“You think we convinced him?” Roxanne said as she steered me toward the ladies room.
“We won’t know until this night’s over. Where is Stinky?”
“I’ll show you.” Roxanne led me down the hall to a door with a padlock that wasn’t really locked. She undid the padlock. The door opened to a hot stairway lined by cement blocks. A furnace rumbled below.
“The furnace room? He’s been hiding out in the furnace room?”
Roxanne put her finger to her lips and led me down two flights of stairs. We landed on a cement floor next to three big boilers. A bare light bulb swung from the ceiling.
“Carl?” she called softly. “It’s okay. It’s me and Bubbles.”
Stinky emerged from a door under the stairs. The first thing I noticed about him was how tidy he was for a man who’d been on the lam and hiding out in a boiler room. He wore a dark green cardigan over a spotless white shirt that was tucked neatly into his khakis. His thinning brown hair was combed without the flecks of dandruff scattered about like there used to be and he was wearing contacts. He was almost bearable.
And not a squirting corsage on him.
“I’m sorry you got involved in this,” were the first words out of his mouth.
“What am I involved in?” I asked, opening my purse and pulling out my reporter’s notebook.
Stinky shook his head. “Trust me. It started out as a good deed. What I designed was going to save my town, save everyone.”
“Your eavesdropping device?” Roxy asked innocently.
“His fire extinguisher,” I said. “To douse the fire under Limbo.”
“What fire extinguisher?” Roxanne wanted to know.
Stinky was clearly shocked that I had discovered his invention. “How’d you find out?”
“Long story.” I held up my reporter’s notebook. “This okay?”
Stinky glanced at Roxanne. “Can you take notes now and then contact me when you’re going to print the story? I’m not in hiding for nothing.”
“Sure,” I said, opening the notebook. “What I want to know is if the fire extinguisher works.”
Stinky hitched up his pants in excitement. “Well, yeah. Of course it works. It worked when I presented it to Hugh McMullen months ago.”
“Why didn’t he use it? He could have made a mint.”
“Really?” said Roxy, flummoxed by the revelation that her husband had invented a mint-producing extinguisher. “How come you never told me about this, Stink?”
“It was supposed to be top secret until we had the patent,” Stinky said. “But we were delayed because McMullen wanted me to make it fool-proof to avoid lawsuits. It worked perfectly on the tiny fires I was setting in the lab and spreading with the hairdryers. Nevertheless, McMullen demanded one-hundred percent assurance it would douse the mine fire in Limbo.”
“That’s what all that equipment was that I found in the basement—to put out the Limbo mine fire?” Roxanne said. “And there I went and ripped it all out. Oh, what an idiot I was.”
“I had to move the equipment to the basement after I quit McMullen Coal. Too bad, because Mr. McMullen had provided me with my own lab and lots of cash. I miss that cash.”
“Me, too,” she added.
I jotted down notes. “Why did you quit McMullen Coal?”
Roxanne threw up her hands. “Because of the maps, remember? We’ve been over that, Bubbles. Let’s get to Price’s murder and why Stinky’s Lexus was at the scene.”
“Please, Stinky. From the beginning,” I said.
Stinky nodded. “After I showed Mr. McMullen the prototype of my fire extinguisher, he treated me like royalty. Bought me two new cars, quadrupled my salary and took me out of the mapping division so I could devote all my energy to perfecting my invention.”
“How did you find out about the maps?” I asked.
“One night this spring, after work was done for the day, I went into the Number Nine mine to test the extinguisher. That mine was perfect for what I wanted because it bordered the Dead Zone and was abandoned. Or so I thought. Once I got down there, though, I saw right away what had been going on. They must have been mining a good three hundred feet into that buffer area.”
I wrote this as fast as I could. “Did you tell McMullen?”
“I called him in Pittsburgh, since he was never around, and told him what had happened. He said he had had no idea and he’d get right on it. A few months later I went into the map room for some of my old supplies and decided to take a look at the maps of the Number Nine mine, out of curiosity.”
“They were unchanged, right?” added Roxanne, eager to move the topic along.
