by Richard Neer
Both Paulsens were soaking up the benes, as we used to call them at the Jersey shore --- the beneficial rays of the sun. That was before we learned that the sun wasn’t always a friend, something the Paulsens had yet to grasp. They sat in the direct sun on lounge chairs, their wrinkled bodies oiled and tanned the color of old pennies.
They weren’t shy about showing off their tans or their torsos. Both were in good shape for their early eighties, but it was hard to ignore the flesh that shriveled like old parchment. He wore a blue terry cloth top, a la James Bond in Goldfinger. A buff Connery in his thirties could barely pull it off, but sixty years later, even Brad Pitt would look silly in this shortie jumpsuit. His wife was slender with large artificial breasts, which her floral bikini top barely concealed.
She took an instant liking to Black, as most women did. Her husband was my immediate pal, fellow law enforcement buddies. At least that’s the way he saw it.
I said, “So Paul Dugger and Jim Bolton were tight?”
“Thick as thieves,” he said, in his old man’s sandy voice. “If you’re asking if they might’ve killed Townes and buried the body, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Really?” Jason said. “They were that bad?”
Amy Paulsen said, “They were evil. It doesn’t matter now, but I was young and stupid and got caught up in it. Jack and I put this behind us ages ago and we can talk about it. He knows I had a little fling with Dugger. The man was sexy in a malevolent way, and Jack was so devoted to his work. I felt neglected and went somewhere I shouldn’t have.”
Jack Paulsen nodded. “It was my fault. I thought I could clean up the department. I saw all the corruption, thought I could make a difference from the inside, but I had to give it up.”
“Did Bolton blackmail you into giving up your run for sheriff?” I asked.
He looked over to his wife, who gave him the go-ahead. “The bastard had pictures of Amy in a compromising position. As much as I wanted to fix things up, I couldn’t humiliate her like that. Long story short, we moved to North Carolina and got a fresh start there. Little town called Waxhaw. I was chief there for a bunch of years. Pay wasn’t great, but it was honest work and a nice place to live.”
Amy said, “It was all my fault. I was a fool. But you know, it worked out well for us. We were happy in that town for a lot of years. Jack retired and now we’re right across A1A from the ocean. We couldn’t afford a place facing the water, but we can sit on the beach 300 days a year. Maybe the years have washed away the filth.”
I said, “I know this is indelicate, but Bolton claims that Dugger was with you the night Townes disappeared. It’s a long shot expecting you to remember the date, but it was December 9, 1980. Any recollection?”
“Mr. King, our little fling was never a night time thing. Dugger worked nights, Jack was on the day shift. I don’t want to get into the gory details, but we were never together at night. Bolton was lying, if he told you he was with me.”
Black said, “And you went along because of the pictures.”
“Bolton was next in line unless Jack ran. And he convinced Sheriff Ross that he should make this whole thing go away for the good of the department.”
“Why did the sheriff accept that?”
“If those pictures came out, even edited, the department on his watch would be a laughingstock. The wife of a senior officer was playing around with a younger cop. Ross was retiring and thinking about legacy, and this would have been a permanent stain.”
I said, “Do you know of any motive Dugger might have had for killing Townes.”
She ran her hand over her face and covered her eyes. Her husband said, “Hate. Pure and simple. The man was a hater. Blacks, Jews, Latins, you name it. If they weren’t white Protestants, they weren’t Americans. He mighta even been with the Klan for all I know. The Brandos was what they called that little clique. After Marlon, who would turn in his grave if he knew what these guys were up to.”
Jason said, “And that was enough to make you think he’d kill Townes?”
“I can’t say I loved Colton Townes much, either. He was hippie, no respect for law and order. And he had a mouth on him if you pressed his buttons. I had a couple of run-ins with him myself, but I was considered the commie-pinko on the force and I didn’t let it escalate.”
“Was Townes kind of a marked man with them?”
