Huckleberry Finished

by Livia J. Washburn

  “Oh, Eddie,” Louise said, sounding nervous as usual when she was around him, like she was used to the fact that he might say or do just about anything. “You shouldn’t go on so much.”

  He spread his hands. Big, powerful hands, I noted. “Hey, I’m just sayin’. When you kill somebody with your bare hands, you’ve got to have a mighty good reason to do it, that’s all.”

  “There are only a few basic reasons for murder,” Mark said. “Lust, greed, revenge…”

  “Self-preservation,” Eddie said.

  “But that’s self-defense, not murder,” Mark replied.

  Eddie shrugged. “Killin’ is killin’, when you get right down to it.”

  “I don’t know that I’d agree with that,” Mark said.

  “Let’s change the subject,” Louise suggested.

  Eddie wasn’t ready to do that, though. He pointed across the table with his fork and went on, “People like to say that they don’t know if they could ever take somebody else’s life, but that’s bull. Just about anybody will kill, if they’ve got a good enough reason. If somebody threatens you or your family…if somebody hurts your family…then they’ve got it comin’ to ’em, I say.”

  “I can’t disagree with that,” Mark responded.

  “And if they’ve got payback comin’,” Eddie went on as his face reddened with anger, “if they hurt somebody you really love, then anybody with an ounce of humanity will try to settle the score with the lousy, no-good son of a—”

  “Eddie, that’s enough!” Louise said with an unaccustomed ferocity, and I couldn’t help but recall how she had told me earlier that morning that she had come on the Southern Belle to kill somebody. She took a deep breath, calmed herself with a visible effort, and went on, “It doesn’t do any good to get yourself all worked up like that.”

  “Nothin’ does any good,” Eddie said. He shoved his chair back and stood up. “Nothin’ ever does any good.” He turned and stalked toward the exit.

  Louise gave us a helpless look and appealed to her old friend. “Mark…”

  “It’s time to come clean with him, Louise,” he said. “You need to let him know who I really am. It might help.”

  “But…but I’m afraid of what he might have…”

  She couldn’t finish, but I had a pretty good idea what she meant. She was starting to be afraid that Eddie had taken the law into his own hands, that he had found out something linking Hannah with Ben Webster and had used that Marine training of his to break Webster’s neck.

  “Asking you to help me was a big mistake!” she blurted out as she looked across the table at Mark, confirming what I had just thought.

  “It’s too late now,” Mark said as he stood up with a grim, determined look on his face. “I’m going to go talk to him.”

  Louise came to her feet, too, and caught hold of his arm. “You can’t!”

  “You don’t want to make a scene, Louise,” Mark said quietly.

  She looked around her, saw that several people at nearby tables were watching with open curiosity, and with a sigh, she let go of Mark’s arm.

  I was standing by now, too, and I said, “Let’s all go after Eddie and talk to him. I really think it’ll be better to clear the air, Louise.”

  “I don’t guess I have any choice,” she murmured.

  I glanced with regret at the food I was leaving behind. I hadn’t gotten to eat much. But it was more important that we talk to Eddie Kramer, I told myself. The hard shell around him might be starting to crack, and who knew what we might find inside.

  It might even be something we didn’t want to find, like the fact that Eddie had killed Ben Webster.

  When we came out on deck we looked both ways. “There he is,” Louise said, pointing to the stairs leading up to the second deck. We went after him, but by the time we climbed to the second deck, Eddie was on his way to the third. We saw him turn toward the observation area on the bow when he reached the top of the stairs. That was where I had sat and talked with Vince Mallory earlier, when I’d had no idea that he was really a cop, too.

  Eddie stood with his hands on the railing, peering out over the slow, majestic flow of the Mississippi. He was the only one up here at the moment. He didn’t look around, but he seemed to know we were there as we came up behind him. He nodded toward the river and said, “Out there somewhere. That’s where it happened.”

