Lie Catchers (21 page)

“Jesus, Liv.”

“I will carry this at all times, loaded. I’ll sleep with it next to my bed.” She checked that the safety was on and flicked open the cylinder. “This a Webley III, top break with automatic extraction. Needs a cleaning, as does the Bisley downstairs in the cash drawer. They’re both 45’s, though the Webley, British-made, uses a .455 caliber rating. Mom and I, and Chet, will brush up on our skills, have a gun-cleaning party, and maybe bake some sweet bread,” she said, putting the gun in her purse. “It’s not Thanksgiving yet, but I have a hankering for some
Yule kake
.”

Parker blinked as he followed her to the kitchen.

With a shrug, Liv said, “We Tlingwegians use food to lower stress.”

Liv pulled flour, yeast, cardamom, potatoes, sugar, raisins, and butter out of the cupboards and clustered them near the sink. Parker sat at the dining room table and made a couple of calls, one to the coroner and another to Nilson, one eye on Liv’s bustling as the time ticked away.

“I’m here, locked and loaded,” Harriet yelled from down below.

Parker rose stiffly from the chair, his expression grim. “We are not partners in this.” After he put on his coat, he pulled her list out of his pocket. “No one gets to know about your dates, do you understand?”

She rolled her eyes. “No one besides Ivor, Nilson, Bob Halley, the receptionist, and who knows who else was listening in.” Yanking a cloth out of a drawer, she began to polish the gun. “My weirdness is public knowledge. Let’s deal with it.”

“I’ll say your dates are unreliable.”

Head shake. “I’d get that anyway.”

He opened the door and glanced down at Harriet and Chet. “We’re done,” he growled over his shoulder as he descended the stairs.

“We’ve just begun,” she said to his back.

Parker stopped on the stair, but didn’t turn. He stalked silently past Harriet and Chet, giving them an ‘I give up’ expression. His stomach and brain roiled with the stress. A drowning death and a questionable suicide. One or two killers, plus, or including, a shooter. And Liv, a virgin at understanding her brilliance, caught in the middle.
I grind my dick into her and say Bernie’s name. What’s the matter with me? Christ, I’ve never wanted any woman as much as I want Liv. But to save her I have to get her out of here.

The walk to the Municipal Building was too short for him to make up a perfect plan, but he had the outline in his mind by the time he joined Nilson and Ivor in the office.

The two men were seated at the table and looked up expectantly when he entered the room. Ivor asked, “How’s she doing?”

“Extremely upset about Tilly. In shock, I think. I tried to go over her list of dates, but she’s not tracking well.” He took the chart out of his coat pocket and pretended to take one last look at it. “When she wrote this, she was in distress, wouldn’t you agree, Ivor?”

Frowning, Ivor nodded slowly. “I’ve never seen her act that way or talk about the date thing. I mean, once or twice, when she was a kid she overreacted about my dad being wrong about dates, but when I told her to let it go, she did. Today, she seemed like she was possessed, and there was no stopping her from typing up those timelines.”

Nilson looked surprised. “I thought we could use this stuff.” He stared at Parker. “Remember, you said we should tap into Liv’s knowledge of Barber’s movements, witnessed from her desk window.”

“That was before she wigged out,” Parker said. “Her jewelry fetish makes it screwy. Untrustable. Distraught over Tilly’s death, how could she possibly come up with cogent facts?” He sat down and raked his fingers through his hair. “You should see her now. She whipped out a couple of pistols and plans to take her mother target practicing. Then she’ll bake Christmas bread.” Parker raised his hands in the air. “I called in Chet to watch over both of them. Hell, this whole town is imploding around us.”

Nilson dropped his shoulders. “I thought we could use her like you said. I even told the boss we could.”

“Dammit, Nilson. I warned you not to brief Oldshack about her fetish for dates.”

Holding up a palm to ward off Parker’s ire, Nilson said, “All I did was explain about her desk and her view of Barber’s apartment door. I gave him the idea she can pinpoint more dates than she could before, but I didn’t tell him about the list.”

“Good thing.” Parker gave Ivor’s shoulder a pat. “It’s not her fault, Ivor. She’s in shock over the deaths of her classmates. The mortal coil thing. We let her mourn and deal with the grief while we do damn good police work.”

Ivor nodded his head slowly, exhaustion showing in his eyes. “Fuck.”

With a stiff smile, Parker slapped Liv’s list upside down far away from the other papers on the desk. “Exactly.”

