‘That’s right,’ Skee said belligerently. ‘We were in the sack, Daddy-O. Not out killing people.’
Eight
‘Only recently eagles have been upgraded from an endangered to a threatened species,’ Lyon said as he drove. ‘I guess they’re not going to die out after all.’
‘Kill them all and let God sort them out,’ said the boy in the seat next to him. His gasping asthmatic breathing began. Rebba handed him his inhaler from the back seat. ‘I think I’m allergic to this Big Buddy, just like the last one,’ Edward said when he was able to talk.
‘Oh, boy,’ Lyon said softly.
Rebba leaned forward and gently touched Lyon’s shoulder. ‘Isn’t he precocious, Lyon?’
‘You could say that,’ Lyon said. He decided to press grimly forward with his lecture. ‘The female eagles often go fourteen pounds and the males nine.’
‘Guess we know which bird gets on top,’ the boy said as he flipped the inhaler over his shoulder to his mother.
‘Now you stop that, Edward,’ Rebba said. ‘Mr. Wentworth probably does not like that kind of talk.’
‘He’s not my father, he’s a Big Buddy,’ the boy answered. ‘Where are we going?’
‘To the state forest. It’s not far from here.’
‘I don’t want to go there. Can’t we go someplace else? Aren’t we supposed to play baseball or something?’
‘You don’t play baseball, Edward,’ his mother chided from the back seat.
‘I don’t play the game very well myself,’ Lyon said with a smile at the boy.
‘Big deal.’ Edward flapped his hand so that his loose fingers flipped back and forth. ‘What do you play, Went?’
‘I was on the lacrosse team in prep school and college.’
‘What’s that?’
‘It has a goal net and sticks with nets on them. Actually, it derives from an old American Indian game. You know, that’s something we can do! My old school, Greenfield Academy, is playing Choate next Saturday. We’ll drive up there for the game and I can explain the rules as we watch.’
‘Isn’t Greenfield in Massachusetts, Mr. Wentworth?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘I don’t think I could allow you to take my son out of state.’
‘If Edward and I are going to work this out, you have to cut us some slack, Mrs. Dirk.’
‘I remember your daughter’s death since it coincided with Edward’s birth.’
He had a strong suspicion concerning the thrust of her thinking. He was astonished at her lack of consideration and compassion. He took a moment before answering. ‘It was a hit-and-run accident near the green.’
‘She was playing unsupervised in the street.’
He resented the implication. No wonder the morose boy by his side had problems. He was not about to argue that their daughter was not unsupervised.
‘Your daughter was an only child, so I know you can appreciate how protective I am of Edward,’ Rebba continued.
‘Yes, she was an only child,’ Lyon finally answered. Her attempt to rescue the inadvertent statement was inadequate. ‘Perhaps you need another Big Buddy, Mrs. Dirk. One who’s more careful with children in his charge.’
‘You seem to be our last chance, Mr. Wentworth.’
He knew this to be true. They passed the driveway to Nutmeg Hill and proceeded toward the dirt road that led into the state forest. He parked at a pull-off a hundred yards into the woods and reached under the seat for the binoculars. ‘Here we are,’ he announced cheerfully.
‘I don’t like it here,’ Edward said as his small fingers clutched the dashboard. ‘This place is scary.’
Lyon examined the surrounding woods in an attempt to perceive them through the eyes of a frightened boy. It had rained recently. Lush spring foliage was luxuriantly green. Deadfalls of clustered brush and fallen tree limbs created by heavy snow were still bare without their future moss covering. Glacial rocks, some the size of a tall man, were strewn in a haphazard pattern as if they were dropped grains of sand filtered through a giant’s fist.
Although he knew that a dead body had recently been discovered in the area, the woods now seemed a benign place. The forest was a habitat that would be comfortable for Bambi, Thumper, Flower, and other forest friends so dear to children.
‘There are deer in here,’ Lyon said. ‘But it’s the wrong time of day to see them.’
‘There are ghosts here.’
He looked sharply at the boy. ‘Have you been out here before?’
‘He’s just a very sensitive youngster,’ Rebba immediately answered. ‘Wasn’t that girl’s body found somewhere near here?’
