The Priority Unit (Maine Justice Book 1)

by Davis, Susan Page

  Eddie sat nervously through Sunday School, alternately looking around and staring straight ahead, eyeing the side door anxiously once or twice, but he sat through the next installment on the book of Colossians.

  Dick Williams read the scripture in chapter two, and when he reached verse six, As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, Jennifer’s hand nestled into Harvey’s. He sat contented, trying not to think about the pain that still came with each breath.

  Between Sunday School and church there was a break. Harvey looked over at Eddie speculatively. “You can still get over to the late Mass if you want to.”

  Eddie looked at his watch. “Nah.”

  “Okay, but I think I need to stand up for a couple of minutes.”

  “Pretty stiff?”

  “Yeah.”

  Eddie stood and gave him his arm. Harvey heaved himself to his feet and flexed his muscles a little, grimacing. Beth came and sat beside Jennifer, and the two of them started talking quietly.

  “No candles,” Eddie observed, nodding toward the pulpit. Harvey tried to imagine how different the church was from Eddie’s, and remembered how uncomfortable he’d been two weeks before, when he and Jennifer had first walked through the door.

  Pastor Rowland came up the side aisle, greeting people along the way. Harvey introduced him to Eddie, and he was sure the pastor knew Eddie was the one who had asked him about priests, but he didn’t say anything about it.

  “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Thibodeau!” Pastor Rowland said, shaking Eddie’s hand, then he turned to Harvey. “You’re looking well. I’m so glad.” Harvey forgot to warn him, and the pastor’s handshake jarred his ribs.

  Mr. Rowland stayed only a moment, then went up to the platform. Everybody sat down, and the hum of conversation gradually subsided. The pianist and organist played softly. Small beads of sweat gleamed on Eddie’s forehead.

  “You okay?” Harvey asked.

  Eddie glanced sideways at him. “Do you kneel? You might not be able to get up.”

  “We don’t usually.”

  Somehow Eddie made it through the pastor’s message on God’s mercy. Afterward Beth left in her car, and Harvey got carefully into Jennifer’s. Mike had promised to drop in after lunch.

  Harvey sat idle at his kitchen table while Jennifer and Eddie set out a light lunch. Cottage cheese, fruit salad, rolls and butter. They talked a little, and it was nice, Harvey thought, having two of his favorite people sitting at a table with him in his kitchen.

  Jennifer got up to put a cup of coffee in the microwave for him.

  “Do you think it counts that I went there?” Eddie asked.

  “Counts?” Harvey wasn’t sure what he meant.

  “Is it a sin? For a Catholic to go to a Protestant church, I mean?”

  “Oh, Eddie,” Harvey said.

  Jennifer turned and looked at him over Eddie’s head. Her face was all compassion.

  “It’s never a sin to hear God’s word, Eddie,” she said. “The place doesn’t really matter.”

  “But I know I’m not supposed to go there,” Eddie persisted. “The priest wouldn’t like it.”

  Harvey said, “God is what matters, and the Bible. If a church teaches you what the Bible says, then it’s okay to go there.”

  Eddie still looked troubled as he took his coffee from Jennifer and stirred sugar into it. “You don’t confess, do you?”

  “Yes, we do,” Harvey said. “We can confess anytime, just by talking to God.”

  “Really? He lets you?”

  “Yes, Eddie, anytime.” Harvey thought Jennifer was going to cry.

  Mike knocked on the door just then, and Harvey tucked the conversation away, but he thought he and Eddie would get it out again later, in the truck, or when they ran, or at the diner.

  Jennifer got coffee for Mike, and they all ate apple pie that Mrs. Jenkins had sent up.

  “Well,” Mike said, when he pushed his plate back, “I’ve got a little news. LeRoy Nason is still in ICU, but I got his story this morning. He says he never met the people who hired Bobby, never even knew who they were. Bobby went up to his place when the city got too hot for him after the first bomb. But he wanted to come back here and finish the job, because the client wouldn’t pay him unless he got the hacker.”

  “The hacker?” Harvey pounced on it.

