“Times were different then. I can hear the arguments now—a new broom, a clean sweep, some fresh blood. And they’d be right to say it.”
“You’ve got more of a standing in this community than you realize, Merry. People admire you—and what’s more, they trust you.”
She regarded him dubiously. “Are you being selfless again?”
“Oh, probably.”
“Do you have any idea how much time it would take to run the entire force?”
“I’ve tried not to think about it. What matters is that you’ve been working toward this your entire life, whether you admit it now or not.”
She was silent for a while, the muffin forgotten.
Chapter Thirty-seven
John Folger, the chief of Nantucket’s police for more than twenty years, resigned his position at nine A.M. on Wednesday, December 11. It was remarked that he had chosen an odd moment for his decision—on the heels of a dramatic drug bust and the closure of a vicious homicide investigation—but perhaps, the island sages said, the Chief knew when to leave. Better men than he had waited for failure to force their hands, John had departed at the peak of his powers.
Most of the force’s twenty-odd members gathered to hear him. His father and daughter stood by his side. Sue Morningstar, who covered the final press conference for the Inky Mirror, was certain she saw a tear on Detective Meredith Folger’s face; but perhaps it was an effect of the numerous flashbulbs. Afterward, Sue tackled Merry in the station hallway.
“This was all about scallops? Not about heroin at all?”
“I’ll give you an exclusive, Sue. Come on upstairs.”
• • •
Weeks passed. The Unitarian minister’s Christmas madrigals were declared a magnificent success, and he appeared quite splendid in a Nantucket Magazine photo spread, wearing his cranberry-colored sweater vest. He rang out the year with the church’s famous bell, on a January night of brittle coldness.
The decorations came down slowly from the Mayhew House’s walls. Laurie Hopfnagel departed for a job on the mainland.
Shops closed. Shop owners flew gladly to the Virgin Islands. Bad weather set in, in earnest, and the ferries were docked as often as they ran. The cobblestones of Main Street were covered in snow, and schoolchildren sledded gleefully down its abandoned length.
The state crime lab’s analysis of tissue from the bodies of Jay Santorski and Matthew Bailey proved that both died from a massive dose of neurotoxin, derived from scallops and injected into the bloodstream. Hannah Moore’s fingerprints—lifted from the gloves found on the harbor bottom—tied her conclusively to the murders.
The bodies of the two men were finally released for burial. The story was eventually displaced by others—like Fred McIlhenney’s masterful appearance in the witness box and Marty Johansen’s conviction on charges of cocaine possession. But a registered nurse in Boston—and one orphaned twelve-year-old boy, pulled abruptly from school and relocated to Newton—found it impossible to forget Hannah Moore. Or the men they had lost.
Paul Winslow left his clinic in the Berkshires and applied to Boston University, claiming an interest in law.
Jorie Daugherty applied to Georgetown, and accepted Will Starbuck’s invitation to the Prom.
Will applied to Princeton. It is as yet uncertain whether he will be accepted there; but a glowing alumni recommendation from Peter Mason may help.
The Inky Mirror promoted Sue Morningstar, on the strength of a New England journalism award for a three-part series covering the Toxin Murders, as they came to be called.
When Sue moved out of the house on Pilot Whale Drive, Barry Cohen lacked the heart to replace her. He continued to deliver babies during low-pressure systems, which were frequent and prolonged that winter.
Charles Moore’s estate running down to the sea was quietly put up for sale. The Quonset huts were dismantled and hauled away. A large quantity of scallop spawn was discreetly destroyed—although some of it found its sway to Dr. Melrose Taylor, and the Rinehart Coastal Research Center.
Charles Moore died in prison.
The Board of Selectmen’s search for a new police chief is ongoing. Clarence Strangerfield was named acting chief in mid-December, and has considered applying for the position; but he is uncertain whether Meredith Folger has already done so, and he regards the question as delicate. Clarence is aging himself; and he has a vague notion that what the force needs is young blood. He has no wish, moreover, to compete with a woman he has loved and respected since her birth.
And he misses his evidence room, where Nat Coffin is presently wreaking havoc.
Merry Folger and Peter Mason departed the island themselves in late January, for a long-delayed vacation in Manhattan. And as they were browsing among the bewildering wealth of china patterns displayed about Tiffany’s upper floors, Merry suddenly stopped short and clasped Peter’s hand.
“That looks like my grandmother Sylvie’s,” she said, pointing to a plate encircled with birds and flowers, vaguely Japanese.
“It does?”
“You hate it, don’t you?”
“Not at all. I’m merely surprised. It’s so … so …”
“Elegant? So unlike me?”
“… so much what my mother would have chosen,” Peter finished, with a smirk.
Merry’s black eyebrows furled dangerously. “Don’t make me hurt you, Peter. I must and will have it.”
“Then Sylvie’s it is.” Peter turned the plate to the light, enjoying the porcelain’s thinness and delicate wash of color. “Does this mean we can finally set a date?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FRANCINE MATHEWS has worked as a journalist and as a foreign policy analyst. She has written four novels in the mystery series featuring Merry Folger, including Death in the Off-Season, Death in Rough Water, and Death in A Mood Indigo. Under the name Stephanie Barron, she is the author of four novels in the bestselling Jane Austen mysteries, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, Jane and the Man of the Cloth, Jane and the Wandering Eye, and Jane and the Genius of the Place.
She lives in Colorado, where she is at work on a suspense novel, The Cut-Out.
If you enjoyed Francine Mathews’
DEATH IN A COLD HARD LIGHT,
you won’t want to miss any of the novels in this exciting series.
Look for DEATH IN A MOOD INDIGO available in paperback at your favorite bookstore.
And don’t miss Francine Mathews’ brilliant new thriller,
THE CUT-OUT
Coming soon in hardcover from Bantam Books!
DEATH IN A COLD HARD LIGHT
A Bantam Book
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1998 by Francine Mathews.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97–44253.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.
eISBN: 978-0-307-56938-7
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.
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