Stinky kissed her quick. “Right, pumpkin. Not one map noted that the mine had been reactivated. I decided to check out the mine again. I thought maybe they had filled it in, though that’s a very costly process. I waited until a day when the mines were closed and went down to the same spot in the Number Nine mine. Damned if they’d dug even further under the Dead Zone. That’s when I got really mad.”
“Because miners lives were at risk?” I asked, pausing from note taking.
“Not just the miners,” Stinky exclaimed. “Everyone. Do you know what would have happened if they’d dug through to the mine fire? Kaboom!”
“Shhh,” Roxanne scolded him. “People will hear.”
“Did you call McMullen again?”
“I did. It was Labor Day, so I expected him to tell me it could wait until Tuesday. Instead, he rushed right up here and we met in his office.”
“Labor Day, huh?” I thought of Louise Lamporini whose holiday had been ruined because McMullen had called her into work on Labor Day.
“And that’s when I got really scared for my life.” Stinky lowered his voice and glanced around the room, as though there might be spies hidden behind the boilers. “Mr. McMullen looked awful. His hair was on end and he was chain-smoking. He told me to snap my trap about the maps and get that fire extinguisher finished. He said he had a lot riding on it and he couldn’t keep bankrolling me.”
“I’m sort of amazed he could bankroll you to begin with,” I said. “From what all my sources told me, he was strapped.”
“That crossed my mind, too. I told him he could shove the project and I quit on the spot. I didn’t want to be part of an organization that tinkered with human life. The next day, McMullen filed those restraining orders and sent letters to every mining company in the state saying that I was a dangerous individual. I started getting nervous that maybe I’d have no credibility left. That’s why I pestered Sommerville at PMS—”
“PMS?” No. It was too coincidental to the bogus slug I’d tacked onto the mining story.
Stinky smiled. “Sorry. That’s kind of industry shorthand. We call the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mine Safety, PMS.”
Imagine.
“I didn’t mean ill will against Hugh McMullen. I just don’t think he understood the gravity of the situation. And he had so many personal problems.”
“Then why did you go into hiding?” Roxanne asked. “Why did you leave me? Because I accused you of eavesdropping?”
“Because I hadn’t been eavesdropping. Because someone was spreading that rumor to ruin your business, Roxanne. I didn’t want you to get hurt, too, so I left and went into hiding. Figured it’d be safer for you if everyone thought we split.”
“Awww,” Roxanne said, blinking back tears.
But I was now really confused. If Stinky hadn’t blackmailed Roxanne’s clients, then who had?
People were talking upstairs. We listened for a bit, trying to determine whether or not they were coming down the stairs.
“I better go,” Roxanne said. “Chief Donohue will search the building if one of us doesn’t return to that hall soon.” She planted a big smooch on Stinky’s lips and then hightailed it up the stairs. “Don’t go anywhere, hon.”
When she was gone, Stinky’s whole body language drooped. “How could I have done this to Roxanne? She’s married to the Sl
agville boogieman now. A boogieman who lives in a hole and spends his life on the run.”
“I think Donohue just wants to question you,” I said. “He’s already told the press that McMullen killed Price using a family pistol.”
“I’m not talking about Donohue wanting me.” Stinky bit his nail.
“Oh?”
“I know you’re going to say I’m paranoid, just like Roxanne’s always telling me, but honestly, Bubbles, I’ve had a lot of time to dissect this and I am convinced someone else was pushing Hugh McMullen. He was completely irrational during our last meeting.”
“His father, maybe?” I thought of what Louise Lamporini had said about Senior McMullen calling up his son and reaming him out.
Stinky dismissed this. “Senior McMullen is almost comatose. But you’re right in that it’s probably someone wealthy and someone with authority over Hugh. You also hit it on the head when you said Hugh McMullen was strapped. He would never have been able to afford the cars and the high-tech lab on his own. The company was in the red. Almost bleeding.”
“And then when you didn’t produce the perfect fire extinguisher, the honcho controlling McMullen put the pressure on. That’s why Hugh was so hysterical when you confronted him about the mine maps.”