****

“I feel like a grade-A louse,” Bob Halley said as he let Nilson, Ivor and Parker into his A-frame home, set on a cliff overlooking Frederick Sound, north of the Narrows.

Parker ignored the man and led the way into the living room. With an open concept floor plan, and a soaring window-wall, the setting offered a glorious 180 degree view off Hungry Point. One bright spot in Parker’s lousy day.

Halley was in a foul mood. “You Feds pit me against my daughter to get what you want and I’ll probably lose her forever.” He shook his head, grousing, “As if I ever had her.”

“You got information out of Susanna?”

He huffed. “I agreed to buy her a condo in Juneau. Said I’d pay her mortgage if she went to school and earned ‘C’s’ or better.” Heavy sigh. “It’s a low bar.”

“What did she give up for the condo?”

Halley held up a hand. “One condition. She won’t come out and talk to you fellas until Liv arrives.”

Dammit.
Parker glanced at the Sound, its white-topped waves signaling peril for small boats, reminding him of his inability to keep Liv out of danger.

Wagging his head like a stunned snapper, Halley licked his fleshy lips. “Susanna won’t talk to you unless Liv is here to record what happened.”

“Record?”

Halley shrugged. “I showed Susanna a copy of Liv’s dates, the list Liv wrote up on my office computer.”

Son of a bitch.
“That information hasn’t been verified.”

Halley held up his hand and opened the front door as wide as it could go, acting like a freight train was coming through.

Liv stepped over the threshold, hood up, her brown raincoat belted on her slim waist. Chet strolled in behind her, but remained at the door after he closed it. When Liv lowered her hood, blonde hair shimmering, she looked straight at Halley, ignoring her brother, Nilson, and Parker. “Bring her in.”

At Halley’s call, Susanna descended the staircase from the loft, taking her time, as if grand entrances were not only normal, but due her. When Parker raised an eyebrow at Halley, he shook his head and stared at the floor.

“Liv. Good of you to come by,” Susanna said, with a tone implying Liv had dropped over for tea and cookies.

A growl from Ivor and an indecipherable expletive.

Liv opened her coat, but left it on, as if her jeans and blue sweater were not enough to battle the house’s chill. Her gold earrings danced, but her expression, so serious, worried Parker. The urge to sit by her, close enough to warm her, was so strong that Parker gripped the back of a chair to keep himself in place.

Susanna said, “Why don’t you and I sit at the couch next to the window, Liv? We’ll let our men stand if they wish.” She waited until Liv sat on the couch, lowered herself close to Liv, then patted Liv’s knee. “Sorry about Tilly. I realize she was a friend of yours before she fucked Tuck.” With a phony grimace, she said, “My, that came out strangely, didn’t it?”

Liv gave her a stony look and Susanna swung her gaze to Parker. “I guess I have you to thank for my new condo. Want to be my study partner too?” she asked, licking her lips.

Halley stepped forward. “God dammit, Susanna.”

Ignoring her father, she said, “I want it known that I was the last and the best of Everett Olson’s harem. He tried out every woman in town and threw them over like yesterday’s coffee. For me. Let’s lasso the facts. Liv knows I wasn’t in Seattle for the fishball event, don’t you?”

Liv nodded.

“She bought a latte from me the afternoon she flew out of town. Right? Date and accessories, please.”

“October 23. The red glass with yellow flecks. The sun came out as I walked in the store. I ordered a—”

Susanna interrupted. “Grande latte, extra hot, no foam.” She grinned. “Liv always orders that drink.”

“You could have found another way to get to Seattle,” Ivor pointed out.

“Good God. Surely you’ve already checked that I worked every day that week. Consult Liv’s list.”

“So why are we here?” Parker asked. “What do you have to say worth a condo in Juneau?”

“Everett was going to send for me. He had plane tickets for the Cayman Islands to grab a ‘stash’ of money. I never did get him pinned down on the amount, but I figured I’d at least get a trip to the tropics out of the deal along with some passable sex.”

Halley ran his hand over his bald head and looked out the window.

Liv asked, “What day did he call?”

“Right after the fishball thing. He’d overeaten, and as soon as he took a nap, he planned to work out a deal with a buddy of his. I don’t know what the hell that was about, but evidently the guy was going to come with us to the Caribbean, too. That part pissed me off, but Ev assured me the guy would help get the money.”

“A name?” Parker asked.

“None mentioned.” She looked at her nails and focused on her index finger. “Anyone have a file?