  “That’s right. LeRoy said Bobby was hired to take out a computer hacker. That would be you, I guess. He said Bobby got a make on your car and followed you. When Eddie drove the car to Bretons’ and left you at the school, he followed the car. I guess he’d hung back so you wouldn’t spot him and didn’t realize it wasn’t you in the car. He saw his opportunity while Eddie talked to Mrs. Breton and made his move.” He turned to Eddie. “You are some lucky guy.”

  “Not lucky,” said Jennifer. “God protected Eddie.”

  Eddie turned adoring eyes on Jennifer.

  “If you say so,” said Mike. “Anyway, Bobby brought LeRoy back with him to help him watch you around the clock, Harvey. They arrived in Portland on Saturday. Your new vehicle threw him off at first. Sunday morning they followed you to the church and planted the bomb. Bobby wired it to the ignition with a five-minute delay.”

  “Weren’t they afraid of being seen?” Jennifer asked.

  “It wouldn’t take Bobby a minute, and the parking lot was full of cars, but everybody was inside. When there was no explosion, he realized he’d goofed again. The people who hired him were mad, and he and LeRoy decided to lie low for a while.”

  Harvey shook his head. “And all because I did the background check. I put so many people in danger.”

  Jennifer touched the sleeve of his jacket.

  Mike looked at her. “And that brings us to your part in all this, young lady.”

  She returned his gaze gravely. The French braids gave her a poised air, but she still looked vulnerable. Harvey covered her hand with his.

  “I ran the names you gave me,” Mike said. “Took a while. A fellow in the CIA worked on it last night. This Hamad is here on a student visa. He’s from Tehran, and he’s fluent in English, Arabic, and Farsi.”

  “What about Massal?” Harvey asked.

  “They’ve linked him to a right-wing extremist group in Iran. He has a Turkish passport, though, and hangs around Washington a lot. He had an invitation to a dinner at the Iranian embassy May first. The CIA would love to get some dirt on him.”

  “Does he have diplomatic immunity?” Harvey asked.

  “Don’t think so.”

  “So, what do we do?” asked Eddie.

  “Well,” said Mike, “tomorrow’s a holiday. I assume Coastal Technology will be closed, and even Washington likes their holidays.”

  Jennifer nodded. “I’m off tomorrow.”

  “And I think we should all take a day off,” Mike said. “I’m supposed to get photos of Massal and Hamad from Washington, so Jennifer can identify them. On Tuesday, she can go back to work.”

  Harvey bridled at that. “Mike, is that a good idea? Jennifer could be in danger.”

  Mike shrugged. “She worked last week.”

  “I know, and I didn’t like it then, either. If they’ve been after me all this time, they know I have a connection with Jennifer.”

  “We don’t want to spook them. I told you, business as usual until everything is in place.”

  “So when do the feds come in?” Harvey asked.

  “Well, we don’t really have much,” said Mike. “If we can prove this Massal at Coastal is the one the CIA is looking for, they’ll be very interested. Short of that, they consider it a local thing, and they don’t want to get involved. We don’t want to yell for help and end up with egg on our faces if this mystery software turns out to be something that teaches Iranian toddlers to count to ten in four languages.”

  “We know it’s more than that,” Harvey said, “And we know Bobby Nason was hired to kill me.”

  “Well, we have LeRoy’s secondhand word that the t
arget was a computer hacker. But he never said it was a cop, and he claims he can’t identify Bobby’s employer. There’s no proof he was hired by Coastal. The fact that you accessed their computer files is circumstantial.” Mike shrugged.

  Jennifer said, “But Nick Dunham—”

  “Yes. Nick Dunham.” Mike frowned. “When this is over, could you show the CIA’s computer guru Nick Dunham’s icon in the software? Assuming we wind up with the disks.”

  She nodded.

  “And you could also show it to them in other programs Dunham designed?”

  “I’m sure I could.”

  Mike nodded. “Could be enough to show motive. But we still have no particulars on who actually pulled the trigger.”

  Jennifer shuddered. “I’ll do anything I can to help, Captain.”