  Louise laid a hand on his arm and said, “Oh, Eddie…”

  “In the dark,” Eddie said, his voice choked with emotion. “That’s maybe the worst of it. She couldn’t see what was happening, she didn’t know what was going on…God, she had to have been so scared.”

  Mark said, “She didn’t know. She didn’t feel anything after the first blow. It’s not much, Eddie, but you can hang on to that much, anyway.”

  That made Eddie turn sharply from the railing, his hands clenching into fists. “What do you know about it?” he demanded. “You’re just a damn actor!”

  Mark stood easy, ready to defend himself if Eddie took a swing at him. He shook his head and said, “No, Eddie, I’m not an actor. I’m a private detective. Louise hired me to find out what really happened to Hannah.”

  Eddie’s eyes widened. The struggle to accept what Mark was telling him was obvious to see on his face. After a moment he was able to say, “A detective?” He swung his gaze toward his wife. “You hired a detective?”

  “You’ve heard me talk about Mark before,” she said. I could tell she was struggling to stay calm, too. “Since the police hadn’t found out anything, I thought maybe he could. He’s working on the boat undercover.”

  Eddie’s jaw clenched. A muscle jumped in it. “A detective,” he said again. “I never would have guessed.” He gave Mark a challenging look. “Well, what have you found out, shamus?”

  “About Hannah’s killer?” Mark shook his head. “I haven’t figured out who it is yet. I’m not so sure about Ben Webster, though.”

  “Mark, no!” Louise said. “Eddie was just talking. He…he didn’t mean anything.”

  Eddie let out a bark of laughter. “Is that what you’re afraid of? That I killed that kid?”

  Mark gave him a level stare. “You said it yourself, Eddie. If you found out that Ben Webster had something to do with Hannah’s death, then he had it coming.”

  “Yeah, he would have…if that was what happened.” Eddie made a slashing motion with his hand. “But as far as I know, the Webster kid didn’t have anything to do with Hannah. He probably never even heard of her.”

  “He wasn’t the guy she was dating in St. Louis?” Mark asked.

  Eddie frowned at Mark. “Just how much do you know about my daughter, anyway?”

  Louise said, “I told him everything, Eddie. Everything I could think of.”

  “That’s why we came to talk to you,” Mark said. “We figured it was time to clear the air and find out if you know anything Louise doesn’t.”

  Eddie turned his head to look at me. “Let me guess,” he said with a half sneer. “You’re a detective, too, Red.”

  Somebody calling me “Red” is one of my pet peeves. I admit that. Right then, however, I suppressed the irritation I felt and tried not to show Eddie how annoyed I was.

  “No, I’m a travel agent,” I told him. “I set up literary tours like this one. But I’ve got a stake in findin’ out who killed Ben Webster. Havin’ clients murdered while they’re on one of my tours is bad for business.”

  “Yeah, I imagine so. How does that lady cop feel about you two sticking your noses into her case?”

  “I don’t reckon she’d like it,” I said, “if she knew about it.”

  Eddie glanced back and forth between Mark and me with that defiant look on his face again. “So what is it you want from me?” he asked.

  “We’d like to talk to you about Hannah,” Mark said. His tone was quieter now, and not as confrontational. “Tell us everything you can about her life in St. Louis and her job here on the Southern Belle.”

 
“You said Louise already told you all about it.”

  “You might remember something she doesn’t. And in a murder investigation, you never know what might turn out to be important…like the fact that Hannah was pregnant when she was killed,” Mark said.

  Louise paled, and Eddie’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Don’t you even think about goin’ around spreadin’ dirt about my little girl,” he said.

  “I’m not spreading dirt,” Mark said with a shake of his head. “We’re the only ones up here. And the police already know about that, remember? It was in the autopsy report.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Eddie muttered. “That still doesn’t mean I like people talking about it.” He looked at Louise. “You told him?”

  Her chin came up a little. “Of course I did. It might be important. And remember, Eddie, we lost a grandchild as well as a daughter. That’s one more reason we need to find out who did that awful thing.”