‘That could have happened anywhere in town.’
‘Edward senses those things.’
‘Well, be that as it will.’ Lyon forced an exuberant enthusiasm. ‘Let’s go find us some eagles!’
‘You two go on without me,’ Rebba said. ‘I have hose and heels on and am hardly prepared to cavort in the woods. Just make sure you stay within voice range. If Edward should fall, hose or not, I want to be able to come immediately.’
Lyon took the boy’s hand and led him down the road. ‘Keep a sharp eye.’
‘Not too far,’ Rebba yelled after them from the car.
‘You got a cig, Went?’
‘A cigarette?’
‘You hard of hearing or is English your third language?’ the boy asked. ‘A cigarette. A butt.’
‘I don’t smoke,’ Lyon said as the boy yanked his hand from his.
‘That figures. Where are the damn birds?’
Lyon briefly considered telling the kid that eagles often ate little boys, but he imagined that would be considered bad form in the Big Buddy manual of conduct. He pushed on with bird lore. ‘An eagle can have a six-foot wingspan and fly forty-five miles an hour,’ he prattled on, distracted by the memory of his heated phone conversation with Rocco the night before.
‘Mildred did what with the gun?’ Rocco had exploded after Lyon recounted his interview with the widow Rashish and her young lover.
‘She dropped it in the river from the Hadlyme Ferry.’
‘Jesus! We could dredge for a month and never find it,’ the chief had snorted.
‘She and Skee claim they were in the sack together during the time of the murder.’
‘That kid gets around a lot.’
‘You could say that he is sexually active,’ Lyon had replied.
‘I think I had better bring them both in for a lean-on party.’
‘Separately?’ Lyon asked.
‘God, yes. I don’t interview lovers together during murder investigations.’
‘Good luck,’ Lyon had said as he hung up.
‘Can we go home now?’ the boy asked, bringing Lyon back to the present. ‘I don’t see any big birds.’
Lyon saw its shadow on the ground first. He jerked his head up and snapped the binoculars to his eyes. He didn’t need their magnification. The huge bird, whose wings seemed over seven feet in length, swooped across the tree tops in an effortless glide. ‘Look,’ he said.
‘I see it,’ the boy whispered.
They watched in awe as the eagle swooped off the cliffs and dove directly toward the Connecticut River. It pulled up at the last moment and skimmed the surface. Lost its prey, Lyon thought. He glanced down at the silent boy.
Edward looked at the bird through an opening in the trees with complete awe and astonishment. His wide eyes reflected the image of the soaring eagle as it returned to the cliffs. His hand slipped back into Lyon’s.
‘Wow.’
By eight the next morning, Lyon had been sitting at his computer for an hour. A small light blinked. His word-processing program was replaced by a dialogue box.
‘You are idle. Do you wish a screen saver?’ the box asked.
He wondered how the Pentium chip would react if he shoved a blunt instrument through the screen.
‘I’m going,’ Bea said from the doorway.
‘Have a nice day,’ he said
automatically without turning.
‘I am trying to salvage my career,’ she replied. ‘And I would remind you that it was a nice day when they hung the town witch on the green.’
‘Stay away from cat familiars, incantations, and the governor of this state,’ he said.
Bea almost chuckled as she left. He watched out the window to see her stride determinedly to her car. Her manner indicated decisions had been made. He hoped they worked.
He ignored the ringing phone until its continued insistence forced him reluctantly to pick up the receiver. ‘Wentworth here.’
‘Guess whose gun fired the fatal shots into those two women?’ Rocco said without preamble.
‘Billy the Kid’s. Dillinger’s. Bonnie and Clyde. How many guesses do I get?’
‘The state lab just called with a three-way ballistics match. There is a definite match with the slug taken from Boots Anderson, killed in the state forest; Barbara Styles, shot in Saint James church; and a third bullet taken from a man’s body last year.’
‘A man here in town?’
‘It was plucked out of my rear.’
‘You were shot by Wiff Stamen during last year’s First Federal hold-up.’