  Mike smiled. “Just go about your everyday routine until the cavalry shows up. Keep things looking peaceful.” He looked at Harvey. “You folks got plans for tomorrow?”

  Harvey glanced at Jennifer. “We were going to drive up to Skowhegan.”

  “Do it. Call me when you get back. If there’s anything new, I’ll get together with you then.” Mike looked around at the three of them. “Don’t say one word about this to anybody,” he cautioned, looking at Jennifer, then Eddie, then Harvey. “Not your roommate, not your mother, not your priest.”

  They all nodded solemnly.

  Eddie met Jennifer at the door of Harvey’s apartment Monday morning. It promised to be a warm day, and she wore cut-offs and a blue India gauze top, and her hair was plaited in a long braid.

  “He wants to drive,” Eddie said. “Don’t let him.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

  Harvey came into the kitchen. “Hi, Jennifer.” She thought he looked a little grouchy.

  “Good morning. We’re taking my car, and I’m driving.”

  “No, I want to take the Explorer.”

  “Absolutely not. You’d pop your rib.”

  They volleyed back and forth until Harvey agreed to let Jennifer drive the Explorer. It seemed the best compromise she could get, so she agreed.

  Harvey wore jeans and sneakers and a dark green T-shirt, and carried a chambray work shirt to throw on over it. Eddie helped him solicitously down the stairs and into the Explorer, running back up again for his glasses. Mrs. Jenkins came out and handed him a box of cookies through the window, and at last they got away.

  Jennifer took her time driving the short distance to the highway ramp, getting used to the feel of the controls. They breezed up the interstate, and she stopped for gas when they got to Skowhegan. Then she cruised around a little, showing him a few of the sights, first her high school and the state police barracks. She drove over the bridges, past the fire station where her brother worked, and down the crazy one-way street downtown, past the city police station and out Route 2 to the Great Eddy in the Kennebec River, then back up to the towering Indian statue.

  They went on out to the farm, where her parents and Travis and Randy waited for them. Leeanne and Abby came pounding down the stairs to hug Jennifer and meet Harvey. They would have hugged him, too, but Jennifer told everybody Harvey had a “no hugging” rule that day because of his ribs. He raised his eyebrows at her, but she couldn’t interpret it.

  “Jeff’s on duty at the fire station, but he’ll be here for lunch,” Marilyn said. They all walked very slowly around the garden and into the barn to see Leeanne’s baby goats. Then Harvey was ready to sit for a while.

  “So you got the bombers,” George Wainthrop said. Harvey had to tell the story of the shoot-out, and he told it well, but it made Jennifer a little queasy, hearing some of the details for the first time.

  Travis and Randy pumped him for more gory cop stories, but Harvey looked at Jennifer and said, “Maybe something less violent. How about parlor games?”

  “Parlor games?” Travis hooted, “You are old!”

  Harvey smiled, and Jennifer knew he had chosen the anachronistic term for effect.

  “Trivial Pursuit?” suggested Abby.

  He glanced toward Jennifer. She shrugged, leaving it up to him. He looked at Randy and Travis. “Men versus women?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Oh-oh,” Jennifer told Abby and Leeanne, “Harvey has a phenomenal memory.”

  “He’ll know all the old movies and history,” Abby teased.

  After a spirited game, George started cooking chicken on the barbecue. Marilyn, Abby, and Leeanne carried vast amounts of food to the picnic table. Jennifer started to get up and help, but her mother said, “No, dear, you stay with Harvey.”

  Harvey wanted to get up and stretch, so she let him lean on her shoulder. They walked slowly out to where George tended the grill. The men started talking guns, and Harvey still leaned on Jennifer enough that she didn’t dare remove her support.

  Jeff drove in for lunch, peeled off his uniform shirt, and tossed it in his truck, so he wouldn’t get barbecue sauce all over it. He and Harvey hit it off immediately. Jeff was twenty-eight, just a year older than Eddie, but he and Harvey found they had a lot in common. They both liked to shoot and reload and had an interest in aviation. Jeff told Harvey he had an interview and practical test scheduled for the second week in June with the Portland Fire Department.

