The Priority Unit (Maine Justice Book 1)

by Davis, Susan Page

  Jennifer went with trepidation to Owen’s office. When she knocked, he called for her to come in, and she found to her dismay that Jack Rainey was in the room with him.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Owen.” She stepped forward and raised her chin. “Sir, I wanted to speak to you about the special program. I can’t put it together the way things are. I really need to have all the components at once.” Rainey had turned his back to her and was jingling the change in his pocket as he stared out the window.

  “Well, I don’t know,” Owen said slowly. “Jack, what do you think? Miss Wainthrop seems to be at a stalemate with the program.”

  Rainey whirled, fixing Owen with a steely glare. “You know we’ve agreed to keep it confidential.”

  “But if one person needs to see the whole picture in order to put it together right…” Owen looked expectantly at Jennifer.

  “That’s right,” she said. “I can’t complete the project this way, Mr. Rainey. I’m sorry. If you don’t want me to have all the pieces, then someone else will have to do it.”

  “Oh, here, here,” Owen said quickly. “We don’t question your loyalty. It’s just that this project is very sensitive, and our competitors would give their eye teeth for it. You understand.”

  “Of course.” She looked down at the flash drive in her hands, coming to a decision. She raised her chin once more. “Then I’m very sorry, but I can’t do it. If you insist on keeping it so private, perhaps one of you gentlemen can assemble the components. I don’t see how we can have it ready for the client otherwise.”

  A look volleyed between the two men, and Rainey gave a curt nod. “We’ll contact the client and see what he thinks.”

  Owen smiled in relief. “Of course. If Mr. Massal will give his approval—”

  “Bart,” Rainey said sharply. “We’ll let you know, Miss Wainthrop.”

  Jennifer nodded doubtfully and backed toward the door, more sure than ever that the program was fishy.

  *****

  Harvey didn’t say anything when Mike informed the unit they’d be putting in overtime that night. It came with the job. He’d hoped to see Jennifer but hadn’t made any definite plans.

  “You ready, Harv?” Eddie asked him in the locker room.

  “Not quite. I want to call Jenny.”

  “Make it snappy. Mike’s in a hurry.”

  He quickly punched in the number, and Jennifer answered almost immediately.

  “Hey, I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to come over tonight. Mike’s got us on a breaking case, and we may be out late.”

  “I’m sorry, too. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “Can it wait? Things look clear for our trip to the lighthouse tomorrow.”

  Eddie stood in the locker room doorway. “Come on, Harv!”

  “All right,” Jennifer said. Her disappointment was perversely gratifying.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, gorgeous.”

  *****

  Harvey slept soundly that night on the floor, exhausted from his long day. As he’d feared, it had been late when they completed their assignment and finished up at the police station, but things went smoothly. Except for his fatigue, he felt good. He woke up without any lingering fragments of dreams.

  He made himself a grocery list as he ate a sketchy breakfast of a bagel and coffee. Milk, bananas, bread, Wheaties, detergent, yogurt, coffee. There was time to do a load of laundry and run to the store before he went to Jennifer’s.

  He ran down to the basement with his dirty clothes, meeting Mrs. Jenkins on the stairs as he came up.

  “Good morning, Mr. Larson.”

  He stopped and looked at her. “Mrs. Jenkins, I’ve lived above you for over fifteen years. Don’t you think it’s time you called me Harvey?”

  She smiled. “Yes, and you should call me Rebecca.”

  “Well, Rebecca, may I carry your laundry downstairs for you?”

  “You look like a man with places to go. I’m capable.” She went on down to the utility room.

  Harvey went out to his parking spot, looked under the Explorer, and drove to the grocery store. Banks of flowers and plants were displayed near the entrance. On impulse, he picked up a bunch of daffodils.

  Back home, he unpacked his groceries and went down to the basement to throw his clothes in the dryer. Rebecca Jenkins sat in a rickety chair in the utility room, leafing through an old Good Housekeeping. Harvey set the dryer and looked at his watch.

  “You going away this weekend, Harvey?”

