The Long Dark January: A Nadine Kelso Mystery

by A. S. Andrews

  “Did you feel that way about the garage?”

  “No,” Gary admitted. “Andrew bought into that place, and when the owner retired he took it over. But I was the only employee. I felt he should’ve gone halves with me.”

  “Instead he kept you on a wage. Not a high one, either.”

  “Yeah. He could be a jerk. A real bastard.”

  Nadine was about to prod him further when Gary cut him off.

  “What really cheesed me off was how he treated Susan. Like he resented her being successful. He should’ve been proud when she got that promotion. Instead he picked on her for little things. He could never stand that she made more than him, that with all that money from the business, and him doing the finances for the garage, she was still doing better working nine to five.”

  “That hurt him,” Nadine said.

  “He wouldn’t admit it, but yeah, it did. And Andrew took it out on the rest of us.”

  Chapter 21

  It was near five when they finished. Bill took Gary home, promising to check in on him during his shift. The chief had Quayle bring the log book from Gary’s truck. Jen called Joe Pasquale, who verified that he’d been towed by Gary Gordon on New Year’s Day, from two to three o’clock. That done, she and Nadine headed to the Traveler’s Lounge for an early dinner.

  Kelly Wells was checking someone in when they walked through the door. She excused herself and scooted around the desk to head them off at the entrance to the Lounge.

  “Thanks again for the loan of the dog,” Nadine said.

  “Nero had a good time. He’s really taken to you.”

  Kelly’s smile was professional, but beneath it, Nadine thought she could detect an urgency.

  “Could I have a quick word with you two at some point?” Kelly asked.

  “Absolutely,” Jen said. “We’re going for dinner. Join us.”

  “It can wait,” Kelly said. “Have a nice meal.”

  They seated themselves at the same table Quayle had been at on the previous night. When the red-shirted waiter came to their table, Nadine found she was starving.

  “The chicken with rice,” she said, “and a pint of Elysian red.”

  Jen ordered a steak and salad. When the waiter made to leave, Nadine prevailed upon him to answer a few questions.

  “You know Gary Gordon?”

  The waiter nodded. “Poor guy. He comes in here quite a bit.”

  “Do you remember the last time?”

  He didn’t, but made a show of thinking, shifting his weight from foot to foot, arcing his head up and around the room.

  “We’d like to see the receipts for January 1st,” Nadine said.

  “I’ll have to speak to my manager.”

  A minute later he came back with the credit card machine. It was easy enough to scroll down and find the charge matching Gary’s order—beer, whiskey, burger. He’d tipped seventeen percent.

  As the waiter left with their orders, Nadine said, “His story checks out. At least this part of it.”

  “Did you doubt it would?”

  “Not doubt, exactly. I subscribe to the school of trust-but-verify.”

  “It’s a big school,” Jen said.

  They ate their meal, leaving business aside for the duration. Jen had a son who lived with her husband in Chicago. She took her holidays to align with Wei’s birthday, and with Chinese New Year.

  “That arrangement must be tough,” Nadine said.

  “I talk to them every night, but yes, I miss the hell out of them. During COVID it was especially bad.”

  “Chicago is a nice place.”

  “Lou was only supposed to stay for six months,” Jen said. “There was a management shift at the company, and he became project lead. The job he always wanted.” She dabbed HP sauce on her steak. “What about you? You mentioned an ex-husband.”

  “Jimmy,” Nadine said. “We live about ten minutes from each other. He runs a restaurant, so I don’t see him much.” Nadine told herself she’d call him tonight. Her mother, too.

  “Our job is tough on a relationship,” Jen said. “The long hours. Being called in right when your family needs you. Lou’s family is close. He understands the realities of my job, but every missed birthday or get-together hurts him.”

  “It was the opposite for Jimmy and I,” Nadine said. “We both love our work, so we made the best of what time we had. It was only when I was off work, underfoot, that things really started to deteriorate.”

