Kevin come out of the restaurant at that same time. But Kevin had lied to her when she'd asked about it. Or at least she thought he lied. Maybe it had just been a misunderstanding.

  "You eat there?" she asked. Lago was an upscale restaurant. No one on a cop's salary would go there for lunch, unless they had an ulterior motive.

  Kevin laughed. "No. Not on my salary. But my cousin works there, and sometimes I poke my head in to say hi. He flips me a few free rolls, maybe some leftover steak. Anyway, I was visiting him one day, and I saw Dupont and Thorne in there together. But I guess it makes sense that the mayor would have lunch with a prominent developer in the area, right? I didn't think anything of it. I mean, they were right there in public." Kevin sipped his beer thoughtfully, his brows pinched together. "You don't think they could be up to something together, though, do you? I mean, you don't think that the mayor is really on the take?"

  "I wouldn't put it past him," Sam said.

  Hayley and Marla came rushing back. They nodded at Kevin before surrounding Sam. "We're starving! Are you ready?" They glanced back at Kevin and Jo. "You sure you don't want to join us?"

  Kevin and Jo both declined, and Sam threw some money on the bar and said his good-byes.

  "Nice kids." Kevin hunched over his beer.

  Jo didn't think Kevin was much older than Sam's daughters. "Do you know them from school?"

  "No. I grew up in a few towns over, but I'm five years older than them, anyway." Kevin tapped his finger on his beer. He was fidgety, as if he wanted to say something.

  Jo sat quietly finishing her fries, dragging them through the mayonnaise dish to scoop out the last blobs.

  "Is there anything new on Tyler's case?" Kevin asked finally.

  Jo didn't want to let on that they were investigating. So far, Kevin had seemed a little taken aback any time he'd learned that they weren't doing things exactly within the confines of the law. "You know as much as I do. The state investigation didn't find much of anything."

  Kevin shot her a sideways glance. "I didn't mean the state investigation."

  "What did you mean?"

  Kevin kept his eyes trained on his beer. "I know there's a lot of unanswered questions. I know that Tyler was out there helping someone and got shot. But how come they can't find the killer? The car was stolen, and there was evidence of drugs, but usually criminals that deal drugs and steal cars aren't that smart. Not smart enough to hide from a full investigation, anyway. Unless the state investigator didn't put much effort into it. In which case maybe someone else should."

  Was Kevin suggesting that he'd be on board with looking into Tyler's death on the side? Did he know they were already doing it? Jo decided to play it safe. "Maybe. But we could get into big trouble for that."

  "Right. I wasn't suggesting we do anything like that. But I do want to see justice for Tyler. So if anyone were to do that and they needed help, well..." Kevin shrugged. "Anyway, I gotta get going. Nice talking to you."

  He slapped enough bills on the bar to pay for Jo's beer and fries along with his own and left.

  Chapter Eight

  Kevin clicked the fob, and his Isuzu, which was still parked over at the police station, chirped as the doors unlocked. The station was dark--everyone had gone home. Even Lucy was gone, Sam having taken her in the Tahoe, he assumed. Sam didn't leave Lucy alone in the station for long, and it gave Kevin a warm feeling knowing that Lucy was that lovingly cared for.

  He got in his car and pulled onto Main Street, heading north. The car still smelled of bacon from the special dog treats, and Kevin's stomach grumbled. Maybe he should find some fast food or hit up a restaurant. But not the one Sam had gone to--he didn't want to look like a stalker if he ran into them.

  His eyes fell on the town offices, and his thoughts turned to Harley Dupont. He knew commercials were expensive, but he thought Dupont had family money. Maybe he'd paid for the commercials himself, or maybe Thorne had helped him, as Sam and Jo had alluded.

  Kevin knew that Dupont and Sam butted heads all the time. Dupont seem to have no qualms about rezoning rural land to commercial. He didn't seem to care about cutting down acres of forest and obliterating old farms to make way for Thorne's facilities. And if Dupont was in Thorne's pocket, how far would the two of them go?