“That’s why Hugh did what he did,” Stinky said. “That’s why he killed Price.”
There was a clanging upstairs of the padlock on the door and footsteps running overhead. Then Roxanne’s voice protesting frantically.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” Stinky said, opening his door. “This leads to the outside, by the dugout in the Union Hall’s softball field. I’ll need a head start.”
He started to crawl in. I called after him, “How do you know McMullen shot Price?”
“Bud Price and I drove to the mine together. He had contacted me Wednesday evening at the Hole, swearing accusations that I was in cahoots with McMullen. That’s when I told him about the excavation under his Dead Zone and Price insisted I take him down that night and show him. So, a few hours later he arrived and we went down together through an access hole. Price was so pissed at the excavation, he wanted to get out right away and call McMullen.” Stinky sighed and continued. “He ran ahead of me and that’s when I saw McMullen shoot Bud Price. I think he saw me, too, because he took a couple of shots as I hurried back up the ladder.”
Hence, the multiple shots in the mine. Hence, the reason why McMullen was so desperate to get hold of Stinky.
“I ran into the woods. I didn’t even dare get into my car. McMullen knew my car. He’d bought it for me.”
The door at the top of the stairs opened and Roxanne screamed, “Bubbles. It’s Donohue.”
“Wait,” I hissed, crawling even deeper into the dark and grabbing Stinky’s sweater. “Why did you send me the fax?”
“What fax?”
“The fax you sent to the Passion Peak Wednesday night telling me that a businessman had been shot in the Number Nine mine.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bubbles. How would I know that you were at the Passion Peak?” He shook off my hand. “Now let me go.”
Chapter 27
As they say in the women’s room at the Girls A-Go-Go strip club on Stefko Boulevard, when the going gets tough, the tender get naked. Unfortunately, this was the night I’d chosen a snakeskin bodysuit and getting naked was not a zip, slide and done deal like it usually is for me.
But I managed. I even tussled my hair.
“What the! . . .” Donohue’s eyes popped out of their sockets as I crawled out of Stinky’s den doing my Lady Godiva impersonation.
“Oh, Bubbles,” clucked Mama. “Not again.”
Roxanne winked. “See, Chief, I told you not to disturb her.”
“Do you mind,” I said, holding the little piece of bodysuit up to cover—barely—my strapless black Wonderbra and black thong. I had tossed the gored skirt onto the floor.
“Who do you got in there?” Donohue said, nodding to the door.
“What? Don’t tell me it’s a crime, Chief, to make a little hay at a hoedown.” I lowered the bodysuit as if to step back into it.
“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, cringing. “Don’t do that.”
“You don’t want me to get dressed? I don’t understand.” I batted my eyes innocently. “You want me to stay naked?”
“No, uhm.” Donohue turned his back. “I won’t peek.”
“You want me to stay naked and then you say you won’t peek?” I protested. “I don’t trust you. Go upstairs and come back.”
“This is ridiculous. I know Koolball’s in there.”
“Jack Donohue,” cried Mama in mock indignation. “This is my daughter here. What will people think when I tell them that the Chief of Police insisted on standing by while a naked woman got dressed?”
Donohue’s neck reddened. “Five minutes,” he said gruffly, stomping up the stairs. “Five minutes and then I’m looking in that door below the stairs.”
“What are we going to do now?” Roxanne asked as soon as Donohue was out of earshot.
I shook out the bodysuit and stepped in. “Stinky says the tunnel lets out by the dugout in the softball field. Mama, find a man who’s game to go down it. A man who won’t ask why, just where.”
“Gotcha.” She scrambled up the stairs.
“And make him good-looking,” I called after her. “I got a reputation to uphold.”
“Will I ever see my Stinky again?” Roxanne asked, smearing away tears with her rhinestoned fingertips. “What will it take to get him back home?”
I snapped the crotch and picked up the skirt. “It’ll take us finding whoever was behind Hugh McMullen. That’s the guy Stinky fears most.”
Bang! Bang! Bang! “You done yet?” Donohue hollered.
“I got a problem with the crotch!” I called back. “It’s riding up my crack.”
