Heartbreaker Hero: Eddie's Story (Maine Justice Book 4)

by Susan Page Davis

  In Book 2, Fort Point: One of Maine’s most famous authors is murdered the night after his class reunion, and soon a classmate turns up dead. What does a cold case burglary have to do with the murders? Harvey and his partner, Eddie, who are part of the elite police Priority Unit, must solve the crimes. Meanwhile, Harvey’s fiancée, Jennifer, discovers crucial evidence as she’s planning their wedding. The case is further complicated when the police chief has a tragic accident, and Mike is out of touch on a wilderness vacation. Harvey is forced to run the unit and solve the murders before the killer goes after the witnesses.

  In Book 3, Found Art: Harvey and Jennifer settle into their idyllic home life as newlyweds, but things take a terrifying turn when they dig too deeply into a case concerning a ring of art thieves. Meanwhile, Jennifer’s sister Abby comes to stay with them, and Harvey finds himself sorting out her suitors. Should he lift his ban on his young partner Eddie when it comes to dating his sisters-in-law? In the heat of the investigation, Harvey struggles with feelings of vengeance when Jennifer’s abusive ex-boyfriend crosses his radar. Just when he thinks he’s put it aside, he and Neil Daniels come face to face.

  Watch for The House Next Door (Book 5), and more books in this series!

  As Jennifer’s due date approaches, Harvey decides to invest in real estate, unaware of the terror this will cause his family. A hidden cupboard isn’t so bad—in fact, it’s almost fun to try to solve the little mystery inside it. But will any of their loved ones want to live next door after they learn what’s in the basement?

  For a sneak peek at the fifth book, The House Next Door, turn the page.

  Excerpt from

  The House Next Door

  Jennifer felt disgustingly normal on Thursday. No contractions, no nausea, nothing. Connor did his calisthenics as usual, and she decided to take a walk down Van Cleeve Lane and see if spring was progressing.

  Janice Parker called to her from her yard, where she was cleaning out a perennial bed. “Where you headed, Jennifer?”

  “Just out for a stroll. Come with me?”

  Janice threw down her gardening gloves and joined her on the sidewalk.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “Fine. My doctor told me Monday I’d probably go within a week, but nothing so far.”

  “It’s early yet,” Janice said.

  “Yeah, eleven days to my due date.”

  “So, you’ve bought Mr. Fuller’s house,” Janice said.

  “Yes, and my brother Jeff and his wife are renting it from us.”

  “Fantastic.” Janice had met Jeff and Beth several times.

  They strolled down Van Cleeve Lane, catching up on the news and looking at everyone’s front yard, searching for daffodil shoots and crocuses.

  “The Hensons’ lawn is definitely turning green,” Jennifer said.

  “How are the rose bushes?” Janice asked.

  “Harvey says we should have the Baileys’ old gardener come in, at least a few times, to make sure they get off to a healthy start this spring.”

  When they came around the block, the black pickup was parked in front of Beth and Jeff’s new house.

  “What’s going on?” Janice asked. Two men were carrying spades and rakes around the corner of the house.

  “They’re preparing the basement floor for concrete,” Jennifer said.

  “I saw the old furnace go out yesterday.”

  “Yes, it was hopeless. We’re having a cement floor poured, and they’ll bring the new furnace next week. Then Beth and Jeff can move in.”

  “They’re not using the front entrance,” Janice observed.

  “No, Harvey gave them a key to the bulkhead door. It’s in the back yard.” Jennifer turned toward Janice. “Come have a cup of tea with me. I need company today.”

  “Where’s Abby?”

  “She met Peter for lunch, and she’s going right to work from there.”

  Janice kept stride with her up their walkway. They went inside, and Jennifer made tea in a china teapot and set out a plate of fancy cookies Abby had made. Half of them had gone to the Hobarts’ house, but she had left Harvey and Jennifer a supply as well. They talked about Bud and Janice’s plans for a vacation in Bermuda in July.

  The doorbell rang. Jennifer got up and waddled to the entry.