‘How well I remember. Get down here! I’ve resurrected the surveillance camera photos from that little incident.’
‘Wait a minute. How did Wiff escape maximum security?’
‘I’m so damn paranoid that I called the warden of Somers Prison. He tells me that Wiff is still as incorrigible as ever, but was present as of this morning’s head count. Because of his charming personality, they keep him out of the general population and confined to his own private little box. He spends twenty-three hours a day in his cell and is only taken out in shackles.’
‘You are confusing me,’ Lyon said.
‘Get down here fast and we’ll watch movies of yours truly getting shot.’
Within the hour Lyon was stretched out on Rocco’s worn leather couch. The chief tilted back in his swivel chair and plunked his size sixteens on the desk. Patrolman Jamie Martin cursed under his breath as he attached a VCR to a TV on a wooden table in the corner of the room.
‘How was your interview with Mildred and Skee?’ Lyon asked.
‘I don’t know what to believe,’ Rocco replied. ‘When she talks about her lover, Mildred’s shark eyes glaze over like she’s describing a large tuna fish. That boy must have real talent.’
Jamie Martin finished his connections and held up a tape cassette. ‘Ready, Chief?’
‘Let’s see movies, Jamie.’
‘Right.’ The patrolman switched on the sets and shoved the tape into its slot.
‘You are about to see state-of-the-art surveillance film,’ Rocco said. ‘Harry Slavit, CEO of the bank, is also the owner of the Murphysville Radio Shack franchise. Mucho bank money has been spent on electronic wizardry.’
‘I didn’t know Harry had his finger in that pie,’ Lyon said as the edited film began.
The initial camera sweeps of the bank interior made it apparent that robberies were a rarity in Murphysville, Connecticut. There were no armed security guards in the lobby. There were no sheets of bullet-proof glass separating tellers from customers. A chest-high counter with wide openings by each teller divided customer from money handler.
On the right side of the lobby was the platform containing four desks: two for bank officers and two for senior clerks. Harry Slavit’s executive office had a glass partition separating it from the rest of the banking floor. On the far left was a comfortable grouping of chairs around a fireplace.
‘It’s the handgun we’re interested in,’ Rocco said. ‘Wiff’s damn gun.’
A camera mounted over the front entrance showed a rear view of several customers standing patiently in lines before the tellers. Those photographs captured the routine look of the tellers as they went about a day’s ordinary business. The next series of pictures captured the rear view of a man in jeans and a blue work shirt entering the bank. A switch to the surveillance cameras mounted above the tellers showed the newest customer’s approach to the counter. He had a handgun clenched in his right fist. His face was covered with a ski mask. He pushed past a customer and shoved the gun in a woman teller’s face.
The entrance camera showed an enlarged facial shot of the frightened teller in front of the gunman. Her eyes were wide in terror. Her hands shook as she filled a paper bag with money.
‘She’s so damn scared she forgot the dye-marked decoy,’ Rocco said in a low voice.
Lyon knew that he referred to a special package of bills that each teller kept in their drawer. This money was primed to explode outside the bank and cover the bandit with red dye.
Another camera shot from above the tellers showed Wiff tearing off his ski mask to reveal feral features. His thin lips were pulled back from blackened teeth. His grimace turned into a triumphant smile. His look announced that he was in command. His godlike bearing had them all cowering before his awesome power. He was enjoying this complete control.
‘That son of a bitch!’ Rocco said. ‘He put that teller, Linda, in Middleburg General’s psychiatric wing for three hysterical weeks.’
Wiff stuffed the bag of money inside his shirt and turned to wave the weapon at the other customers. They knew from the incident reports that he was screeching in a high falsetto. ‘Everyone on the floor! Bite dirt, scum bags.’
It was time for Rocco’s innocent entrance. He came through the front door examining his monthly pay check. Wiff’s first shot shattered the door glass to Rocco’s right.
Rocco dropped to one knee and drew his Trooper Mk. V Magnum in one fluid movement. The film showed his weapon’s recoil as he fired.
Wiff fired a second time almost simultaneously with Rocco’s shot. A moment later he threw up his hands and clutched his stomach. He staggered two steps before he fell face forward.
