Found Art (Maine Justice Book 3)

by Susan Page Davis

  “This might make a good project for my class,” I said.

  “Sure. Just don’t let things lag. If the students aren’t making quick progress, clean it up yourself.”

  “Will do.” I nodded toward the seascape on the wall. “By the way, your Turner print is worth seven hundred fifty dollars.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “I do. And the fishing one by Tom Sparr has appreciated. When did Sharon buy it?”

  “Three or four years ago.”

  I nodded. “You could sell it today for four hundred.”

  “We didn’t buy it as an investment,” he said. “I just liked it.”

  “Well, that’s the way to pick art, I guess. I’m just sayin’.”

  “About your evaluations ...” He opened a folder. I recognized my report, with the sticky note on top. “Eddie’s perfect now?”

  I shrugged. “Didn’t mean to imply that. He’s a good cop all around.”

  “Yes, he is. Maybe a bit impetuous?”

  “A bit, and I said so. Not as much as he was six months ago. Three months, even.”

  “How does he handle the public?”

  “The public loves him.”

  “Hasn’t offended anyone lately?”

  “Only the girls he hasn’t called for a second date.”

  Mike rubbed his chin. “His reports any better than they used to be?”

  “What, you want me to criticize his punctuation and grammar?”

  “No, although I’ll bet he hasn’t mastered it yet. I was thinking of completeness.”

  “I’ve tried to show him how to improve in that area.”

  “And has he?”

  “Yes, I think so. Some.”

  “Then say so. ‘Shows improvement in paperwork.’ Something like that.”

  “Who’s going to look at this report?”

  “You never know.”

  I sat back in my chair, thinking. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “I’ve had an inquiry.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. “What kind of inquiry? What are you talking about?”

  “I’m not supposed to say anything.”

  “Mike!”

  “It’s nothing bad. Somebody was wondering about offering him a new position.”

  “Within this department?”

  “No. In another city.” Mike closed the folder.

  I eyed him warily. “Does Eddie know about this? Because he hasn’t—”

  “I would say he doesn’t. You guys are so close, he’ll probably come to you the minute the bomb drops. That’s if it does. Maybe nothing will come of it.”

  “You’ve recommended Eddie for a different job, and he doesn’t know about it?”

  I stood up and walked slowly over to the windows. The same view I had, but ten feet higher. I could see the roof of the law office across Franklin.

  When I could speak, I said slowly, “How could you do this to me?”

  “To you? I’m not doing anything to you. I’m doing something for Eddie.”

  “No, you’re not. You can’t mess with somebody’s career like that, without asking him.”

  “They’ll ask him if they decide they want him.”

  “But he should know they’re considering him, whatever it’s for. You gave them his name. You’re going to show them his records.” I turned around. Mike was leaning back in his chair, looking at the fishing print.

  “Harvey, I’m sorry you’re taking it this way. I wasn’t looking at it like that.”

  “You’re the chief now, Mike. Man, I used to sweat bullets every time someone mentioned the chief, and if I had to come up here for something, I thought I’d have a heart attack.”

  “That the way the men feel about me now?”

  “I hope not. Most of them know you a lot better than we knew Leavitt. But you start acting like this, and it makes me kind of nervous.”

  He stood and walked over and looked down at Franklin Street with me.

  “Mike, you’re not having regrets, are you?” I asked.

  “Sure, all the time.”

  “You hate this office?”

  “No, the office is fine. I just wish I was out there doing stuff. I know what I’m doing now is important. By George, I’ve tried to make sure everything that comes through this office is important. I don’t waste time up here. But I need a deputy, and then Fairfield comes down here and wants to steal my best officer.” He turned and looked me in the eye. “Harv, they wanted you. I can’t let you go. I told them maybe we had somebody almost as good, someone you’ve trained.”

  “What? This is insane.” I just stared at him until I could talk again. He stood there, waiting. “Who wanted me for what?” I demanded.