  “Just out to the lighthouse this morning. My pal Eddie and I have a double date.”

  She smiled. “That’s good. You’ve found a nice girl?”

  “Yes. She’s wonderful.”

  Rebecca nodded in satisfaction. “You’ve been alone too long up there. You go on, and I’ll take your laundry out.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t need to.” Harvey was a little flustered by her neighborliness.

  “I mean it. I’ll be here anyway. Pick it up when you get home.”

  He consulted his watch again. “Well, thank you very much, Rebecca.” He went back upstairs and grabbed the flowers, his hat, and his gear. Outside, he looked underneath the Explorer again and stowed his gun, badge, and handcuffs in the glove compartment.

  Jennifer let him in at a quarter to nine. She had on jeans and a short-sleeved mauve shirt, and her hair was in a pony tail that hung from the top of her head, with beaded elastics all down its length, spaced every two or three inches. The I-Dream-of-Jeanie Look. He liked the Rapunzel Look, with one braid, better, but this was interesting. He held out the bouquet, and she took it with a brilliant smile. It was going to be a wonderful day, he could tell.

  She led him through to the kitchen, where she had a box partly packed with food for their picnic.

  “Can I help?”

  “Nope. Just sit.”

  He watched her arrange the daffodils in a glass jar, then put fruit salad in a plastic container and make sandwiches.

  “So how was work yesterday?” he asked.

  “Could have been better.” She ran water into a picnic jug with iced tea mix. “That’s what I wanted to tell you on the phone.”

  “What?”

  “Well, you know they’ve had me working on that special project for weeks.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “They expect me to do things that are impossible.”

  “Like what?” He went over to stand beside her.

  “They’ve had three of us working on it, but they never let any of us see the whole program. Each of us has a part of it, and we have to have several passwords to access the program.” She stirred the contents of the jug. “I don’t even have all the passwords for my part. Mr. Owen or Mr. Rainey has to enter one every day before I can start work.” She put ice cubes in the jug and refilled the tray with water. When she opened the freezer again, her pony tail brushed his arm, and he reached for it.

  “So, anyway, I told them—”

  He gave her hair a playful tug, and she jerked around suddenly. The ice tray clattered to the floor, splashing water all over them both, the floor, and the cupboard doors.

  “I’m sorry,” Harvey said. “Don’t move. I’ll get it.” He put one hand out to keep her from stepping in the water, but the expression on her face stopped him where he was. “Jenny? Baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  Slowly she put her hands up to her head, pulled her pony tail over her shoulder, and stood clutching it. She said nothing, but stared at the ends of her hair.

  “Are you okay?”

  Her lips trembled. “Yeah. I just...I’m sorry.”

  Harvey was baffled. Surely he hadn’t pulled her hair hard enough to hurt her.

  “Jenny.” He touched her hands lightly. “Come sit down.”

  She shook her head. “I’m all right.” She sobbed, and he pulled her into his arms.

  He held her tight against him. “Shh, it’s okay. Come on. Don’t step in the water.” He eased toward
the doorway and led her to the living room sofa. “Sit, gorgeous.”

  They sat down, and he watched her for a moment in silence.

  “Tell me what I did. I don’t want this to happen again.”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “We’ve been there before. It’s something.”

  She sighed and moved toward him. He put his arms around her, and she buried her face in his shoulder. “Okay. But it’s stupid.”

  “No. No, it’s not.” He moved his right hand up to the top of her head and stroked back to the top of her pony tail, where the elastic caught her thick hair.

  She pushed away from him and swallowed hard. “It’s that.”

  He froze and looked cautiously into her flooded gray eyes. “It’s…what?”

  “My hair. He—it was—he just grabbed my braid and pulled me down by it and I couldn’t get away.”

  Harvey sucked in a deep breath. “Are we talking about Joe College again?”

  She nodded slowly.

  Outrage screamed through him, but he tried not to let it show in his eyes. It must have, because she sobbed suddenly and hid her face in her hands.