  “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  The chief had earned her trust, but Nadine paused to consider what level of detail to go into. It wasn’t pleasant to revisit.

  “I was injured on the job,” she said at last. “A vehicle pursuit that went wrong. My back needed some rehab, and for a while I wasn’t sure I’d ever go back to work.”

  “But here you are,” Jen said. “A police consultant. I don’t even know what that is.”

  “Teddy Fowler created the position for me. I don’t carry a weapon and I don’t report to anyone.”

  “You like the work?”

  “I think it suits me.”

  “I almost hate to ask,” Jen said, “but did you catch the person who caused the crash?”

  “Not at the time.”

  “But you know who it is.”

  “I do,” Nadine said. And thought, if he wasn’t my brother, he’d be in jail by now.

  Frank Kelso was thirteen months younger than Nadine. Being almost-but-not-quite the same age put them in competition as children. At a certain point, though, Frank had rebelled, distancing himself as much as he could from his family. At thirteen he’d run away after vandalizing their father’s office and stealing $300. The police brought him home a week later, and the pattern had been established.

  When Nadine went to college, Frank went to work at the port. When Nadine applied to the force, Frank was taking his initiation into the Demon Wolves Motorcycle Club. Soon after that, he was sentenced to an eighteen-month stretch in Stafford Creek. He became known as a brawler, someone with a short fuse.

  Frank lived now in Blaine, a small town along the Canadian border. From what Nadine had heard from her contacts, Frank was involved in moving all sorts of things across the line.

  The night of the crash, Nadine had gone with her partner to a bar near Pioneer Square. They’d been looking for a suspect in a double homicide who was rumored to be dating a bartender there. The suspect had used a cereal box badge and handcuffs, and identified himself as a police officer to one of the victims’ neighbors—hence the involvement of Internal Complaints.

  The suspect wasn’t in the bar, but they found one of his known associates. The man had decided to throw a punch at Nadine’s partner.

  They’d cuffed the man and negotiated him outside the club. At that moment, Nadine had spotted the suspect, coming towards them from a row of parked cars. He was talking with Frank.

  Her brother had scowled at her, then broke into a grin, sensing his friend was going to run, almost daring Nadine to pursue. Like it was a game to him. He and the suspect bolted towards their car.

  Nadine watched the vehicle peel out, Frank at the wheel. Leaving her partner with the belligerent man, she had whipped around her unmarked prowler and followed Frank’s Chrysler as it headed up Sixth towards the onramp to the I-5.

  Frank blew a stop light, threading through a busy crosswalk. Nadine had hit the sirens, thinking, this was it. Wondering how she’d break the news to her mother.

  The hill rose up. Traffic was unpredictable, and it was all Nadine could do to keep the Chrysler in her sights. Frank skidded through an intersection.

  The truck had been coming from the east, against traffic, ignoring the siren. It broadsided the prowler, crushing Nadine against the driver’s side door at a wicked three-quarter angle. Glass had pelted her, shards of which she’d find embedded in her scalp even months later.

  In pain and shock, but not unconscious, Nadine had seen Frank’s car slow, but only
for an instant. Then the car turned and sped up, heading for the on-ramp.

  She’d suffered a concussion, a broken collarbone, and fractured two cervical vertebrae. Surgeries and recuperation followed. The neck had been fused by a sports surgeon, and ached occasionally but moved fine. It was her back which acted up from time to time.

  She’d never told anyone about Frank except Jimmy. Nadine felt like her mother didn’t need to know. Martha Kelso had enough to deal with in her life.

  Frank had never called since the accident, never inquired. Nadine could still picture the Chrysler slowing, Frank hesitating before deciding not to stop. Before leaving her for dead. That image was a small, smoldering wound through the center of her heart.

  Chapter 22

  When they left the Lounge, they used the entrance through the hotel, passing by the reception desk. Kelly Wells nodded, now was a good time. The three of them took seats in the parlor.

