The Maine Massacre ac-7

by Janwillem Van De Wetering

  15

  The snow," the Sheriff said. "It does help to cover it all up."

  Nearly two feet of snow had transformed Bernie's cruiser into an indeterminate, sparkling white shape in a curve of the narrow road.

  "The engine was still running when we arrived this morning."

  The commissaris was studying a disturbed area at the side of the road. "You found the chief deputy's corpse over here, sheriff?"

  "Yes, sir. Albert thought there was still a chance that Bernie might be alive, so he moved the body. And tampered with the evidence, of course."

  "Albert?"

  "He telephoned from a house further along, a few miles from here on the way to town. I came out at once. Albert was here when I arrived."

  "Did Albert have anything to do with this?"

  "He said he was driving along in his little truck, saw the cruiser, stopped, and found Bernie's body."

  "Did you arrest Albert?"

  "He's in the jailhouse now. I don't know what charges to bring against him yet. I'm just holding him. But Albert is in trouble all right. Bernie had been looking for him, after having checked Tom's alibi. Tom was in town when the sergeant was shot at. Old Beth swears he was in her restaurant around eight-thirty the day before yesterday, and her daughter says so too. But nobody could find Albert, and Albert has a sign on the door of his cabin: OUT HUNTING. So Bernie went on looking for Albert and then Albert finds Bernie and Bernie is dead."

  "And the fox?"

  "I am holding the fox too, sir. He can't explain his movements either. He's very vague about where he has been. Bernie must have got himself shot early this morning. The fox says he was wandering around in Cape Orca looking for dead pines. Nobody saw him and he saw nobody. He could have been anywhere."

  The commissaris walked over to Bernie's cruiser. Its passenger door was open and a shotgun had slipped between the front seat and the wheel.

  "Bernie's gun?"

  "Yes, sir. We found an empty shell. Bernie shot something, or at something."

  "Did Albert have a shotgun in his truck?"

  "Yes."

  "Had he fired it recently?"

  "Yes, sir, he was out hunting. He had a goose in the car and some ducks."

  "Can you identify the ammunition?"

  The sheriff spread his hands. "Everybody here buys his ammo from Robert's Market. Tom only stocks one brand. This must be BMF business, sir. Bernie was after the gang and the gang shot him. That Albert reported finding the body is an example of their style. It would be just like them to find their own victim!"

  The two young deputies standing next to the dead man's cruiser nodded grimly.

  "Did you have a chance to check out that boat in the bay, sheriff?"

  "Yes. We couldn't get it out. It was frozen into the ice. I smashed some of the ice with a pickax. Jeremy was right. Not an ounce of plastic foam in the boat and the bulkheads had been replaced neatly. When Mary Brewer went sailing that day she thought her boat couldn't sink, but it sank like a brick and the current must have moved it to the rocks, very slowly. It may have taken months."

  "Did the gang see you go out to the boat? How did you get to it?"

  "They may have seen me. I rowed a dory across the open channel and then pushed it over the ice for a bit until I got to open water again, and I rowed the last few hundred feet. A man pushing a boat over the ice is visible for miles. I'm surprised they didn't have a crack at me with a rifle."

  "Yes," the commissaris said thoughtfully and took a cigar from his pocket. "But so many patterns have been moving around here. The BMF gang is only one of them. The obvious doesn't always point at the truth. Have you dug about in the snow at all, sheriff?"

  "Yes, sir, there's a lot of blood. In two places. Around where Bernie's corpse was, of course, and in another place, some five feet further down. Perhaps he walked a few steps, like a chicken that has lost its head, staggered about I mean."

  "Where is the corpse?"

  "In the back of the cruiser. We wrapped it in blankets."

  The commissaris poked at the snow with his cane.

  "Do you have any ideas, sir?"

  "No, sheriff, only abstractions. I have no facts to make the abstractions concrete. Is there anything you can tell me about Bernie? I only knew him as a pleasant fat man, and that is by hearsay. The sergeant described him to me."