  “Fairfield is looking for a new chief. I told you, I can’t let you go now. You just took over in Priority.”

  A lot of things went through my mind. “Don’t you think that’s up to me? If I wanted to spend the rest of my career in another city, shouldn’t I be able to say so?”

  “Harvey, please. Calm down. I’m sorry. Really. I think I panicked when they asked me about you.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “Late yesterday. The town manager and two council members came down here. They knew a lot about you. You’ve had a lot of high-profile cases lately.”

  “Not for the last three months. I’ve hardly done anything since I got promoted.”

  “Hardly anything except show that you can run a crackerjack unit. Harvey, I have no deputy chief, and they were going to haul you out of here!”

  “I wouldn’t have gone.”

  “You wouldn’t? You mean that?” He put his hands on my shoulders. “I’m so glad you said that, because I was afraid they’d come to you anyway, even after what I told them.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  He turned away. “Let’s not go there.”

  “Oh, man!” I wanted to skin him alive.

  “No, Harvey, I think we should just forget this. See, I told them it was true, you were really good, but I need you, so I suggested Eddie.”

  “Why didn’t you suggest someone like Terry or Ron? They’re both in management now. Eddie couldn’t be a chief. I couldn’t, either.”

  “It’s a much smaller department. Little town. They wanted you, so I figured Eddie was the closest thing I had to a Harvey Larson clone.”

  “Somerset County, right? Hey, that’s right near Jennifer’s folks. Practically next door to Skowhegan. Maybe I should meet with those guys.”

  “Women. All of them were women.”

  “You don’t say?”

  “Harvey, you wouldn’t move up there just to be near Jennifer’s family, would you?”

  “I think I should at least ask Jennifer about it.”

  “Oh, no. You can’t.”

  “Why can’t I?”

  “You just said you wouldn’t go.”

  I held his gaze and said very distinctly, “Mike, do you know now how wretched I felt when you told me last summer you were going to retire? I thought our unit would collapse. You were very casual about it. ‘You’ll be fine, Harv. You’ll get some new guys in, and everything will be peachy.’”

  He shook his head. “If I could do it now, I’d nominate you for my deputy chief. But the mayor says I can’t.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I just took the Priority Unit. I’m as high up in this building as I want to get. I don’t want to be totally in administration. Do you hear me? I don’t want to be a deputy or a chief, here or elsewhere. I like my job. I’m staying put. Get a grip, Mike. We interviewed three plausible candidates for deputy last week. Close your eyes and pick one.” I turned on my heel and headed for the door.

  “Harvey, wait!”

  I stopped with my hand on the doorknob and turned around.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t usually do things like this,” he said.

  “You’re right. It was totally out of character.”

  “Look, there’s a
guy up in Bangor ... a captain. Maybe we could interview him for my deputy.” Mike looked slightly more hopeful than before.

  “And what about the Fairfield people?” I asked.

  He sighed. “I’ll call the town manager and tell them to buzz off.”

  “If they’re seriously interested in Eddie, you have to tell him and let him decide for himself.”

  “Okay, okay. Can I tell them I asked you, and you’re not interested?”

  “Yes. Or if you’d rather, I’ll call them myself.”

  *****

  I called Fairfield, and the town manager was excited that I had actually made the call. She gushed over my perceived qualifications, my character, my accomplishments. For a fleeting moment, it was tempting. The pay was about the same, maybe a little higher. It was a small town between larger towns. Small department. Lower crime rate. True, they were just coming out of a period of upheaval, but I could sort through that. Jennifer would be within twenty miles of her parents. They would have their grandchildren nearby.

  Then I thought about the flip side. I’d be going to a town tired of scandal, critical of its public officials. Jeff and Abby had just moved to Portland; Abby, at least, because we were there. We’d be leaving our dearest friends. Our church. Jennifer’s doctor. We’d have to give up the house we’d just bought. I’d have to get used to another new job, this time in a strange place with strange people, and with everyone watching me.

  I said no, thank you.