  “Jenny, sweetheart.” Very tenderly, he pulled her toward him. “Baby, you should have told me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, no, don’t be sorry. I just meant—maybe I could have done something about it.”

  “It was a long time ago.” Her breath was a little gasp. “It’s stupid to let it upset me now.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “I thought it was all right now.” She whimpered and shivered a little.

  He sighed and let out his breath, staring across at the Starry Night. “Jenny, we have counselors for...for rape victims.”

  She sat very still. “It wasn’t—” She looked up at him and swallowed hard. “It was a near thing, but he didn’t—I mean, somebody heard me scream, I guess. It was in the dorm, and...he scared me pretty badly. He was really mad at me, and he hit me a few times.”

  Harvey waited until she looked fully into his eyes, and he was satisfied. He kissed her forehead. “You still might want to see someone.”

  “I told you, it’s stupid. Every time something touches my hair, I panic. I should just cut it.” She gave him a shaky smile. “I know I can trust you, but it was sort of a reflex when you grabbed my ponytail.”

  “You never reported him.”

  “No. I mean, isn’t it hard enough to convict a rapist, let alone a near-rapist?”

  He shrugged. “Assault can carry a stiff penalty. He did hurt you.”

  She rubbed her cheek as though it still hurt years later. “Yeah, but it was graduation week. My parents would have found out.” She stood up. “Anyway, it’s over. I never saw him again after that. “I’m sorry I made such a fuss. I’d better go clean up the mess.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Okay. I’ll finish what I was doing.”

  They went back to the kitchen. Harvey hurriedly wiped up the water, then filled the ice tray and stuck it in the freezer. Jennifer covered the jug of iced tea, and he took the picnic things out to the Explorer. Eddie’s truck pulled in beside it.

  “Hey, Sarah, Eddie. You guys ride with us.” He opened the back of the Explorer and put the lunch in behind the back seat.

  Jennifer came out of the house, and Harvey smiled at her. “Jenny, this is Sarah Benoit. Sarah, Jennifer Wainthrop.”

  “Hi,” Jennifer said. “I’m really glad you could come.”

  “Thanks. It should be fun.” Sarah looked trim and cool in khaki shorts and a sleeveless print blouse. It was the first time Harvey had seen her out of uniform, and he had to admit to himself that she was pretty.

  They all piled into the Explorer, Jennifer in front beside Harvey, and Eddie and Sarah in back. They stopped at a dozen yard sales on the way to the lighthouse. Sarah bought an antique teapot with a Chinese design. “For my hope chest,” she said to Jennifer. Harvey was mollified to see she had a feminine side.

  At the fifth sale, he found a run-of-the-mill, round maple dining table with an extra leaf and two chairs for twenty dollars. He and Eddie took the legs off the table, and Harvey handed the owner the money.

  “You can’t beat that price,” said Eddie, as they put the pieces in the back of the Explorer. “I expect to eat breakfast with you in the morning and finally sit at a table.”

  Harvey and Jennifer homed in on used books at every sale. She accumulated quite a pile for a quarter apiece—a few mysteries, Poetry of Robert Frost, Wildflowers of New England, and a microwave cookbook. Harvey found a shop manual for his “new” SUV, and a cartridge reloading manual.

  At one sale, Jennifer picked up a white china plate with cobalt blue flowers. It looked like the paint of the flowers had smudged and blurred. “Flow blue,” Harvey said. “Do you like that?”

  “You know antiques, too?” she turned it over and looked at the price tag then replaced it on the table, moving on to rummage through a box of small items.

  The price for the plate was pretty good, Harvey thought. Much better than it would be in an antique shop. He picked it up and held an old Popular Mechanics over it until he could pay for it and smuggle it into the lunch box in the Explorer.

  Eddie bought himself a belt, and an inlaid trinket box for Sarah. The four kept up a relaxed banter as they roamed from sale to sale. Eddie flirted outrageously with Sarah, so blatantly that even Sarah laughed at him. Harvey smiled often at Jennifer, and after a while the tension had left her shoulders, and she relaxed in the seat.

