by James Carol
17
The general store was back along Main, a couple of doors down from the diner. The paintwork was peeling but, unlike the diner, the windows had been cleaned. Mendoza followed Winter inside, the bell above their heads jangling brightly.
The woman at the till was in her early twenties and clearly related to Lester Reed. The only photograph Winter had seen was the one on the front page of the Hartwood Gazette, but there was no doubt in his mind. They had the same wide eyes, the same blonde hair. The younger sister was his best guess. There was no jewellery whatsoever, no necklace, no bracelet, no rings, not even a watch. No make-up, either. She was wearing a baggy denim shirt and faded jeans.
Mendoza flashed her badge and the woman smiled nervously. One of her front teeth was slightly crooked, but rather than detract from her beauty it enhanced it. A perfect imperfection. A glance for Mendoza, a slightly longer one for Winter.
‘How can I help?’
‘You’re Lester Reed’s sister?’ Winter asked her.
A nod.
‘What’s your name?’
‘Hailey.’ She frowned. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, what’s this all about?’
‘Where are your parents? We’d like to talk to them.’
‘They’re on vacation. I’m looking after the store while they’re out of town. Can I help?’
Mendoza moved in front of Winter. ‘We’d like to know more about Lester.’
‘Lester? Why?’
‘His name has come up in connection with an investigation we’re working.’
‘I’m sorry there must be some mistake. Lester’s dead. His wife too. They were murdered.’ She struggled with that last sentence, the words trailing into a staccato whisper. Even now, six years on, the pain was still there.
‘We’re aware of that.’
‘How could he be involved? I don’t understand. How did his name come up in the first place?’
‘The investigation is ongoing, so I can’t answer that.’
‘Do we have to do this now?’
‘It would really help us out.’
‘I spoke to the police at the time and told them everything I knew. I don’t see how I can help.’
‘All we need is five minutes.’
‘Look I’m really busy. I’ve got loads to do.’
The way she said this made it sound like the end of the conversation. Winter glanced around but couldn’t see anything so urgent that it couldn’t wait five minutes. Her reluctance had nothing to do with a packed schedule and everything to do with her revisiting a whole load of painful memories that she’d spent the last six years trying to escape from.
‘Hailey,’ he said softly. She turned her head to face him. ‘Do you mind if I call you Hailey?’
She nodded reluctantly.
‘A man was murdered this morning. He had a wife and two children. Right now, they’re going through the exact same emotional process that you went through six years ago. Do you remember that? The shock, the denial, the anger? Somewhere later down the line they’ll want answers. They’ll want to know how this happened. You must remember that, too. That almost obsessive need to find out what happened?’ He paused a moment to let her process this. ‘Our job is to try and find those answers, but to do that we need your help. Now, I know this is painful for you, but all we’re asking for is a couple of minutes of your time.’
Hailey was looking down at the counter like the scratches scored into the surface were the most interesting things she’d ever seen. Winter could see the tears threatening to break loose. She looked up and gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘So how would you describe your brother?’
‘Funny, clever. He was kind, too.’
The line felt rehearsed. It was an automated response informed by the need to protect Lester’s memory rather than anything truthful, or useful. ‘I’m sure he was all those things, but I’m betting that he annoyed the hell out of you as a kid? After all, that’s what big brothers do.’
Hailey went to say something, then stopped. She glanced over Winter’s shoulder towards the shadows and cobwebs in the corner of the store. Her face was filled with sadness, eyes still heavy with tears.
‘What are you thinking?’ he asked gently.
‘I guess he could be a pain at times.’
She paused in a way that made it obvious she had more to say. Winter kept his mouth shut and waited.
‘Whenever he got into trouble he always managed to make it look like it was my fault,’ she said eventually. ‘And my parents adored him, so they always sided with him. I lost count of the number of times I got blamed for things he did.’
‘Give me an example.’
She went quiet again for a second. ‘Okay, when he was thirteen, he started stealing from the store. Candy bars, cans of soda, that sort of thing. He was taking them into school and selling them to his buddies. My father realised that this stuff was missing, and Lester managed to convince him that I was responsible. It didn’t matter what I said, he wouldn’t listen. I got grounded for a month.’
‘How did that make you feel?’
‘Angry, but there was nothing I could do. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, and it wouldn’t be the last. That’s just the way things were. Lester would do something wrong, and I got the blame.’
‘I’m guessing your plan was to get out of Hartwood at the first opportunity.’
Hailey let loose with a tiny humourless half-laugh. ‘Yeah, that was the plan.’
Winter leant against the counter, closing the distance between them. ‘Where were you headed?’
‘Chicago. I was trying to get into college there. My boyfriend at the time was a bit older, and that’s where he’d gone.’
‘And then Lester was murdered.’
Hailey nodded. ‘We all fell apart when that happened. Mom and Dad totally went to pieces. For a while I practically ran the store. If I hadn’t it would probably have shut down.’ She shrugged, then let loose with another of those small laughs. ‘And, look, I’m still here.’
‘You never made it to Chicago, did you?’
A slow shake of the head. ‘No.’
