Princes of Arkwright (9 page)

“
Presents!” yelled Lenore, as she came running out of the kitchen. “I’ll take it!”

The girl grabbed the gift out of Tucker
’s arms and brought it to a small table with a few other presents on it.

“
I wrapped it myself,” said Tucker, looking around the room for a compliment.

“
I was just thinking about how beautiful it is,” said Victoria obligingly.

“
Hey,” said Tucker. “I’m pretty proud of my wrapping skills.”

“
Proud?” cried a voice in the kitchen. “You seem downright smug.”

Aly stepped into the living room to cast a contemptuous glance at Tucker. She wore a sweater with a long denim skirt, both black.

“Oh,” he said, “you’re here. Good.”

“
Thank you so much for the present, Uncle Tuck,” said Lenore, standing in front of Tucker and beaming.

“
Uncle Tuck?” he said, looking at Victoria.

“
It was either that or ‘Mr. Bromley,’” she replied.

“
Uncle Tuck it is,” he said. And he picked up the girl and swung her around.

“
So what happened to you last night?” asked Victoria. “I looked up and you had disappeared.”

“
Well,” said Tucker, looking around the room for a lie. “Somebody spilled something on me and I had to go home to change. I was just so tired I went to sleep.”

“
That was an interesting story your friend told,” said Aly.

“
We’re not friends,” said Tucker. “I know he’s a little weird.”

“
Why?” said Aly, defensively. “Because he’s interesting and has a great imagination? That’s more than I can say for you.”

“
So what story did he tell?” asked Victoria’s father.

“
It was just a story to illustrate how prayer can be useful,” said Victoria

“
He sounds like a pretty smart guy,” said Roland. “Maybe he can get you to start going to church again and get your daughter baptized.”

“
Dad, don’t start this again,” said Victoria, rolling her eyes. “Not today.”

“
Do you know how much it bothers me that my granddaughter isn’t baptized?” he pursued.

Victoria
made no answer. Tucker stuffed his mouth with some cheeseballs and tried hard not to pay attention.

“
What do you think, young man?” said Victoria’s father, looking hard at Tucker.

“
I think Lenore should open her presents,” said Tucker.

“
Yay!” said Lenore, clapping and jumping.

“
She can’t open mine until later!” snapped Roland, determined to have his anger spill into the next conversation.

“
OK,” said Tucker. “She can open mine.”

He handed his gift to the girl, who ripped open the paper with a delighted shriek. Tucker winced as his hard work was mercilessly destroyed, lying at his feet in shreds. Beneath the fancy paper was a leather-bound copy of
“The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

“
Now that you’re 10, I think you’re ready for it,” said Tucker. “Maybe we could read it together. I can read a chapter then you can read a chapter.”

“
Really?” screamed the girl, jumping up and hugging Tucker tightly.

Victoria
said nothing, but just stared at Tucker, smiling. Soon the birthday cake came out, and the other presents were opened. Aly gave Lenore a journal and Roland gave her a very warm-looking pink winter coat, which she immediately tried on and refused to take off.

“
Well, I’ve got to be going,” said Roland, standing and looking at his watch.

“
Already?” said Victoria. “Why?”

“
I have to go to church,” he said. “I’m reading at 6 o’clock Mass. I’m also going to light a candle and apologize to God that my daughter didn’t have my granddaughter baptized.”

Victoria
, Aly and Lenore all stared at the floor as Roland frowned and put on his jacket. “Happy birthday, Lenore,” he said, opening the door. “That coat should keep you warm this winter.”

He closed the door behind him, and everyone sat in gloomy silence.

Now Tucker was not the kind of man who would ever get involved in a family squabble. He had seen too many of them over the years that ended up leaving scars far deeper than the cut should have caused. Also, it was none of his business. He had just met the old man and the last thing he would do is chime in. Furthermore, Tucker had such little interest in religion, he had a hard time grasping why anyone would get so passionate about it. Even an atheist passionately disbelieves. But Tucker had less than disbelief. He just didn’t care.

