Harsens Island (15 page)

Outside the station, Sam pulled Haberski’s keys from her pocket to her hand. She opened the cruiser’s driver door and climbed in as if it was hers; she started it with one twist, buckled up, and drove away without interference. There was no comment or exclamation from the police radio. The thought to take the car came to her instantly, fully formed. Her next actions were equally intuitive.

She arrived at her cottage without interference. She opened the garage door, parked headlights forward, and silenced the police radio. She locked the car and placed its keys in a coffee can half-filled with woodscrews. She closed the garage door, secured it, and locked the entrance door.

It was two hours to sundown, and, at the most, two and one-half hours to the fireworks.

The house looked safe enough, appearing as it had when she had left with Snake. Although there had been two men in the El Camino, she assumed one was in the house and the second was at Moon’s lighthouse – the El Camino was nowhere in sight.

The man inside would’ve entered, punched in the four-digit security code to silence it, and then went about his business.

Shortly after entering, he would’ve approached the sound of running water in the bathroom. Puzzled, he would’ve turned the water off, assuming she had left in a hurry and had accidentally left it running. The water was a lure, an old trick her father had taught her.

If an intruder enters a home with the intent of stealing your computer and TV, and when he hears water running, he will exit the house, not wanting a physical confrontation.

The flip side was that an intruder with ill intent will gravitate to the water, assuming teeth are being brushed, hands washed, makeup removed. Finding the bathroom empty and the water running, he will turn the faucet off. He wants to know if anyone is in the house – and doing this he unwittingly signals his presence.

She entered through the rear door and walked through the small, square back porch to the kitchen. She dropped her house and garage keys on the kitchen counter, making sound, and then rapidly picked them up, bringing the teeth of two keys between her fingers.

She did not hear running water. The alarm panel wasn’t beeping. Whomever was in the house had turned it off and left it off. She assumed he was in the second bedroom, bathroom hallway, or the master bedroom.

There was no one in the master bedroom, so she went to the second bedroom, found it empty, and then went to the bathroom, which was also empty.

She didn’t realize her mistake until she heard his last footsteps, the split-second before he wrapped his left hand over her mouth and grabbed her waist with his right. He’d hid on the front porch and shadowed her to the bathroom, the deepest point of the house, a room without exit.

She curled forward and down, and breaking his hold struck his groin with her right hand, raking the keys backward. He cursed. She arced her left elbow to his left kidney, dropped the keys, and fist hammered his right knee, three solid pops.

He pushed her forward and down, throwing her off-balance, causing her left shoulder to slam against the bathtub. As he came at her a second time she grasped the edge of the tub with both hands, brought her chest in line with them, lifted her legs and extending them kicked his stomach and chest, knocking him to the floor.

She fell to her knees, sprung up with stunning agility, wheeled, anchored her left foot, and kicked his groin with her right foot. As he gasped in pain, she struck again, a purposeful kick to his left ear. For a finale, she planted her left foot in his left calf and then kicked the back of his left knee.

He howled, his face a fiery red. He continued howling when she stepped on his chest to get over him. His howl dissipated to a sobbing whimper as she grabbed the collar and dragged him to the living room.

She rolled him over, patted down his crotch and his legs, and found a gun in an ankle holster on his left leg: a .38, a six-shot Smith & Wesson. She examined the chamber, emptied its six rounds, and threw the ammunition to the dining area, scattering the shells. She threw the gun to the opposite side of the room, into the fireplace.

She emptied his pockets: he had a wallet, a cell phone, his personal keys, and her house key.

She lifted his shirt and saw he wasn’t wearing a belt. She removed her belt. She rolled him face down, brought his right leg back, bent his left arm down, and secured his wrist and ankle with the belt, effectively hog-tying him.

She pushed him to his side so he could speak, and then sat next to him, leaning against the couch. She took a long, cleansing breath before she spoke.

“You know, for a long time I didn’t know why men stopped wearing belts and tucking their shirts in. But then I got it.”

His pain-red eyes stared at her dumbly.

“Uh, why…?”

“Because they’re fat.”

“What?”

“They don’t need belts to keep their pants up because they’re fat. They don’t tuck in their shirts because they’re fat. They think if they don’t tuck in their shirts no one will notice they’re fat.”

His eyebrows lifted.

“So?”

“You’re fat. Lose a few pounds, cut back on the burgers and bacon, and you can wear belts again.”

“Uh, yeah, sure…whatever you say?”

“Good, now tell me why you’re here.”

He said nothing.

His hair and mustache were black, his eyes a dark brown, almost black, and his skin was a light brown. He was in his early- to mid-forties. His body was stuffed into a short sleeve black shirt with a wide collar, blue jeans, and black sneakers.

“Listen,” she said. “The belt? I’ll tighten it. After a few tugs I can bust your knee or your wrist. And if I break your wrist you’ll need a new hobby.”

“You’re crazy,” he said.

“Take your time,” she said. “I’m in no rush.”

His mustache twitched a fraction.

“I came for the money. Everybody says you’re a rich bitch. You have cash. Lots of it.”

Sam exhaled through her nostrils, thinking of Rowland’s advice. She realized this moment was a result of her choices and actions.

“I hate to tell you, sport, but there is no cash. Your buddy cleared me out earlier.”

He squinted and remained silent.

She decided it was time to push another button.

“Haberski shot Bill.”

“What? What you talking about?”

Sam uncrossed, stretched, and flexed her legs.

“Just what I said. Haberski popped Bill.”

“I got no idea what you’re saying, lady.”

“That’s okay. But so you know, Haberski’s dead.”

