The Devil's Right Hand (22 page)

“
Hello,” she said after a moment. “This
is Mrs Gunderson from Consolidated Insurance. We’re trying to
follow up on some paperwork for one of your patients. The name is
Puryear. Crystal Puryear. Yes, I can hold.”

“
You sure they’ll tell you anything?
Ain’t it supposed to be, you know, confidential?”

She covered the mouthpiece with one
hand. “Oh, yeah. Medical Records won’t tell you squat. You want to
know what’s going on, talk to the billing people. I know, I used to
work in a hospital. Confidential goes right out the window when
they’re tryin’ to get paid. Watch. Yes, I’m still here,” she said
into the phone. “We’re having some trouble processing this claim
form. No, I don’t have her Social Security number, that’s part of
the problem, I can’t read how it’s written here. Is that a five or
a three...maybe you just better read the whole thing off for me.”
She grabbed a pencil from the counter and jotted the number on a
pad. “Thanks
so
much,” she
said in a bubbly voice. “Now, what was the name of the place where
she was moved--good, got it. No, I’m not sure when the claim will
be paid, I have to send it upstairs. Have a nice day.” She hung
up.

“
She’s at a place called Rescue House.”
She picked up the phone directory and rifled through it. “Here’s an
address.”

DeWayne nodded. “Pretty slick.”

She got that weird light in her eyes again.
“Tell me how much you need me.”

DeWayne tried not to shudder. “Oh, I need
you, baby, you know that.”

Marie had considered keeping Ben home
with her. With no job to go to, she would have enjoyed the extra
time. But he actually seemed to like the day-care where she had
him, and he had fussed at the interruption in routine the first day
she kept him out. She was also afraid that if Ben missed too many
days in a row, she might lose the space. Good day-care was hard to
come by. When she unlocked the front door and stepped into the
silence of her house, however, she began to wonder if she had made
a mistake. She shook her head.
All the time
I keep bitching to myself about never having some time
alone
, she thought.
And now
that I have it, I don’t know what to do with myself
.
She walked into the kitchen. She glanced over towards the kitchen
cabinet where the liquor was stored. Briefly, she thought of
pouring the sweet burning liquid in until it drowned all the places
where she hurt inside. Something in her recoiled.

No
, she
said,
Jack was right. It doesn’t
help
. At the thought of Keller, she felt another
sudden twist in her stomach. She had clung to him like a drowning
woman, and he had pulled her out. Then she had reached out to him
when he had seemed in pain--and he had slammed shut. She felt a
brief flash of anger.
Damn him
anyway
, she thought. It was then that she noticed the
message light blinking on her answering machine, an insistently
pulsing number “2". She walked over and pushed the message
button.

“
It’s your dad,” a gruff voice said.
“Call me.” That was all. The second was from a detective named
Stacy. He had been a friend of Eddie’s, but she had always managed
to make herself scarce when Stacy came around. He was big and
mean-looking and the way he looked at her made her flesh crawl. The
choice of who to call first was an easy one.

“
Yeah?” the voice on the other end
said.

“
Hi, Dad.”

The voice softened. “Hi, kiddo,” her father
said. “How you holding up?”

Not so great,
Dad
, she wanted to say. “I’m fine,” she
said.

“
Bullshit,” the reply came back
immediately. “We went through this yesterday, kid. We going through
it every time I call? You lost your partner. You almost got killed.
You seeing anybody?”

For a brief panicked moment, she thought he
meant romantically. She didn’t want to discuss Keller with her
father. Then she realized what he meant. “Uh--no. I’ve been meaning
to call the doctor the department recommended...”

“
Screw that,” her father said. “Get
your own.”

It sounded so much as if he was correcting an
erring rookie that Marie laughed out loud. After a brief pause, he
laughed too, a little ruefully. Then he said. “I mean it, kid. The
worst thing that could happen to a cop just happened to you.”

