by Harry Dolan
Elizabeth blinked. “Loogan.”
“That’s right.”
“And he wanted to see a picture of Mr. Beccanti?”
“I didn’t show him one. He got about as much out of me as you have.”
“Serves him right. Look, Karen, do me a favor. The next time you hear from Mr. Beccanti, tell him to call me.” Elizabeth dug a card from her pocket.
“All I want to do is ask him some questions.”
The woman accepted the card wordlessly. She was still holding it, still standing in the doorway, when Elizabeth drove away.
Chapter 13
“The tall one,” Loogan said, “with the white hair. That’s Nathan Hideaway.”
Elizabeth shaded her eyes against the noonday sun. “I’ve heard the name,” she said. “He’s an author.”
“He writes thrillers. All of his books have a month in the title. January Rain. Dying in September. The Longest Night in June. ”
“And the woman beside him?” Elizabeth asked.
“Bridget Shellcross.”
“Is she an author too?”
“She has a mystery series about an art dealer who solves crimes with the help of her golden retriever.”
“Really?”
“It takes all kinds.”
The sky was clear and the weather mild for late October. Loogan had kept himself apart from the crowd of mourners who stood clustered around Tom Kristoll’s grave. He had taken up a position by the cemetery fence. Elizabeth had joined him there.
She had been at the funeral service earlier. A great lot of people had been at the funeral service. When Loogan arrived at the funeral home that morning, he had seen Laura Kristoll alone in a hallway, in a black dress with long sleeves and a high collar. They regarded each other from a distance, and then she walked to him and embraced him, her hair soft against his neck. She spoke a single word. “David.” Then they were joined by others in the hall: Laura’s sister and father, Tom’s brother and sister from out of town. As more guests began to arrive, Loogan let himself fade into the back-b a d t h i n g s h a p p e n 9 3
ground. He stood against the back wall of the viewing room as the rows of chairs filled up. He saw Elizabeth Waishkey enter with a dark overcoat draped over her arm. She wore a gray silk blouse, a long skirt. A short necklace of glass beads at her throat. She took a seat in the last row. The minister was in her sixties, a gaunt woman with thick eyeglasses. She stood beside the closed casket with sprays of lilies at her back and rambled on about traveling and searching and coming to rest. Tom’s sister delivered a brief eulogy. His brother read a Kipling poem in a voice never far from breaking.
Near the end of the service, a slim, well-dressed Asian man came in and sat next to Elizabeth. Loogan saw them leave together and later, at the cemetery, he saw them again. He watched them walk across the lawn of stones and leaves and grass. The Asian man turned aside to linger with the mourners, and Elizabeth joined Loogan by the black iron fence. She stood quiet beside him as the minister read psalms over Tom Kristoll’s grave. The crowd at the graveside was smaller than the one at the funeral home had been. Many of them stayed after the minister intoned a final blessing. They formed themselves into groups and talked in hushed voices. From the cemetery fence Elizabeth surveyed them curiously, and Loogan pointed out Nathan Hideaway and Bridget Shellcross. The two were talking with another man: medium height, fortyish, with short, thick hair and a closely trimmed beard.
“What about him?” Elizabeth said.
Loogan touched his temple absently. “He looks familiar.”
“Where have you seen him?”
“On the flap of a book jacket, probably.”
As they watched, Nathan Hideaway put a hand on the bearded man’s shoulder and bent close as if to pass on a confidence. The bearded man glanced in Loogan’s direction. After a time, Hideaway turned to face Loogan and Elizabeth, sketched a bow, and took his leave, heading off at a slow pace along a row of stones.
“What was that about?” Elizabeth said.
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“It’s like watching a show,” said Loogan.
Bridget Shellcross and the bearded man had linked arms and were walking toward them across the lawn. Bridget wore a close-fitting tunic of black leather and a pair of black leather pants. Her eyes were hidden behind the black lenses of her rimless sunglasses. She removed the glasses as she approached.