So, considering all of this, it’s hard to imagine why, at that particular moment, Tucker suddenly felt the urge to after Roland and have it out with him. Maybe it was the fact that he hated injustices. Maybe he hated to see
Victoria upset. Maybe a little thing deep inside him — the thing that made him become a cop in the first place — wouldn’t permit him to just let it go.

Whatever the reason, Tucker had talked himself into action. And once Tucker’s mind was made up, no force in hell or earth could dissuade him.

“I think I should get going, too,” said Tucker.

“
Not already!” said Victoria.

“
I have a big day tomorrow at work,” said Tucker. “I’m getting some new cases to work on. I was supposed to look over them on Friday but never got a chance. Anyway, happy birthday, Lenore, and I’ll see you soon. Are you working tomorrow, Victoria?”

“
Yes,” she said, still looking disappointed. “I start at 6.”

“
I might stop by, then,” he said. “Good night.”

Tucker closed the door and ran down the hallway into the parking lot.

“Mr. Lemieux!” he called out, just as Roland was getting into his Chevy Lumina. He stood up smiling and said, “That’s OK, you can call me Roland.”

“
Oh, I couldn’t do that,” said Tucker. “I respect my elders – particularly one as elder as you.”

Roland
’s smile quickly turned to a frown. “What is it you want?”

“
Victoria and Lenore were pretty upset by what you were saying,” said Tucker.

“
They know what my beliefs are. I feel very strongly about them.”

Tucker started pulling on his ear.
“Do you really think Lenore is going to roast in the flames of Hell because she didn’t have some water sprinkled over her?” he asked.

“
Of course not,” said Roland, jerking his head to one side. “But if she’s not raised a Christian, Victoria will pay for it with a few years in Purgatory.”

“
So,” said Tucker, “you’re helping God along by giving her a little Purgatory on earth?”

“
What do you mean?”

“
You’re a little rough on her.”

“
My beliefs …”

“
… are more important than your daughter’s happiness.”

Roland opened his mouth widely as if he were about to bellow, but no sound came out.

“I’m sorry,” said Tucker. “I know it’s none of my business. All I see is a great woman and a fantastic little girl. I know that’s mostly your doing. I just can’t help thinking that one word of compassion might go a little further than all that nagging. You must be proud of the job Victoria is doing as a mother. Aren’t you? It would probably mean a lot for her to hear it.”

Roland said nothing, but clenched his jaw and stared at Tucker intently.

“But if all that has to take a back seat to you protecting them from a cruel and vengeful God,” said Tucker, “who am I to interfere?”

The detective turned on his heel and began walking back home.

10. D
ECEPTIONS

B
ang!

“
Archangel!” shouted Tucker, snapping out of a dream to the sound of his apartment door being kicked in. Six men in riot gear pointed guns at him while one of them shouted, “Don’t move! Arkwright police! Face down! Put your hands on your head! Now!”

Tucker complied, while yelling,
“Who are you?”

“
Shut up, sir!” yelled the same cop, whose voice Tucker didn’t recognize.

“
I’m a police officer,” said Tucker as best as he could with his face buried in his pillow.

“
What?” yelled the same officer.

“
I’m a cop!” screamed Tucker, lifting his head and forcing out this statement in a high-pitched whine.

“
State your name!” yelled the officer.

“
Bromley. Tucker. Detective sergeant.”

“
Holy crap!” said one of the other officers. “Tuck, we didn’t know you lived here.”

“
You know this man?” asked the first officer.

“
Of course,” said the other cop. “This is Tucker Bromley. He’s a dick.”

“
Nothing personal in that I hope,” said Tucker, jumping to his feet with a scowl on his face. “What the hell are you guys doing here?” Then he added, pointing to the first cop, “And who is this guy?”

“
He’s leading this leg of the sting, Tuck,” said the second cop. “He’s from Cumberland, part of the inter-town SWAT team. That’s why he didn’t know you. Why did you yell ‘Archangel’ when we came in? Operation Archangel was last month. This is Operation Blue Dawn.”

“
Why are you here?” Tucker said slowly, still scowling. He was wearing blue-striped pajamas and had his fists on his hips, giving the impression of a large defiant toddler.

