Count on a Cop 49 - Julianna Morris

by Honor Bound

  “It’s tiny compared to Los Angeles.”

  “I didn’t see you for fifteen years,” she pointed out. “Whenever you came to visit, that is. You were here occasionally, weren’t you?”

  She’d deliberately kept to herself whenever Henry and Gina’s nephew was in town, and now she was stuck working in the same group of buildings with him. Maybe it was kismet and they were doomed to butt heads for the rest of their lives.

  “I visited a couple of times a year, like when I was a kid, only not for so long,” he said. “I was also here after Henry got hurt. Your pie was delicious, by the way. It was nice that you sent so much food over when he was laid up.”

  The mention of Henry’s car accident sent a painful tightness to Kelly’s chest, a reminder of when she’d lost her mother. She’d taken refuge in her kitchen, cooking everything in sight.

  “I wasn’t the only one,” she said. “You do things for people you care about.” There was another silence and her brow furrowed. “Is something wrong?” she prompted.

  “Uh…I was…nothing. At any rate, I still want to know if you have any idea of who the Deep Sea author might be.”

  “Why does it matter?”

  “I’m curious.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “Are you paying attention to the mayor now?”

  “No.” Ben sounded irritated. “He watches too much television. It’s ludicrous to think a writer would set up a situation in a book, then commit murder so it looks like a copycat crime. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to contact the author and make sure he’s all right.”

  Kelly started to pull free of Frodo’s grasp, stopping when the cat flexed his claws, refusing to let go without a tussle. She rotated her shoulders to ease the tension in them. “I’m sure he’s fine. What does Henry say? He’s got nerve endings in every corner of Sand Point.”

  “I, uh, I’m going to talk to him tomorrow. Just forget it.” There was a click on the line as he hung up.

  Kelly disconnected, but it was harder to turn off the sick sensation in her midsection. “That man is impossible, Frodo.”

  Her cat blinked and then rolled onto his side and licked his paw, bored with the conversation because it wasn’t about him.

  She settled against a stack of pillows and listened to the roar of the ocean waves, crashing on the cliff outside her window.

  Usually it soothed her.

  Tonight was different.

  Ever since the murders she hadn’t felt as secure in her oceanfront home. She had neighbors on either side, but the house was more secluded than in the central part of town. It was one of the things she’d liked about the place, though Henry had insisted on installing his preferred brand of locks and other security on the doors and windows as a housewarming gift.

  She could go and stay with them—they’d welcome her, but she hadn’t taken their help when her mother died, and she wouldn’t begin now.

  BEN SLAMMED THE PHONE DOWN.

  He’d never had high blood pressure, but he was certain that it had leaped twenty points. It probably did whenever he talked to Kelly. He strode into the kitchen and turned the switch on the coffeemaker. A copy of the investigative file was in his briefcase, begging for attention.

  An hour later Ben had read the file twice and was livid. He hadn’t been happy with the detective’s briefings on the investigation and it was no wonder; they’d done a half-assed job. He was making notes when there was a knock on the kitchen slider.

  “Oh…hey, Henry. Come on in,” he said, opening the door. Cool night air flowed in, filled with the piney ocean scent he’d always associated with Sand Point.

  His aunt and uncle had volunteered to lend a hand with Toby whenever he needed it, so he’d rented the other side of their duplex when they told him it was available. Henry and Gina were great neighbors—they respected his privacy and did everything possible to help with Toby.

  “Don’t tell me,” Henry said, raising his eyebrows at the papers spread across the table. “You’re taking over the investigation.”

  “Not exactly.”

  A knowing grin crossed Henry’s face. “Then why do you have the case file?”

  “It’s a copy. I’m reviewing the progress we’ve made.”

  His uncle smiled wider and poured himself a cup of coffee.

  “That’s the real stuff,” Ben warned. “Double strength. Aunt Gina will blame me if you can’t sleep.”

