Lie Catchers (25 page)

“Yeah. Things are heating up.”

“That’s why you’re running around coatless?”

Parker laughed. “How are the kids?”

“The twins abandoned the vegan diet when they realized hamburgers were off the menu for the rest of their lives.”

“What a relief.”

“We’re all happier. I’m slammed with clients, so we’re busy and the money’s coming in just fine. How’s Dad doing?”

“Why do you ask?”

“When I quizzed him about how he spends his evenings, he mentioned going over to the Hanson’s.”

“Liv’s mother. Harriet Hanson. She’s teaching him how to cook certain things, the Alaskan and Norwegian ways.”

Pepper made a noise in her throat. “I thought I heard embarrassment in his voice. He hemmed and hawed something terrible. Is he sweet on this Harriet?”

“I’d be if I were his age. She’s a beautiful, gracious woman and she’s a crack shot with a pistol and a shotgun.”

Laughing, Pepper said, “And ironically, the mother of your girlfriend, Liv. Aren’t you and Dad supposed to be solving crimes instead of canoodling?”

Parker smiled into the phone. “I’m immersed in the job, but Dad’s a little distracted, I admit.”

“Except for the secret rendezvous Dad arranged for you for your birthday.”

“Thanks for the funny card, Sis.”

“You’re welcome. I thought Dad’s gift was neat.”

Parker pushed his fingers through his still-wet hair. “She knows about Bernie. Liv doesn’t want to put her heart out there and watch me do a disappearing act.”

“Smart girl.”

“She is.”

Pepper sighed. “Wish I weren’t so busy here with the kids and the job. I’d come help.”

“Appreciate the thought.”

“You know, when I first divorced Robert, I had nightmares about our worst moments, our knock-down drag-out fights. The horror, the horror, the horror.”

“I’m sorry, Pep.”

“Yeah, but over time the nightmares got shorter and shorter and finally stopped. Now, I remember our good times, early in our marriage, and I remind the kids about those days. Can you recall the wonderful times you had with Bernie?”

“That’s a good suggestion, honey. I’ll try.”

“Great. Now, you do something for me, please.”

“Okay.”

“I want you to e-mail me a picture of Liv and Harriet.”

“But—”

“Do I ever ask favors of you?”

“No.”

“Then do it. Snap one of Dad between Harriet and Liv. E-mail it.”

Parker swallowed a swear word.

“Please.”

“Okay, I’ll try.” He thought of the close-up photo of Bernie and Parker, smiling into the camera after a glorious day hiking in the North Cascades. His heart clutched at the illogical idea that a picture of Liv with him would end their relationship.
Nonsense.

“I’m not asking for picture of you with Liv, Park. I know that’s too hard. Yet.”

“Yeah. Gotta go, Pep. Thanks for the call and the birthday card.”

“Five words: Picture; love you; be careful.”

****

At least Bob Halley had the grace to cringe behind his desk when Liv burst into his office. He even held up both palms, as if to ward off her ire, seeming not to notice Chet quietly entering the room and sitting down. “Jesus, Liv, I’m sorry. Have a seat, please. I’ll try to explain.”

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. Forget sitting. To get what she wanted, she had to show him the full measure of her anger.

Bob blabbed on. “Look, the Feds were squeezing me, making me bribe my own daughter. I wasn’t acting rationally when I ripped off your data. But it was amazing stuff and I thought people should know how talented you are.”

“Don’t you dare try to schmooze me, Bob Halley. Not when Tuck Barber is out to sue me for putting his name and dates on that sheet.”

“Wha—?”

“He’s has attorneys lined up. Also claims I’m defaming him in my Sing Lee article. Taken together, he thinks he’s got a case against me.”

“Really?” Bob asked, blinking hard.

Liv huffed. “Yes, God knows why.”

“I thought you were comparing
me
to Sing Lee.”

“Oh, my God. What a bunch of narcissistic…” Liv shook her head. “Back to the data sheet. You owe me for publishing it, Bob.”

“Owe you?”

“You put Tuck against me by your action. Now he won’t lend capital to our salmon oil project.”

Bob pushed a palm over his bald head. “Jesus. I didn’t mean…I was upset about Susanna. She…I…she took the bribe the Feds made me offer her. Can you imagine? My own daughter?”

When his eyes watered, Liv took a breath.
Do not waver; strike while he’s vulnerable.