  “Mrs. Larson?” The workman had on blue twill pants and a matching shirt that said “Rudy” on the breast pocket.

  “Yes.”

  “Your husband’s got me and a couple of boys, uh, leveling the dirt floor in the basement next door.”

  “Yes?” Jennifer glanced out and saw that there were now two pickups in front of 135 Van Cleeve Lane.

  “Yes, ma’am, and—is your husband home?”

  “No, he’s at work. Is there a problem?”

  Rudy’s face looked a bit strained. “Well, ma’am, it’s just that there’s something I’d, uh, like him to take a look at before we, uh, proceed any further.”

  “Something to do with the plumbing?” Jennifer asked.

  “No ma’am. It’s—” He broke off, and she thought he was sweating, although he had no jacket on and it was cool outside. “Didn’t Mr. Larson tell me he’s a police officer?”

  The back of her neck felt prickly. “Yes. He’s the captain of the Priority Unit.”

  “Could you call him, ma’am? Would that be all right?”

  “Come in.” Jennifer opened the door wide. “Right this way.”

  Jennifer walked into the kitchen. Janice sat sipping her tea and watching curiously. Jennifer took down the receiver from the wall phone, punched in Harvey’s cell phone number.

  “Well, hello, gorgeous.”

  “Do you have a minute?”

  “For you, any time.”

  “The concrete man is here. He says there’s a problem in the basement. He’d like to speak to you.”

  “Sure, put him on.” Harvey almost never sounded worried or annoyed. He was able to take most things in stride. For all she knew, he was looking at a murder victim while he talked to her.

  Jennifer handed the receiver to Rudy and stood back, leaning against the counter, frankly listening to his end of the conversation. Janice listened, too.

  “Uh, Captain? This is Rudy. Uh, we’ve, uh, found something in the basement that, uh, I think you should, uh, take a look at, sir.”

  There was a pause, and Rudy shot a worried glance at Jennifer. “Uh, no, sir, nothing like that. It’s, uh, something, you know, that we, uh, found when we were digging.”

  Another pause. Janice’s eyes went wide. Jennifer shrugged.

  Rudy said, “Well, sir, over in the, uh, corner, where there was some wood piled, we, uh, took that all out, and it was kind of bumpy, so we, uh, were smoothing it out, you know, for the concrete, and, uh, Billy raked up something that looked like a, well, a ... a bone, sir.”

  Jennifer and Janice stared at each other.

  “Uh-huh, a bone. No, sir. It’s too big for that. Well, it could be a deer bone. But we started, you know, digging around a little more in that spot, and, uh, well, we found some more, sir. I really think you ought to see it.”

  He paused, listening. “Yes, sir.”

  He handed Jennifer the receiver. She wasn’t sure whether or not Harvey had hung up, so she put the receiver to her ear and said, “Hello?”

  “Jenny, make sure he understands I don’t want them digging around anymore until I, uh, get there, uh, you, uh, know what I mean?”

  She smiled. “Ten-four.”

  “Good. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. I love you.” He hung up.

  Jennifer turned to Rudy. “The captain will be here in fifteen minutes. You and your men are to wait until he gets here. Don’t do any more digging, and don’t disturb the dirt any more. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “If you’d like to take a coffee, break, I’ll make a pot of coffee for you and your men.”

  “Thank you, ma’am, I think we all could do with some
coffee,” Rudy said.

  He went out the door, and Jennifer measured coffee into the machine’s basket.

  “What do you suppose they found?” Janice asked.

  “Sounds like a bunch of bones.”

  “Human bones?”

  “I don’t know. Harvey seemed inclined to think it was animal bones.” But Rudy had looked spooked.

  When the coffee was ready, Jennifer put the pot and three mugs and a plastic bag of cookies on a tray. Janice carried the tray, and Jennifer walked beside her to the next lawn. They went through the gate into the back yard. Rudy and two other men stood near the open bulkhead talking.

  “Thank you, ma’am,” said Rudy, coming to meet them.

  The other two men smiled.

  “You’re welcome. Just bring the tray back when you’re done.” Jennifer turned back toward her house.

