Spilled Blood
Page 24
The county attorney gave a tiny sigh, as if he knew he couldn’t stay silent. ‘All I can tell you, Mr. Hawk, is that we’ll know soon enough if that’s true.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Aquarius,’ Altman said. ‘We’ve found him.’
34
The respite was over. The rain came again.
Chris listened to the splash of the wet streets under his tires as he drove north. The downpour sent everyone in downtown Barron inside, leaving the sidewalks deserted. It was as dark at noon as it would have been at dusk. He stopped at a red light, and sheets of water pelted his windshield like machine-gun fire. He could see gray waves blowing from west to east, pebbling the dark surface of the river.
The parking lot of the Riverside Motel was a lake. He stopped in front of his corner room, where a waterfall spilled from the overflowing gutters. Getting out, he landed his feet in a deep puddle, soaking through his socks. He unlocked the door and went inside. Rain thundered in a drumbeat on the roof. He didn’t have much to pack. In two minutes, he threw what he had inside his suitcase, returned to his Lexus and dumped the bag inside his trunk.
He kicked through standing water to the motel office and found Marco Piva in a flimsy folding chair under a large vinyl picnic umbrella, a beer bottle in his hand, as if it were a summer Sunday. He wore a white underwear shirt, and his thick black chest hair curled over the V-neck. His heavy arms bulged out of the sleeves. His corduroys were tan, and his socks were white, and he wore Nikes. He had a paper napkin spread out on his lap, and he was eating a capicola sandwich.
Marco held up his beer bottle, saluting him. ‘Mr. Hawk. Join me, please.’
Chris ducked under the shower of rain falling from the edges of the umbrella. ‘It’s not much of a day for a picnic, Marco.’
The squat motel owner waved his hand dismissively. His skin was damp, and his wiry salt-and-pepper hair was wet. ‘Rain is nothing. I love the rain. This is a gorgeous day.’
‘If you say so.’ He pointed at an empty chair next to Marco. ‘Are you expecting someone?’
Marco shrugged. ‘You.’
‘How did you know I was coming?’
‘I didn’t, but here you are. My wife always used to set an extra place at our dinner table, just in case someone showed up. She did that every night of the week for more than thirty years.’
‘How often did someone arrive?’ Chris asked.
‘Not once!’ Marco chortled.
Chris sat down on the rickety folding chair. Marco reached into a cooler of ice and offered him a dripping beer, but Chris shook his head. ‘Too early for me,’ he said.
‘How about half a sandwich? This is my favorite meal. I ship in my sausage from Chiaramonte’s. Some things in life I refuse to do without.’
‘It smells amazing, but no thanks.’
Marco took a large mouthful of his sandwich. The crusty bread made a loud crunch as he bit into it. A dollop of brown mustard leaked out the corner of his mouth, and he wiped it up with his finger.
‘I saw you packing your bag,’ he said.
‘Are you leaving me?’
‘That’s right.’ Chris handed him his motel key, and Marco shoved it into a pocket. ‘My ex-wife and I decided it would be easier if I stayed at her place. That way I can be close to Olivia.’
Marco winked, and his jowly face brightened. ‘Close to your wife, too, eh?’
‘I think she wants to be friends again. I’m not sure it’s anything more than that.’
‘You sound like you’d like it to be something more,’ he said.
‘In a perfect world, sure.’
‘Who says anything has to be perfect?’ Marco asked. ‘God screwed up the world the first time, didn’t he? You screw up, you try again. I’d love to have one more fight with my wife, just so we could make up.’
‘I thought you were soul mates,’ Chris said, smiling.
‘Oh, lovers argue better than anyone else, you know that. I’d scream at her that she worked too hard, she traveled too much. She’d scream at me that she hated what I did, she hated the risks. Then we’d drink wine and have sex.’
‘That does sound perfect.’
