by Ed Gorman
‘I may tell you later on.’
‘You’re sort of a bastard, aren’t you?’
I needed a cup of coffee and so, it turned out, did she.
There was sufficient in the coffeepot so I popped two cups in the microwave and brought one of them back to her.
‘This could all be a trap.’
‘Of course it could. Showalter could have sent me here to pretend I wanted to help you so you’d tell me everything you know and I’d run back and tell him.’
‘Showalter? If you’re going to help me that means you’re not going to help him.’
‘Let’s just say I don’t think much of him. I’ll tell you why some other time.’
I pretended to enjoy my coffee more than I did. I was trying to puzzle through this pitch she was giving me. She could be an exquisite liar. So good that she was able to make me think that she had some profound hatred for Showalter – just hinting at it, wisely not putting it into words – and thus making me believe her story absolutely.
I thought of a way to test her. ‘Showalter said he got a phone call tipping him to the fact that the rifle was in Cory’s trunk. You have any way of checking if there was such a call?’
‘The desk person that night might know.’
‘Would you check on that?’
‘My Girl Scout leader used to do stuff like this.’
‘Like what?’
‘Give us little tests to see if we were loyal to her. There was this other girl’s mom who wanted to be the leader. So we got all these loyalty tests.’
‘That was pretty heavy stuff for little girls.’
‘Prepared us for the real world. So I don’t mind.’
‘You’re pretty good.’
‘I’m better than “pretty good.”’
‘I’ll bet you are.’ Then, ‘You’ve been here longer than I have. Don’t you think it’s possible that they set this up knowing that it would look as if Jess and I did it and that it would backfire on us? And isn’t Dorsey likely behind it one way or another?’
‘Maybe.’
‘That’s all you’ve got? “Maybe.”’
‘I said maybe because I just don’t know. Not yet.’ Then, ‘Very good coffee, thank you. But now I need to go. I have another appointment.’
‘Wow. That’s kind of abrupt.’
‘Not much I can do about it. I really do have an appointment.’
I walked her to the door. The warmth of her body and the scent of her perfume dragooned me into saying, ‘We could always continue this at dinner. That way you could answer my question about why you want to take Showalter down.’
She wasn’t inclined to change her mind and explain herself. The dark eyes held mine for a long, pleasant moment. ‘How about the main dining room downstairs at seven or so?’
‘Sounds great.’
‘Are you a little bit afraid of me?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good. Because I’m a little bit afraid of you.’
PART THREE
TWENTY-EIGHT
I’d planned to catch up on my other races in my room but I was too distracted by the idea of working with Karen Foster to concentrate, so I headed back to the office.
‘Katherine’s in your office,’ Donna said. ‘I told her it would be all right for her to wait for you in there.’
‘Of course.’
In her amber blouse and brown skirt, her blonde hair done in a shining ponytail, Katherine resembled her mother more than usual. It was an elegant look, without quite being disdainful. For once the melancholy in her usual gaze had been replaced with something walking right up to the edge of happiness.
‘I think I’ve come up with a really good idea, Dev.’
‘I’m sure you have. You have a lot of good ideas.’
‘I know you’re just saying that because you’re such a nice guy, but I’m serious.’
‘So am I. So tell me your idea.’
‘That we hold a support rally for my mom tomorrow night. A huge one. If we put everyone to work on it I think we can make it impressive.’
‘Now that’s a good idea.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yes. I want to get your mother out of her “resignation” mood.’
‘I don’t think she’s really serious about that. She’s a lot more serious about the divorce, I’m afraid.’
Katherine was giving me news that could make the campaign even more difficult. I tried not to pound my fist on the desk and start running around screaming.
A divorce?
‘I guess you hadn’t heard about it. The second I said it I regretted it. The look on your face.’
‘When did this start?’
She was talking past the hurt. The eyes were mournful once again but the voice remained purposeful. She was a grownup now. She knew how to fake it.
‘You know Dad has a new one.’
‘So I hear. I thought their marriage counselor had set them up pretty well.’
‘For almost two years. But then he met this intern at his lawyer’s office.’
‘Intern? How old is she?’
‘Twenty-three. She looks like Audrey Hepburn.’
‘Good for her.’
A deep breath. ‘Mom is convinced this one is for real.’
‘She didn’t think that about the other ones.’
‘No. I would never have put up with it, but she did. She even had a small fling herself once – she never told me who with – but she felt guilty about it. Even if Dad wasn’t faithful, she wanted to be. She just waited him out. And it always worked out well. He got tired of them. Mom even had it figured out mathematically. Fourteen weeks tops.’
‘Wow.’
‘She started telling me all this when I was fifteen. I hated him for it but I had to admit in a painful way it was sort of fascinating. Fourteen weeks. She’d tell me when he had a new one – she trained me to see the signs. And hear them. The only time I ever heard my father sing was when he was having an affair. It was so stupid. You’d think he’d be aware of something like that.’ A soft laugh. ‘He has a really terrible voice. And he always sang the same song. “Lost in Love.” The song is as bad as his voice. Really lame. Mom always wondered if he sang it to his girlfriends.’