  After a moment, he sighed and nodded. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. You always are.”

  Mark asked, “Do you have any idea who the baby’s father was?”

  “How would I know that if Louise didn’t? Hannah talked to her a lot more than she ever talked to me.” Eddie’s heavy shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. “We never got along too good. Hannah had a mind of her own and didn’t mind readin’ somebody the riot act if she thought they were wrong, includin’ her own dad.” A tiny shadow of a wistful smile appeared on his face for a second, then was gone. “Louise always said we didn’t get along because we were too much alike.”

  “The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree,” Louise quoted softly.

  “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I can tell you what I think, even though I don’t know. I think the baby’s father was somebody at that fancy law firm.”

  “What law firm?” Mark asked with a frown.

  “The one where Hannah worked for a couple of weeks as a temp before she got the job on this boat.”

  Mark looked at Louise. “You didn’t say anything about her working at a law firm.”

  “I didn’t think it was important,” she said. “Like Eddie told you, it was just a temp job.”

  “Which firm was it?”

  “Let me think…. There were three names, three partners, I suppose…,” Louise said.

  Eddie said, “One of ’em was Pine, like the tree. I remember that.”

  “Winston, Pine, and Blevins,” Mark said, his voice harsh with surprise.

  “Yeah, that’s it,” Eddie said. “You’ve heard of the firm?”

  Mark had done a lot more than hear of it, I thought. He had done a lot of work for Winston, Pine, and Blevins.

  And not much more than an hour ago, someone from that firm had done his best to convince him to drop this case.

  CHAPTER 21

  Mark looked just as shocked as I felt. “You’re sure about that?” he said. “Hannah worked for Winston, Pine, and Blevins?”

  “Yeah,” Eddie said. “And it wouldn’t surprise me if it was one of those damn lawyers who got her pregnant. I never have liked lawyers, even my own.”

  Mark shook his head. “It wouldn’t have been one of the partners,” he said without a bit of doubt in his voice. “Leonard Winston is at least eighty years old and comes into the office only once or twice a year. Gerald Pine is the managing partner, but he’s gay.”

  “What about Blevins?” I asked.

  “John Blevins is dead. His wife still shares in the firm’s profits, but no one from his family practices there. None of his kids are even lawyers.”

  “What about associates?” Eddie asked. “Don’t most big law firms like that have a lot of associates working for them?”

  Mark nodded. “Yes, there are about a dozen associates. I don’t even know all of them.”

  “And you seem to know a lot about the place,” Eddie said as he frowned in a vaguely accusing manner at Mark.

  “Eddie!” Louise said. “You can’t be serious. I’ve known Mark since I was a girl. I hired him to help us, for gosh sake.”

  Eddie didn’t pay any attention to her. He continued glaring at Mark and demanded, “How about it? What’s your connection with those lawyers?”

  “I do investigative work for them.” Mark amended, “Or rather, I did investigative work for them. I think I got fired a little while ago.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I refused to stop working on your daughter’s case and run back to St. Louis to take on a job for them.”

  Eddie snorted. “Don’t make it sound so blasted noble. You couldn’t have gone anyway, as long as the cops have us stuck here.”

  That comment made a couple of things click together in my head. I put a hand on Mark’s arm and said, “They called you out of the blue with that other case?”

  He turned to look at me. “Yeah, Mr. Pine said the client asked for me.”

  “Has that ever happened before?”

  Mark thought about it for a second, then said, “No, not that I recall. Most clients wouldn’t know who I was. They just come to the firm for results and don’t really care how they go about getting them.”

  “So it would have to be a regular client, somebody who knew who you were. Somebody who might recognize you if they saw you.”

  “Well, once you think about it like that, what you’re saying makes sense,” Mark admitted.

  “Let me make a wild guess,” I said. “The biggest client the firm has is Charles Gallister.”

  Mark’s mouth tightened into a hard line. “Yeah, that’s probably right,” he said.

  “Would Gallister know you by sight?”

