I meant to update 'Love in the time of corona' first but this took over. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks as always for your reviews, follow and favs and for reading. Let me know what you think of this chapter!
Hope you and all your loved ones are well and safe.
….
'We can't,' Gail said, 'my mother's in the next room.'
'I just heard her go downstairs.' Holly moved her hand lower across Gail's stomach until her fingers brushed just beneath the waistband of Gail's boy shorts.
Gail swallowed. 'Frankie is—'
'Two rooms down and a heavy sleeper. At Alannah's place she was right next door and that didn't stop us,' Holly smirked.
'You've got an autopsy.' Even as she spoke, Gail was turning toward Holly.
'It's still early,' Holly countered, her hand drifting lower still until Gail let out a small gasp. 'And it's not exactly an autopsy.'
'Oh okay then,' Gail pretended to huff.
Holly immediately shifted so she was hovering over Gail. 'What a pushover,' she teased, biting down on Gail's earlobe.
'You complaining,' Gail grinned, slipping her hand into Holly's boy short. 'Because we can stop.'
'Never,' Holly managed.
By the time they made it downstairs, Elaine was tapping her fingernails on the kitchen counter.
'You're up,' she said. 'At last.'
'Good morning to you too mother,' Gail said, not letting Elaine spoil her mellow mood. Two orgasms in quick succession would do that. She must remember to tell Holly that that was quite possibly her most favourite way to wake up.
From the top of her head to her finger tips and right down to her toes, Gail felt languorous and relaxed in a way that yesterday, locked in that tiny cell, she would not have imagined possible. This had caused two things to happen. One, she kind of floated into the room and secondly, Elaine's barb slid off her like something of no real consequence. A slight irritation, like a buzzing fly. All of which was irritating Elaine intensely but Gail could care less.
'We haven't much time,' Elaine continued as though Gail hadn't spoken. 'Sergeant Lincoln has arranged a second car for us so you need to take Frankie and I to the station before Holly examines the body.'
'We need coffee,' Gail said, having already found her way to the espresso machine. 'And food.'
Holly had followed Gail and now rested her chin on her shoulder. 'Did you work up an appetite?' she whispered just as Gail started the coffee grinder, the jarring noise covering Holly's words and making Elaine grimace. Switching off the machine, Gail leaned back into Holly, turning her cheek to be rewarded with a kiss.
'Uggh,' Frankie chose that moment to walk in from the deck outside. 'Lovebirds', she said, making gagging sounds.
Elaine laughed. 'You are amusing, Detective Anderson.'
Hilarious, thought Gail, finding her buoyancy slipping. If Elaine and Frankie weren't here right now she and Holly might still be upstairs in bed, or perhaps she would have spun Holly around against the kitchen counter and reached down to—
'Gail,' Elaine said sharply.
'Ugh, what?' Gail found herself reddening. She really shouldn't think about sex when her mother was around.
Elaine sighed. 'Where is your head. I've repeated myself twice.'
'Um.' Had Elaine been speaking? Gail didn't want to admit she hadn't noticed.
'I think you've got her attention, now,' Holly smiled fondly at Gail. She popped some bread into the toaster and started cutting open an avocado.
The way Holly was looking at her made Gail wonder if she had guessed the cause of her distraction—it wasn't that Holly could somehow read her mind but the longer the two of them stayed together the better Holly became at anticipating Gail. Once Gail had worried aloud that if she became too predictable Holly would tire of her. 'Never going to happen,' Holly had smirked, adding that she doubted Gail would ever stop surprising her and even if she did, well that was alright too.
'See, that doesn't work for me,' Frankie said as Holly spread the avocado on the toast followed by crumbled feta, a squeeze of lemon and ground black pepper. 'It needs tomato.'
'Does everyone want to kill me?' Gail asked.
'Right at this moment—only Mae Miller,' Frankie replied.
Gail could have sworn she heard Elaine mutter 'and maybe your mother'.
'You were saying, Chief Superintendent,' Gail drawled sweetly.
Elaine's face was impassive. It was rare to catch her out but that didn't stop Gail trying.
'Given Mae is convinced you murdered her son, Frankie and I will interview her first and then the patrons who were in the bar yesterday,' Elaine said, switching into work mode, always a convenient cover. 'We can reconvene this afternoon.'
'The bar patrons. You know that's half the town. You two are going to be busy.'
'It's hardly a big place, dear,' Elaine pointed out.
'I'd like to look at the scene first,' Holly said, 'then the body.'