“David, may I introduce Casimir Hifflyn?” she said. “Cass, this is David Loogan.”
The bearded man offered his hand and Loogan shook it.
“And this,” said Loogan, “is Elizabeth Waishkey.”
There were greetings all around. Hifflyn said, “Mr. Loogan, would it be presumptuous of me to offer my condolences for the loss of our mutual friend?”
“Not at all.”
“What did you think of the ceremony?”
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“I found it . . . inadequate.”
“I know what you mean,” said Hifflyn. “Words fail at times like these. The twenty-third psalm is the standard, I suppose. ‘The Lord is my shepherd.’ But it’s overly familiar. If it had been up to me, I might’ve chosen something else.”
Loogan looked up at the clear sky. “I might’ve chosen silence, and a smaller crowd.”
“I won’t disagree,” Hifflyn said. “Grief is a fiercely private matter. I’ll let you be, Mr. Loogan. I only wanted to meet you, since I missed the gathering the other night. I hope we’ll have a chance to speak again.”
“Certainly.”
“I’ll leave you then,” Hifflyn said. To Elizabeth he added, “It was a pleasure meeting you.”
Bridget stood on tiptoe and kissed both of Loogan’s cheeks, and then she and Hifflyn departed. When they were out of earshot Elizabeth said, b a d t h i n g s h a p p e n
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“So that’s Casimir Hifflyn. The writer. He’s on a different plane from the others, isn’t he? His books are more highbrow.”
Loogan leaned back against the cemetery fence. “Some of them are. He got his start writing literary crime novels. The Emperor’s Tailors. The Man Who Paved the Road to Hell. But he also has a detective series: Kendel’s War. Kendel’s Rumor. Kendel’s Key. ”
“What was that he said to you—about a gathering the other night?”
“That was Tuesday,” Loogan said. “I was summoned to the Kristoll house. Laura was there, and Bridget Shellcross, and Nathan Hideaway. They offered me a job.”
“Is that right?”
“They asked me to take over as editor of Gray Streets. ”
“Did you accept?”
“I haven’t given them an answer.”
“Maybe you should,” Elizabeth said. “A job like that would occupy your time. It would keep you out of trouble.”
Loogan stared down at the withered grass around his feet. “Have I been getting into trouble?”
“You tell me. Why did you go looking for Michael Beccanti?”
“Oh. Is that going to get me into trouble?”
“It might. Why did you do it?”
“Tom mentioned his name once. Said he was a burglar.”
“You think he might have had something to do with Tom’s death?”
“I don’t know. I guess I thought it would be worthwhile to talk to him.”
Elizabeth put on a serious expression. “You’re not a detective, Mr. Loogan. This isn’t a story in a magazine. You’re not investigating the murder of Tom Kristoll.”
“I know.”
“You asked Beccanti’s girlfriend if she had a picture of him. Why?”
Loogan shrugged. “I was looking for him. I thought it would help to know what he looked like.”
“What would you have done if you found him?”
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“I guess I would have improvised. Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“That necklace you’re wearing—the beads are made of glass, aren’t they?”
The question caught her off guard. “Yes. Why—”
“The last time I saw you, you were wearing another necklace. Similar, but not the same.”
“My daughter made them both. Why are you asking me about them?”
“I’ve wanted to ask you since I saw you this morning,” said Loogan.
“And here we are in a cemetery. Cemeteries remind us that our time is short. We shouldn’t put off doing what we want to do.”
Elizabeth looked at him sideways, the hint of a smile forming on her lips.
“Mr. Loogan, I think you’re trying to charm me.”
Across the lawn, groups of mourners were drifting toward their cars. At the graveside, Laura Kristoll was engaged in a muted discussion with her sister and father. She waved them away and turned to walk toward Loogan. Loogan left the cemetery fence to meet her halfway. Elizabeth trailed behind. There was a scattering of yellow leaves at the place where Laura stopped. Leaves rustled under Loogan’s feet.