  I was still pretty keyed up over the whole episode. At eleven-thirty, I told Eddie I was leaving and would be back by one. When I got home, Abby was in the kitchen, and Jennifer was having a nap.

  “You’re early,” Abby said with a curious smile.

  “I know, I just needed a dose of Jennifer.”

  “Well, I’ll have lunch ready in twenty minutes.”

  “Perfect.”

  I went through the sunroom to the bedroom, took off my jacket and tie and shoes, and climbed on top of the comforter on my side of the bed. Jennifer opened her eyes, yawning and gorgeous.

  “Hey, sweetheart!” She melted into my arms.

  “Oh, boy, am I glad to see you,” I told her. “The most bizarre thing happened this morning.”

  “Really? What?”

  “I was offered a job as chief of police in Fairfield.” I nuzzled her hair. It smelled like green apples.

  Her eyes flew open and she pushed me away. “Fairfield? That’s—” She eyed me keenly. “You said no, I hope.”

  “I did, but why do you hope?”

  “You’d hate it. You’re already strangling as a captain.”

  “Think so? Should I resign my commission so to speak, and go back to the rank and file?”

  “No, I think you just need less interviewing personnel and evaluation forms, and more sleuthing.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s happening to Mike, too. He’s going berserk in the chief’s office. He needs some action.”

  “Get him in on this art thing. Send him undercover to an art gallery or something.”

  “He’s too well known. They’d spot him in a second. His undercover days are over in this town, I’m afraid.”

  “Too bad. He loves police work.”

  “Maybe I can get him in on a case next week. He thrives on it.”

  “So, you turned Fairfield down?”

  “Like a bedspread, as Bertie Wooster says. Hope you’re not disappointed.”

  “No. It would be nice to be near the folks, but we’re not too far from them now.”

  “I told Mike I have no aspirations to higher management, here or anyplace else.”

  “Good.” She took my hand and placed it on her stomach.

  “Baby kicking yet?” I couldn’t help smiling.

  “I can’t feel it. Not for another month or two, I guess. I’ve been reading.” She reached up and carefully pulled my glasses off. “Thought so.”

  “What?”

  “Your eyes are crinkly. You’re happy.”

  “Extremely happy.”

  Abby knocked on the door. “You guys want room service?”

  *****

  When I got back to the station, Eddie was watching for me in the parking garage. I got out of the Explorer and locked it, and he was beside me.

  “Harvey, the weirdest thing happened right after you left.”

  “What?”

  “I got a call from the town manager in Fairfield. Do you know where that is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, they need a new police chief. She said they wanted to know if I was interested.”

  “What did you say?”

  He laughed. “I said they must have the wrong number. It’s stupid. Me?”

  I smiled. “Maybe not so stupid, Ed. You’re good.”

  “Ha! They obviously haven’t tried to read one of my reports. Imagine me doing evaluations.”

  “That would be pretty strange.”

  “I told her she should call you.”

  I smiled. “I wouldn’t want it, either, Eddie.”

  “You sure?”

  “Positive, but thanks.”

  I did some preliminary work on the computer scam and laid out my lesson plans for the class. Mike called me at four o’clock. “Harv, your class is cut to six people. You can do it in your office.”

  “Who’d we lose?”

  “Terry. He’s … going to Fairfield for an interview Monday.”

  “For real?”

  “Yup.”

  I laughed. “You recommended him?”

  “Yes, I did. And I think he’ll be good at it. I don’t know why I ever thought Eddie could do it. His handwriting is atrocious, and he can’t write a decent paragraph.”

  “He’s getting better.”

  “Well, he’s too young, anyway.”

  I took out my day planner and made myself a note to send Terry a congratulatory gift if he got the job.