  “Caffeine doesn’t keep me awake anymore.” Henry took a long swallow, although the coffee was hot enough to scald. “And your aunt wouldn’t blame you, she loves you too much.”

  Ben couldn’t argue the point. His aunt had indulged him as a boy, something he’d never fully appreciated before. It was a miracle how she’d put up with him. His behavior had been relatively okay when the visits were to places like London, Rome and Athens—wherever Henry happened to be assigned at the time—but the later trips to Sand Point were another story.

  “God knows why,” he said finally. “I was an antisocial monster when I was a kid.”

  Henry gave him a fond look. “You weren’t so bad. And you had issues back then. We understood. My sister and her husband…well, we don’t need to get into that.”

  It was the most Henry had ever said about the past, and Ben shifted uncomfortably. Yeah, he’d had issues. His childhood hadn’t been idyllic, proving money didn’t bring happiness. He barely spoke to his parents now, though they’d recently left a few messages, asking if they could visit. He’d put them off, not interested in a family reunion with two people he’d never been close to, even when he was a kid.

  “Kelly would have disagreed with you. She thought I was awful.”

  “She didn’t think so the whole time.” Henry’s mouth flattened, plainly recalling the evening that Ben and Kelly were caught by a Sand Point cop, engaged in heavy-duty necking.

  “It wasn’t a big deal—we were eighteen,” Ben found himself saying, a defensive reflex from the one time his uncle had been truly angry with him.

  Come to think of it, he wasn’t sure why Henry had been so upset. Maybe it was embarrassing for the police chief to have his nephew hauled in by one of his own officers, or maybe it was because Henry and Gina thought of Kelly as a daughter. Kelly’s mother had been renting half of the duplex when Henry and Gina bought it. The arrangement had continued, with Henry and Gina living on one side and Kelly and Shanna on the other, so they’d watched her grow up from age twelve.

  Hell, Henry was the reason Kelly worked at City Hall; he’d gotten her the job when her husband died.

  With a neutral expression, his uncle sat at the table and put a finger on several sheets of paper, twisting them around. A low whistle came out as he read.

  “You don’t have to say anything. It’s a lousy piece of investigating,” Ben said. “When your detectives took positions in Portland after you left, these two were hired by the interim police chief. They’ve got law enforcement training, but limited hours on the job. Very limited.”

  “You can’t attract experienced detectives to Sand Point with the starting salaries we offer…or experienced police chiefs. So teach them. What do you think I did with my guys? I had to do it more than once, as a matter of fact. I’d get them trained and sooner or later they’d go looking for bigger and better opportunities.”

  Ben opened his mouth, then closed it.

  Damn it all, Henry was right.

  Instead of grinding his teeth in frustration, Ben should be teaching Lasko and Fairmont to be the detectives he wanted them to be. They needed on-the-job training. A college education and police academy certification were fine, but didn’t translate into true investigative skills.

  He’d learned from a tough partner who’d kicked his ass in the right direction if he made a mistake.

  Henry waved at the file. “Small towns aren’t the same as cities. That means your job isn’t the same as being a captain or police chief in Los Angeles.”

  “So I’m discovering. How the hell did
you go from Europe to Sand Point?” Ben asked. “CIA to small-town cop? It’s quite a switch.”

  “We moved to Oregon when I got tired of knowing that as soon as one bit of scum got put away, there were ten more ready to take his place. It isn’t that way in Sand Point. My work here made a difference. I liked that difference. I’m an egotist.”

  “More like someone who plays daddy to the world.” Ben pressed his fingers to his eyes so hard he saw stars. He’d always wanted to be a cop. It was the one constant from his childhood, and yet there were times that working in law enforcement was more discouraging than sweeping sand in a windstorm, particularly when lawyers got perps released as fast as they were arrested.

  Henry put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “You’ll get it sorted out. I wouldn’t have recommended you if I hadn’t known you were the best man for the job.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “You’re welcome. Now get some sleep, son. Tomorrow comes soon enough.” The back door opened and closed and quiet filled the house.