‘See? You’re a smart man, Mr. Hawk. Of course, the key to a happy marriage is to marry a woman who’s much smarter than you are. Fortunately for us men, that’s easy to do.’
Chris laughed. ‘True.’
‘Why did you and your wife split up? You sound like a love match. I hope you didn’t cheat on her.’
‘No, nothing like that.’
‘I didn’t think so. You strike me as a man of honor, Mr. Hawk.’ He added, ‘So what was it between you?’
‘If you ask Hannah, she’d say I forgot my priorities.’
‘Is that true?’
Chris watched the rain, and he acknowledged the reality for the first time. ‘Yes, I guess it is.’
‘Then change them.’
‘I’m here,’ he said, ‘but I’m not sure it’s enough.’
‘Well, what are you willing to give up to get her back? Have you asked yourself that?’
‘Three years ago, I didn’t see why I should give up anything at all,’ he said.
‘And now?’
‘Now, I think I’d give up just about everything to have what we had.’
Marco calmly ate his sandwich and swallowed down his beer. ‘Sometimes that’s what it takes. Of course, the past is long gone. You can only build something different. Life changes, my friend.’
‘Are you a motel owner, or are you a marriage counselor?’ Chris asked, smiling.
‘I’m just a busybody,’ Marco said, his mouth full. ‘My wife isn’t around to offer advice, so I have to fill in for her.’ When he swallowed, his face grew serious, and he reached out with a fist and thumped it on Chris’s knee. ‘Me, I would give up everything, too, if I could have my wife back. I don’t have that choice, Mr. Hawk, but you do. Grab it.’
‘It’s her choice, not mine.’
‘Or maybe she’s waiting for you to reach out to her. Someone has to extend a hand, you know?’
Chris stood up. The rain was as strong as ever. Even in the mild air, he felt a chill. ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’
‘Do that.’
‘It’s been a pleasure, Marco, but I have to go.’ Chris shook hands with the older man. ‘I know where to come if I need advice.’
‘Truly, the pleasure has been mine, Mr. Hawk. I wish you good luck in all things.’ Marco held the handshake without letting go and added in a dark voice, ‘Speaking of choices, I assume you did not burden yourself with revenge against those who harmed your daughter.’
Chris remembered standing outside Kirk Watson’s window. ‘I almost did.’
‘God doesn’t punish us for things we almost do.’
‘I still have your gun,’ Chris said. ‘Would you like it back?’
‘My gun? I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Marco winked and whispered, ‘You keep it, Mr. Hawk. You never know when it will come in handy.’
‘Thanks.’
Chris left the motel owner sitting under the umbrella with his beer and the last bites of his capicola sandwich. He walked past the line of red doors toward his car. Most of the motel rooms were empty, but he heard a loud television blaring in one room and an even louder couple making love in another room. Everyone had different ways of escaping the rain.
Before he climbed inside his Lexus, he saw that he’d failed to latch the door on his own room. The wood was warped; the lock didn’t always catch. The door hung six inches ajar. He crossed through the curtain of water off the roof and reached for the knob to yank the door shut. As he did, he saw the weak glow of a lamp on the end table.
He was certain he’d turned it off as he left.
Chris pushed at the door with the toe of his shoe. The rusting hinges groaned in protest as it swung open. Cautiously, he stepped through the opening, smelling dampness and something else.
Perfume. He recognized t
he aroma. He’d smelled the same sweet cloud once before, on the steps of a box home on the streets of Barron.
Chris went inside. The forty-watt bulb under the lampshade left the room semi-dark with the curtains closed. Someone was waiting for him in the shadows. Tanya Swenson sat on the end of the motel bed.
35
‘How did you get here?’ Chris asked her.
Tanya was soaked to the bone in a blue T-shirt and jeans. Her arms hugged her chest. ‘There’s a place in the woods where you can pull off the highway and park. Johan showed it to me.’
Chris switched on the motel-room heater. The fan had a loud rattle. ‘You look cold. Pull the blanket around you.’