  Kevin thought about the envelopes stuffed with cash and cryptic notes that kept showing up under his doormat. He knew what the money was for--information. He'd only been half telling the truth when he told Jo about meeting his cousin at Lago.

  He knew Jo had seen him that day last month, and he'd panicked and screwed up when she'd asked about him eating there. He'd thought it was weird at the time that she was asking if he'd had lunch. Later on, he'd realized she'd asked because she'd seen him come out of Lago. Ever since then, she'd acted a little bit suspicious of him.

  Kevin knew he'd screwed up and had to fix it. Luckily, he'd only said he hadn't eaten lunch, not that he hadn't been in Lago. Tonight had presented the perfect opportunity to explain further. The real truth was he had been meeting his contact in the alley behind the building. Thankfully, he really did have a cousin that worked there, so his little white lie would hold up if Jo checked it out.

  But would she check it out? Kevin got the distinct impression she didn't really trust him. Why should she? He was going behind her back to feed information to his contact. Then again, the contact had alluded that Sam and Jo weren't necessarily on the right side of the law, and if they were doing something sketchy, then wasn't it Kevin's duty to report it?

  Jo hadn't admitted that they were investigating Tyler's death. Kevin wasn't stupid, and if they thought they'd been able to hide their activities from him, they were wrong. It was just one of the many things they did to exclude him. Aside from tonight, they'd never made any overtures to hang around with him outside of work other than that one cookout he'd invited them to at his place.

  Then again, other than the one cookout, Kevin hadn't made overtures either. And they'd gone out of their way to include him in this suicide investigation. Sam had even said he'd done good work in checking on the gun's serial number without being asked. It was the first time Kevin had done anything without being asked--maybe he should do that more.

  He turned off Main Street and headed toward his house, his spirit sinking as the sun dipped below the mountains. He felt as if he were caught between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to do the right thing, but was the right thing giving information to his contact about what Sam and Jo were doing, or were Sam and Jo the ones who were doing the right thing and giving information to his contact was the wrong thing?

  Kevin didn't know the answer. The best he could do was keep his eyes and ears
open and collect all the information he could. Knowing what he could about everything that was going on would only benefit him in the long run. And once he knew all the information, then he'd be able to figure out which side he was on.

  Chapter Nine

  Jo loved the little cottage she rented deep in the forest outside of town. It was set out on a back road away from everyone else. The woods teemed with wildlife--birds, chipmunks, squirrels, deer. Turkeys often pecked their way through her yard, and she could hear the owls hooting at night and the hollow echo of woodpeckers drilling the trees during the day. A few feet behind the cottage, a bubbling stream flowed over smooth rocks. The stream was only about six inches deep, but it was enough to dip her feet in so the cold mountain water could cool them on a hot summer day.

  When she'd come to White Rock four years ago, she'd had no intention of staying. Even so, she'd given the cottage a homey feel, keeping the outside tidy and planting lots of flowers. Impatiens in white, coral, and red lined the perimeter of the house. Vibrant purple petunias hung from baskets, their flower-laden stems reaching almost to the ground. Colorful pansies bobbed and weaved at her from the planters that lined the porch railings.

  Inside, the cottage was just as charming. She'd furnished it with flea market and thrift store finds. Overstuffed sofas and chipped white paint all in the classical muted tones that magazines referred to as cottage chic.

  The cottage had the comfortable feeling of home, but it was missing something. Other living creatures. Jo wasn't one to form deep relationships. Sure, she worked closely with Sam and considered him to be one of her best friends--well, practically her only friend--but the relationship was mostly relegated to work. She didn't like getting close to anyone because she knew from bitter experience they could be ripped away without a moment's notice.

  She made only one concession to that rule--her goldfish, Finn. Right now, Finn was floating around happily in his round goldfish bowl that she kept on the antique sideboard she used for a TV stand in the living room. She'd moved him from the kitchen counter a few weeks ago, figuring he might also like the company of the TV. The fish wasn't very stimulating when stacked up against human company, but he never argued with her and was easy to care for.