'Officers Dumb and Dumber probably walked all over it,' Gail said. 'I wonder if they even taped it off.
….
Surprisingly Jensen and Knuffle had cordoned off the scene. It was only 200 metres from Sleepy Joe's in an alley off the Main Street. Barely wide enough for an average person, it was more like an accidental passageway where two buildings in the row had stopped short of each other, rather than abutting. Had they run out of materials, Gail wondered or maybe the owners had had a falling out.
Knuffle and Jensen were by the tape, heads bowed and hands in pockets, determinedly avoiding eye contact.
'Did you photograph the body before you moved it?' Holly asked.
Jensen kicked at some dirt. 'Um,' was all he managed.
'Well,' Holly prompted, unusually stern. A day in a cell would do that to you, Gail supposed, her own patience with the two officers hovering somewhere around zero.
Knuffle swallowed. 'I got a couple of pics,' he said, pulling out his phone.
Both Gail and Holly knew a careful documentation of the scene was too much to expect but these were souvenir snaps. Knuffle's first dead body. Had he planned on showing the photos to his friends? Gail fought the urge to slap him on the back of the head.
The first photo was a close-up of Miller's face. There was nothing remarkable about it except that his eyes were closed.
'Could be significant,' Gail murmured as Holly took her time examining the image. Unlike what you saw on television, most murder victims died with their eyes wide open.
'Mmm,' Holly agreed, swiping to the next photo. It was taken from further back and showed Miller's entire body with a large red stain across his chest. His head and shoulders were in the alley but the lower part of his body was splayed across the sidewalk. His legs were spread apart, with each foot flopping outwards. Most interesting of all were his arms, which were raised above his head.
'He wasn't shot in the alleyway,' Gail said.
'Nope. Look at the positioning of his arms and legs. It looks like someone dragged him here,' Holly said.
Gail looked up and down the street. From here you could see the police station beyond the bar and the convenience store wedged about half way between the two. 'Any of the businesses here have security cameras?' she asked Jensen and Knuffle.
'The convenience store. They had a lot of break ins awhile back.' The way Jensen spoke it was as though it was a considerable effort to force out the words. Link must have given he and Knuffle quite the dressing down, Gail imagined.
She looked back at the convenience store. It was unlikely their security camera would reach this far but it was worth checking out.
'Officers, Detective, I need you to step back as carefully as you can,' Holly said.
'Shit.' Knuffle yelped. He had paled and appeared to be frozen to the spot. 'Is it a bomb?'
'No,' Holly shook her head and Gail wondered if she was doing a mental eye roll. 'But if our victim was dragged by the arms into this alleyway then you three could be standing on evidence.'
Gail took a wide step backwards off the sidewalk and after a moment the two officers followed suite. Holly spent a long time examining the ground, walking a little way in both directions and back again.
In spite of themselves, Knuffle and Jensen were captivated, dropping their studied indifference as they tracked Holly's movements. Gail wanted to tell them this was how the professionals did it, but they were just as likely to believe Holly was using witchcraft.
On her third tour of the sidewalk, Holly stopped abruptly and smiled, a slow smile that started small and then grew more triumphant.
'What did you find?' Gail asked. Having worked with Holly on a number of cases and closely observed her at crime scenes and in the lab (purely professionally, of course), Gail had become adept at reading Holly too.
'A bullet,' Holly pointed. 'Here, see lodged in the brick.'
Gail moved across to get a better look, with Knuffle and Jensen shadowing her. 'Hmm. Going by the brick dust, fresh too.'
'And see this smear just here,' Holly indicated a rust-coloured stain. 'What does that look like to you?'
'Blood.'
'Yep. I'll have to test it of course.'
'You need the camera and your lunchbox,' Gail said.
'Lunch, already?' Knuffle rubbed his hands together. 'Isn't it a bit early for a break?'
Gail regarded him witheringly and even Jensen looked embarrassed.
'Detective Peck means my forensic kit,' Holly explained. Despite Gail's protest that they were on vacation, the kit had remained in the trunk of the car where Holly always kept it just in case.
Under Holly's direction, Gail set about photographing the scene, including the bullet in the brick wall, the rust-coloured stain and the alleyway itself. It took several attempts before Holly prised the shell from the brick and held it aloft.
'A shot gun shell,' was all she said as she bagged it.
Gail rounded on Jensen and Knuffle. 'And what does that tell us?' she asked with faux sweetness.
Jensen coloured and looked at his feet. Knuffle blinked blankly.