  "Fat," one of the deputies said. "Bernie was sure fat. It was worrying him. He burst out of two uniforms and he had to pay for new ones. He was getting close to two hundred and fifty pounds. That isn't fat anymore, that's obese."

  "Was he worried about losing his job?"

  The sheriff nodded. "He may have been. I'd talked to him about his physical problem. He'd been getting a little sleepy lately. He would drop off a lot, even on patrol. Can't have a sleeper next to me in the cruiser."

  "Any other problems?"

  "The dog," the sheriff said slowly. "The damned dog. Bob, where does Bill Thompson live, the old farmer whose dog was causing all the ten sixty-four's. Doesn't Bill live at the end of Blueberry Neck Road?"

  "That's right, sheriff."

  "This is Blueberry Neck Road!" the sheriff shouted. "It goes to the sea and stops. Bill's farm is three miles from this spot. His dog was killing the deer in these woods right here!"

  "Bernie has been after that dog, sheriff," the deputy said. "He was talking to us about it."

  The sheriff was rubbing his chin furiously. "So maybe he got the dog. That would explain the blood. And then somebody got him."

  "I know Bill Thompson, sheriff," the deputy called Bob said. "Bill has two shotguns and two deer rifles and a couple of wooden boxes full of shells and cartridges. His house and his bam are on a hill. He would have some handguns too."

  Bob walked over to his car, next to the sheriff's. "Shall I call the state cops, sheriff? We'll need more men to take that house. Maybe it's not a house right now. Maybe it's a bunker."

  "No. No, wait, Bob. We can handle this. You and Bert get in your cruisers. Follow me, but stay out of sight. Lock Bernie's car. You gentlemen can come with me if you like."

  "Hell," the sheriff said a little later. "I think I can see it now. Old Bill must have been driving his Ford truck with the dog sitting next to him. A big short-haired brown dog, friendly enough when he hasn't got the smell of deer in his nose. Bill's buddy. The two of them are driving along quietly, on their way home probably, and Bernie comes zooming along after them. Bernie switches on his lights and plays his siren and old Bill pulls up. Bernie stops behind the Ford and takes out his shotgun. Maybe he talked to Bill, maybe he didn't, but he must have got the dog out of the truck. He probably just opened the dog's door and called him. Dog jumps onto the road and Bernie shoots him straight in the eyes. Bang. Dead dog. Bernie's temper has been bad lately. He was polite enough to me, but he hadn't forgotten my remarks about his big belly and his fat bum. And the BMF gang got him scared. And the game wardens had been after him about Bill's dog. So he meant to do something, for a change. But Bill doesn't know about Bernie's troubles, and cares less. All Bill hears is a bang, and all he sees is his buddy dead on the snow at the side of the road. So Bill reaches over, grabs the old sixteen-gauge that's hooked up against the roof of his truck's cabin, slips in a shell, and pokes it out of the open door. Wham! Another corpse in the road, but this time it's Bernie. And Bill picks up his dog and carries him into the truck and drives off, and the snow falls and falls and blots everything out. Albert says Bernie was completely snowed under when he got to the scene."

  "Yes," de Gier said. "That sounds fine. What's Bill Thompson like?"

  "Old. Eighty and some I should think. And quiet. He still farms and he still fishes and he still hunts. A proud old man who doesn't cash his social security checks. He won't take money from the welfare people either, not even if they put it on his kitchen table. He pushes it back at them. In summer he sells fish off his truck. I've bought them for the jailhouse. He's got the fish spread on crushed ice and his price is abo
ut half of what we pay elsewhere, and then we have to drive forty miles."

  "A nice old man?"

  "Not nice. He isn't friendly. He says what he has to say and goes home again. I think he really can't stand people, like a lot of us around here. But he is a good man and I don't want to shoot him up. I know what my deputies want to do. Call the state cops, and the sheriff from the next county and his men, and get everybody in position around Bill's house. They'll yell at Bill a few times and order him to come out with his hands over his head, and if he doesn't they'll blast his house from all sides at once."

  "I see," the commissaris said. "Your suspect won't be the sort of man who likes to be yelled at. But he might listen if talked to."

