The Silent Hour

by Michael Koryta

  * * *

  Chapter Forty-six

  It was three more weeks before I went to see John Dunbar. By then I was moving better and had some of my weight back. I'd lost almost twenty pounds in the aftermath of the shooting, and it was depressing as hell to consider how weak I'd be when I could finally get back in the gym. I'd been at a strength peak before, and now I'd bottomed out. That's how it goes, though. That's always how it goes.

  It was late November when I made the drive, and the lake was hard and cold and whipped into a fury by a strong front out of Canada. Winter on the way, and with it would go Joe. I hadn't been surprised when he told me he was planning on another departure in January, but I was surprised to hear it would be back to Florida, and not Idaho. It seemed Gena was stepping aside from her position and heading south to join him. I remembered what she'd told me about neither of them wanting to be selfish, and how the best thing might be to pick a place that was new to both of them. Florida would be that, and it was also the place where they'd found each other. Maybe they'd stay. Maybe he'd convince her to spend some of the year in Cleveland. It was too early to tell.

  Sheffield Lake was quiet; not so many people interested in heading to the lake come November. When I got out of the car and walked to Dunbar's door, the wind was difficult to move through. It seemed to find the bullet wounds somehow, slip through them and carry the chill to the rest of my body.

  Dunbar was home, and happy to see me. Ushered me in and took my coat and got me positioned in a chair by the fireplace. It was gas, not wood, but it threw some heat and made the tiny house seem like the perfect place to sit out a howling storm.

  "You better let me get you some coffee," he said. "Maybe put in a touch of whiskey, too— Just a warmer. Today's a day for it, if ever there was one."

  I said that sounded fine, and then he went out to the kitchen and fixed the coffee, and I sat and watched the storm. When he came back we drank the coffee together, and I listened while he talked about the case, offering updates and theories and connections I might not have heard.

  Eventually he burned himself out and set his coffee aside and said, "Well, what brought you out here on a day like this— I'm sure it wasn't for my coffee."

  "How sure are you that Alvin Neloms killed Joshua Cantrell—" I said.

  He blinked. "Quite sure. How could I not be, at this point— I've heard your tape—he all but confessed. Then Darius provided the details. Why do you… I mean, you're sure of it, too. Right— You don't think something else—"

  "If I had to guess," I said, "if I had to put every dime I have down on one bet, I'd say he did it, yeah."

  "That's what I thought."

  "I believe that because of what I saw. Because of how he reacted when I said Cantrell's name. Sometimes, though, I get things wrong. Sometimes I make an assumption based upon what I've seen, and it's wrong."

  He was frowning at me, quiet.

  "So here's what I have to ask you," I said. "Did you kill Joshua Cantrell, or did you just leave the ring—"

  I waited a long time. He did not speak, did not move. Did not look away, either.

  "Probably wouldn't have bothered me if I hadn't gotten shot," I said. "Or if it had bothered me, it would have slipped by easier. Since I did get shot, I've had a lot of time to sit around and think. I thought about the way

  Neloms had his uncle shoot me, the way he dumped Ken's body, the way he threw Bertoli off a roof. He was not a man who was interested in subtleties. He was interested in making people dead and moving on. Didn't care who got arrested for it, didn't care about framing people."

  I leaned forward, feeling a tug in my chest but not the radiating pain that had once been there.

  "Alexandra thought her brother killed him, or had him killed. She thought that because of the ring. It's why she left. While I can understand why she thought that, I can't imagine why in the hell Dominic would have left it. As a message— That would have served no purpose. She wasn't a mob rival, she was his sister, and she mattered dearly to him. If he had killed her husband, he wouldn't have left a calling card."

  Dunbar's face was still impassive, but his eyes went to the wall above my head.

  "It's possible that Joshua Cantrell told Bertoli about that ring," I said, "and that Bertoli told Neloms. Here's the thing, Dunbar: Even if Neloms were to think it wise to frame someone like Sanabria—and he wouldn't—and even if he did know about the ring, he wouldn't have known where to find it. Because Cantrell never wore the thing. I suppose Bertoli could have known, and could have told Neloms, but I don't think so."

  It was quiet. Dunbar looked at me for a while, then away.

  "Of course I didn't kill him," he said.

  "That's your only denial—"

  He nodded. "How do you know about the ring—"

  "How, indeed."

  He sat back in his chair, blew out a shaking breath.

  "Tell me what you did," I said.

  He turned his hands up. "You know what I did."

  "I know you left the ring. I'd like more details."

  "Joshua called me and told me that Bertoli was dead and he wanted out. Said they were leaving the country. I told him that he couldn't do that; he had to be a witness for the investigation of Bertoli's murder. He hung up on me. So I went to see him in person, and I found his body."

  His mouth worked for a bit without any words coming out, and then he said, "You can't know what I felt then. I can't explain that to you. I knew I was partially responsible, but I also knew who killed him."

  "You thought you knew," I said. "You were wrong."

  That made his jaw clench, but he nodded. "At the time I was certain, and I thought, no, I will not let this happen again. I will not let Dominic walk away from this, too."

  "You knew where Cantrell kept the ring—"

  "It was in a cabinet just inside the door. He kept it there in case Dominic made a surprise visit. So he could put it on at the last minute, you know— The ring was a big deal to Dominic."

  He said "Dominic" the way most people say "poison."

