“And I understand her son and daughter-in-law died in a house fire?”
“Yes. That was about, let me think, fifteen years ago now.”
“What happened?”
“No one really knows for sure. Steve was a smoker, so that’s what we all thought had happened. At least initially. It was early summer but we had a cold snap and turns out they’d been having trouble with their furnace. So they were using one of those old portable heaters without any safety or cutoff features, you know the kind that if they tip over and catch something on fire your whole house can go up in about a minute? So maybe it wasn’t his smoking. I wasn’t working at the funeral home then, but my uncle told me that it was a challenge making them viewable. Ended up being a closed casket. No one wanted to remember them that way. Their daughter, I think, was away or something.” He paused. “But why are you asking about that?”
“Because it has loose ends. Like the person who hit Mrs. Palmer and fled the scene.”
“But those two events were fifteen years apart. And one was a tragic accident and one was a hit-and-run.”
“And now Jenny.”
“Again, I don’t see the connection.”
“Well, I don’t either, to tell you the truth. Maybe there is none.”
“I wouldn’t think so. I mean, stuff like that does happen.”
“Yeah, but this little town has had more than its share of ‘stuff,’ don’t you think?”
Bing just shrugged. “Well, good luck with your investigation. If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.”
“I will.”
Devine left, got into his SUV, and drove back to the inn. And all along the way he was wondering why Earl Palmer had been offered up as the one to find Jenny’s body when he could not have possibly seen it. Whoever was behind this had not thought that one through. But then again, until Devine had come along, everyone had just accepted what the old man had said at face value.
Maybe I am good at this. Or maybe no one else really wants to find out the truth.
Chapter 34
Harper and Fuss were waiting for him when he returned to the inn. The two cops didn’t look happy, and he felt sure he was about to find out why.
Harper said, “Heard you went to see Earl Palmer today.”
“News travels fast.”
“Can I ask why?”
“He was the one who found Jenny’s body. I had follow-up questions.”
“Like what?” asked Fuss, giving him a look that Devine didn’t really care for.
“Just the standard stuff.”
“Learn anything new?” asked Harper, his hand resting on top of his baton.
“I don’t know. I have to think about it.”
“You were over at the funeral home earlier, too,” said Fuss.
“Minutes ago and you already know. You guys need to apply to work for CIA.”
“Cut the crap, Devine. What are you trying to get at?” demanded Harper.
“Same as you, the truth. We all just have our own methods of getting there, apparently.”
“You seem to doubt that Earl found the body,” said Fuss.
“Well, if you mean do I think it odd that he looked down to see the body, only the guy can’t look down? Then yeah, I have some doubts. You should too.”
Harper eyed Fuss and said, “What do you mean, he ‘can’t look down’?”
The man seemed to be sincere, thought Devine, or else he was an excellent liar. “A couple of cervical spinal fusions that went bad. He has severely restricted range of motion. Thought Guillaume would have told you. You obviously saw her at the funeral home and she told you that we had met.”
“You’re wrong. We didn’t talk to her,” said Fuss. “We saw both your cars in the parking lot when we passed by on our way here.”
“Okay.”
“Now what about Earl?” asked Harper.
“I gave him a little test at the spot where he claimed to have seen Jenny’s body.” He filled them in on what he had done to discover the man’s inability to look downward.
“Are you sure?” asked Harper.
“Test him yourself,” suggested Devine. “And the guy has a hard time walking. No, he doesn’t really walk, he shuffles. So he was out in a monsoon shuffling miles, including through the mud, to the edge of that bluff?”
“If what you’re suggesting is true, it opens up a can of worms,” said Harper.
“It actually changes everything,” replied Devine.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Harper.
“If he didn’t look down and see her, how was she actually found? Did she really fall on the rocks after being shot, or was she killed elsewhere and moved there later?”
“Hold on, hold on,” protested Fuss. “You’re getting way over your skis the way I see it.”
“I don’t think so. It’s a fact that when Earl called 911 there was a body at the spot mentioned?”
“Yes,” said Harper. “I told you that. The night dispatcher called me and I called Wendy. We went out there straightaway.”
“And Earl was there?”
“Sure was, right over at the edge. He pointed to where she was.”
“Did he look down when he pointed?”
“I don’t remember,” snapped Harper. “I had other things to think about.”
“But if he didn’t find her, what was he really doing there?” asked Devine.
“You’re the one saying that, not us.”
“Then test him.”
“We do that, it’s as good as saying we don’t believe him.”
Devine retorted, “I thought our job was to find the facts, not worry about hurt feelings.”
“We don’t need you to tell us how to do our job,” interjected Fuss heatedly. “In fact, you made our job harder by preventing us from searching Jenny’s room and car right away.”
“I had nothing to do with that.”
“It was still your people,” pointed out Fuss.
“This is getting us nowhere,” said Devine. “Are you going to speak to Earl?”
Harper hitched up his pants. “I’ll let you know. In the meantime, what can you tell us about those three people you killed? Your boys turn up anything?”
“Not that they’ve shared with me.”
“Well, as soon as you do hear anything, be sure to let us know.”
“I’d appreciate the same,” replied Devine.
They walked off without acknowledging this request.
As soon as they left, Alex came riding up on her bicycle, stopping in front of him.
“Can we talk?” she said.
“Sure. About what?”
“About... me. And Jenny.”
Chapter 35
She curled and uncurled her fingers around the coffee cup at Maine Brew.
Devine watched those long, lively fingers and judged them to be as artistic in design and function as the mind of the woman who owned them.
“What about you and your sister?” said Devine in a gently prompting manner.
Alex looked up at him, considerable pain in her expression. She fiddled with the colorful scarf tied around her neck. “I... I heard about what happened to you. That you almost died last night. That was why you came to my studio, wasn’t it?”
“Who told you that?”
“Wendy Fuss. She said that you killed three men who had kidnapped you.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes. But we didn’t come here to talk about that, did we?” He took a sip of coffee and glanced out the window as a chilly rain started to fall. When she didn’t say anything he looked back at her. “I heard something about you.”
“What?” she said quickly.
“That you were attacked when you were in high school. And that the person who attacked you got away.”