“
Your neighbor,” said the cop. “We busted him. Didn’t you know?”

“
No!” yelled Tucker. “Nobody said a word to me. What was he busted for?”

“
He’s operating a meth lab,” said the cop from Cumberland. “Didn’t you know?”

“
OK, everything’s secured downstairs,” said a woman’s voice. “Is it all set up here?”

“
Sure, Rochelle,” said the cop from Cumberland. “Come on in.”

“
Tuck!” said Rochelle, walking into the bedroom and looking quizzically at Tucker. “Why are you in your pajamas?”

“
I live here, dammit!” said Tucker, stomping his foot and looking more like a toddler than ever. “Don’t you people check these things?”

“
I didn’t even know there was an apartment up here,” she said. “It looks like a single family house from the outside. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“
Rochelle, Newton’s in a talkative mood,” said a tall, good-looking detective, walking into the room.

“
He always is,” said Tucker, looking out the window at Wayne as two uniformed officers stuffed him into the back of a police cruiser.

“
Tuck!” said the good-looking detective. “Why are you in your pajamas?”

“
He lives here, dammit!” said Rochelle, imitating Tucker’s foot-stomping.

“
Will you all get out of here, please?” said Tucker. “Let me get dressed and I’ll be at the station soon.”

He picked up his cell phone, which had been charging on his nightstand.

“What the hell!” he said. “It’s only 5 a.m.!”

“
That’s why we called it ‘Operation Blue Dawn,’” said Rochelle, batting her eyes at Tucker.

“
Out!” he screamed.

Rochelle was the last one out the door, closing it very slowly with her finger to her lips.

“I will never live this down,” thought Tucker, as he got himself ready. “A meth lab operating, literally, under my nose, and I knew nothing about it.”

Tucker dressed in his best black suit with a dark red tie that looked like it was made by a finger-painting kindergartner. He always chose this costume when he was feeling defensive. And he knew today the barbs would fly from every direction. Once dressed, he managed to slip downstairs without talking to anyone, but he took a deep breath as he stood on the front steps of the police station. He opened the door with unnecessary force, banging it against the wall to show his fellow cops he wasn
’t in the mood for any ridicule.

“
Bromley,” said the desk sergeant, “the colonel wants …”

“
Bromley!” yelled the police chief from the end of the hall.

“
… to see me,” said Tucker, finishing the desk sergeant’s sentence for him.

Tucker peeked around the wall at the police chief and said,
“You wanted to see me, Colonel?”

The chief said nothing, but just frowned at Tucker, staring at him hard.

“You want me to sit down?” asked Tucker, walking into the room.

A barely visible nod was the only answer Tucker received.

“Sir,” said Tucker, taking a seat, “I just want to say that I had no …”

“
Shut up, Bromley,” said the chief quietly.

“
Yes, sir,” said Tucker.

“
I believe it was only last Friday afternoon that I told you I would horse-whip you if you did anything to embarrass this department,” said the chief.

Tucker looked around, expecting to see a whip somewhere in the office.

“I understand your apartment is just above an illegal meth lab,” he continued. “You are still a detective, aren’t you? Couldn’t you detect that?”

“
Sir,” said Tucker, speaking very quickly, so as not to be interrupted again. “I never saw anybody there but him. How was I to know?”

“
Didn’t you ever notice a smell?” asked the chief.

“
He was always cooking cabbage. Obviously, that was to cloak the smell of chemicals.”

“
What did you think he was doing with all those bottles of antifreeze in his recycling bin?”

“
I don’t know,” said Tucker, shrugging. “Drinking them?”

The chief put his head in his hands.

“Colonel, I wouldn’t have thought him capable of making an omelet, let alone methamphetamines.”

“
Bromley,” said the chief, putting his glasses on for the first time that Tucker had ever seen, “I need you to get your head in the game. There something on your mind? Is it that tomato I saw you with at the carnival?”

“
No, no,” said Tucker, putting his head down. “We’re just friends.”

“
Yeah sure,” said the chief. “I saw you two tripping the light fantastic outside the beer tent. I think it might be a good idea for you to take a couple of weeks off.”