Gail rolled her eyes. 'My gun is a pistol. It uses 9mm bullets. Not shotgun pellets. From the photo it looks like practically half of Miller's chest was blown away and you thought a pistol could do that kind of damage.'
'A slug was missing from your box of ammunition,' Knuffle said defensively, his voice almost a whine.
Gail sighed inwardly. If only Elaine hadn't felt the need to give the gun a test run before foisting it on Gail. Scratch that. If only she hadn't given Gail the gun in the first place.
'And you were heard threatening the victim,' Knuffle continued, more confident now, even combative, assuming from Gail's lack of response that she had conceded his point.
'Knuffle,' Jensen said warningly.
Maybe Jensen wasn't so much of an idiot or at least the lesser of the two, Gail decided. 'All circumstantial evidence,' she held out her hands in a gesture of disbelief. 'Do you think you might have jumped to conclusions.'
'It seemed watertight,' Knuffle looked across at Jensen for confirmation, 'didn't it.'
Jensen crossed his arms but didn't say anything.
'Sure, based on that evidence you had reason to question me and Doctor Stewart,' Gail said, her tone even and patient, 'but unless in the course of that questioning you uncovered something that incriminated us, you had absolutely no cause to arrest us. Do you get that now?'
Knuffle swallowed nervously. Jensen nodded sullenly.
'Because if you pull that shit on anyone else it might just end in a law suit,' Gail said.
'And the real perpetrator might just get away,' Holly added.
'Must be lunchtime,' Knuffle checked his watch.
Gail rolled her eyes again. Even Jensen gave an exasperated sigh but rather than engage with either Knuffle or Gail he stared off into the middle distance, as if something had caught his attention in the empty street.
It had been relatively quiet all morning. A few cars had slowed as they passed, but other than a handful of people who stopped at the convenience store or the gas station most continued on. Jensen muttered something about it being like this ever since the by-pass was built five years ago, which meant that rather than coming into town to fill up on gas or grab something to eat, travellers kept on going down the highway.
Holly and Gail were double checking the crime scene inventory when they heard the toot toot of a car horn. It was Marylou, waving and smiling like they were her best friends. Cindy was in the back seat, arms crossed, lip pushed out petulantly.
Marylou pulled up outside a place a little further down the road. It looked as though it had once been a shop but the downstairs was shuttered up. Someone had placed three planter boxes out front, possibly in an attempt to make the building look more homely, but the dirt in them was caked dry and all but one plant had withered, and even its leaves were yellowing.
Marylou hoisted Cindy on her hip and went through a recessed door on the left of the shopfront which Gail figured must lead upstairs.
'Does Marylou live on this street?' she asked. Strange Marylou hadn't mentioned it yesterday. It was literally 50 metres from where she'd dropped Gail and Holly's Sleepy Joe's.
"Not exactly,' Jensen said, still unwilling to engage. Getting blood from a stone might be easier.
'Not exactly and that means what exactly?' Gail quirked an eyebrow and looked Jensen straight in the eye.
'Well,' he bowed his head and kicked at a stone so it skidded across to the other side of the street, ricocheting off the gutter to land almost back at their feet.
'Well,' Gail prompted.
Holly looked up from what she was doing.
Jensen held out his hands defensively and said 'You're going to take this the wrong way.'
'And what way is that?' Gail asked, not letting up.
'Marylou is staying with her mom, Alma,' Jensen said in a rush, 'Marylou's got a place out of town but someone torched it last week.'
'Torched it?' Gail repeated.
Jensen and Knuffle bobbed their heads in unison.
'Any idea who?'
'Still under investigation.' Jensen moved his head back and forth in a 'you know how it is' sort of way. 'Marylou reckons it was Davy. She just started dating a new fella and Davy didn't like it. He could be a vengeful son of a bitch.'
'And you didn't think that gave Marylou a motive to kill Miller?'
'See, I knew you'd think that.'
'Well,' Gail crossed her arms.
'Nah, Marylou would never do a thing like that.' Jensen was adamant.
'Based on?' Gail asked, keeping her voice light.
'I know her. It's not in her character.'
'I thought I knew my brother too but it turned out he was a dirty cop.'
Jensen regarded her for a moment and then gave a curt nod. 'Fair point.' It was the first real concession he'd made all morning. Was it a break through of sorts? Gail supposed time would tell but decided to double back after the preliminary autopsy to see if she could catch Marylou.
'Do you know anything about the guy Marylou is seeing?'