There was a stunned silence. “Disgusting,” he replied.
Roxanne and I bit our cheeks to keep from giggling.
“How are we going to find the guy who was behind Hugh McMullen?” Roxanne whispered.
“Shouldn’t be too hard.” I got a brush out of my purse and attempted to fix my hair without a mirror. “He’s the same guy who hired Zeke Allen to tail me. He sent me the fax and Stiletto the e-mail. And now I think he’s intercepted Stiletto. All of which means he wants me to hunt him out.”
“No way!” Roxanne’s eyes were wide. “Sounds dangerous. I’ll help you however I can if helping you means getting my Stinkster back.”
“Move aside, Chief,” Mama said. “I’ll let you know if my daughter’s decent.”
She trundled down the stairs.
“What happened to all that chemistry?” I said.
“Might say it fizzled. Donohue’s too much a square for this hot mama.” She glanced at Stinky’s door and then at me. “You decent?”
“Are you?”
“Decent as I’ll ever be.” She leaned around the railing. “Okay, Chief, you can come down now.”
Donohue took the stairs slowly. “I know Koolball’s in there, Bubbles.”
I put my hand to my chest in shock. “Are you suggesting that I slept with my cousin’s husband?”
“Don’t give me that.” He pulled out a ring of keys. “When I find him, I’m going to charge both of you with obstruction of justice.”
“It’s unlocked, Chief,” I said. “No need for a key.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not hiding him.” He pulled open the door and leaned in. “Carl? Carl Koolball? You in there?”
We waited a good ten minutes in silence. Roxanne was so dismayed that she rubbed her cheeks and got silver body spray all over her palms. I patted her back comfortingly. “Have no fear, Roxanne.”
“Pete Zidukis is here!” exclaimed Donohue.
“Evening, Chief.” Hunched over, crooked little Pete Zidukis crept out of the passageway. His knees were covered with dirt and there was a cobweb sticking to his plaid shirt. He
put his hand behind his back and gave it a long crack.
Pete Zidukis? That was the best Mama could rustle up? That was my hoedown honey?
“Gosh, that felt good.”
“I’ll bet it did,” said Donohue.
Pete narrowed his eyes. “I was talking about the stretch, Jack.”
“I wasn’t.” Donohue bent down. “I hope you people have had fun with your joke. Now let me get in there.” He huffed and groaned as he crawled on hands and knees into the dark passageway.
“That was a killer,” Pete said to us, as Donohue inched his way through the tunnel. “I didn’t have no light, neither. I was lucky I met Koolball on my way out. He loaned me this.” He pulled the penlight out of his pocket and clicked it on.
“Thanks, Pete,” I said, planting a kiss on his forehead. “You showed gumption.”
“Gumption I got. Knees I don’t.” He bent over stiffly and massaged his kneecaps.
“You sure Stinky is out?” Roxanne peered into the passageway where Donohue’s rump made a shadow against his flashlight.
“Free and clear,” said Pete. “Told me to tell you not to worry. He said he was gonna get out of Dodge until this was resolved.” He turned to me. “What did he mean by that?”
“He means that we have to tie up a lot of loose ends.” I reflected on Stinky’s use of the word “resolved” and all the pieces that needed to be put in the puzzle. There was one piece I hadn’t asked about lately. Who were the men who had asked about me at Price Family Ford and then left their key chain on my kitchen counter? Who broke into Roxanne’s dresser drawer?
Chief Donohue grunted as he backed out of the hole. “He’s gone.” He dusted off his uniform. “But not forgotten. Koolball’s still in town and he needs to come forward, Roxanne. It’s not right for him to be running from the law.”
“Yes, sir,” Roxanne said, barely able to disguise her relief that Stinky had escaped.
“Incidentally, Bubbles,” Donohue said. “I’ll be needing a phone number so I can contact that boyfriend of your daughter’s.” Donohue took out a notepad. “Dispatch radioed me back. No law enforcement officer in this county, including the state police and sheriffs, picked up a seventeen-year-old girl today. I don’t know what’s happened to Price’s stepdaughter, but I can tell you she didn’t go off with no cop.”
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