‘Wish I’d killed the scum,’ Rocco said. ‘Now you know why Martha makes me wear that damn breastplate.’
In the bank film, Rocco walked carefully over to the fallen bandit and stood over him. He levelled the Trooper Magnum at Wiff’s head and knelt to begin handcuffing the man’s hands behind his back.
It was at that moment that Rocco seemed to jerk slightly forward. He quickly regained his equilibrium and finished cuffing his prisoner.
Lyon catapulted to his feet. ‘Reverse the film! Take it back to where Rocco makes his entrance.’
‘OK,’ the patrolman said as he rewound the film a bit and then started it forward again.
‘What did you see?’ Rocco asked.
‘When you were shot.’
‘It was Wiff’s second shot. The first shattered the window. The second got me in the rear end.’ Rocco stopped stock-still. ‘That’s impossible. Everything happened so quickly. I have always assumed it was that second shot.’
‘I think there was a third shot,’ Lyon said. ‘When Wiff fired, he … Look at it again.’
They watched Rocco come through the door again. Wiff fired. Rocco dropped to his knee and shot at the robber. Wiff fired again and then fell.
‘I think that second shot of Wiff’s went through the large hole made by the broken glass,’ Lyon said. ‘There was no way that second shot could hit you in the backside.’
‘The bullet struck a hard surface and ricochetted back to get me?’ Rocco suggested.
‘Didn’t the state lab guys search for ricochet marks?’
‘Sure, but they could have missed it.’
‘Unlikely unless it passed outside through the window,’ Lyon said. ‘But, seconds later, when you were bending over Wiff …’
Rocco nodded. ‘When I was cuffing him I gave that slight jerk. You know, during that whole incident I had an adrenalin rush. You probably could have run over me with a train and I wouldn’t have noticed until later. If Wiff didn’t shoot me, who in the hell did?’
‘Whoever picked up his pistol,’ Lyon answered. ‘Look.’ They rewound the film and played it again. Wiff fel
l face forward and his handgun spun across the bank floor.
‘We never did recover the weapon,’ Rocco said. ‘We knew someone picked it up, but we could never find out who.’
They played the film from the beginning to view the bank’s customers immediately prior to the attempted hold-up.
‘My God!’ Rocco said as the cameras slowly panned around the lobby. ‘It’s a damn menagerie of our suspects.’
Skee Rumford was first in line at the right-hand teller’s booth. Immediately behind him stood Canon Mead MacIntire of Saint James Church. Mildred and Eddy Rashish were together behind the canon.
To the far left Spook clutched his monthly disability check while Judge Styles glared at the veteran with repugnance.
When Wiff turned and ordered everyone to the floor, a camera showed Rebba Dirk huddled against the writing counter in a far corner. A man and woman, who could not be identified, were also in the lobby of the bank that morning. The four bank employees on the platform seemed out of range for obtaining the spinning handgun.
‘One of those people picked up Wiff’s piece,’ Rocco said.
‘And shot you with it,’ Lyon added.
‘No one reported a third shot,’ Rocco said.
‘Including you, who didn’t even realize exactly when he was shot,’ Lyon countered. ‘Our gun collector has now managed to kill two women with the same weapon.’
Nine
Ashley Towers was on the telephone with the manager of the Middleburg Escort Service. She angrily tapped bare toes against the floor under the phone table.
‘I’m telling you, Baby Dumpling, this story is worth at least ten thou to the tabloids … Just because I know it is. People in that OJ thing got paid millions. I had a congressman in the sack who was the husband of the governor of this state. He went out like a light right in the middle of it … I told you I didn’t get paid. He was a regular and I trusted him … Come on, Baby. I know the rules about payment in advance, but he was a congressman … What do you mean, that’s even more reason for money up front?… Now, how much can we get from the tabs? I’ll even do some dirty pictures for them … What do you mean, nothing? They won’t shut you down … Well, in that case, maybe I’ll just get a literary agent and write a book.’ She slammed the phone down with a flourish that was followed by a flipped finger at the inanimate object.
Death in the Secret Garden Page 9