“I need Ocean Riches to process the Chum and Pinks for my salmon oil. Because you ripped off my capital, you’ll have to front the first run, subsidizing costs until initial profits come in.”

Bob sat straighter in his chair. “I thought you were going to work with Sea Delights, next door.”

“That was before you threw me under the bus.”

“Jesus, Liv.”

“Look, I understand how upset you are about Susanna, but by distributing my data sheet
you’ve
become responsible for my family’s future and a new industry for this town.”

He bowed his head. “Yeah, yeah.”

“You already have the machine to macerate fish to pet food. Purchase a small press and you’re ready.” She laid the specs in front of Bob. “Arrange for the Chum and Pink delivery and we get started. I’ll beg for donations to cover the oil purification process and capsule-making.”

“Who the hell will contribute? You’re…you’re...”

“A freak. Thanks to you, the town’s thinks I’m strange.” She made fists over the papers. “I’ll have to repair the damage you’ve done.”

Bob eyed the spec sheet. “You figured out my cut?”

Liv pulled out the second page. “This is my draft of percentages. I got the help of an attorney with the proportions, so I think it’s close. One percent of everything we make goes to a fund I’m naming after Sing Lee. For townspeople in need. Your company name goes on it as one of the contributors.”

He looked up at her, eyes narrowed. “You’re reminding me of my daughter.”

“No way. This is a business deal, Bob. You’ll earn a profit, as will my family and the town. Salmon oil pills have the potential for making thousands of people healthier. Not selfish, at all. Am I taking advantage of your colossal blunder? Absolutely. But in the end, we’ll all profit.”

“You don’t have money for the pill processing?”

“Nope, not with Tuck out of the picture. I’ll have to find other donors in town because you’ve ripped my big investor from under me.”

“Jesus, Liv. Way to hit a guy when he’s down.”

Liv made a noise in her throat. “Well then, we’re a good pair, because I’m down, too. Let’s hope we can prop each other up.” Liv cut a glance at Chet and turned back to Halley. “We’re leaving, Bob. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon so we can sign things. Any changes, call me in the morning.”

He grunted. “And you’ll remember every word we said in this meeting, won’t you?”

Fingering her pearls she smiled. “Yes, I will.”

****

“She’s got that look on her face. Bob is toast,” Ivor said.

Parker stared at Liv as she emerged from Halley’s office and immediately his heart popped to his throat so he couldn’t reply.
God, she is beautiful.
The relief he felt when his father came trooping out the door behind her was so strong, he exhaled deeply, but words were still hard to come by.

Ivor grabbed Parker’s arm. “You okay?”

“Yeah…uh…fine. What’s the look on her face?”

“Same one I’ve seen before. When she beat me at something.”

Parker said, “She must have gotten Halley to help with the salmon oil.”

Nodding, Ivor said, “Good girl.”

Liv brushed by Parker. “Special Agent Browne, he’s all yours.”

“Ms. Hanson,” he said stiffly. “Is Mr. Halley ready for us?”

“He’s in tears…tears of joy over a profitable new business venture, that is.”

“Perfect. Good day to you.”

“Same.” She walked off with Chet trailing her.

Halley groaned at the sight of Parker and Ivor. “God, not more shit.”

They seated themselves and both took out notebooks. Parker said, “A few more questions.”

“She’s got me pressing oil out of salmon; what’ll
you
squeeze out of me?”

“Tuck Barber.”

“Jesus. I don’t need to hear his name again. Liv said it enough times that now it’s Fuck to me, not Tuck.”

“When he was your foreman, what were his tasks, his responsibilities?”

Halley’s bulgy eyes veered to the left. “Practically everything and everyone. When I lost him to Lito’s Landing, I realized how important he was to the cannery.”

“Could he have skimmed money off cash sales?”

“Could he? I suppose. Everett Olson worked directly under him on direct purchases like that. Selling ice, bait, plastic bags, fishing gear and big containers to the fishermen.”

“So if Barber did any skimming, Everett would have had to be in on it.”

“I guess so. I never suspected…”

“I’m sure you didn’t. Part of Barber’s scheme would be to show you he was responsible and making a profit for you.”

“Like I say, he was energetic and smart, so I let him run things around here.”

“Did you ever get the idea that Barber and Olson were close and conniving?”

“No. They are such different personalities. Though I knew they were friends, I didn’t figure them for a team, especially a pair running cons.”