Dead quiet.

Liv asked, “Who else was involved in the money thing?”

Hunching her shoulders, Susanna said, “The only reason I’m talking to you is because Tilly is dead.” She hesitated and turned to Liv. “I opened the Coffee Hüs at six a.m. today, and I had nothing to do with her death. You put that on your chart, Liv. When these guys start hurling accusations at me, you’ll back me up, right? I didn’t kill Ev and I didn’t kill Tilly.”

Nodding, Liv asked, “What did Tilly have to do with Ev’s windfall?”

Susanna glanced at her father before she straightened her shoulders. “A deal’s a deal, Dad. You promised.”

Halley’s face went fish-belly white. He nodded.

“Ev said for us to get the money, I’d have to pose as Tilly. Helmet head wig and all.” Susanna appeared disgusted at the prospect. “I agreed.”

Parker stepped forward. “What were the details, Susanna? Were you a co-signer for the money?”

She shrugged. “He said the least I knew the better off we’d be. I’m a blabber, as you all know.”

“Anyone else aware of your plan to go to the Caymans with Everett?” Parker asked.

Susanna turned to Liv. “Did I tell you?”

“No.”

Lips pursed, Susanna thought for a minute. “I might have told Josh I was thinking about taking some time off.” She made a face. “Mallen could have overheard accidentally on purpose, about the hot sex I have with Everett. She’s such a prude.”

“And you knew Ev had spent time with Mallen,” Ivor said.

Susanna smiled slyly. “Possibly.”

Rising abruptly, Liv said, “I need fresh air.” Chet opened the door.

“You got everything? All the facts?” Susanna asked Liv. “I don’t trust these guys.”

“I have it, every tawdry detail, right up here.” She pointed to her head and walked to the door.

Susanna frowned at Liv’s words, too confused about the meaning of the word ‘tawdry,’ perhaps, to call Liv back. Parker shook his head, wishing he could leave with Liv, but he’d have to go over Susanna’s information with her one more time, trolling for more sickening pieces of information. Halley marched out of the room, looking ill. The expression on Nilson’s face should have frightened Susanna, but she lounged back on the couch, seeming bored. Ivor did what they all wanted to do. He made a fist at her as Liv closed the door behind her. “Let
this
go on record. You are a bitch.”

****

“We’re in a small boat that’s lost its power, heading to a fierce whirlpool, Dad,” Parker said. “Nothing is as it seems. After two tragic deaths, we’ve got nothing.” Parker stirred his yogurt, granola and fruit mixture, not ready to lift a spoon of it to his mouth. Nilson had already headed for the office but Parker hung back at the B&B’s cozy family room, enjoying a few more moments of coffee and time with his father. “You should be home with your feet up dreaming of your next salmon meal; instead I’ve got you running all over town playing a good version of Oddjob.”

Chet chuckled. “Are you kidding? I fish in the morning while Liv writes, then I clerk in the store, a paid position. After hours, at time and a half, I play deputy, ending the day enjoying dinner with Liv’s mother. Do I look unhappy? Hell no.” He leaned toward Parker. “You’re not upset I’m spending time with Harriet, are you?”

“No, Dad. Not at all.” He banged Chet on the shoulder. “Damn, you’ve done well with the fishing.”

“That’s because of Matt. He’s a topnotch guide.”

Parker held up his hand, listening for activity in the house. “Mallen and Jenny are upstairs, so we can talk. Any chance you could cancel this morning, Dad?”

“Done.”

“We’re going to have a pow-wow at nine and I’d like you to be there. You can tell Liv you’re not fishing if she needs you for some reason after our meeting. I’m going to continue using you as my go-between with Liv, if you don’t mind.”

Chet raised a brow. “I’ll do it if you can give me a good explanation that doesn’t have Bernadette written all over it.”

Parker raised his hand. “Look, I’m sure that Liv’s safer if she stays away from me, but watching how yesterday went with Susanna makes me think this ploy of keeping distance between us might work to our advantage. The town seems interested in her memory skills, Dad. It’s better we let her work some of these people on her own, with you by her side.”

“Folks know I’m telling you everything she confides in me.”

“As long as you play a fairly silent role, I don’t think people will make much of it. They understand you’ve been deputized and appreciate your looking after Liv. She can play the fact-checker of the town and I can put on a bad cop hat, which I haven’t been able to do before. Both Nilson and I have a chance to grill while she plays the human-recorder role.”