“Yeah, in a way. Problem was, he was a bit of a celebrity, so we had to be careful how we dealt with him. He had friends in the press. He was constantly feeding them notions about police corruption.”
“Sounds like he had good reason. Why did none of this come to light when he vanished?”
The old man spoke quietly. “You’re fairly new to the Lowcountry, Mr. King. Things were very different forty years ago. I’d like to call Dugger an anomaly, but fact is, a lot of folks there shared the same views. The media folks were chickenshit. The last thing they wanted to do was stir up trouble with the sheriff’s department. So they bought the company line.”
Jason said, “Were there any whispers about what really happened to him? Rumors that sounded like there might be some truth behind ‘em?”
“Since they took great pains to make it look like Dugger was shall I say, otherwise occupied at the time, I suspect he pulled Townes over that night and Townes, like he always did, gave him some lip. Well, this time, it was a lonely road, late night. So Dugger killed him. You saw the swamps around there. Lots of places to ditch a body. Even the dogs wouldn’t be able to go into some of those areas, especially if they weren’t trying all that hard.”
I said, “But there’s no proof. Is there anything you can point me to, so I can back up your theory?”
“Not now. Maybe if I’d followed through and investigated back then, I might’ve come up with something. You see Mr. King, I didn’t know about Amy and Dugger. When I found out, I was all caught up in self pity. Afraid my marriage was over. I didn’t handle it very well. Amy is the love of my life and I had a hard time getting over it. Otherwise, I might’ve dug into it more. I hated what Dugger and his cronies did to the department, all while Bolton looked on and let it happen.”
Jason said, “That’s understandable.”
Paulsen shook his head. “I took the coward’s way out. Quit the force. Sheriff gave me a nice little severance package to go away and keep my mouth shut. Today, you might call it a bribe. I didn’t fit in with those assholes anyway, was the way I looked at it then. So I took my wife and we worked on fixing our marriage. Went away to greener pastures with a letter of commendation.”
I said, “Was there a dump off spot for bodies? Like in New York, the East River with cement overshoes? Anything like that?”
“No one place in particular, no. That area is pretty desolate. He coulda hung the man from the trees and let the hawks and buzzards get to him and nobody would’ve noticed. But all this is just me speculating. I had no proof then, got less than nothing now. Sorry you drove all the way down here for nothing.”
Amy Paulsen eyes were filling with tears. “You know gentlemen, I thought that telling you all this would make me feel better, to get it off our chest. But all it did was make me feel even more guilty. Jack might’ve made this right back then, but he was protecting me. I feel like I have this man’s blood on my hands.”
Black paraphrased, “For evil to triumph, good men must do nothing.”
I didn’t want to pile on. “Don’t take this on yourselves. Fact is, we don’t know what happened. And sounds to me like if you two got involved, they might’ve found a way to dispose of you, too.”
Jack Paulsen agreed. “Still wish I’d have done more. You fellas gonna dig this all up? Try to prove Dugger killed him?”
I shrugged. “No statute of limitations on murder. You’re a cop, you know the drill. The only way we might be able to force things is if we can set Dugger and Bolton against each other. I didn’t sense there was any love lost between them when I talked to them individually. Did they have a falling out tha
t you know of?”
“Dugger liked wearing the badge, having that power over people. So he must’ve resented it. No amount of money could give him that kinda high. But Bolton was fixin’ to run for sheriff and I think Dugger’s crazy ways were getting harder to cover up. They bought him off, like they did with me. Bolton was a slick politician, I’ll give him that. Always had something he could use to his advantage when the chips were down. Ross wasn’t a bad man but he was old and tired and lazy. Bolton handed him a clean way out and he took it. Now the only thing that bound Dugger and Bolton together was their dirty little secrets. Mutually assured destruction.”
Jason Black gave a wry smile. “Maybe we can light a spark.”