‘What happened to the boyfriend?’
‘He was there for me when I needed him most, but in the end the sadness got too much for him and we broke up. I don’t blame him, though. I couldn’t have been easy to deal with. And it wasn’t like I could just up and leave my mom and dad. Families have to stick together, right?’
Family. The word momentarily threw Winter. He’d been on his own for so long he could barely remember what it meant to be part of a family. After his dad was caught, his mother had become a totally different person. He’d tried to keep things as normal as he could, and some days he actually managed to pull it off. Those were the days when he didn’t come home from school to find her passed out on the sofa, the days when she didn’t make him sit opposite the extra place that had been set for his father at the dinner table.
This was the heart-breaking reality of the ripple effect. The spotlight always fell on the primary victims, but what about the secondary victims? The partners, parents and loved ones? They’d survived the blast, but there was never any guarantee they were going to survive the aftermath. If ever he needed a reminder of that all he had to do was look at Hailey Reed.
18
Mendoza walked over to one of the shelves, her feet tapping gently against the wooden floorboards. She picked up a bag of potato chips, studied the label for a second, then put it back on the wrong shelf.
‘Is it true that Lester and Melanie had known each other since kindergarten?’ she asked.
Hailey smiled like she actually meant it. ‘It’s true. It was like they were made for each other.’
‘What was she like?’
‘Mel was basically the nicest person you’d ever want to meet.’
Mendoza raised an eyebrow.
‘I’m serious. Ask anyone around here and
they’ll tell you the exact same thing. And I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking I’m just saying this because she’s dead. I’m not.’ A couple of tears slid slowly down Hailey’s cheeks. She wiped them away with the backs of her hands, then rubbed her eyes and swallowed hard. ‘She would have made a great mom.’
‘She would have,’ Winter agreed. ‘It was Melanie who painted the mural in the nursery, right?’
‘You’ve been in the house?’
He nodded.
‘They should bulldoze that house into the ground. I haven’t been there in years. I can’t bear to even look at the place. My father tried to sell it, but after what happened, nobody wanted to live there. I mean, who would? When it became clear that it wasn’t going to sell he had it boarded up. He didn’t even bother to clear the place out, just left it how it was after the murders. I take it all their stuff was still there.’
‘It was.’
Hailey shook her head. For a moment it looked as though she might start crying again. ‘Mel loved that house. So did my brother. They should be living there now, bringing up their kids. It’s just not fair.’
‘I was impressed with the mural. Melanie clearly had talent.’
‘Yeah, she did. She loved to paint.’
‘I get the sense that her and Lester were old for their years. I mean, twenty-one’s young to be starting a family.’
Hailey almost smiled, but the sadness won out. ‘We used to joke that Lester was born middle-aged. Was it a surprise that he wanted to marry his high school sweetheart? No. Was it a surprise that he wanted to have kids and stay in Hartwood? Again the answer’s no. Most people want to get out of this place as soon as they can.’
‘So he wasn’t a party animal then?’
This time she did smile. ‘You could say that.’
‘Do Melanie’s parents still live in Hartwood?’
The smile faltered and the sadness returned. She shook her head. ‘The last I heard her mom had moved back to Kansas City. That’s where she was originally from.’
‘Divorce or death?’ Winter asked softly.
‘Her father was hit hard. He died three years ago. They said it was a heart attack, but I think it was a broken heart. After Mel died he just kind of faded away.’
‘Did Lester and Melanie have many friends?’
‘Plenty. Everyone loved them.’
‘Everyone except Nelson Price,’ Mendoza put in. ‘So how well did your brother know Nelson?’
Hailey crossed her arms. ‘Nobody really knew Nelson. Come to that, nobody really knew any of the Prices.’
‘Nelson was the same age as your brother?’
A nod. ‘They went to school together. He was in the same grade as Lester and Melanie.’
‘Did your brother or Melanie ever mention him? For example, did they ever argue or fight, anything like that?’
Hailey shook her head. ‘I went through all of this with the police at the time. No arguments, no fights. Nelson didn’t register on my brother’s radar, not even a little bit. Mel was kind to everyone, but even she barely spoke to Nelson.’
‘But she did speak to him.’
‘Maybe once or twice, if that. Mel was the sort of person who’d find a bird with a broken wing and want to nurse it better. She’d always try to find the good in a person.’
‘What was Nelson like?’ Winter asked.
Hailey hesitated, searching for the right words. ‘He just kind of drifted through high school like a ghost. If you weren’t looking straight at him you wouldn’t have known he was there.’ She hesitated again, her face screwed up into a frown, then shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, I’m not making much sense.’
‘Can you think of any reason why Nelson would want to kill Lester and Melanie?’ Winter asked. ‘Anything at all? And take a second before answering.’
Another hesitation, another shake of the head. ‘I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anything back then, and I can’t think of anything now. As far as I know Lester and Mel had nothing to do with Nelson. The attack was completely random.’
‘What about Amelia Price? Is there anything you can tell me about her?’