  “Please don’t be mad,” Kelly said. “What I told you before, about only being at Andrew’s place for a minute? I wasn’t lying, but I kindasorta left something out.”

  Jen nodded. “We suspected as much.”

  “You did? I mean, I wasn’t trying to—it just makes me look stupid for not guessing, and it makes Andrew seem—well—”

  “We’re not here to judge,” Jen said. “Go ahead and tell us.”

  “It happened like I said. Around two, I took Nero for a walk. I saw Andrew in his backyard. We struck up a conversation and he invited me in for coffee.”

  “And after that?”

  Kelly cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable. “I know how this sounds. He said he was alone there all day, and I could maybe stop by around dinner and he’d make us something. He said Susan was staying at Ingrid’s, and he could use the company.”

  “You didn’t suspect he meant romantically,” Nadine said.

  “Not really. I mean, I know Susan and her mom. I stock the continental breakfast with Ingrid’s donuts every morning. She’s a friend, and I figured he’d be, too. Plus I had Nero with me.”

  “Did Andrew come on to you?”

  She looked at her hands, nodded.

  “This was at six o’clock, when you came back.”

  “Right. I took Nero with me about ten to six, and we walked to Andrew’s house. He gave me a towel to dry off Nero’s feet. He had ordered in some Chinese food, and asked if I wanted some wine. We ate dinner and talked, and everything seemed nice.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “I helped him do the dishes, and then he suggested, if I didn’t have to go back to work, I could stay longer. I know it sounds pretty naïve, but until then I thought we were just keeping each other company.”

  “Did he get upset when you turned him down?”

  Kelly inspected her hands. “He said, ‘Then what did you come here for?’ Like I was supposed to know. I got up to leave, then he asked me to stay. He said it was just a joke, and he didn’t mean it.”

  “Was he ever forceful?” Jen asked.

  “No. He apologized and said he’d misread it, and I should at least finish dessert. It was all pretty strange to me, but I didn’t feel threatened. I thought he was just lonely. I said I’d stay another twenty minutes. And that’s when his phone rang.”

  Kelly explained that Andrew had answered it, and his mood had immediately soured. He’d gone into the other room to take the call. She heard one or two phrases. Andrew said ‘You’re killing me’ or ‘You’re kidding me’ at one point, she wasn’t sure which. When he came back into the room he was angry and told her to leave.

  “Was he expecting Susan home, or was he going out somewhere?”

  “I don’t know,” Kelly said. “I got Nero’s leash, put on my boots, and said goodbye.”

  “Through the front or the back gate?” Nadine asked.

  “The back, the same way I got there.”

  “Thanks for telling us this,” Jen said. “Can you think of anything else?”

  “Just that I don’t want people thinking Andrew was a bad guy, or that we—you know.”

  “It’ll stay between us.”

  She nodded. “I guess you don’t always know who people really are, do you?”

  At the station, the chief wiped off a small dry erase board. Nadine took the various statements and pieced together a timeline for January 1st.

  Morning:

  Andrew Gordon at home, alone

  Susan Gordon at her mother’s with Bobby

  Gary Gordon in his trailer, sleeping off hangover

  Afternoon:

  2:00 Andrew talks with Kelly Wells, invites her for dinner

  Susan and Bobby spend the day with Ingrid

  Gary spends afternoon working, tows customer

  Evening:

  6:00 Kelly stops by the Gordon house for dinner.

  After dinner, she turns down Andrew’s advances.

  Andrew receives phone call, asks Kelly to leave.

  7:00 Susan takes Bobby home, according to Ingrid

  7:00 Gary phones and invites Susan for a walk, according to Gary

  7:30-8:00 Gary and Susan walk

  Night:

  At some point, all three Gordons are home, presumably asleep

  House floods with carbon monoxide

  Next morning:

  9:00 Gary discovers Andrew and Susan dead.