  "I'll talk to him," the sheriff said. "And I'll go alone." He stopped the cruiser well away from the house and parked it behind two imposing maples. He pressed a button and picked up the microphone. The house and the barn looked pretty and restful under their loads of glistening snow. A black battered pickup truck stood next to a tractor with a snow-blade attached. The sheriff picked up his microphone and activated the loudspeaker on the cruiser's top.

  "Bill," the sheriff said quietly. "I know you're in there. Listen to me."

  The hill echoed and the sheriff adjusted the loudspeaker's volume.

  "This is the sheriff speaking, Bill. I'll be coming out of the cruiser in a minute. I'll have a gun, but I won't use it. I'm going to walk up your driveway and you can shoot me if you like, but I advise you not to do that. You've killed my chief deputy. Maybe you were right, maybe you were not right. I'm going to ask you to come with me and the judge will hear your case."

  The sheriff released the button on the microphone and looked at the house. There was no movement. He pressed the button again. "I'm coming now, Bill. I won't put a hand on you. I'm going to ask you to accompany me."

  The commissaris looked around. Bob's and Bert's cruisers had stopped at a safe distance. The two deputies stood in the road. They couldn't be seen from the house; neither could their cars.

  The sheriff signed and opened his door. The commissaris and de Gier watched his small straight figure walk up the driveway. The short walk took a long time. The sheriff stopped next to the black truck, crossed his hands behind his back, and waited. De Gier looked at his watch. Thirty seconds passed. Then the door of the house opened and a tall man in a dark floppy hat and a long gray coat stepped out and walked up to the sheriff. He walked with a stoop and supported himself on a stick. The sheriff turned and began to walk back to the cruiser. The tall silent shape followed him after a slight hesitation.

  The commissaris touched de Gier's hand. They both got out of the cruiser.

  "All clear?" Bob asked.

  "Yes," the commissaris said. "Mr. Thompson is coming quietly. Can you give us a lift back?"

  16

  The Commissaris,theSheriff, and the Sergeant thanked Beth and said they didn't want any more coffee. They had drunk three mugs each, they had eaten her homemade ice cream, and the ice cream was still settling on her stew and the many fresh rolls served with it.

  "Just let us sit here and enjoy your stove's heat and tell me how much money you want of me. You're a good cook, Beth."

  The commissaris and the sergeant agreed. Beth smiled. She began to clear the table, and the three men waited and smoked.

  "So that was all," the sheriff said when Beth was clattering her pots and pans again. "You've told a few stories and I've told some of mine. The fox and Albert are free. Everybody is free except old Bill. The state cops took him, but they promised to treat him good. Leroux is out on bail and Astrinsky is home. All I have in jail now is the old man who doesn't want to go home because he's still out of firewood. I might get him some, but then I won't have anyone to do chores."

  "No prisoners," the commissaris said. "But there seems no shortage of suspects."

  "Sure. We now know that Mary Brewer was murdered. We also know that Carl Davidson was murdered. When you were away I spoke to that old Indian I told you about who sometimes accompanied Carl when he was wandering in the woods. He says that Carl froze to death because he didn't have any matches. He also says that Carl always carried matches. Carl was a careful man who wouldn't forget a necessity. He doesn't think that Carl got lost, but if he had got lost he would have found a tree and set it alight. The Indian taught him that trick. Indians don't bother to cut wood when they have to make camp in a hurry. They find a dead hollow tree and make it burn. A good-sized tree burns all night. They sleep fifteen feet away, and they don't sleep too deeply since the tree may fall over. The tree makes a strange sound when it bums. The air roars up and the tree becomes a flute. Whoooo, whooo, the Indian said. But Carl was found frozen in the snow. The Indian says somebody was out in the woods with Carl that day. Our suspect stole Carl's matches and ran away."

  "If the Indian knew the victim so well he may have a suspicion. Did he mention a suspect?"

  The sheriff shook his head. "Indians don't name names, sir, and the locals don't either. Everybody for himself. They'll help up to a point. It's quite something that the Indian says he thinks Carl Davidson was killed. I tried to press a little further, but he just smiled and drank his beer. White man's business, not his. He went back to the reserve. He wouldn't sign a statement. He says he can't write."