‘Only that she was a ghost too. As far as I know she still lives out on the edge of town, but I haven’t seen her for years.’
‘Do many people manage to escape from Hartwood?’
Hailey almost laughed at that. ‘It’s occasionally been known to happen.’
Winter held his hand up. ‘The woman I’m looking for is this tall. She’s thin, and she was a little bit older than Melanie and Lester, which means she’ll be in her late twenties now.’
Hailey was shaking her head. ‘Sorry, I can’t think of anyone. Is there anything else you can tell me about her?’
‘She’s confident and arrogant, someone who wouldn’t take kindly to being told what to do.’
Another shake of the head. ‘Sorry.’
The bell above the door tinkled and they turned towards the sound. A middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair was standing in the doorway, watching them suspiciously. He was wearing denim jeans and heavy work boots, and his red plaid shirt was mostly hidden by his waterproof coat.
‘Everything okay, Hailey?’ he asked as he walked up to the counter.
‘Everything’s fine, Carl.’
‘Are you sure? You look like you’ve been crying.’
‘I’m fine. I promise. These folks are from the New York Police Department. They were just asking me some questions.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Carl stared at Winter and Mendoza. ‘You’re a long way from New York.’
Winter smiled. ‘Three hundred miles, give or take.’
‘Is that supposed to be funny?’
‘Are you always so suspicious of the police? You know, you’d think it would be the other way round. Maybe we should be suspicious of you. After all, you look like a man with plenty to hide.’
Carl went to say something to Winter and Hailey put her hand up to stop him.
‘It’s okay,’ she told him.
‘You sure?’
‘I’m sure.’
A beat of silence. ‘I’ll have a pack of my smokes, please.’
The words were aimed at Hailey, but Carl’s eyes didn’t leave Winter’s. He paid for his cigarettes, pushed the pack into his jacket pocket, then turned and headed for the door. The bell tinkled, a blast of cold rushed in, then the door banged shut again.
‘Sorry about that,’ said Hailey. ‘Carl can be a little overprotective sometimes. People around here tend to look out for one another. Most times that’s a good thing.’
‘But not always,’ Winter finished for her.
‘Sometimes it can get a bit much,’ she agreed.
Winter walked over to the shelves and picked up four Snickers bars for himself. On the way back to the till, he lifted up the bag of chips that Mendoza had moved earlier and put it back on the correct shelf. He found his wallet and laid down a twenty-dollar bill.
‘Don’t worry about the change.’
Hailey reached for the money and put it in the till.
‘Do you have to travel out of town to get your supplies?’
She frowned. ‘What?’
‘When you’re low on stock do you get deliveries, or do you have to drive somewhere to pick stuff up?’
‘We get deliveries from Rochester on Tuesday and Friday mornings.’
‘So Lester never travelled when he worked here?’
She laughed. ‘Lester never travelled anywhere.’
‘There was no way that Lester could have met someone outside of the town then?’
‘Like a woman, you mean? No! No way! He wouldn’t do that. He loved Mel.’
Winter nodded. ‘And sometimes people do things they shouldn’t, even when they love someone.’
‘You’re wrong. Way off the mark. They were in love. Ask anyone. The year before they died had been hard on both of them. Mel had two miscarriages, so she was in a bad way, and Lester didn’t know what to do. But they
sorted it out, and they were so happy. And then they died.’ Tears filled her eyes but she ignored them. ‘I didn’t know it until afterwards but Mel was pregnant. She’d never made it to the second trimester with either of the other pregnancies.’ The tears turned into a sob. ‘That baby was all they ever wanted.’
‘What about Melanie? Did she ever go out of town on her own?’
‘What! You think that Mel was having an affair now! Weren’t you listening? They loved each other and they were having a baby together.’ She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. ‘I think I’d like you to leave now.’
Winter didn’t move. Hailey’s face was a mix of emotions, part anger and a lot of sadness. The tears that had been threatening since they got here were now flowing freely.
‘Please,’ she whispered. ‘Just go.’
19
Winter sat on the kerb outside the store staring past a parked car, not really seeing anything. Mendoza was still inside, no doubt doing her best to calm Hailey down. Five minutes and counting. He hadn’t wanted to push so hard, but they were questions that needed to be asked. Sometimes the break came from asking the questions that nobody wanted to ask. Not often, but it did occasionally happen. Given how popular and loved Lester and Melanie had been, he doubted those questions had been asked at the time of the murders.
In the distance, the street hung to the right before disappearing altogether. He could see their BMW parked outside the station house. Winter could imagine what Birch and Peterson were up to. Birch would be sat there on his fat ass, while Peterson kept him fuelled up on coffee and doughnuts. Winter took out his cell and dialled the police department’s number. Peterson answered after a couple of rings and he asked to speak to Birch.
The line clicked and a computerised version of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik drifted through the static. He hated hearing Mozart being brutalised like this. It was like all the life had been sucked out of it. Another click, then Birch said, ‘What is it now?’
‘I was just wondering if you’d found that file yet.’
‘We’re still looking.’
‘That’s good to hear. As soon as it turns up, I want to see it.’