‘So does he know about the divorce?’
‘Oh, yes. They scream about it every night. He doesn’t want it to happen.’
‘Has it occurred to him that he could give up Audrey baby?’
‘He says she’s not the point. He says it’s just another one of his flings. He keeps saying they should go back to the marriage counselor but she says it’s too late for that.’
‘How do you feel about it?’
Another deep sigh. ‘Crazy as it sounds, I don’t want them to get divorced. I just want him to remember his age and to act it. He has this “star” thing about himself and it can really get embarrassing.’ The smile managed to be dismissive and fond at the same time. ‘It’s like him wearing that black turtleneck for the interview. I wouldn’t have blamed that poor director if he’d shot my father.’
‘I think that crossed his mind.’
‘She won’t do anything about it until after the election, of course. Whatever she says otherwise, she wants to go back to Washington and stay there till she’s about a hundred and forty. You know she was so wealthy growing up that she didn’t value things. She had it all. Holding office is the only thing that she’s ever had to fight for.’
It was time to circle back. ‘I’ll get hold of Abby. She knows all the local people we’ll need to set up this rally. I think I’ll ask your mother if she’d agree to do a short live interview on the local news before the rally.’
‘That could be pretty grim for her.’
‘We need to fight back. We need to reassure the base that we haven’t given up.’ I’d automatically slipped into canned-speech land. But I needed to hear it myself. ‘We know that Cory Tucker is innocent. We know that somebody set him up and set us up. We know that the press ha
s taken Showalter’s word for things without doing any serious investigating on their own.’
‘You’re right. I’ll talk to her about it, too.’
Her cell phone played a Mozart piece. She slipped it out of her small brown leather purse and checked the screen. ‘It’s Mom.’
‘You talk to her. I’ll walk over to Abby’s office and give her the heads-up.’
‘What if Mom says no to the rally and the interview?’
‘With you and me both working on her, what chance does she have?’
For just a moment, her smile redeemed all the woes of the world.
‘I like the way you think, Dev.’
TWENTY-NINE
Karen Foster was cute, smart and late.
I finally asked to be seated because I wanted an isolated table and the tables were going quickly.
It was easy to tell that the main restaurant in the hotel had recently been redecorated. The faint odor of paint and sawn lumber was in the air in a few places. Dramatic black and red tables and chairs lent the place a boldness that took a while to get used to. The floor was equally dramatic with striking shafts of gray and red. The light sources were concealed in gleaming black boxes along the black linen-covered walls. I was either in an experimental art gallery or some kind of avant-garde spaceship. I wasn’t sure which.
Abby called on my cell phone. I’d left her a message about organizing the TV interview and the rally.
‘You don’t want much, do you?’
‘I really apologize. But I’m busy, too.’
‘I’m only teasing you. The rally is easy. I just called Jean Fellows and she’ll have the place packed with volunteers and their families. There’s a bandstand we can use. And as far as the TV interview, all three stations’ll want it. I’ll pick the one that’s been least hostile toward Jess.’
‘That sounds reasonable.’
‘I was hoping we’d do something like this. Ted told me that she will barely leave her office at home for food or bathroom privileges. He also said she won’t talk to him much.’
She needed to be aware of everything that was going on.
‘They’re getting a divorce.’
‘What? Where did you hear that?’
‘Katherine. In my office a while ago.’
‘Has Jess lost her mind? No wonder she won’t speak to him.’ Then, ‘It’s the new bimbo, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah.’
‘But he’s had so many in the past. What’s so special about this one? I mean, he’s always been a shitty husband. If they had a national competition for shitty husbands he’d be in the top three.’
‘Jess thinks he’s serious about this one.’
‘He’s serious about all of them.’
‘Fourteen weeks. Jess worked out the math.’
‘I wish he’d stick his dick in a light socket.’
‘He may already have done that. But she’ll wait till after the election.’
She paused before she said it. ‘We’re not going to win this one, are we?’
‘O ye of little faith.’
‘Whenever you get religious I know we’re in trouble.’
I kept thinking of Katherine’s sweet face; seeing it always tugged me back to my own daughter’s face over the years. I was old enough now to realize that I would die knowing that I’d cheated her out of my time and attention. I’d chosen the road over her. There was no way back. The most sacred relationship I’d ever had and I’d violated it. There were no windows in here to see the gathering dusk but, even unseen, it worked on me. I wanted to use one of my lie allotments on myself, convince myself that now it didn’t matter so much anymore because Sarah was about to be a new mother. But I knew better.
She came in quickly and captured many male gazes.
Tonight she presented herself in a becoming combination of blue blouse and gray skirt that fashionably favored her form. She also wore a look of anger.
A waiter tried to catch up with her but didn’t succeed. She had seated herself before he reached the table. ‘I haven’t been able to lose him.’
She wanted Scotch and soda and I wanted a refill on my coffee.