'Um,' Jensen grimaced and went red.
Knuffle looked at his feet.
'Anyone?' Gail prompted. Surely it wasn't one of these two.
'You better tell her, Jensen,' Knuffle said.
'Yeah, alright, alright. I'm the guy. I know she's older than me but that shouldn't matter, right.'
'That's the least of your worries,' Holly muttered not as quietly as she intended. Gail tried not to smirk.
'I gotta ask Jensen, where were you yesterday between 4 and 6pm?' she said.
'On duty. At the station. I swear.'
'Alibis?'
'Knuffle was on duty as well,' Jensen looked at the other officer who nodded vigorously. Seemed like Knuffle spent a great deal of his time doing that. A serial nodder. Eager to please his superiors. Eager enough to lie, Gail wondered.
'We didn't leave the station until Mick from the store came and told us about Davy,' Jensen added.
'Is that right, Knuffle?'
'Oh yeah. Yep. Absolutely. Only went out to get lunch. Then back at the station all afternoon.'
'Okay.' It was said slowly and there was just enough doubt in Gail's voice to make Jensen shift from foot to foot.
Knuffle cleared his throat. 'It's the truth', he said.
Gail might have probed further had she not been distracted by the sound of a door slamming open and then shouting. Next thing Mae Miller was advancing towards them, waving her finger and cursing. 'Murders,' she shrieked as came nearer. She swayed and then tripped over the gutter and Jensen had to rush to save her from falling over completely.
'Murderers,' Mae shrieked again as she straightened up, shaking Jensen off. She pointed an unsteady finger at Gail and Holly.
'Now there Mae,' Jensen tried to reason, 'why don't I walk you back to the bar.'
'Don't tell me what to do, fucking whippersnapper. Why aren't these two rotting in jail?'
'Their alibis checked out. Come now,' Jensen took Mae by the elbow but she once more shook him off. When he tried to grab her arm again, she elbowed him hard in the ribs.
'Ooff,' Jensen wheezed.
'Ms Miller, Mae,' Gail stepped forward, 'you need to take a step back.'
'You gonna make me? Or maybe your mother will. Convenient she's in charge of this investigation,' Mae said, in that movement sounding quite sober.
She had a point. If Gail wanted to cover up her involvement in a crime who better to lead the investigation than her mother. Gail felt foolish it hadn't occurred to her before. Normally Elaine was hyper aware of the optics of any situation and surely she'd be aware that her involvement could be misconstrued. She could easily have sent someone else to bail them out.
It dawned on Gail that her mother might not be here in an offical capacity. That for some reason—most probably to safeguard the shred of prestige still attached to the Peck name—Elaine had hightailed it down here, dragging the disgraced and very nearly suspended Frankie with her. Jesus, what a mess.
'That sure shut you up,' Mae crowed.
'Mae,' Gail said levelly, 'we had nothing to do with your son's murder but we're doing our best to find out who did. I promise you that.'
All of a sudden, Mae doubled over and started keening, a mournful high-pitched sound that made Jensen and Knuffle hurriedly step back from her as if she had the plague or something. They glanced at each other, their expressions caught between embarrassment and alarm. How much more useless could they be? Gail winced.
'Should we—?' Holly made a circular motion with her arms. Gail wasn't sure if she meant that they should hug Mae but she suspected any offer of support would be rebuffed.
Just then the door to Alma's place swung open and a woman who looked like an older, stockier version of Marylou bustled out, making a beeline for Mae. Her grey hair was braided tightly and she wore a loose white T-shirt that revealed thick arms made strong from years of scrubbing floors in the holiday homes of wealthy families like Lisa's.
'Come now Mae,' she almost cooed. 'Come inside now.' Mae meekly did as she was told, meekly allowing herself to be led back to the house.
'Best friends their entire lives,' Jensen explained once the two women were safely indoors. 'Alma's just about the only person in town apart from Sergeant Lincoln who can tell Mae what to do. It rocked them both that things didn't work out between Davy and Marylou.'
'That didn't affect their friendship?' Holly asked.
'Nope,' Jensen gave a half shrug. 'Too much history I guess. In any case, no point in talking to Mae about Davy. She won't hear a bad word against him.'
'Any chance Alma might bear a grudge? Especially if she thought Davy burnt down Marylou's house,' Gail said.
'I can't see it,' Jensen looked as though he was about to shrug again until Gail narrowed her eyes at him, for a moment looking very like Elaine. 'Call it gut instinct if you like, ' Jensen continued, defensive and not a little put out, 'but Alma's no murderer. I live here. I know these people. Most of them are friends. I'm not—in fact I can't be like you and think everyone's a suspect.'