“Well,” Laura said. “That’s done.”
“Yes,” said Loogan.
“They’re telling me I should go home.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“I’ve got a house full of guests. People want to look after me.”
“Sure.”
She looked over her shoulder. Her father and sister were still at the graveside. The funeral director hovered nearby.
Turning back to Loogan she said, “You ought to come. I’d like to have you there.”
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“I will if I can,” he said. “There’s something I need to do.”
“All right.” She nodded to Elizabeth, who stood a little distance away.
“Detective,” she said. Then she left Loogan and headed back. He watched her join up with the pair at the graveside, watched them move off toward the cars with the funeral director in tow. There was no one left now at the grave, nothing there but a low metal framework that surrounded the opening and a mound of earth half-concealed by a tarp. From behind him Elizabeth spoke in a low voice. “You don’t have to be circumspect for my sake.”
Loogan turned toward her. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“There’s no reason you shouldn’t go see Laura Kristoll. It’s not really the business of the Ann Arbor Police. I’m not going to write it up for the file.”
“That’s good to hear. But I meant what I said. There’s something I need to do. Someone I need to find.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I thought we had that settled, Mr. Loogan. You’re not a detective. You’re not going to go looking for Michael Beccanti.”
Loogan offered her a fleeting smile. “Not him.”
“Then who?”
“I can’t tell you his name, but he’s the caretaker, the groundskeeper”—
Loogan made a sweeping gesture with his arm—“whoever’s in charge of this place. When I find him I intend to question him at length. He’s going to tell me how this works.”
He tipped his chin in the direction of the grave. “I have an idea of what happens next. I think they lower a steel enclosure into the ground, over the casket. Then they shovel the dirt on top of that. I’m not sure if they’ll do it now or later. I aim to find out.”
“Why?”
“Because I intend to help bury Tom.” He looked into Elizabeth’s eyes.
“That probably sounds ridiculous.”
“No,” she said. “But I’m not sure you can do it.”
“I know how to work a shovel.”
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“I’m not sure it’s allowed.”
“I imagine it isn’t,” Loogan said in a quiet, weary voice. “But what is and isn’t allowed might not matter when it’s just me and a work crew and I ask them for a favor.”
A breeze pushed the yellow leaves over the grass.
“Someone’s going to bury him. I don’t see why it should be strangers.”
Carter Shan was waiting in the car—a black Crown Victoria. Elizabeth got in on the passenger side. Through the window she could see Loogan standing alone by Tom Kristoll’s grave.
“What’s he doing?” Shan asked her.
She found herself reluctant to answer. What Loogan was planning was his own business.
She said, “I suppose he’s doing whatever people do. Saying good-bye. Saying a prayer.”
“You talked to him a long time.”
“He introduced me to some writers. He acknowledged that he went looking for Beccanti. Did you find anything out?”
“Adrian Tully never showed his face. Not at the funeral parlor, not here.”
“What else?”
“I talked to Sandy Vogel. She was the one who revealed that we were investigating Tully. I don’t think she meant any harm. She told Laura Kristoll.”
“That fits. We assumed that Laura Kristoll got Tully his lawyer.”
“It also lets Valerie Calnero off the hook,” Shan said. “She didn’t warn Tully. She’s still one of the good guys.”
“You seem pleased about that,” said Elizabeth.
“I’ve always gone for redheads. She’s got nice legs too.”
“God, Carter.”
“Well, she does.”
“You didn’t hit on her at a funeral, did you?”
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Shan turned the key in the ignition. “I know better than that. I’ll wait for another time.”
In the distance, David Loogan was striding across the cemetery lawn. Shan’s fingers drummed the steering wheel. “Do you want to stick around, see where he goes?”
“No,” Elizabeth said. “We’ve got work to do.”