‘Who?’ She was spoiling the pleasure of enjoying her pert good looks.
‘Wade. The assistant chief of police.’
‘He’s following you?’
‘Showalter must have put him on me after I left the station today. I thought I’d lost him about half an hour ago. I ran him around in circles but somehow he found me again. That’s why I’m late – I was trying to lose him.’
‘What makes Showalter so suspicious of you?’
Instead of answering, she said, ‘There’s Wade.’
I don’t know what I expected, but whatever it was I didn’t get it. I must have assumed he was going to be the Showalter Marine type. Instead he was a pleasant-looking man in an inexpensive blue suit. He looked somewhat uncomfortable being in an upscale place like this.
‘Don’t let the next-door-neighbor act fool you, Dev.’
‘What act?’
‘Wade’s act. The friendly, helpful type. He’s the sharpest detective on the force and the best interrogator because he’s so quiet and polite. I enjoy watching him work. It’s like watching a great athlete.’
‘You like him?’
‘Let’s say I understand him. His grandfather and his father were both police chiefs here. He was supposed to be next. But the city council got all hot on Showalter when he sent in his app. Looked macho in the Marine uniform. They wanted Clint Eastwood.’
‘But Wade stayed on?’
‘I don’t know Wade that well – nobody does except his wife – but my sense of things is that he’s just waiting for Showalter to screw up. Then the job’ll be his.’
‘But he’s following you.’
‘He’s doing what Showalter tells him to. He’s very careful to be respectful to Showalter. When the council does turn on Showalter – and three of the six who voted for him now have second thoughts – Wade doesn’t want it to look as if he was anything but professional with Showalter.’
‘But again, he’s following you.’
She grinned with cute little white teeth. ‘Nobody’s perfect.’
When her Scotch came she drank half of it right off.
‘I’m not really a drunk.’ Then, ‘I’m wondering if Showalter somehow found out who I really am. Maybe that’s why Wade is following me.’
‘Who you really are? I’m shocked you’ve been holding out on me.’
‘Sure you are. And I’m shocked that you haven’t admitted that we’re both looking for the same recorder.’
‘How do you know about the recorder?’
A little more Scotch.
‘There are six of them in Showalter’s little group. I put an electronic device on one of their cars. They tavern hop a lot. And talk a lot.’ Then, ‘There were only four of them in the group when Showalter was in Peoria several years ago. One of them was my stepbrother.’
‘Now we’re getting to why you hate Showalter.’
She shrugged her slender shoulders and stared at the hands she’d folded on the table.
‘I don’t blame Showalter for recruiting Denny into his little group of cops. Denny had always been a bad cop. Beating up people. Ripping off drug dealers. He might even have tried a little blackmail.’
‘I can’t see why you liked him so much.’
‘I didn’t. But Showalter killed him and I promised my stepfather that I’d prove it someday. My own father was a miserable drunk. He used to pound on my mother two or three times a month. He hit her so hard one time that she permanently lost hearing in one ear and later on he beat her again so badly that she now has a limp. We finally ran away one night – to a small town in Colorado – and he was never able to find us. Then my mom met a policeman, Don Sheridan, and married him. He was the finest man – finest person besides my mother – I’ve ever met. My real father was a surgeon so we never had the creature comforts he’d given us, but from th
e time I was eleven I considered Don my real father.
‘I knew I needed to get into Showalter’s police department, so I joined a force in Montana and worked there for three years. In addition to that, I’d gone to college back east for four years so I wasn’t well known in the area anymore. I had a hacker help me create a different background for myself. It all worked out, even though it was a long shot. I just kept thinking of Don.
‘He could have had a happy life with my mother except he was saddled with Denny. There was something missing in my stepbrother. I didn’t learn until later on that it was called sociopathology. Whatever was good for Denny was good for the world. That’s how he thought and lived. He was four years older than me and didn’t like me at all. I think he was jealous of how much Don loved me. He could have turned that around. Don really loved him but Denny had broken his heart so many times by stealing from him, piling up his car and beating kids up. Denny scared me – his temper, I mean.
‘Right out of high school, Denny went into the Marines. Don had hopes they’d turn Denny into the son he’d always wanted. But when he came out he was even worse. He had a real swagger then and his temper was probably twice as bad as it had been. We were living in Peoria then and that was how Denny met Showalter. Oh, I forgot to mention that Denny was a real racist when he got out of the service. He had connections to all these groups. He was always telling Don about them, trying to get him to go to some of these meetings, but Don never would. He wasn’t like that.
‘Showalter told Denny he wanted to build some kind of compound so three of them started robbing banks in other parts of the state.’
‘Including Showalter?’
‘Of course not. He wanted to give them the “privilege” of serving the cause by themselves. They raised a fair amount of money. That’s where Showalter got involved. He “guarded” the money for them. It was a lie, of course. His whole thing with the racism and the compound was just a ruse to get them to collect money for him. They had close to three hundred thousand dollars when two of them got shot and killed during a robbery.’