“
I thought getting yourself killed was
the worst thing that could happen,” she said.

“
Hah. You still feel that way?” he
said.

She thought a moment. “No.”

“
So get some help. And not from some
pet shrink who’ll go running back to the Department with a bad
evaluation.”

 “
Okay.”

 “
You heard from Internal Affairs
yet?”

 “
They took a statement from me at
the hospital. And I’ve got a message from a Detective named
Stacy.”

“
Fuck those assholes,” her father spat.
The vehemence shocked her. “Listen, kid. We can’t do anything about
the statement you gave at the hospital. But from now on you do not,
repeat do
not
, talk to any IAD
puke without a lawyer. I’m talking cop to cop here, not as your
Dad.”

“
You sure there’s not just a little Dad
in there?” Marie said.

He laughed and his voice relaxed slightly.
“Okay, a little bit Dad,” he said. “But I mean it.”

“
Okay,” she said. “I’ll find my own
shrink. And call a lawyer.”

“
Better yet,” he said gently. “Why
don’t you and Ben come home? We’ll take him hunting, like we used
to go. He’s old enough to go with us.”

She closed her eyes. “I’ll think about it,”
she said.

“
Do that,” he said, in a voice that
said he knew she wouldn’t. “One last thing, kiddo. You got drunk
yet?”

“
Umm...”

“
Don’t answer. Just listen. It’s okay
if you have. Once. Maybe twice. Have a few for Eddie. But then
stop. Don’t crawl into the bottle. I seen too many cops do that and
never make it back out.”

“
That’s sort of what Jack--that’s what
a friend of mine said.”

“
That’s a good friend, then,” her
father said. He paused. “I love you, Marie.”

It was hard to breathe past the lump in her
throat. “I love you too, Dad.” They said their goodbyes and hung
up.

Marie looked at the flashing light on the
message machine. She thought about her father’s words. Was Stacy
working IAD? She decided not to take the chance. She decided to get
out of the house. Suddenly, she knew where she wanted to go.

When Keller walked into the office, he could
hear Angela’s voice from the back room. “Wait a minute,” she was
saying, “that may be him now.” She appeared at the door with a
portable phone in her hand. She looked drawn and haggard, as if she
hadn’t slept. She held the phone out to him. “It’s Scott
McCaskill,” she said.

He walked over and took the phone.
“Hello?”

“
Where’ve you been, son?” there was an
edge of tension underlying the joviality in McCaskill’s voice.
“There’s a lot of people who’d like to have a talk with
you.”

“
I’m sure,” Keller said. “I had some
personal business to take care of.”

“
The police have upped the stakes,
Jack,” McCaskill said. “They don’t just want you for questioning
now. There’s a warrant out for you. Murder Two on John Lee
Oxendine.”

Keller’s hand tightened on the receiver.
“That’s bullshit.”

“
I know, son, but it’s bullshit we’re
going to have to deal with. They matched the blood on your clothes
with blood from the scene. You’re known to carry a shotgun, and
that’s what killed Oxendine.”

“
It was self defense.”

“
I know that. But no one found a gun
anywhere near Oxendine’s body. And there were no
witnesses.”

Keller remembered the touch of a gun barrel
on the back of his neck, remembered a softly accented voice. “There
was a Latino guy there. He took the gun.”

“
The Phantom Latino theory may convince
a jury, especially if I sell it right. But right now, I don’t think
the cops want to hear it. No one else knows anything about this
guy.”

“
What about the brother? Raymond
Oxendine?”

There was a brief silence. “Raymond Oxendine
and an accomplice shot their way out of Fayetteville General last
night,” McCaskill said finally. “They killed a cop.” His voice
became brisk and businesslike. “I need to arrange for you to come
in to the station for booking,” he said. “It’ll look better than if
they pick you up.”

“
When?”

“
Now would be good.”

“
Bail?”

McCaskill paused. “I can’t promise it, Jack.
Not for this. And you’re already bonded out on another charge.”