  “Don’t you want to know what they found?” Janice asked.

  “Harvey will tell me.”

  *****

  Harvey pulled into the driveway at the Fuller house, took a powerful flashlight from the glove box, and got out. He looked toward his own house. Jennifer waved, and he waved back and walked toward the gate to the backyard.

  Rudy set a coffee mug on a tray that rested on the ground.

  “Cap’n, sorry to bother you.”

  “That’s okay,” Harvey said. “What have you got?”

  “Come see for yourself.”

  Rudy led him down the stairs into the basement, and the other two men followed. The room was poorly lit, with one bare bulb overhead and a droplight that probably belonged to Rudy.

  “It’s, uh, right over here.” Rudy walked toward one corner and stood about six feet from the wall, looking down.

  Harvey recalled seeing some firewood stacked there earlier. That had been removed, and the earthen floor was torn open in an area about four feet square. Several bones lay in a pile at the edge of the excavation. He turned on his flashlight and crouched to examine them.

  Ten minutes later, he entered his house with his cell phone at his ear.

  “Yeah, send a forensics team over here ASAP,” he said to Jack Stewart. “Get Thibodeau and Winfield out here, too. Eddie was in court this morning, but he should be available now. Thanks, Jack.” He shoved the phone in his pocket.

  Bud and Janice Parker both sat at the kitchen table with Jennifer.

  “Hi. Got any coffee?” He bent toward Jennifer to kiss her.

  “I left the pot with the concrete men,” she said.

  “I’ll go get it,” Bud offered.

  “Thanks, Bud,” said Harvey. “Just stay out of the basement over there, okay? I don’t want anybody else in there until forensics goes over it.”

  “Sure, Harvey.”

  Bud went quickly out the door. Harvey took off his jacket and went to the sink to wash his hands.

  “What is it over there?” Jennifer handed him a clean towel.

  “I bet somebody buried their dog in the cellar,” Janice said.

  “No, it looks like human remains to me.” Harvey sank into a chair.

  “Cookie?” Jennifer nudged the plate toward him.

  “Love one.”

  Bud was soon back with the tray, and she started a fresh pot of coffee.

  “I sent the concrete crew home,” Harvey said. “I told Rudy I’ll call him tonight and let him know what’s going on. It may be weeks before they can pour that concrete.”

  “So, Jeff and Beth will have to wait,” Jennifer said.

  He hated to think that was going to happen. “If it gets warm enough, they could move into the house, I suppose, as long as they stay out of the basement.”

  “What exactly did they find?” Bud asked eagerly.

  Harvey said, “First they found some long bones, then a couple of teeth, then when they got their spades going, they turned up a hand. They kept at it ’til they found the skull. Made a royal mess, is what they did. We could have uncovered that skeleton nearly intact if they’d left it alone when they started finding bones.”

  “But they didn’t know they were human bones,” Jennifer said.

  “No, you’re right. I would have kept looking myself,” he admitted, “but I’d have done it a whole lot more carefully.”

  *****

  Eddie and Tony arrived in Tony’s Mustang, blue light flashing. Harvey went out and talked to them in the driveway next door, and Tony took a roll of yellow crime scene tape from his car and headed for the back yard. The forensics team rolled up in a van. Eddie went around the house, and Harvey stood talking to the forensics men for a minute, then they all followed Eddie.

  “Not much to see from here,” Jennifer told Bud, who was watching out the kitchen window. You could see a corner of the back yard next door from there.

  “Can I go out in your back yard and look over the fence?” he asked, just like a kid, except a kid wouldn’t have asked. He would have just gone.

  “Sure, but you can’t see into the cellar from there.”

  She took him into the sunroom and let him out through the patio door.

  When the coffee was ready, Jennifer put the pot and some clean mugs on the tray and called to Bud. He came in and got it and went happily next door with the tray for her. He came back all excited.

  “They’re trying to determine exactly where the skeleton was, and how deep it was buried. Harvey says they’ll be able to tell what gender and how old the deceased was, and approximately how long ago it happened. And guess what? They found a button.”