  Only Gary’s towing and time at the Lounge were verified. The biggest discrepancy was in the evening. Ingrid had told them Susan took Bobby home at seven, while Gary insisted he met Susan alone for a walk. Both couldn’t be true.

  “Ingrid told us Susan ‘took Bobby home.’ We assumed that meant she stayed home with Andrew. But maybe she came back to her mother’s place.”

  “Why would Ingrid lie?” Jen asked. “Covering for Susan?”

  “Or maybe Susan lied to her.”

  They stared at the board for several minutes, drinking tea.

  “What happened with Gary today occurred because he thought he knew more about this case than he really did,” Nadine said after a while. She was speaking rhetorically, musing out loud. Hoping for some sort of breakthrough. “Gary was willing to harm himself because he thought he was at fault.”

  “Maybe he blacked out,” Jen said. “Did it and doesn’t remember.”

  “Doubtful.”

  Jen dumped a tea bag into the wastebasket. “Sometimes I wish there was an all-purpose villain to pin things on. It would make life so much easier.”

  “Quayle seems to have one,” Nadine said.

  “He told you, did he?” Jen sipped her tea and resumed staring at the board. “He tells everyone eventually.”

  Nadine watched her for a moment, wondering if the chief nursed any private doubt. An obsessive employee was one thing. But how would she deal with an obsessive employee who turned out to be right?

  Chapter 23

  A different woman was behind the desk at the Traveler’s Lodge when Nadine returned at seven. She asked for a room with a slightly longer bed, and was told they were all the same length. She could have a king-size, though, for only a few dollars extra. What the hell, she thought.

  A lancing pain had started in her lower back. Nadine threw down two Tylenol, chased them with a cupped handful of water. She propped herself diagonally on the bed and kicked off her shoes.

  Evenings like these she missed being married. Missed Jimmy’s hands on her back. He had rough, calloused hands, often bandaged from nicks with a knife. But his touch was delicate, slow. Maybe he’d come down and visit if she asked. Call it the honeymoon they never had. What would he say if she phoned up and asked?

  He’d probably ask why she hadn’t called her mother.

  She did that, dialing and enduring eleven long rings before her mother picked up. In the interim she imagined all sorts of misfortunes that could have befallen the older woman. Is this what it would be like from now on—always imagining the worst?

  “Hi there, Nay,” her mother said, sounding cheerful. “How’
s your vacation going?”

  “It’s work, actually, and it’s been better. I just wanted to check on how you’re doing.”

  “Oh, not too bad. The stove was acting up a bit yesterday.”

  “I remember,” Nadine said. “Are you okay now?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “No reason, just making sure. I was wondering if you still have that student coming in Wednesdays and Fridays.”

  “Melissa. She’s in the nursing program. She comes on the days she doesn’t have class.”

  “Maybe she’d like to come after class sometimes, too,” Nadine said. “She could probably use the money.”

  A pause. Nadine peeled off her socks and hung them over the bedrail. She leaned back on the bed.

  “I’m not helpless, Nay.” Her mother’s voice was flat but defiant. “I am not a baby.”

  “I know.” It was pointless to argue. “I just worry sometimes, Ma.”

  “That’s nice of you, but believe it or not, I was getting around fine on my own before you and Frank showed up.”

  “I know.”

  “Speaking of Frank.”

  Nadine’s hand clenched the phone a little tighter.

  “Your brother’s coming for a visit soon. To stay for a few days. Maybe a week.”

  It was Nadine’s turn to hesitate. “You sure that’s a good idea, Ma?”

  “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  She couldn’t bring herself to answer.

  “I don’t understand you sometimes, Nay. You say you’re worried I’m alone, and then I tell you your brother’s coming home, and you’re not even happy.”

  She started to say of course she wasn’t happy. Frank Kelso was an empty, lazy, self-interested man who cared nothing for his family. If he was coming to visit, it could only mean there was an angle involved. An angle that would end up costing her mother something. Frank, her brother, who had watched her crash and then sped away like a stranger.