“
Not now, then,” Keller said. “I have
some things I need to do first.”

“
What have you got to do that’s more
important than this?”

“
It’s personal. Give me till noon
tomorrow.”

McCaskill sounded exasperated. “Jack, they
won’t hold off that long.”

“
Noon tomorrow. And I give myself up to
Barnes. Not Stacy.”

 “
You’re not in a real good
position to be negotiating, son. If you could give me some reason
why you can’t come in today, I might be able to hold them off,
but...”

“
Tell them I have a doctor’s
appointment.” Keller hung up. He looked over at Angela. She was
sitting behind the desk. She shook her head wearily. “You’re making
a big mistake.”

“
Probably.” They looked at each other
in silence for a few moments. Then she said softly, “When I called,
earlier. You were with a woman. I heard her voice.”

 “
Yeah,” he said.

“
Do you love her, Jack?”

He wanted to turn away and stare out the
window, but he forced himself to look into her eyes. “I don’t
know,” he said. “Maybe. I think I could.”

She was the one who looked away. Her eyes
closed for a moment and she took a deep breath. “That’s good,” she
said finally.

He walked over and stood beside her. He put
his hand on her shoulder. “What’s this about?” he said. “I thought
you said...”

She took his hand in hers, kissed the back of
it. “I know I did,” she said. “And I meant it. I still do. It would
never work with us, Jack. It’s just that--this is hard, is all.”
She looked up at him and smiled. She pressed the back of his hand
against her cheek before releasing it. “Does she make you
happy?”

This time, Keller did look away. “I’m not
sure I’m capable of it,” he said.

She stood up, put her arm around him. “I hope
you’re wrong,” she said. “You deserve to be happy.”

He shook his head. “I think I may have
screwed it up.”

She released him and sat on the edge of the
desk. “What happened?”

He took a deep breath. He told her about the
night before, about the dream and how he had left. At one point,
Angela stopped him. “Wait a minute,” she said. “This is the Jones
woman we’re talking about? The cop?”

“
Yeah,” Keller said. “Marie
Jones.”

“
Keller, are you crazy?” Angela said.
“You’re wanted for murder and you’re dating a
cop
?”

“
She’s suspended from the force. She’s
got no reason to help them out.”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
Besides, she has to know I wouldn’t
kill anyone in cold blood.”

“
Trying to strangle her in her sleep
would really set her mind at ease on that point.”

Keller thought about that for a moment. Then
he picked up the phone. “I need to talk to her.”

Angela slid off the desk and put her arms
around him. “For God’s sake, be careful, Jack,” she whispered
against his chest. She turned him loose and stepped away. “There’s
so many ways this could go wrong for you.”

“
I know,” Keller said. “But I’ve been
going through my life so far taking stupid risks. This time, I’m
taking a risk on something important.”

She nodded. She reached up and took his
cheeks in her hands. She pulled his face down and kissed him on the
forehead. “Make the call, Jack,” she whispered. She turned and left
the room.

Keller dialed the phone. After four rings,
the phone clicked. There was a crackle of static and a whirring
sound on the line.

“
Hi,” Marie’s recorded voice said. “Ben
and I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave a
message.”

“
Marie?” Keller said. “It’s Jack
Keller. If you’re there, pick up.” Silence. “Okay,” he said. “I
need to talk to you. About everything. Call me at the office or on
my cell.” He gave both numbers and hung up. He stared at the wall
for a moment before standing up and walking back out to the front
desk. Angela was seated behind it. She looked up. “She wasn’t
home,” he said. “I left a message.”

“
You could drive to her house,” Angela
suggested. “You can keep using my car. I’ve got the
truck.”

He shook his head. “It’s an hour and a half
from here to Fayetteville,” he said. “And it’s getting late. I’ll
try to call again tonight. I’ve got an appointment with Major Berry
tomorrow morning. I’ll see her after.”