“Bullshit.”

“Serious as his heart attack,” Sam said. “He’s dead and Bill’s alive.’

“You’re a goddamn liar, that’s what you are you fu…”

She talked over him.

“…Tell you what. I’ll tell you what I think has happened. You jump in anytime I’m wrong, okay? Ready?”

“You are so fu…”

“…Bill has access to the house through the Alarm Company. He installed the new system. He probably knows the house as well as I do, and he had the time to look around when he was working on the place. He was blackmailed or being extorted by Haberski for some reason – drug dealing or possession, something along those lines, I’d guess. We’ll confirm that once he’s able to talk.

“Anyway, Haberski forced him to break into the house and take the cash I had left. When he was done, Bill set the alarm. Then Haberski shot him as he left the cottage, leaving him for dead, wanting to cover his involvement.”

“That would’ve been fuckin’ dumb. He hated Bill but he wasn’t dumb enough to do that.”

“Maybe it was planned, or maybe it was an accident, or maybe he panicked. No matter what, he shot Bill and took the money. The problem is that Bill survived, triggered the alarm, and managed to get away.”

He spat on the floor.

“I don’t know what any of that means.”

“Okay, let me be a little clearer. Before Haberski died, he spent the better part of the day trying to convince everyone I shot Bill. He knew I would never be convicted of anything – he just wanted me out of the way before tonight’s fireworks. You were his backup plan. He calculated that if Bill didn’t find the money that you would. The problem is that he died before he could stop you. Now here you are, the second unluckiest man in the world.”

“You fu…”

“…Did you tell Redsky you were coming here, or did you and Haberski arrange this cheap stunt on your own?”

His eyes betrayed a sense of dread.

“My leg,” he said. “It really hurts.”

“Your balls, too, I bet.”

She picked his wallet off the floor, opened it, found a little over a hundred American dollars and one hundred Canadian dollars. There were the usual credit cards and I.D.’s.

She laughed loudly.

“James Earl
Redsky
?
You’re
Lauren’s brother?” She flipped the wallet closed, still laughing. “
Sheriff
James Earl Redsky?” 

“What’s so funny? Come on, lady, let me loose.”

She picked up his Samsung phone, activated it, and tapped its screen.

“Hey,” he said. “That’s private! You can’t look at that! That’s an international peace treaty violation right there.”

Sam activated the camera icon. The phone flashed as she captured a picture of his red face, mouth agape.

“Do you have an Instagram account? Facebook?”

He protested until he realized he was no further along and that his pain had worsened.

“Do you want to waste more time?” Sam asked.

His face, dripping with sweat, was flat against the floor. He exhaled the odor of stale beer.

“James Earl,” she said. “I’ve got a question. Who killed Lynn Hunter?”

He licked his lips and swallowed.

“I want a beer. I’m thirsty.”

“Sorry,” Sam said. “I don’t drink.”

“You don’t got anything for guests?”

“Okay, for a start, let’s assume you killed her…”

“…Hey,
bullshit
, lady…”

“…so the question is…”

“…I didn’t kill nobody…”

“…why did you kill her?”

He again thrashed like a landed fish, cursing several times, and then, finally, he rolled to his side, bringing his left knee a few inches off the ground.

“Is that helping you think?” Sam said.

He relaxed.

“I heard something about that goofy black guy taking a shot. That’s all I know.”

“Snake?”

“Yeah, that clown. Are you getting me something to drink? My leg is killing me. You really fucked it up. I’m thinking I’ll sue your ass and take all your money.”

Sam mulled Snake’s gun and its missing bullet. 

“Where was Hunter when she died?”

“I don’t know shit,” he said. “And lady, once my sister hears what you did to me, you’ll want to go back to whatever hole you crawled from.”

Sam produced her best Grinch smile.

“That’s a great idea. Let’s call her.”

“No, no, no…”

Sam ignored him.

“Is she on speed dial? Or do you use the directory?”

He cursed at her. Two words.

“Okay. Let me help you think through this,” she said. “If you behave yourself you’ll be in a hospital before midnight. Afterward, depending on the wrangling, you’ll have a layover in Rowland’s jail, then county. No matter what, you’ll stay clear of tonight’s party. And either way, you won’t see her for a while, and that’ll give you time to spin a lie she’ll believe or be forced to live with.”

He exhaled, his eyes focused on the floor, and he moved his head side to side.

“She is going to kill me,” he said with a sigh.

“When does your partner get here?”

“My partner?”

Sam raised her eyebrows.

He clamped his eyes and spoke with resignation.

“Eight-fifteen.”

“No call, right?”

“No call,” he said.

Sam’s shoulder banged in pain.

“I need a couple of aspirin,” she said. “You want anything?”

“A shot of tequila and a Vicodin.”

“Suit yourself.”

She went to the kitchen, removed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and knocked four aspirin into her left palm. She washed two of them down. She set the remaining two on the counter and sat the bottle next to them, cap off.

The deep-bass reverberation of the El Camino’s 454 cubic inch engine came shortly after that.

“Your ride’s here,” she said.

“Fuckin’ A,” he said. “That’s Angel. He’s gonna fuck you up when he sees what you did to me.”

“James,” she said, “we’re going to have to work on your vocabulary.”

From Angel’s vantage, as he got out of the car, it was impossible to see her extract a washcloth from a kitchen drawer. It was just as impossible for him to see her stuff the washcloth in James Earl’s mouth, take hold of his free ankle, and slide him, squirming, down the hallway to the bathroom. But as Angel entered the kitchen, he did see the bottle of water and aspirin.