by Lois Carroll
Mac drove by rote to the Sheriff’s office. He parked in the visitor space in front of the entrance. Leaning back in the seat, he sighed deeply.
He had to find the key to his memory that would tell him what he needed to know about that night on the docks. He knew for certain that somewhere he did have the key to it all. Eddy wouldn’t be heading for him otherwise.
Protect Caro and find the key. That would clear it all up. His list of priorities completed, Mac climbed out of the car and walked into the building.
“We’ve been expecting you. Sheriff’s in the map room.”
Mac nodded his thanks to the uniformed officer at the front desk and, after taking a minute to make one special surveillance request, he directed his steps down the hall. He recognized Hines’s voice talking with the Sheriff.
Thinking back, Mac had been surprised when Hines had agreed to come with him to Lakehaven. Mac appreciated his company and his friendship, even if he didn’t feel he needed a personal bodyguard. But Hines had come because they both knew there had to be a lot more involved in this case than was visible on the surface. If only Mac could remember what his mind refused to acknowledge.
“Mac. We’ve been expecting you,” the Sheriff said.
Mac nodded at Hines and turned back to listen to the Sheriff.
“Here’s what we’ve got. The yellow pins show possible sightings.” The Sheriff paused and his face turned grim. “The red ones are where he’s left his mark by hurting someone. A convenience store, a liquor store, and a fast food drive-in here. It’s like he wanted us to know what he’s doing.”
“What happened? How was he cut loose?”
“They were taking him back with his attorney from a court appearance about an appeal. A setup with a lot of help from the outside. All very well planned. They knew exactly where he was going and when. There was just a short window of opportunity when they were in the open. The guards never knew what hit them.”
Hines spoke for the first time. “Too smooth, too wide, and too lit.”
Mac glanced knowingly at Hines and turned one of the chairs from the line along the wall to straddle it with his arms folded on the back. “The message couldn’t be more direct if they’d used a bonded carrier.”
The Sheriff added the obvious. “Seems he’s saying he’s coming to settle his score with you, Mac.”
“That’s what they all say,” Hines responded with a grin. “Mac’s a very popular guy.”
Mac slapped the back of the chair and rose. “Well, if I’m going to have company, I should get home and get the house ready. This wasn’t what I had in mind for a housewarming party tonight though.”
“What housewarming?” the Sheriff asked.
Mac told the Sheriff about the house on the lake he was buying. He showed him the point on the map. “It’ll be a great place to wait for his company. He wouldn’t come by boat in the winter, and I can see or hear him coming by land.”
The Sheriff questioned his reasoning. “How would he know about your house out there? I didn’t.”
“I think they know all about me.” His anger flickered instantly, but he tamped it down. Showing it wouldn’t aid his cause.
“Or else gray is the most popular car color in Lakehaven?” Hines suggested.
Mac nodded curtly.
“I can send my men to watch the place for you,” the Sheriff offered. “They can rotate around the clock. That way–”
“No,” Mac insisted firmly. “He would spot your men in a second, and I don’t want any of the locals hurt. I want him to come to me and not to anyone else. I don’t want to scare him away. We’re going to settle our differences this time once and for all.”
“Now wait a minute,” the Sheriff cut in. “I don’t like you setting yourself up for this all alone.”
“Don’t worry,” Hines said as he rose from his chair. “The punk heading this way won’t cause you any trouble. You can count on Mac and me to see to that. You shouldn’t have to worry about this stuff from our past anyway, Sheriff. That’s not what the good people of this county pay you for.” Hines patted the back of the sheriff’s shoulder.
The Sheriff seemed to like the sound of any arrangement that didn’t involve him or his men. Good. Mac knew he had to be damn sure the hoodlum came to him and not Carolyn. The bigger the target he made, the littler one he hoped she would appear to be.
He cursed himself for not having insisted on her staying with a friend just to be sure she was safe where no one would know to look.
“I haven’t lived all these years to get killed by a jerk like this one now. Thanks though.” Mac reached out and shook the shorter man’s hand.
The sheriff didn’t give up involvement completely. “I’ll have the desk keep you informed of everything we hear. Be sure your beeper is on. Damn, I wouldn’t trade places with you for anything. When I was elected, I never dreamed I would get into stuff like this here in this county. Wait until my wife hears about this. On second thought, maybe I won’t tell her. There would be no end to her harping on the subject of me being in such danger here in Lakehaven. What’s this country coming to?”
Leaving the sheriff to answer his own question, Mac and Hines strode out of the building. They paused by Mac’s car.
“Hines, there’s no way in hell Eddy would waste a minute of his freedom to hunt me down out here in the hinterlands.”
“The escape was a slick job.”
“There was only one vantage point it could have been pulled off from successfully,” Mac added.
“To the station and call from there?”
Mac nodded and smiled at how he and Hines thought along the same lines. Back at the station it was Mac who reached for the phone and punched in an Albany number. “None of this seems right. Why all the heavy support for a punk dealer? Why the mile wide trail?” he asked of Hines while waiting for a response on the telephone.