“We might be able to tell from the ledger what they skimmed. When we chart supply sales before and after Barber took over, maybe we’ll see disproportion, sales scaling down. But as you’ve said before, fishing seasons rise and fall, so we’d have difficulty pinning any scam on the guy.”

“Disproportion? How much?”

“Twenty percent.”

“Christ. And Ev was in on it?”

“We think so.”

Halley fisted his bald head and bit his lip. “You’re throwing in Tilly, aren’t you?”

“Makes sense,” Ivor said. “They’d need her to cook the books, altering inventory figures and profit.”

Bouncing his head off the back of his chair, Halley said, “Good God. How can you be sure?”

Parker raised a shoulder. “Time will tell. You get yourself a new, trustworthy accountant and a foreman with a conscience and you’ll find out as soon as the season starts up again. I’m guessing your profits will increase substantially. Enough to cover Liv’s venture.”

His expression clouding, Halley said, “You think I guessed all three were conning me, don’t you? So I offed Ev in Seattle and drugged Tilly to death the other night. Next, I had to ruin Tuck by distributing Liv’s data sheet.”

Ivor shrugged. “The scenario crossed our minds.”

“Or I ripped off the money myself. Huh, I wish.” Halley poked at the sides of his temple. “Susanna’s wiped out my bank account.”

“That’s why we don’t think you’re the scammer, colluding with Tilly,” Ivor said.

“Where is the stolen money?” asked Halley

“Probably in a foreign account,” Parker said.

“You don’t know for sure?”

“We have an inkling.” Parker cleared his throat. “You are hiding something, Halley. We’re here to find out what it is.”

“Christ, haven’t I revealed enough to you and to Liv? I’ve been reamed at home
and
at my job.”

Ivor and Parker let the silence do its job. Thirty seconds passed.

Eyes down, fish-lips aquiver, Halley said, “Susanna was pregnant by that fuck, Olson. When I paid for her abortion, she promised she’d never see him again. I believed her, like a fool.” He wagged his head. “I was ready to kill the bastard. Thank God someone else got to him first.”

****

“The case is slippery as a snake,” SAC Newcastle grumbled over the phone. “Two deaths, one shooting, more suspects than we can count and now you’ve flushed out an idiot savant.”

“Interesting, all right,” Parker answered, as he stood in the porch of the B&B, unable to distinguish the gray waters of Wrangell Narrows from the gray of the morning’s downpour.

“Nilson says the Hanson woman is sure of her dates.”

“Not enough evidence to arrest Barber.”

Oldshack made a noise in his throat. “Plus she’s got the godawful jewelry thing. I’m with you, wondering what jury will think she’s normal.”

“She’s brilliant, sir. With a quirk.”

“A nut. What’s with the Cayman account? Can we get access to it?”

“Nilson’s working on it with you, he said.”

“Nope. Not true.”

“He said he was. I guess he owes both of us an update.”

Oldshack growled. “The press is killing us. Your nutsy woman makes us look inept with her so-called historical article.”

“Liv Hanson thinks of her series as a way to relieve Petersburg of guilt over the unsolved Sing Lee murder. She’s showing the difficulty of crime-busting using 1932 forensics.”

“Catharsis crap. Instead, she’s convinced the whole country the Feds can’t come up with a criminal in the
twenty-first
century, God dammit.”

“She’s not making the parallels, sir.” Parker repressed a gasp when he realized the implications of his words. Guilty people tended to read between the lines and get twitchy when they thought someone like Liv was on to them. Would Oldshack pick up on the idea? Liv had already made the point: her series had become a Shakespearean conceit, a story used to flush out the guilty. Maybe Parker could talk Liv into using her article to draw out Petersburg’s criminals.

“I wish she’d end the series, dammit.”

“If you knew Liv Hanson, you’d realize that’s a dead end.” Parker smiled at the thought. Hell, if he asked her to stop the articles, she’d write more of them, for spite.
If I asked her to choreograph the articles so they’d cull out the guilty, she’d jump at the chance. She’s just like Bernie, the way she’d pump her fists when we got the bad guys.

“Browne? You still on?”

“Can you speed up the tox report, sir? Four days since Tilly Grant died. Wish we had the details.”

“I’ll work on it. Nilson says the savant lady is trying to help with dates but you don’t think it’s wise to use her.”

“I asked her to leave town for her own safety. If the criminals think, rightly or wrongly, that she’s got everyone’s dates pinned down, they’ll come after her.”