20
A few minutes into the drive, I was regretting the decision to try to get home in one night. We had made our goodbyes to the Paulsens around four thirty, and even this far south, we had barely more than ninety minutes of sunlight before darkness descended on the East Coast. Ginn was taking care of Bosco so I was happy to stay over and get an early start. But Jason insisted we drive tonight. Were I to be in his shoes and the choice was between sharing a bed with Katrina or a room with me? Well, it wasn’t much of a choice, was it?
I was tired and cranky and don’t relish driving at night, but I wasn’t about to let this aging pop star behind the wheel of my new baby. I normally don’t drink coffee this late in the day, but before embarking, I filled my thermal mug with as much high test as it could hold. After the four hundred mile journey, the Audi still registered a quarter tank, but I topped it off hoping to make the trip without stopping. The coffee filling my bladder may have other ideas.
After we fueled up and bought some snacks for the ride, Jason said, “Wow, we got a lot from those folks. Seems like Dugger killed Colton and Bolton covered it up.”
“A prosecutor would love to have eleven others like you on a jury. The first point a defense attorney would make about what the Paulsens told us is biased. They have an axe to grind with Bolton, after he screwed him out of being sheriff and sent them packing. The affair with Dugger would come up and he’d cite revenge. You can relate to that.”
“They were pretty willing to talk to us about it. Didn’t say it was off the record or anything, so I bet they’d testify if it came to that.”
“Big assumption there. It’s one thing to tell us, another to go public for all the world to hear. And what does any of it prove? She can deny being with him that night, but far as I can tell, they never needed to use that alibi other than with the old sheriff who’s dead. The cop Moses talked to can’t prove a cover up either.”
“So we wasted our time today. Is that what you’re saying?”
“No. It does convince me they were hiding something, and odds are it was killing Townes. But even with a crack FBI forensics team, there’s nothing to find after forty years.”
“You said we might drive a wedge between them. Bad blood for Bolton canning Dugger. They might turn on each other.”
“Co-conspirators. One blaming the other. That’s usually inadmissible without evidence. And there’s no body.”
“So we did waste our time.”
“I got the car’s maiden voyage out of the way. A shakedown cruise and so far, it’s passing with flying colors.”
He didn’t find that funny.
I said, “Look, we did get a thread to pull on. Colton had journalist friends. Maybe they were afraid to antagonize the cops and didn’t print anything, but they might’ve done some digging. If they’re still alive, they might even have notes. Are you aware of anyone that Townes might have been friendly with?”
“There was a small local rag back then. I think they’re either out of business or maybe just online. Sort of a minor league Rolling Stone or Village Voice. Counter culture, underground shit. The music editor was a pompous ass named George Arliss. Snob, who thought he knew everything. Hated my stuff but believed that Townes walked on water.”
“Counter culture, eh? Sounds like the kind of writer that wouldn’t let this pass. Is he still around?”
“I think so. He called me after what happened and I ducked him.”
‘What happened’ was how he referred to the Brand X slaughter. He was afraid if he said the name aloud that I’d start with more questions of my own. He needn’t have worried. I was too tired to go there.
I said, “Jason, when we get back, let’s split up the work. I’ll talk to this Arliss guy and see if he has notes or remembers anything about it. You get with Charlene and work on a benefit concert for the widow.”
“You know Charlene better than I do. I’m sure your word would be stronger than mine.”
“I’ll help if she gives you a hard time, but she likes you and she’s good about charity stuff. She’ll think this is a worthy cause.”
“You know, I hope I’m not prying here, but you seem to have a problem with Charlene. I don’t get it. She’s great looking, rich and real bright. That born again stuff turns me off a little, but she doesn’t push it on people who aren’t into it. What’s the problem?”
“You are prying, actually. But what the hell, we have a long ride ahead. Char and I have some history. We lived together for a while and I was thinking of making it permanent. Then I found out that she’d done something really bad that betrayed my trust. I thought with her spiritual conversion that she might have changed but then she did it again.”