  “Maybe. I’ve been introduced to him once or twice, but it’s been a while.”

  “And this fella Pine would want to give Gallister whatever he asked for, right?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Mark said. “There are a lot of billable hours at stake in giving Charles Gallister whatever he wants.”

  I lifted a finger and poked at the air as I put my thoughts into words. “So Gallister sees you when he comes on board the Southern Belle earlier today and recognizes you as a private detective. He was already going to call his lawyers—Winston, Pine, and Blevins—and raise holy Ned about the riverboat being stuck here in Hannibal, and oh, by the way, while he’s talking to them he also tells them he needs you, you in particular, to work on some unspecified case for him. He’s anticipating that they’re gonna be able to get a court order releasing the boat and the passengers, so you can hotfoot it back to St. Louis and forget all about the case that brought you up here. Does that make sense?”

  “It does,” Mark said as he nodded. “Some of it is pure speculation, but it hangs together all right.”

  Eddie and Louise had been listening and frowning as they tried to follow what I was saying, and now Eddie spoke up. “Yeah, but what does it mean?”

  “When Gallister saw Mark and remembered that he’s a private eye, he probably figured that he was here workin’ on a case,” I said. “Ben Webster’s murder happened after the cruise started. There’s only one unsolved case involving the Southern Belle that could have brought Mark up here.”

  “Hannah’s murder,” Louise breathed.

  I nodded. “Gallister decided you must be working on Hannah’s case,” I said to Mark, “and he didn’t want you here. So he tried to get his lawyers to call you off and decoy you away on something else.”

  “Why would he do that?” Louise asked.

  Mark didn’t have time to answer before Eddie said, “That son of a bitch.” His voice rose in a roar. “That son of a bitch!”

  He stomped toward the stairs.

  Mark caught hold of his arm and stopped him. Eddie turned fast, swinging a punch at Mark with his other arm. That Marine training of Eddie’s was probably pretty good, but it had been a long time ago. He had spent the years since then as a businessman while Mark had been working as a private eye, which was probably a lot more strenuous. And Mark was just in better shape to start with. He blocked the punch
, swung Eddie around, and twisted his arm behind his back.

  “Take it easy,” Mark said. “I don’t want to hurt you, Eddie.”

  “Let me go,” Eddie panted. “Lemme go, dammit! I’ll kill the son of a bitch!”

  Louise got in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Calm down, Eddie,” she said. “You’ve got to calm down. It’s not going to do any good for you to go flying off the handle like you always do.”

  Her words seemed to get through to him. He took a couple of deep, ragged breaths, then jerked his head in a nod. “All right, Lansing, you can let go of me,” he said. “I won’t do anything.”

  “You’d better not be lying to me,” Mark said as he released Eddie’s arm. Eddie brought it back around in front of him and rubbed it where the muscles must have been pulled.

  Louise turned to Mark. “Do you really think Charles Gallister could have had something to do with Hannah’s death? A rich man like that?”

  “Rich men break the law, too, all the time,” he said. He looked at me. “But Delilah’s the one who came up with this theory. Let’s give her a chance to talk it out.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “What do you know about Gallister? Is he the sort of man who’d take up with a young woman like Hannah?”

  Mark grunted. “Gallister’s the sort of man who’d take up with anybody if she was female and reasonably attractive.”

  “Hannah was a beautiful young woman,” Louise said quietly.

  “She certainly was,” Mark agreed. “From the gossip I heard about Gallister around the firm, all the secretaries knew not to let themselves get caught alone in an elevator with him. The female associates were the same way, although I think some of them probably played up to him to try to advance their careers. He has a reputation as a lecher, though.”

  “So a pretty girl from a small town, living on her own in the city for the first time, working as a temp…she’d be a prime target for a man like Gallister?” I asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” Mark said. “I never knew that there was a connection between Hannah and the law firm, or I might have thought of Gallister. He was there in the offices a lot, consulting with Gerald Pine. He could have seen Hannah and set his sights on her—”