Hines shrugged and flopped down on the worn sofa while Mac paced the short distance the phone cord would allow. After a moment Mac spoke into the phone, telling someone who he was and what he wanted. He switched to the speakerphone so Hines could hear.
“Morris is in charge of that one,” the other officer was saying.
Mac and Hines exchanged looks of astonishment.
“He isn’t in now,” the officer continued. “I can fill you in, but if you want to talk to him you’ll have to call back tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Okay, go ahead. Tell me what you’ve got,” Mac insisted.
The voice on the other end told them the same information as the Sheriff had.
“What’s the latest on his location?” Mac asked.
“We don’t have anything since the drive-in. With the food and booze, maybe he got sleepy and stopped somewhere. He’s never been in your vicinity before. He’s always stuck close to home, strictly a city boy. Maybe he’s waiting for daylight. It’s snowing hard here though, so who knows. Maybe he had trouble driving in the stuff.”
“When Morris shows up have him call down here, will you? ” Mac asked.
“Sure. No problem.”
Mac thanked him and hung up the phone.
“I’ll be damned,” Hines said. “Bob Morris got promoted. They must miss me in the worst way if they’d give that to him.”
Mac tried to laugh, but couldn’t. “A great cop gets killed and an incompetent one gets promoted. Brown Eyes must be out tonight strutting his stuff. What does he care? We’re out of his jurisdiction, and now, so is Eddy Santini.”
“Hey, I’ve always wondered. How’d Morris get the handle Brown Eyes?” Hines asked.
“I’m not sure. He started bleaching his hair and that made his dark eyes stand out even more than they did with his dark hair. Someone must have used the name, and it just stuck, I guess.”
“He never could take a joke,” Hines concluded with a snort. “Probably a good thing we left. When I find someone who can’t take a joke, it’s tough to let up on ‘em.”
Mac rose and stretched. “I
t’s late. How about a pizza?”
“Sounds good. I can’t think of another place that will put us in the open in a more lit area than Mama’s.”
“Then we’d best get ready for our guest. You know, maybe the sheriff’s right. There is the possibility he won’t know I’m moving to the house on the lake. If he asked anyone where I live, they’d say the apartment.”
“Yup,” Hines agreed. “That’s the way I figure it.”
“Want an extra man with you in the apartment?”
“Nah. I think the sheriff’s wife will be happier if he goes home,” Hines said with a grin. The grin disappeared when he went on to say, “The local guys shouldn’t have to clean up our old business, but he’s having a cruiser go by every half-hour to check on cars in the area. That’s enough. I also asked him to have a car drive by Carolyn’s place, Mac.”
“Thanks, friend,” Mac said. “I asked them to do that too, at the desk on my way in. This one is going to have to be you and me, Hines. You stay at the apartment and I’ll go out to the house after our pizza. We might as well give Eddy a welcome at whichever place he picks to pay me a call. I’m betting it’s the house. I think our tail must have seen us moving my stuff out there.”
“Probably right. We’d made two trips by the time we got the groceries. He had to see where we were going. Sure you don’t want to have a slumber party and invite me over?” Hines asked.
“Gee, I can’t tonight. I’m expecting an out-of-town guest.”
“Meet you at Mama’s then?” Hines asked as they left the station and locked up behind them.
“Right. Order the usual if you beat me there. I’m going to drive the main drag once to be sure it’s all quiet.”
“Don’t be long or I’ll eat it for you too.”
“Hines?”
Hines turned back to face Mac. “Yeah?”
“I just want to say…well, to say thanks. It’s been great having your ugly face around all these weeks,” Mac told him, making his sincere thanks sound like a jest.
“Listen, man, don’t you go talking about my ugly face like you ain’t gonna see it no more, ya hear? This face is going to be around as long as you need it to be, man. Got that?”
Mac smiled, his gaze locked with his friend’s. “Thanks. And Hines…if anything should happen to me, tell Carolyn that I–” Mac stopped. “Ah hell, nothing’s going to happen to me.”
“That’s right. That’s right.” Hines nodded and climbed into his car. After adjusting the music to a volume great enough to deafen a lesser man, he headed for Mama’s with a wave.
As Mac drove through the small downtown area, he thought of Carolyn. If Eddy was smart enough to ask the right questions, or if there was someone in a gray car in Lakehaven keeping track of him as they suspected, he could hurt Mac more than if he tortured or shot him. All he would have to do is hurt Carolyn.
And Mac would kill him.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel as he cruised the deserted main shopping street and swung up Lake Street. Waiting at the stop sign, he could see nothing amiss at the costume shop. He turned and circled back in the opposite direction. No gray cars in sight.
At the red light at Cayuga Avenue, Mac opened his window several inches. Silence. That was the strangest part of living in a small town. In the city there was never silence no matter what the hour. Always traffic sounds. Here he waited for cars to drive by, cars that never came.
Mac inhaled the cold air deeply and smelled it. Caro was right. He could smell the snow coming. With a smile he headed up for Mama’s Pizza Place when the light turned green. Snow started to fall in giant flakes as he entered the small restaurant. He grinned and nodded to Hines who was talking to Mama. He joined them at the table.
“Where’s the pretty lady you bring in here, eh, Mac? What’s the matter, she no go out with you no more?”