  Ben smiled. Henry and Gina should have had kids; they were born parents. They’d certainly done a lot for him. Even when it came to the house… Ben glanced around the cheerful kitchen. It was a real home thanks to Aunt Gina’s extra touches. They would have wanted to do the same for Kelly and her mother when they’d lived here, though he doubted it would have meant much to Shanna.

  His clearest memories of Shanna James were of a hard-eyed woman wearing tight, short, low-cut dresses, sitting on the porch in a cloud of tobacco smoke. She’d worked at a bar till 2:00 a.m., gone through men the way she went through cigarettes, and had a foul mouth that rivaled a longshoreman’s.

  The only thing he’d had in common with Shanna was a case of mutual dislike. When they first met she’d called him an “f’ing spoiled brat” and told him stay out of her way. Then she’d yelled at Kelly to “get in the goddamn” house.” Kelly probably would have gone hungry and run wild if it hadn’t been for Henry and Gina, but she’d survived her childhood and ended up married to the former mayor’s son.

  So she’d done okay for herself.

  Yawning, Ben dismissed the thought and pushed back from the table.

  Tomorrow he would talk to Lasko and Fairmont. Whether they liked it or not, he was going to kick their collective asses in the right direction. He’d make them decent detectives if it was the last thing he ever did.

  THE NEXT MORNING KELLY went into City Hall, her footsteps echoing in the marble corridor. She smiled at the sound. The old part of City Hall was an improbable birthday cake of a building. It was utterly impractical, but most of the employees loved it. Dubbed the “Marble Monster” when first built in 1926, it provided a gaudy focal point for the entire area.

  Phillip and Frank Stone were standing near the base of the main staircase and she veered sharply, hoping to escape notice.

  “Mrs. Lawson, I need to speak with you.”

  Wonderful. Kelly turned around. “Yes, Mayor?”

  He waved an envelope in the air. “The Kite and Blackberry Festival committee just asked me to ride in the parade. I’m concerned they didn’t make the request sooner.”

  Frank stepped closer. He was shorter and more wiry than his younger brother, but unlike Phillip, he wasn’t going prematurely gray. “Sugar, the mayor should have been the first person invited. You’re on that committee. You should have made sure the right protocol was followed.”

  Sugar?

  The way he said it made her long for a shower to wash off the slime. “I’m not on the committee, Mr. Stone. I’m the city’s liaison with them. I can’t make them do anything.” She looked at the mayor. “However, I reminded the chairman several times that a formal invitation is customary.”

  The mayor puffed out his chest in affront. “You had to remind the chairman? You would think they didn’t want me in their parade.”

  “They’re shorthanded with the flu season hitting so early. And since your devotion to civic duty is well-known, they assumed you planned to participate. They naturally felt you would understand under the circumstances.” She hated playing to his ego, but it made things easier in the long run.

  “Oh, yes, yes, quite so,” Phillip agreed, appeased. “We’re all part of the same team. And speaking of team-work, my brother has decided to stay in Sand Point for a while instead of tending to his business up north. I feel safer having him here after receiving all those death threats.”

  The policeman standing behind them looked disgusted. Kelly sympathized. It was hard to believe anyone was serious about hurting the mayor, and standing guard on him had to be one of the most boring jobs in the world.

  “I’m sure Police Chief Santoni…” Her words trailed. She couldn’t bring herself to say Ben would appreciate the help since she was certain that he wouldn’t appreciate a single thing about Frank Stone. Frank was smarter than his brother…and a dead loss in every other way.

  “Oh, we aren’t discussing this with Santoni,” Frank said heartily. “He might be threatened by my presence, being new on the job and having trouble with it so quickly. Shame he can’t seem to find those killers.”

  “I’m sure it’s only a question of time.”

  “Perhaps,” the mayor said. “But carry on. We were just going to breakfast.”

  Kelly tried to regain her good humor as she went upstairs.

  When she entered her office, Ben was lounging in a chair as if he owned the place. “Hey,” he said.