Chapter 14
That night the man who called himself David Loogan dreamed in the darkness of his rented house. In his dream, Tom Kristoll was alive. The two of them were in the clearing of the woods of Marshall Park, with the grave of the thief at their feet. Tom weighed the silver-gray pistol in his palm and dropped it into the earth. But in the grave something stirred. Loogan glimpsed a pale hand closing around the pistol’s grip. He heard the sharp knell of gunfire. Two shots.
The shots woke him. He stared at a black shape like a grave and couldn’t move. He panicked for a moment, until he realized he was staring at the open doorway of his bedroom.
He rolled onto his elbow, swung his legs off the bed. His pants rustled against the sheets; he had fallen asleep in his clothes. Down the stairs in his sock feet. He turned on the light in the kitchen, sipped tap water from his cupped hand. There on the floor his shoes were coated with the dust of Tom Kristoll’s grave. On the table was a Montblanc pen that had belonged to Tom, a token that Laura Kristoll had wanted Loogan to have.
Leaning against the counter he looked into the dimness of the living room and felt a chill. He listened for a sound of movement, but there was nothing. Slowly he pulled open a drawer beside him.
He made his way to the living room armed with the longest knife from the drawer. He sorted out the black rectangles: one was the opening of the fireplace, one was the doorway of the history professor’s home office. He switched on a lamp and felt the chill again. The air grew colder as he ap-b a d t h i n g s h a p p e n 1 0 1
proached the window that looked out on the front porch. The sash was raised about an inch. There was a screen on the outside. There were two long cuts in the screen, corner to corner, forming an X. Loogan heard movement and felt sure someone was behind him. He spun around, slashing with the knife. The blade whistled faintly in the air. It struck nothing; there was no one for it to strike. He lowered the knife until the blade pointed at the floor. Just then the figure of a man seemed to materialize in the doorway of the offi ce.
Elizabeth woke on the couch, a quilt twisted around her, the
muted television tuned to a late-night talk show. Her daughter stood over her, holding the receiver of the phone.
“Call for you,” said Sarah. “It’s Carter.”
Elizabeth yawned. “Tell him I said hello.”
Into the phone Sarah said, “She’s loopy, Carter. Give her a minute.”
Sitting up, casting off the quilt, Elizabeth took the receiver. “You’re calling me on the wrong phone,” she said.
“I tried your cell and got kicked to your voice mail,” said Carter Shan. She picked up her cell phone from the coffee table and flipped it open.
“The ringtone’s off. I shut it off for the funeral.”
“I’m glad we got that settled,” Shan said. “I’m taking a drive to the country. North Territorial Road. Thought you might want to come.”
“What is it?”
“Body in a car. White male. Gunshot wound to the head. I think you’ll be interested.”
“Who is it, Carter?”
“Can’t be sure yet, but the car belongs to someone we know.”
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The man was slim and shy of six feet tall and dressed in black. His face was a pleasant oval framed by dark, tangled hair and three days’ growth of beard.
He stepped into the living room and said, “I have a gun.”
“Do you?” Loogan said. “Let me see it.”
“I don’t really. But I thought it might make you think twice about using the knife.”
Loogan had brought the blade up automatically. His fist was clenched around the handle.
“You’re not going to need it,” said the man dressed in black. “If I wanted to hurt you I could have done it already. I’m here to talk. I’m—”
“Michael Beccanti, I know,” Loogan said. “I saw the damage you did to my window screen. Cutting an X instead of a Z—I suppose that’s the equivalent of a disguise.”
“The Z was what got me into trouble,” said Beccanti. He gestured at the sofa and chairs. “Maybe we could sit.”
Loogan made no move. “How long have you been here?”
“Maybe an hour. You were asleep.” Beccanti looked at his watch. “You turned in a little early for a Friday night. It’s barely one o’clock.”
“I’ve had one of those days.”
“The chair in the office is comfortable,” Beccanti said. “I almost dozed off. But I’m glad you woke up. I thought I might have to wait here till morning.”