  They got to the lighthouse at 12:30. From a distance, the tall tower looked smooth and white, but as they got closer they could see that the surface of the 1790 structure was actually quite bumpy.

  “Imagine building it all by hand,” said Sarah.

  Eddie leaned back and stared up at it. “I wouldn’t want to be hauling rocks and lime up there.”

  “I wouldn’t want to be up there at all,” said Harvey. Just looking up at the light made him feel a little wobbly.

  They carried their lunch onto the rocks near the shore. Sarah had pulled on a navy blue cardigan. It was cooler near the water, and the breeze stirred their hair. Harvey wished Jennifer’s tresses hung free, but she seemed serene, and that made him glad. She produced a bottle of sunscreen and made everybody use it, then snapped a picture of Eddie and Sarah sitting on the rocks, with the lighthouse keeper’s house and the tower in the background, and asked Sarah to take one of her and Harvey on her phone. He pulled her in close for the picture, and Jennifer slipped her arm around his waist.

  “We should do this every weekend,” he said as Jennifer put her phone away.

  “Sure, visit a different lighthouse every week, or one of the forts.” She took the paper plates from the box and handed them to Sarah.

  Everybody started listing off the sites they had been to, and arguing over which lighthouse was the most picturesque. Jennifer handed cups to Eddie so he could pour the iced tea. When she took out the sandwiches, she sat immobile for a second, staring into the box, then very gently reached down and lifted out the antique plate.

  “Hey, Mémé Thibodeau has a platter like that!” Eddie said.

  Jennifer looked over at Harvey and smiled, cradling the plate. He winked at her.

  “We should go to Fort Preble next week,” he said. “It’s close, and they have cannon batteries from the Spanish-American War.”

  “Fort Knox is great,” Eddie said. “My class went there for a field trip in fifth grade, and it was really cool. Long, dark hallways and dungeons and cannons.”

  Sarah argued for a cluster of lighthouses at Rockland, Owls Head, and Port Clyde that could be easily collected in one day.

  Harvey watched Jennifer as they ate and talked. She seemed to enjoy Sarah’s company. The two women were close in age, but Sarah was witty and gregarious, never at a loss for words. She gave Eddie as good as he dished out. She was taller than Jennifer, and her hair and eyes were dark. Pretty, but not str
iking. It was only May, but already she was on the way to having a deep tan.

  Jennifer was more serious, weighing everything that was said before reacting openly. In her sneakers and jeans, with the long blonde ponytail, she looked very young and defenseless, and Harvey felt he was taking on great responsibility in trying to make her feel secure. But he wanted to, more than anything.

  “Do you enjoy working on computer programs all day?” Sarah asked.

  “Not really.” Jennifer made a face and looked quickly at Harvey. “I almost forgot. There was something I started to tell you.”

  “That’s right. What was it, kiddo?” Immediately he wished he hadn’t called her that.

  “Well, see, they wanted John and me to put the special program together, to put my security part with his part, but I couldn’t. It’s complicated. The program, I mean. I guess I told you how they wouldn’t let any of us see the whole thing. I started to tell you about the passwords and everything.” She blushed and lowered her gaze.

  He reached for her hand. “Yes, you were telling me this morning. I remember.”

  She looked up gratefully, then glanced toward Sarah. “Is it all right if I...I mean, I know Eddie’s on the Dunham case with you, and Sarah’s a policewoman, but...”

  “It’s fine. You can say anything.”

  She nodded. “Okay. Well, see, John has hinted several times that there’s something odd about the program. Like it’s for industrial spying or something. Yesterday he almost came out and said it’s something illegal.”

  Harvey sat up straighter.

  Eddie said, “This other guy, John, found something funny in the program?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe, like me, he just had a feeling things were odd. Like the terms it has to recognize.” She looked at Eddie earnestly. “I told the bosses today I couldn’t finish my work unless I had all the parts, but they make us put them on separate flash drives at the end of each day, so they’re never on the hard drive yet, and they didn’t want me to have them all. So I told them I was sorry, but I couldn’t finish the project.”