  Tarnation.

  The man did not respect personal space. Of course, she had to admit that she’d invaded his office several times, so she shouldn’t complain.

  “What?”

  “I wanted to apologize for calling so late.”

  Kelly grimaced. Whatever game he was playing, she wasn’t going along with it—the Stone brothers had used up her supply of patience for the day. “So apologize.”

  He scratched his jaw. “Did I actually wake you up?”

  “Are you actually going to apologize?”

  Ben grinned lazily. “Probably not. I got to thinking and realized that you kept answering my questions with other questions.”

  “Did I?”

  “See? There you go again. I asked two questions. No answers, just two more questions.”

  Kelly shoved his feet to the floor so she could get to her own chair. The Public Affairs office was barely big enough for a desk and wastebasket. A man as tall as Ben Santoni made it seem that much smaller.

  “Maybe I don’t appreciate dumb questions.”

  “Wow. You really don’t like me,” he said conversationally. “But it doesn’t make sense. We were friends before I left. In fact, we were getting along great—even if Uncle Henry wouldn’t let us use the truck after we got caught out at the point that last time.”

  “You didn’t leave. You ran.”

  Ben had hightailed it out of Sand Point a week early, without even saying goodbye. She’d come home from her morning job at a local doughnut shop, bringing him a bag of his favorite apple fritters, only to have Henry say he was gone. Henry had tried to be kind, but there isn’t any kind way to tell a teenage girl that her boyfriend has run out on her.

  “You’re still pissed about that after fifteen years?”

  Kelly shrugged. “It was over a long time ago.” She turned the memory over in her mind, but it was ancient history. Back then she’d been convinced she would end up the same as her mother. Shanna James fell in love quickly, but it never lasted—something would happen, and that would be that. One broken heart after another. Mr. Right always turning into Mr. Nowhere-To-Be-Found.

  Then Shanna died.

  And later Mitch.

  Those were the losses that still hurt.

  “There has to be a reason you don’t like me any longer,” Ben insisted.

  She laughed. “Wow. You have the same overinflated ego as ever. You’re forgetting that except for that one summer—which was just about sexual curiosity anyway—we never liked
each other. Why start now?”

  “Sheesh. And Henry and Gina think you’re so sweet.”

  “And I thought you were the sophisticated type. I hate to break it to you, but it’s a myth that girls are made out of sugar.”

  “I know all about women.”

  Ben’s tone spoke louder than his words. Kelly knew he was raising Toby by himself. Divorce could make people cynical about the opposite sex, and he’d grown up already cynical and angry. Aside from Henry and Gina, he didn’t have faith in anything or anyone, much less basic goodness and decency. She might have been angry, too, if her mother had kept sending her away like his parents.

  “You don’t know everything,” she said, more tired than before. “Is there anything new on the case?”

  Ben regarded her stonily.

  “Because I have to brief the mayor when he comes back from breakfast…unless you’d rather do it.”

  “There’s nothing new. I’ll have Lasko follow up with the state crime lab this morning, and then canvass the area again for possible witnesses. Fairmont is going to redo the original interviews they conducted. Somebody must have seen something.”

  “I hope so. I didn’t think much of Harvey Bryant’s business practices, but Simon was nice.”

  Ben suddenly seemed wide-awake. “You knew the homeless man?”

  “I used to walk on the docks every day,” Kelly explained. “I started seeing Simon there a couple of years ago. Off and on at first, and then more often. In the beginning I’d just say ‘hi’ when I saw him. He was polite and well-spoken. He seemed to drink a lot, though he never acted or sounded drunk.”

  “You used to walk there?”

  “Yes—at lunch or on a break.”

  “That’s not what I meant. Why did you stop?”

  “Oh. It was Simon. He didn’t think it was safe for me and said I should stay away for a while.”

  “For a while? As if something questionable was going on—something that might be over soon?” Ben glared. “Isn’t that something you should have told the police when he got killed? Did you tell anybody?”