“You got that right. Who’d want to go out with a cop like me, huh, Mama? Maybe I should ask you out.”
“Oh, no you don’t. Papa beat you up if you try to take me away from him,” she told him with a pointed glance at Papa. Then she laughed and said, “But thanks. We could have a good time.” She flicked her eyebrows up and down in her version of a sexy look, and they all dissolved into laughter again as they watched her sashay over to the counter.
“This is one of the few places open this late,” Hines said, serious again. “I got a good look at everyone while I waited for a table. There’s no one that looks out of place in this town.”
Mac nodded. “Downtown is quiet as a morgue.”
“Unfortunate metaphor, Mac,” Hines growled.
They looked up to see their pizza coming already.
“Can’t beat the service here,” Mac said loudly enough for Mama to hear. Mac knew better than to shake off the uneasy feeling that came over him as Mama returned to the kitchen. He concentrated on the gooey piece of pizza he lifted from the tray. Saluting Hines with the drooping piece, Mac toasted, “Here’s to good friends.” When the friends were putting their lives on the line for each other, that’s when friendship really ran deep.
Hines raised his piece and responded, “Long may they live.”
Funny how a man could eat when his life was in danger. Adrenaline could be flowing, but he’d still be hungry. It took only ten minutes for the pizza to disappear down to the last piece.
Mac’s ears caught the siren long before he saw the red flashes reflected on the buildings across the street. State police, judging by the color of the car.
His adrenaline surged.
Showtime.
Chapter Eleven
Mac stood and wiped his mouth with a little napkin dwarfed by his hand. “You finish the last piece, Hines. I’ll radio in from the car and see what’s happening.”
He pulled some bills from his wallet, threw them on the table, and hurried to his car. He leaned in through the open car door and reached for the handset. He’d begun to call in before he was even seated behind the wheel.
“A state car went out to your lake place because we got no answer on your phone at the apartment,” the Sheriff’s dispatcher told Mac. “No phone at the lake?”
“Not yet. I just moved in. What have you got?”
“We wanted you to know that they got the Santini guy. Spotted his car at a little motel off the state throughway.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s being taken back to the city. They didn’t want to keep him there.”
“So fast?”
“He wasn’t objecting. He’s dead. They shot him while trying to take him in. They got the coroner out of bed to release the body already. Good thing for you they got him though, huh? Now you don’t have to worry.”
“Yeah, good thing,” Mac said, trying to sound like he agreed. Good, but too easy. “Who was on it?”
“Sorry, Chief, I didn’t get the names. I can try to find out and let you know as soon as I can. It’ll probably be in the morning though before I find anyone around.”
“Right. Appreciate it.” Mac signed off and looked at Hines who was leaning on his front fender.
“Well, well, well,” Hines said, rubbing his chin. “Looks like we may get some sleep after all. This might even make some sense by morning.”
“Hmph! We both know that despite what we just heard this isn’t over yet.”
“Not over–but changing.” Hines dug his keys from his jeans.
“And it’s time it was finished.” Mac slammed the door shut. “Besides if you don’t get out of this little town soon, you’re going to go nuts, and I’d hate to have that on my conscience,” Mac added with a grin.
“See you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning.”
Mac headed out the road to the point. He saw the patrol car coming back toward Lakehaven but made no effort to stop it. He didn’t want another conversation with anyone. He just needed to think. He was the one holding up the conclusion of the case. His damned partial amnesia. He must have a piece to the puzzle somew
here besides in his memory or they wouldn’t have sprung Eddy so he could come after him.
He’d never have made it that far, and he would never choose to escape and have the whole state after him. Someone had wanted Eddy dead.
Mac slowed so his headlights swept the house as he pulled into the drive. He saw the torn paper and plastic containers from his garbage in the grass by the shed behind the house and a raccoon running toward the woods. “Damn nuisance! Hines and I eat one takeout meal here and they’re into my garbage can already.” He would need to buy a rake to clean up all the shredded pieces they left behind. He would also need a better garbage can with a lockable top.
Heavy snowflakes floated through the lit space between the car and the house and were already creating a white blanket on everything. Mac doused the headlights and let himself into the kitchen, locking the door again.
He stood still and listened for any unusual sounds.
“Silence,” Mac muttered as he slipped off his coat and hung it in the closet, “is golden.”
After walking through the house checking every room and finding nothing amiss, he opted for a shower. The warm spray actually woke him up while relaxing him. In jeans and a comfortable flannel shirt, he switched on the TV to the news channel. He set the remote to turn itself off in an hour when Mac figured he would be asleep. He shook his head, admonishing himself, as he pulled thick socks onto his cold feet.
“Maybe I am getting too old for this.”
He emptied out the contents of his duffel bag. He had extra rounds for his service revolver, a few toiletries, and his handcuffs, in case he got lucky. He stuffed the key for the cuffs into his jeans pocket and felt the hiding place to be sure the spare key was in place. He pulled on his shoes to be ready for anything, then laid his gun by the wall and spread the bedroll on the carpeted floor. He layered together his two pillows so he could lean back against the wall to watch.