  “Come stay with me,” Harvey said.

  “You serious?” asked Jeff. “I was going to ask Jennifer.”

  “I have a roommate now,” she reminded him.

  “You can sleep on my couch,” said Harvey, and Jennifer knew they were going to the furniture store soon. He told Jeff he was now on a first name basis with at least two Portland EMT’s, and made the ambulance ride with Eddie sound funny.

  Marilyn called them for lunch, and everybody ate more than usual. Jeff went back to work afterward, promising to call Harvey by the weekend for final arrangements. Jennifer helped her mother clean up the lunch things while her younger brothers and sisters played badminton. Harvey and George were left, companionable, on the porch.

  “Abby’s been out with an intern,” Marilyn said fretfully as she washed up the silverware and serving dishes.

  “Is he nice?” asked Jennifer.

  “I’m not sure yet. I’ve only met him once.”

  “Well, did he make you feel uneasy?”

  “He seemed a little slick, somehow,” Marilyn said. “He’s from Connecticut.”

  “There are nice people in Connecticut.”

  “Oh, I know, but he’s not like Harvey.”

  Jennifer put her arms around her. “I love you, Mom.”

  Marilyn returned her embrace. “You two seem very happy together.”

  “We are.”

  “Did you go to church again yesterday?”

  “Yes, we went in the morning. My new roommate, Beth, and Harvey’s partner, Eddie, went with us.” Jennifer told her a little about them, and Marilyn seemed pleased that her daughter was making nice friends in Portland at last.

  Jennifer went to where Harvey and her father sat in lawn chairs, watching the badminton game. Harvey’s eyes smiled first, then his lips, and he reached for her hand.

  “Hey, gorgeous!” She thought her father’s eyebrows twitched a little.

  “Are you tired?” she asked Harvey.

  “A little bit.”

  “Sack out in the hammock,” George said.

  Harvey did, and Jennifer went up to the attic to sort through some boxes full of her old books. She packed one box that she wanted to take back to Portland with her. About four o’clock, she went back out to the yard. Harvey still lay in the hammock, but he opened his eyes when she approached.

  “I think we’d better head south,” Jennifer told him.

  “Already?” asked her father.

  She looked at Harvey’s face and tried hard to see what he wanted.

  “I guess we should,” he said, struggling to sit up. Jennifer reached out and braced him. “I’ve got to check in with my boss tonight.”

  “Didn’t they give you sick l
eave?” George asked.

  “Yes, sir, but I think I’ll be ready to go back to work tomorrow.” He stood up carefully, using Jennifer for leverage.

  Everybody came around to say last things, and Jennifer sent Travis to the attic for her box of books. George brought Harvey a baseball cap with his company’s logo on it. Leeanne begged Jennifer to let her come down for a while during the summer, and everyone called good-bye at once as they drove out of the yard.

  It was suddenly very quiet. Jennifer looked over at Harvey. He was smiling contentedly.

  Chapter 27

  A nearly perfect day, Harvey thought. Jennifer’s family had become his family, and her parents treated him like an old friend. He only wished he had felt better. He didn’t argue about who was going to drive home. When they arrived at his apartment about six o’clock, he called Mike.

  “I’ve got photos of Massal and the kid,” Mike said. “Should I drive over now?”

  “Sure, Jenny can take a look.”

  Harvey called Eddie next, and he said he’d come, too, and Jennifer called Beth, just to tell her they were back.

  Jennifer suggested that Harvey lie down until Mike got there. He was on the verge of sleep when she brought his phone to him.

  “It’s your sister,” she said. He thought she looked a little apprehensive as he took the phone. She turned and left the room.

  “Harvey, this is Gina.” She was closest to his age. He felt guilty that he hadn’t called her in weeks.

  “Hi, Gina. What’s up?”

  “I just heard that Carrie died last month. You...you knew, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry. I should have told you. They didn’t notify me ’til the last minute, and I wasn’t exactly thinking straight.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Did you go down for the funeral?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “Was it totally gruesome?”

  “Kind of.”

  “I’m really sorry. I hope it’s closure for you.”

  “I think so.”