  "Can he write?"

  "Sure he can write."

  "Good," the commissaris said. "But we are getting the same sort of information. Everything tells us that we are dealing with crime, but nothing so far points to any specific person."

  The sheriff began to fill in a check. He looked up. "But I don't want to stop now, sir. The case is moving."

  "It is, sheriff. Can I make some suggestions?"

  "Please."

  "1 would like you to authorize me to pay another visit to Jeremy's Island. There's something there. The sergeant and I saw three dogs, but when Madelin flew us around the island she said that Jeremy has four dogs and that he takes one dog ashore with him if he goes shopping."

  "That's right. Osiris, a big black Doberman. It stays close to Jeremy."

  "Osiris is the missing dog. And you remember that Janet Wash told me a lie about the accident with her wagon and that my sister saw Jeremy helping her out of the overturned car? Maybe it all means nothing, but another visit to Jeremy would do no harm. He has not been helpful, apart from mentioning Mary Brewer's boat. I can tell him that his suspicion was proved by your investigation of the boat, and I can ask him about the accident and the missing dog."

  "Sure, go ahead. Do you want to take the sergeant?"

  "Yes."

  "Fine. Anything else you would like to do, sir?"

  "Yes, I would like to see the fox."

  "Right. I have something in mind too. Leroux is free on bail, but the charge against him is assaulting an officer. I can still withdraw the charge. If I don't he'll be fined a lot of money, and he has no money. He has a wife and two kids. Leroux has lived here all his life. He has worked with the fox. They've been out logging together. He has also worked on the Cape Orca estate. Reggie employs him as a gardener in the summer. The BMF gang members have also worked on the estate. You can't see it now, but that estate is very beautiful. Reggie has planted an azalea garden, there are big lawns sloping down to the sea on the north side, there is a little forest of white pines that he keeps clean, there's a wildflower reserve with little bridges and ponds. He can't take care of all that by himself so he gets help, and Leroux is usually in charge of the help. Leroux has worked for Jeremy too, when the hermit's cabin was shifted to the other side of the island. And Astrinsky has employed Leroux. Leroux is a handyman, but right now he is out of work. It so happens that I know a man in the county who has bought a lot of used chain saws and other machines, lawnmowers, little tractors, and so forth, that he is repairing and rebuilding for resale. He asked me if I knew of somebody who could help him. Leroux knows that type of work, and I can bring the two together and get Leroux a job for the rest of the winter. But I'll do
nothing if he doesn't give me information. I want to know everything he knows about all our suspects, no matter how trivial or far-fetched."

  "Good," the commissaris said and suppressed a yawn. 'Tomorrow?"

  "Tomorrow, sir. How are you planning to get to the island? The channel froze yesterday. A boat can't get through now, and you can't walk over either because die current is breaking up the ice again."

  "A plane," the commissaris said and smiled. "I am getting used to flying in small planes. You think you can persuade Madelin to take us out again tomorrow, sergeant?"

  "There'll be snow on Jeremy's airstrip too, sir, I think. I'll ask Madelin and let you know."

  "The Astrinsky plane can be fitted with skis."

  The sheriff gave his check to Beth. "That was a very good meal indeed, Beth."

  The woman smiled.

  "What do you think, Beth," the sheriff asked suddenly. "You're lived here all your life. Do you think we're doing the right thing? What about all these dead people on Cape Orca. Should we just let them be dead?"

  Beth's smile faded slowly. "I don't know, sheriff. I've been wondering. I've been a free woman all my life. I don't hold with uniforms and stiff hats and those big cars you and the deputies scream around in. But I don't hold with the black cloud over Cape Orca either. It's been there long enough now. Maybe it should be pushed away."

  "What do you know about the cloud, Beth?"

  The woman was walking back to her wood range. She opened its lid and threw in a log.

  "What do you know, Beth?"

  She turned around. "There'll be more snow tonight, sheriff. I wish it was rain. Rain is easier to shovel man snow."