“
Am I being suspended?” said Tucker, jerking his head up.

“
Not suspended,” said the chief. “I just think you should take your vacation time starting right now.”

“
Do I have to sir?”

The chief looked up at the ceiling, as though there were cue cards there for him to read from.
“According to the Policeman’s Bill of Rights,” he said, “I can’t force you to take a vacation.” His eyes then fell on Tucker. “But I would be very, very angry if you didn’t.”

“
All right,” said Tucker, getting out of the chair and heading for the door. “I guess I could use some time. And I promise when I come back I’ll be the best detective this department has ever seen.”

“
Dum da dum dum,” sang his cell phone.

“
Hello?” said Tucker into the phone as he walked out of the chief’s office.

“
What the hell did you say to my father last night?” asked Victoria.

Tucker swallowed hard. He had expected Roland to keep their conversation private.

“I, um, well, what did he tell you?” said Tucker.

“
A few minutes after you left, he came back with tears in his eyes. He said he was proud of me and was sorry he had been giving me a hard time all these years. You didn’t threaten him did you?”

“
No,” said Tucker, thinking back to the previous night to make sure he hadn’t.

“
Do you want to go to lunch, Tuck, or are you too busy today?”

“
As a matter of fact,” he said, “my schedule just cleared. How about the Palace at one o’clock?”

“
Sounds great,” she said. “I’ll see you there.”

Tucker left the station, ignoring the comments of his fellow officers. His mood was usually dictated by the last conversation he had, so he was in better spirits tha
n he would normally be after leaving the chief’s office. Nevertheless, his long walk down Station Street, coupled with the fact that he had nothing to do until 1 o’clock, gave him just enough time for his thoughts to wander back to the archangel. Now, more than ever, he longed to trade places with Uriel – always knowing what’s going on, able to perform miraculous feats. There must be a way.

It was quarter to one when he arrived at the Palace. It was a small, white shack, surrounded by picnic tables. There was also a dining room in the back for the winter time, but Tucker had never set foot in it. He ordered a bowl of New England clam chowder and sat at one of the tables to watch the foot traffic. It was about five past one when
Victoria joined him.

“
So what did you say my father?” asked Victoria before she had even sat down.

“
Didn’t he tell you?” said Tucker.

“
No,” she said. “I just assumed you talked to him. There wasn’t enough time for him to be visited by three ghosts.”

“
Well, I just told him that I thought you and Lenore were more important than his beliefs, and he should stop being so rough on you. That’s all.”

“
Wow,” said Victoria, looking off to the side. “No one has ever stood up for me like that before.”

Tucker
’s heart pounded as he listened to her.

“
Someone has a little crush on you,” she added, looking at Tucker’s clam chowder.”

“
Really?” said Tucker.

“
Yeah, Lenore can’t stop talking about you. Are you going to eat those oyster crackers?”

Tucker
’s heart sank and he tossed the bag to Victoria. “That’s … that’s cute.” He said.

“
Victoria,” he continued, “can I ask you a personal question?”

The corners of her mouth fell.

“Well, it depends on how personal, I guess.”

“
If baptizing your daughter is so important to your father, why not do it just to shut him up. I mean, if it doesn’t mean anything to you ...”

“
But it does mean something to me, Tuck.”

She paused for a moment and Tucker could see her eyes welling up. In a moment, she scrunched up her eyes as though she had made a decision and said,
“You know that peach tree in front of the church?”

“
Of course,” said Tuck, “I grab peaches off it every year.”

“
Everybody does,” said Victoria, looking down at her oyster crackers.

“
Back in high school, I used to go into the rectory there to do a little housekeeping every week and make a few bucks. It was a fun place to be because there was always something going on — Scout meetings, Bible studies. All year, the ladies Guild would meet there and make items for the bazaar. And there’s nothing funnier than a roomful of old ladies. The pastor at the time, Father Bienvenue, always made time to talk to me and the other young people. The congregation really loved that about him.

“
Well, one day we took some peaches from that tree and brought them back to the rectory to eat. We were standing in the kitchen, talking and laughing. I took a bite out of a peach and I guess peach juice started dripping down my chin. I reached for a paper towel and the next thing I knew he was kissing me.”