“Must’ve been something serious. I shouldn’t be telling you this but I think part of why she was so interested in Townes is to get with you. I mean, I just mentioned that I’d run into Carla and pretty soon I was telling her the whole story and she told me that it was a perfect case for you and that she’d set it up. She got me stoked to follow through on it. I was ready to write it off as a sad old story with no ending.”
“See, that’s what I mean. When she approached me to take the case, she said she didn’t know much about it. She was just acting as a go-between out of the goodness of her heart.”
“What’s wrong with that? She likes you that much, she’d use any excuse to hook up with you. That’s the kind of devotion most men would kill for, especially from someone as hot as she is.”
“She lied to me and she manipulated you. It’s for a good cause, true. But she could’ve just passed my number to you and I would have helped. Instead, she uses it as a pretense to see me, then cozies up to me at a romantic dinner. Jason, Charlene is in it for Charlene. She was married to a gangster when I met her. When the heat came down, she tossed him aside like yesterday’s paper and hooked up with me. I helped get her a record deal and she dumped me before the ink dried. See a pattern?”
“So why not play along and do the same to her? I would think the side benefits are pretty amazing. Not to get too personal, but I got a look at her naked once in her dressing room and she is spectacular. And they’re real.”
“I think you have that Seinfeld quote backwards, but again, that’s part of her playbook. She wants something, she’ll tease you with a peek at the goodies. I hope you didn’t give in, did you?”
“Swear to God, I didn’t. But if Kat wasn’t in my life, I’d be all over that.”
“Be thankful you aren’t.”
“Oh, just a fantasy. Funny, seeing those two old folks today made me think how lucky I am to have Kat. I could see us like that in a few years. The way he stands when she enters the room, pulls her chair out for her. She reminded him to take his Lipitor, gave him the pill. Lovers, partners, so devoted to each other. No secrets, no recriminations. Symbiotic. I don’t think either one could live without the other. Anybody like that in your life, Riley?”
We passed over the Florida-Georgia line. Isn’t there a country band with that name?
“I had a woman like that, not long ago. We had a logistics problem. She lives on the West Coast and I wouldn’t move out there with her. But then she took up with my best friend.”
“Wow. That must’ve hurt.”
I said, “It did. Caused me to hate them both
for a while, but then he died of cancer. Terrible time for both of us. I thought maybe we’d get back together then. But then she made another really bad choice. One I can’t forgive.”
“You’ve had a tough time with the ladies, Riley. So how are you going to spend Christmas? With your friend Moses and his lady? Because if they’ve got other plans, you’re welcome to have dinner with Kat and me. Restaurant’s closed that day.”
“That’s awfully nice of you, but I have a little ritual. Quite by chance a few years ago, I ran into the daughter of my first love. She runs a Christmas tree farm in the North Carolina Mountains. Every year since, I go up there for a couple of days and spend the holiday with her.”
“Your first love. What happened?”
“I broke up with her for what I thought at the time was a good reason. She was working her way through college. She was drop dead gorgeous and she used it to supplement her income, shall we say. When I found out, I wasn’t too forgiving.”
That shut him up for a moment. I didn’t say point blank that Máiréad was a hooker, or that Charlene had used me to kill her husband. Or that Jaime had sheltered a fugitive from justice.
After a minute, he said, “Well, the offer stands if you change your mind. The daughter of your first love, eh? That must be kind of strange. For you both. Some kind of coincidence you found each other. Must be like you’re her surrogate father.”
If he only knew. The ‘surrogate’ part was probably unnecessary.
21
I got home just before midnight and the house was quiet. I’d covered around a thousand miles in the last eighteen hours, yet here I was, back where I started from. I heard a scrabbling of claws from upstairs. As I prepared myself for bed, Bosco appeared in the bedroom doorway.
I said, “Come here, fella. I’ve been neglecting you lately.”