  Chapter 10

  Saturday, Oct. 9

  Jennifer woke up feeling terrific on Saturday, and we decided to celebrate. She’d been wanting to go to Fort Knox for a while, and I decided it was now or wait until the next summer. Eddie was wild to go. He’d been once as a fifth-grader. Beth, Jeff, and Abby were all free and wanted to tag along. We put the third seat in my Explorer and packed a picnic. Eddie and Abby scrambled into the back, with Jeff and Beth in the middle and Jennifer and me in front.

  “We haven’t seen half the forts yet,” Jennifer said. We’d planned to get to them all that year, and the lighthouses, too. We hadn’t realized how many there were, or how far flung.

  “Next summer,” I told her. “We still have a lot of places to explore.”

  “We’ll have the baby then.”

  “I’ll carry him,” I promised.

  It was cool and windy near the shore that day, and I kept Jenny bundled up. She had on a sweatshirt and a windbreaker, but I ended up putting my leather bomber jacket on her over it all. Outside the granite walls of the fort, I was freezing even with a sweatshirt on, but inside, out of the wind, it wasn’t too bad.

  We explored the fort together and in pairs, yelling to each other when we found something new. There weren’t many people there that day, and we climbed a spiral granite staircase and sprawled out on the grass-covered roof with our picnic lunch, overlooking the river.

  We found the powder magazines down near the shore. Eddie had remembered them as dungeons. Long underground stairways led down to them from the fort, with dim light bulbs shining at intervals overhead. When we got to the bottom, Jennifer wasn’t sure she wanted to climb back up all those stairs, so we walked outside, examined the batteries and the hot shot furnace, and went around to the front entrance again, and in onto the parade ground.

  Eddie climbed all over the big guns that pointed out at nonexistent warships. Everyone took pictures constantly. It was the best fort yet, we all agreed. Restoration work had been going on during the summer and the long, dark corridors with brick floors no longer had water sloshi
ng in the low spots. Some of the masonry had been repaired. The wooden floors in the officers’ quarters was solid. We went into the underground storage rooms with flashlights and examined the men’s quarters and the bread ovens.

  Finally Jennifer declared she’d had enough, and I sat on the edge of the wall with her downstairs near a big cannon, looking out on the parade ground.

  “Keep me warm,” I said, putting my arm around her.

  “You’d better take your jacket back.”

  “No, as long as you cuddle up, I’m fine.” I still shivered a little. The cold granite we were sitting on didn’t help.

  “There’s Eddie,” she said. He and Abby appeared on the roof, on the opposite side of the parade ground. I waved, and they waved back.

  Jeff and Beth came out of an arched opening to one side, and I whistled. Their heads swiveled toward us, and I waved. They started walking across the grass toward us.

  “Seen enough?” I asked, when they were closer.

  “It’s so neat,” Beth said. “I’d like to come back sometime in the summer.”

  “Yeah, when it’s about ninety degrees.” I stood and gave Jennifer a hand up.

  Eddie and Abby came laughing down the spiral staircase.

  “Your lips are blue, Harvey,” Abby said.

  We all went out and up the trail to the parking lot. I put the heat on, and we headed southwest. Abby made me stop for coffee and cocoa. A large cup of Tim Horton’s helped, and Jennifer leaned on my shoulder. I was finally warm again.

  Back at the house, I turned the furnace up and lit a fire in the fireplace while Abby and Beth heated up frozen pizza. They wouldn’t let Jennifer help, so she went to change her clothes and came out in faded jeans, thick socks, and my old Harvard shirt. I finally shed my sweatshirt as the house reached a comfortable temperature.

  We ate pizza and played a game of Yahtzee. Jennifer leaned sleepily against me toward the end. Beth kept getting after me for not paying attention. It was like old times, bantering with Beth. Finally Abby won the game, and we put it away. I just wanted to be with Jenny, but I didn’t want to toss Jeff and Beth and Eddie out.

  We moved into the kitchen for ice cream sundaes, and Jennifer was definitely feeling well. She ate a huge bowl of ice cream. Afterward, the three women started cleaning up the kitchen, and Jeff, Eddie and I, unchivalrous, sat and watched.