“
Oh my God,” whispered Tuck.

“
I pushed him away and ran home crying. I never told my parents, and just made some excuse why I wasn’t working there anymore. I was embarrassed. I felt totally sick. That Sunday, when we went to church, Father Bienvenue gave a homily about forgiveness. He talked about how even though he was a priest, sometimes even he sinned and needed forgiveness. I was mortified. I felt like he was talking to me personally and that every person in the church was staring at me and judging me. I never set foot in that church again. My parents and I had a lot of fights about that,” she said quietly.

“It took me a long time to understand that I didn’t do anything wrong.
And that, Tuck, is the reason I never had Lenore baptized. I don’t want Lenore ever to have anything to do with the church. Ever.”

Tucker sat in stunned silence for a moment before saying,
“My God, that’s horrible. How come you never told your father about this?”

“
Because, Tuck, it would have been my fault. I would have been a slut, or my jeans would have been too tight, or I would have seduced him. My father is a fanatical Catholic. And with him, the Church always comes first.

“
Tuck, I’ve never told this to anyone — not even Aly — and I’m not sure why I just told you, but you have to promise me that you will never tell anyone about this.”

“
Of course not,” said Tucker, frowning. “I would never do that. But I can’t promise you I won’t go and punch that priest in the face.”

“
Thanks for having my back, Tuck. But you’d have to dig him up first. He died about three years ago.”

“
Let me guess: someone ran him over with a truck?”

“
Nope. Heart attack. Well, thanks for listening to me. I actually feel a little better just spilling about that after all these years. But you can understand why I want to shield Lenore.”

“
Speaking of which, I thought you were taking her to the doctor today,” said Tucker.

“
I was, but my father volunteered to do it. He said I could use some time for myself. Can you believe it? Actually, there are a few errands I should do that I’ve been putting off. Are you coming to Wallbangers tonight?”

“
I’ll be there,” said Tucker, leaving off his usual ‘maybe.’

“
Great,” she said, leaning over and kissing Tucker on the cheek. “I’ll see you then.”

Victoria
navigated her way through the tables and walked away down the street. Tucker sat watching her until he could no longer see her, letting his chowder get cold.

11. ASMODEUS

“T
ucker Bromley — just the man I want to see,” said Victoria as the detective walked across the floor in Wallbangers that night. She had apparently been deep in conversation with Aly, who looked even more argumentative than usual tonight. There was no one else in the bar, which wasn’t unusual for a Monday. Even the angelic barstool was vacant for a change.

“
Oh no,” said Tucker, taking the stool next to the fiery redhead. “What did I do now?”

“
Nothing,” said Victoria, “I just want your opinion. You know that little porch on the back of my apartment?”

“
Yeah, yeah,” said Tucker.

“
Well, I was out there this afternoon watering flowers, and a couple of guys across the courtyard were watching me. And one of them yelled out, ‘Woah, baby, that’s a whole lotta ass!’ Now I took it as a compliment, but Aly is telling me it was an insult.”

“
No way,” said Tucker. “Definitely a compliment.”

“
How can you say that?” said Aly, slapping her hand down on the bar. “Do you know how self-conscious women are about their butts?”

“
Victoria,” said Tucker, “were these guys white?”

“
No, black.”

“
Well, that settles it,” he said. “Any doubts I may have had were just blown away. It was definitely intended as a compliment.”

“
All I know,” said Aly, “is that no man better ever say that to me.”

“
No man would ever dare,” said Tucker.

Victoria
laughed and asked, “Are you still drinking cranberry juice?”

“
No,” said Tucker, “I’ve been feeling pretty good lately. Give me a Killian’s.”

“
You want a glass?”

“
Nah,” he said. “So, how did Lenore make out at the doctor’s today?”

“
Poor kid,” said Victoria, “had to go through a battery of tests. I won’t know the results for a couple of days.”

“
Well, let’s keep our fingers crossed,” said Aly, taking a sip of chardonnay.

“
Tuck,” said Victoria, “you missed it. There was a guy in here earlier covered with tattoos. Even on his face.”