‘I’m okay.’
He checked the corridor to make sure they were alone, but he left the door open. ‘So you visit Johan when he’s working here?’
‘Sometimes. It’s boring making beds, you know, so I keep him company.’
‘What do you talk about?’
‘I don’t know. Stupid stuff. Like how much I want to get the hell out of this place after school.’
‘You don’t like it here in Barron?’ Chris asked.
‘Duh. No.’
‘Why is that?’
‘You want a list? There’s nothing to do. The boys are all jerks. The girls treat me like shit.’
Chris sat down, leaving as much space between them as he could. ‘Johan isn’t a jerk,’ he said.
‘No, he’s great.’
He watched her face. ‘You like him, don’t you?’
‘Why do you care?’ Tanya asked defensively.
‘I was just wondering. I can hear it in your voice.’
‘It’s dumb. It’s a crush. It’s not like he’d ever look at me that way anyway. He says with Kimberly gone, I’m like his little sister’
‘That’s sweet.’
Tanya rolled her eyes. ‘It sucks. I don’t need a brother, I need a boyfriend.’
‘Yeah, I get it.’ He added, ‘How’d you feel about him dating Olivia?’
‘I didn’t care.’
‘You weren’t jealous?’
‘So what if I was? It didn’t change anything.’
‘Did he tell you when he broke up with her?’
‘Yeah. He was afraid I’d be pissed because we were friends.’
‘Were you?’
Tanya shook her head. ‘I knew she wasn’t his type.’
‘Who was? Ashlynn?’
‘I guess. BPs stick together.’ She frowned. ‘That was mean. Ashlynn wasn’t the typical rich blond bitch. I liked her.’
‘Did you know that Johan and Ashlynn started dating after he split with Olivia?’
‘No.’
‘You never saw them together? Johan said she came to the motel to see him.’
‘They kept it a big secret,’ she insisted. ‘I only found out when everyone in town started talking about it.’
‘Why didn’t Johan tell you?’
‘I’m sure he figured I’d tell Olivia, but I guess she found out anyway. I told you there was something going on between her and Ashlynn.’
‘Friends keep a lot of secrets around here,’ he said.
Tanya squeezed the comforter of the bed under her fingers. ‘It’s a small town. If you want to keep something hidden, you don’t tell anybody. Johan dating Ashlynn? People would have been all over that.’
‘Did you hear that Johan went to the ghost town that night? Olivia went to see him after you called her.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Do you think Johan could have killed Ashlynn?’
‘No way.’
‘You sound pretty sure.’
‘He’d never do anything bad to a girl.’
‘Sometimes people do bad things in the heat of the moment.’
‘He wouldn’t hurt her. Not Johan.’
Chris glanced around the motel room at the faded wallpaper. Rain splattered over the threshold onto the beige shag carpet. ‘He’s missing, Tanya.’
‘That’s why I’m here.’
‘Do you know where he is?’
‘No.’
He heard the crack in her voice. ‘Are you sure?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said again.
‘Has he been in contact with you?’
The girl hesitated.
‘Tanya, you came here for a reason. Do you know what Johan is doing?’
‘He – he called me a little while ago.’
‘What did he want?’
‘If I tell you, you’ll tell the police. I don’t want him getting in trouble.’
‘You don’t want him to get hurt, either. What did he want?’
Tanya kicked at the carpet with her sneaker. ‘He wanted to know if my dad kept any guns in the house.’
Chris closed his eyes. ‘Damn it.’
‘He said he needed to find one fast.’
‘What did you tell him?’
‘I told him no,’ she said. ‘I told him not to be an idiot.’
‘Did he say what he was planning to do?’
‘It’s not hard to figure out. Sooner or later, he’s going to show up at Kirk Watson’s house.’
Chris got up from the end of the bed. ‘I need to call Michael Altman about this.’