  “You should have been a cop,” Janice said. Bud was in insurance, and he was within sight of retirement.

  “I know it.” He sighed. “I really missed my calling.”

  “He reads mysteries all the time,” Janice said.

  Half an hour later, Bud and Janice went back across the street, and half an hour after that several men left the house next door with a body bag. The mobile crime lab left soon after, and Harvey and his men came out the gate. Tony festooned it with crime scene tape, and the three of them walked toward the Larson house. Eddie carried Jennifer’s tray, laden with used cups and the coffee carafe.

  “Got any more coffee, Jenny?” Harvey asked.

  She made another pot. As it dripped into the carafe, she sat down on a stool and rubbed her tummy. She’d been on her feet quite a bit, and she was tired. Harvey and his men sat down at the table and talked about what they had found.

  Jennifer got up slowly and went to the cupboard for more cookies. There were a few left, and she put them on a clean plate. Then she rummaged in the freezer for something else to feed them. She knew Tony and Eddie had appetites.

  “As soon as we get the lab report, I want you to start on the ID,” Harvey told the two detectives.

  Jennifer came up with a box of squash doughnuts from the back of the freezer and took them and the cookies to the table.

  “Do you guys like frozen doughnuts?”

  Tony grinned. “My favorite.” He was twenty-three, but looked sixteen with short, light hair and freckles and a little-boy smile. His main claim to fame was being the governor’s nephew, but he was making his mark in the Priority Unit, and Harvey and Eddie were working hard to mold him into an excellent detective. He was intuitive and had already helped solve several high-profile cases.

  “It’s nearly five,” Harvey said. “You don’t have to go back to the office unless you want to, but first thing in the morning I want you ready to move on this.”

  “Right,” said Eddie.

  Tony nodded. “Will do.”

  “What about that case Nate and Jimmy are on?” Eddie asked.

  “Pretty straightforward,” Harvey told him. “I went out there this afternoon. In fact, I was there when Jenny called me about this. They’ve got things under control. I’ll meet with them again in the morning, but I think that one’s all set.”

  “Good,” said Eddie. “We just don’t know what we’re up against with this one. How long did the old guy own the house?”

>   “About twelve years, I think,” Harvey said, “but that’s one thing we can check right now. We got a copy of the deed search Tuesday when we closed the deal. Hang on.” He got up and went into the study.

  Jennifer poured coffee for the three men and got herself a glass of milk and sat down.

  “Here it is.” Harvey emerged from the study with a file folder in his hand. “Carleton Fuller bought the house twelve years ago. Before that, it was owned by a Robert Chapel for nearly thirty years.” He laid the paper on the table between Eddie and Tony, and they bent their heads over it.

  “Eddie, you can do some research on those buttons first thing,” Harvey said. “They look like military issue, but it could be a fashion statement.” He looked at Jennifer and a smile came out slowly. “How’s my beautiful bride doing?”

  “A little tired,” she admitted.

  “Why don’t you lie down?”

  “No, I’ve got taco fixings ready. I intend to feed you a decent supper.” She looked at Eddie and Tony. “Would you guys like to stay?”

  “Thanks, but I promised my dad I’m help him with something tonight,” Tony said.

  “I’ll stay if you’re not too tired.” Eddie sounded almost apologetic.

  “No, I’ll feed you, and then you and Harvey can load the dishwasher.”

  “Deal,” Eddie said.

  She looked at Harvey. “We used up all of Abby’s cookies, but I think there’s a cheesecake in the freezer downstairs.”

  “I’ll get it.” Harvey headed for the cellar door in the entry.

  Jennifer sighed. “At least we already have a concrete floor in this basement.”

  End of Excerpt

  To continue this story, look for the book, The House Next Door, publishing date September 1, 2017.

  Look on the next page for discussion questions about Heartbreaker Hero: Eddie’s Story.

  Questions for Book 4, Eddie’s Story:

  Eddie’s French-Canadian background and family have a profound influence on him. How is Eddie different because of it? What concessions does he make to his roots?