  "You had a key—"

  "Door was unlocked. Open. His feet were still inside the house."

  "So you went away, and waited for the discovery."

  He nodded, and there was a tremor in his face, near his left eye. "Waited all night, and into the next day. Then I couldn't wait any more, and I went back. He was gone, and the stone was clean. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was losing my mind."

  "You didn't call anyone," I said. "With the murder less than two days old, you did not call anyone."

  "I had tampered with a homicide scene, and then I had left it."

  "There was a murder to be solved. You were the only—"

  "J didn't think it would take twelve years!" He shouted it at me, and now his hands were trembling, too.

  I shook my head in disgust.

  "I tried to help," he said. "Anybody would tell you that. I tried to guide things."

  "Guide things right to Dominic Sanabria. Right to an innocent man."

  "He is not an innocent man!"

  "He was this time, Dunbar."

  "If you had known what I knew—"

  "I did," I said. "Me, and every other detective who's looked at it. We fell all over ourselves looking at Sanabria and Harrison and all the rest of them. Shit, there was no shortage of suspects. All of them had been guilty. None of them were this time. Nobody could ever get it, could ever see the forest because there were too many damn trees. Until Ken Merriman. He got it. Then he was murdered, and some of that's on your head, Dunbar."

  "Everything you just said is true, but it wouldn't necessarily have changed because they had a corpse. They already had Bertoli's corpse. That didn't help."

  "You're right," I said. "Why would another crime scene possibly have been a help— Why would Alexandra's testimony possibly have been a help— You know how long it took me to get to Neloms after I talked to her— One day. One day, you son of a bitch."

  He sai
d, "When you talked to her—"

  "That's right, Dunbar. She's out there—and she's staying out there. You tell anybody that I've talked to her, and I'll happily distract them with the rest of this conversation."

  "I won't tell anyone," he said. "I just can't believe… I never knew…"

  "She ran away. Because of what you did, she ran away. It wasn't the murder. It was the ring and the message that it carried. Remove that, and you might have had an arrest within a week, might have had twelve fewer years of Alvin Neloms, might have had Ken Merriman alive."

  My voice was rising now, and I wanted to hit him, but instead I reached out and ran my fingers over my shirt, near the scars.

  "I hope it weighs on you," I said. "I hope that burden is terrible, Dunbar. It should be."

  "You hope it is— You don't know—"

  "I don't know much of anything," I said. "I just do a lot of hoping."

  I got to my feet and went to the door, walked back out into the cold wind.

  That night I took Joe and Amy out for dinner at Sokolowski's. I hadn't been there since that lunch with Ken at the end of the spring. It was edging toward winter now, and the view of the city's lights was hampered by rain-streaked windows. It was still beautiful, though. You just had to look harder.

  I told them about my visit to John Dunbar. Joe's initial response was for a call to action—he wanted police, prosecutors, punishment.

  "He's an old man now," I said. "A retired and highly regarded FBI agent. You think they'll ever actually let him get to a trial— For a charge of tampering with a crime scene, one that can no longer be proven—"

  "It can be testified to."

  "By Parker Harrison and Alexandra Cantrell. Those are the people who could testify to it. I ask you this—is it worth it—"

  Joe didn't answer. Amy said, "No. I don't think that it is."

  "Ken Merriman's daughter might disagree," Joe said. "As Lincoln pointed out, Neloms should have been arrested years before he had a chance to kill Ken."

  "Should have been," I said. "Might not have been. Anyway, however corrupt Dunbar's actions, you can be sure he didn't want it to play out like it did. I've seen that man enough to know he won't be able to find peace with this, Joe. Alexandra and Parker Harrison have come closer, and they deserve it more. I suggest we leave them to that."

  "What about you—" Joe said. "Have you found peace with it yet—"

  "Sure."

  He and Amy exchanged a look.

  "You remember the conversation we had in the hospital," I said to Joe.

  "Yes."

  "You were right, of course. I was trying to make this case my life without letting it into my life. Maybe that doesn't make sense, but I don't know how else to phrase it."

  "It makes sense," he said. "I've seen plenty of police do it."

  "I have, too. They're the ones who eventually end up divorced and drinking and angry. You know that."

  He nodded.

  "So I see your point, is what I'm trying to say. Still, you have to understand that I've had trouble dealing with what happened when some of these cases found their way into my home, Joe. Found their way to Amy, to you."

  "He understands," Amy said. "As do I. Trust me, as do I."

  "What are you leading up to—" Joe said. "Are you telling us you want to go back to PI work, or that you're ready to truly quit—"

  "I'm telling you I don't have an answer yet. I need some time. There's a part of me that would like to move on. Maybe the largest part of me."

  "What would the other part like—" Amy said.

  "There are some people who have come to us because they really needed us. I'd like to think we've done some good in those situations."

  "You know you have," she said.

  "Hell," Joe said, "you don't have to look at it like such a crossroads, Lincoln, like it's a right turn or a left and you've got to make the decision now. Hang at the stop sign for a while. Keep it in idle. We still get calls for case work, you know that. Just because you take the calls doesn't mean you have to take the cases. You can listen, and then you can decide."

  "That seems right," I said, and it did. For now, that sounded like enough.

  I would answer the phone when it rang. I would listen.

  Table of Contents

  PART ONE

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  PART TWO

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  PART THREE

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Chapter Forty-five

  Chapter Forty-six