Tanya grabbed his arm. ‘Wait.’
‘We can’t wait, Tanya. We have to stop him.’
‘There’s more.’
‘What is it?’
The girl clamped her mouth shut. Her face was white, as if she were about to jump from a bridge. Chris sat down next to her again. He put a hand softly on her shoulder, not wanting to spook her. ‘Does your father know you’re here?’ he asked.
‘No. He said I shouldn’t talk to you.’
‘Did you tell him about Johan looking for a gun?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because he wouldn’t do anything. He’s terrified something will happen to me. He doesn’t want me involved in any of this, but I can’t sit here and do nothing. If Johan goes after Kirk, Johan’s the one who will get killed.’
‘Why is your father afraid something will happen to you?’
‘Kirk already went after me. That was the warning.’
‘Warning?’ Chris asked.
‘Not to say anything.’
‘About what?’
Tanya hesitated. ‘About Ashlynn.’
‘What about her? Please, Tanya, you need to tell me what’s going on.’
‘Dad says it’s nothing. He still thinks Olivia killed her.’
‘You don’t?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘At first, that was the only thing that made sense. Now I’m not sure.’
‘So who do you think it was?’
‘I have no idea,’ she insisted. ‘How would I know?’
‘Was it Kirk? Did he know what was going on between Ashlynn and Johan?’
Tanya shook her head. ‘No, no, it doesn’t have anything to do with that.’
‘Then explain it to me.’
The girl scrambled off the bed and knit her hands together in front of her chin. ‘I sat next to Ashlynn in a religious studies class. We’d talk sometimes. She wasn’t what I expected.’
‘How so?’
‘I thought she’d be stuck up, but she wasn’t. She was actually pretty lonely like me. She’d stopped hanging out with the Barron gang, and the St. Croix kids all hated her. I think she figured it was safe to talk to me, because no one from Barron wanted me around, because of the lawsuit. We got to know each other, but she said I shouldn’t tell anyone we were friends. Especially Olivia. I thought it was because Olivia was so anti-Mondamin, but now I guess it was because of Johan, too.’
Chris waited. He was afraid if he said anything wrong, the girl would shut up, and he badly wanted to hear what she had to say.
‘A few months ago, she pulled me aside after class, when all of the other kids were gone,’ Tanya went on. ‘She was acting weird. She wanted to make sure no one saw us.’
‘What did she want?’ he asked her quietly.
‘She wanted to get a message to my dad,’ Tanya told him. Her soft voice was hard to hear above the noisy fan.
‘What was the message?’
‘She was willing to – to steal stuff.’
‘Stuff?’
‘Papers from her father’s office. Mondamin documents. She wanted to help us prove that the company had been concealing things during the lawsuit.’
Vernon Clay.
‘Did you give your dad the message?’
Tanya bit her lip and nodded. ‘Yes, he said if Ashlynn really believed there was something illegal going on at Mondamin, she should go to the county attorney. Michael Altman.’
Chris swore under his breath. He didn’t like the possibility of a secret relationship between Altman and Ashlynn. He wondered what the county attorney would have done if Florian Steele’s daughter arrived in his office with information against her father’s company. Altman had already told him: I knew that girl well.
‘Did she talk to Altman?’ he asked her.
‘I don’t know. Ashlynn never mentioned it again. Not until the day before she died.’
‘She called you on Thursday night,’ Chris said. ‘The phone call wasn’t about homework, was it?’
Tanya shook her head. ‘She said she had evidence now. She said Mondamin chemicals killed those people in St. Croix, and her father covered the whole thing up. She said she could prove it.’
36
Rollie Swenson’s black hair sprouted wings as he mussed it in frustration. He slammed his office door and whirled around on Chris. ‘I told you that I didn’t want you talking to my daughter without my permission.’
Chris sat in front of Rollie’s desk. ‘I’m sorry, but Tanya came to me. She wanted to talk.’