"M-m-m, Fred does look on the bleak side of life."
"And why does Lorraine stay with him? She's one of the nicest people."
"To make up for him, no doubt." Herb laughed as did Matthew. "But I would have to say that in the last few months, since Thanksgiving, I've observed Fred being more combative, looking for fights. Unpleasant even in passing. I haven't been able to discover the reason. At first I thought, well, maybe Lorraine is tired of him. But no. Then I thought perhaps there's a health problem. Seems fine. Not that Dr. Hayden McIntyre would betray a confidence, but you know, he basically indicated that Fred is fit as a fiddle."
"Pity." Matthew knocked back his port, then drank his tea. "Hateful of me, I know. In fact, downright un-Christian of me. And in front of you."
Herb poured him another cup of tea as Matthew helped himself to the port. "I'm the one person to whom you can tell the truth."
Matthew slumped back in the chair, gazed into the fire for a moment. "I hate him. I do my job and I do it well. I cooperate with him on that level. But he's out to get me and I don't know why."
"Every time he sees you he's got to be reminded that he had as much chance as you did to succeed. He passed it by."
"His choice." Matthew threw up his hands.
"He's jealous."
"Why now?"
"He's in his fifties. Money becomes more important as one gets older. Actually it becomes both more important and less important if you know what I mean." Matthew nodded and Herb continued. "Maybe it's finally getting to him that he'll never really make much money. He's got nowhere to go. There is no higher level if he stays with the county. He's topped out."
"Everyone makes their choices."
"For the most part, yes, but you know, it takes you a good decade to figure out the choices you made in the previous one." He laughed low.
"Whiteout." Elocution opened one eye.
Cazzie opened both eyes. "Bet the mice will snuggle into the woodpile."
"I'm not going outside to get them."
Cazzie thought about the animal door in the back. "Me, neither." She giggled, then closed her beautiful eyes again as the humans talked on.
"Herb, I'm thinking about hiring Ned Tucker. Fred hasn't exactly slandered me or libeled me but I think his behavior is pretty damned close to harassment."
"Ned would know."
Both men sat quietly for a moment, all outside sounds muffled in the falling snow.
"Dropped by Anne's on the way over. She's holding up. Cameron cries, she said. She's realizing Daddy isn't coming home from a business trip. It takes a while to sink in and I guess it hits pretty hard when you're a sixth-grader."
"Anne's been through a lot," Herb simply said.
"She's well off. He took care of that. That's some comfort or at least it will be down the road." Matthew folded his hands together. "I've been wrestling with my conscience. I bet you hear that a lot."
"In one form or another."
"You see, Herb, I'm pretty sure I know who H.H. was sleeping with and I can't prove it, but, well, I'm pretty sure. I usually knew who he was sleeping with on the side. He wasn't always as discreet as he might have been. He's damned lucky his wife always looked the other way."
"I see. That would certainly put a new shading on events."
"I suppose I should go to Sheriff Shaw but I don't have definitive proof and I feel, well, not quite right if I don't have it cold. Hearsay."
"He's accustomed to unsubstantiated leads."
"Yes, I guess he is." Matthew downed his second glass of port. "I hate this."
"The snow?"
"The way I feel."
"Ah."
"Aren't you going to ask me?"
"No."
Matthew unfolded his hands then folded them again. "I see I can't abdicate my responsibility for a minute. You aren't going to worm the name out of me so I can feel relieved."
"Right."
Matthew stood up, walked over and tossed another log in the fire. He turned. "Mychelle Burns. For the longest time I thought it was Tazio Chappars. She's elegant, very attractive, very bright. I could understand leaving your wife for Tazio." Matthew shook his head. "If I'd stop off at the Riverside Cafe for lunch and he'd be there, if a pretty girl walked in, H.H. had to send her a beer. He was just that kind of guy. And like I said, he didn't brag, he didn't complain about Anne, but he, well, the way I started to realize it was serious and it was Mychelle was that he pointedly did not pay any attention to her. I'll tell you I was shocked because she wasn't what I expected. If H.H. was going to jeopardize his marriage I always thought it would be for some real babe. Mychelle was attractive, don't get me wrong, but she wasn't a trophy."
"Yes, but they spoke the same language. She understood his work. Anne may have appreciated it, but Mychelle lived and breathed construction. More to it than sex when men get serious."
"His one-day separation must have put both women through hell."
"Put him through it, too."
"I guess. He'd worked hard. He would lose a big chunk of change in a divorce. Then there's the social fallout. Doesn't seem worth it."
"The price of success seems to be that you become somebody else. Maybe he didn't like himself." Herb watched the sparks from the fresh log spiral up the chimney.
Matthew returned to his chair, sitting on the arm now. "Maybe that's why I'm looking forward to Scotland this summer. I need to remember who I am. I promised Sandy we'd go for our fifteenth wedding anniversary. How was I to know I'd get the contract for the sports complex? I almost canceled the vacation. Obviously, there's a lot of money at stake, and then I thought, no, I'll take my computer. I'll stay in touch with Tazio and my foreman, who is both literate and computer literate. As you know, most of my workmen aren't proficient that way. I'm not letting my wife and kids down. And you know, if there's some huge crisis I'll get on a plane, fly home, then fly back. There are options."
"Glad to hear you say that, Matthew." Herb dabbed his mouth with one of the small linen napkins Charlotte had placed on the tray. "You haven't asked for my advice. Do you want it?"
"I do."
"Go to Rick. Tell him just what you told me. He isn't going to think you're a gossip. Two people are dead. If their murders are related, he needs whatever information he can get."
"I know that. I know that." Matthew's voice rose. "But if H.H. and Mychelle . . ." He leaned forward. "Motive. Who has the motive to kill them both? Anne."
"I understand that, but you still have an obligation to talk to the sheriff."
They heard the door open and Charlotte's voice. Then footsteps back to the room.
"Herb, Harry's here. She says she can see you some other time if you're busy."
Herb looked at Matthew.
"I'm done."
"Bring her back." Herb looked back to Matthew. "I'm glad you came."
Harry bounded into the room as both men stood up to greet her. "Hey, Big Mim says we can sled down her hill. There's enough light. Come on."
"Be dark soon." Herb looked at the clouds turning from gray to dark blue.
"Yeah, but she's going to line the hill with torches. Oh, come on. We all need to be a little spontaneous."
"Harry, you're right. Think Mim would mind if I came along? I'll call Sandy. Hey, we'll bring fried chicken. She can stop on her way out of town."
"Go on, Daddy," Cazenovia encouraged Herb.
Harry threw her arm around Herb. "Come on, Rev."
"Well-who am I to refuse a lady?"
"All right!" Harry clapped her hands.
Within half an hour they were screaming as they tobogganed down the hill. Little Mim, Blair, Fair, BoomBoom, Miranda, Tracy, Herb, Jim, Ned, Susan, Brooks, Matthew, Sandy, their children, Ted and Matt, Jr., were all there along with the redoubtable Aunt Tally who had more fun than the rest of them put together.