'Everyone with even half a motive, at least until we rule them out. If I was a mother and my daughter was in an abusive relationship I'd sure want to do something about it, wouldn't you?'
'I don't have a daughter.'
Or an imagination, Gail wanted to add.
'Most murder victims are killed by people they know,' Holly pointed out.
'Uh, yeah that's right, you know. We had a lecture about that at the Academy,' Knuffle piped up, all sparky now he thought he had something worthwhile to add to the conversation.
'Anyways,' Jensen said sulkily, 'Alma was completely shook up when she found Davy like that.'
Gail, who had started to help Holly pack up her gear, whipped her head around to stare at the two officers. 'Alma found Davy! You said it was the clerk from the convenience store.'
'Mick reported it but Alma found Davy first. Mick was on his way home from his shift at the store and he found Alma just standing there, looking at Davy. He said it clear she was in shock so he took her home and then came by the station.'
Gail screwed up her face. 'You know we're goanna have to interview Alma.'
'Thought you'd say that,' Jensen scowled. 'But like I said. I know Alma. She wouldn't do something like this. Finding Davy really pulled the rug from under her. She could hardly bring herself to talk about it.'
Gail sighed. For a moment she had thought she was getting somewhere with Jensen but clearly not.
'Let's go take a look at the body,' Holly suggested. Gail nodded gratefully.
….
'Hole that size,' Holly said, pointing to Davy's chest, 'we're definitely looking at a rifle.' She and Gail were dressed in blue tyvek suits with gloves and booties, which Holly had stashed somewhere in her car (also just in case apparently).
'You own a rifle, Jensen?' Gail asked.
'Um, yeah,' Jensen admitted unhappily.
'When did you last use it?'
'On the weekend. I went hunting.'
'We're going to need to send it to Toronto for ballistics testing,' Holly said.
'You don't really think I did this?' Jensen was sullen now, like a little kid who thinks he's being unfairly targeted.
'For the purposes of elimination,' Holly explained patiently. 'For your benefit as much as anyone else's.'
'Okay, I guess. It's in my truck back at the station.'
'Not exactly secure,' Gail observed.
'People are trustworthy around here.'
'Yeah,' Gail indicated the body. 'If he could, Davy might disagree.'
Knuffle guffawed and then reddened when the other three all turned to regard him, and unaccountably tittered again. He was nervous, that's why he laughed, Gail realised. It wasn't malicious, at least not intentionally. Knuffle was too bumbling for that.
Knuffle and Jensen had stowed the body in a cool room in a meat works a little way out of town. Given the nearest morgue was several hundred kilometres away, Gail supposed she should give the two officers credit for ingenuity.
The meat works manager had hovered anxiously when they arrived. After introductions, he led the past rows of carcasses hanging from hooks over stainless steel tables where workers in white uniforms and rubber boots already stained with blood carved great hunks of the raw meat (it was enough for Gail to consider vegetarianism). The smell was unbearable. Metallic from the blood but also something Gail could only imagine was the smell of death.
Finally, they came a little room out the back, which the manager explained had served as the processed meat store until they discontinued that line four months ago. Davy was in a body bag on a stainless steel table in the middle of the room. Holly did a quick visual check of the space and then nodded. It would clearly do as a makeshift morgue.
'How long does he need to stay,' the manager asked, wringing his hands. 'Only it's unsettling for my employees. They all know, ah knew Davy. He worked here up until a couple of weeks ago.'
'Yeah. Why'd he leave?' Gail asked.
'He kept missing shifts or turning up drunk. So I suggested he take some time out.'
'You fired him?'
'No,' the manager was wringing his hands again. 'It was just a break. So how long will he be here?'
Nothing like death to inspire some revisionist history, Gail thought. No one wants to be the one who fired the dead guy.
'My colleagues will be here tomorrow to transport the body back to Toronto,' Holly said.
'Body,' the manager repeated and frowned. 'I guess I should leave you to it.'
Not that Holly could do much without an autopsy suite or labs at her disposal. Still, she took a temperature reading of the body and store room and checked Davy's pockets and bagged the contents. There wasn't much—a dogeared credit car, a few coins, car keys, a crumpled packet of cigarettes, a small baggie of weed and an assortment of coloured tablets stamped with 'take me'.
'MDMA?' Gail asked.
'Looks like it,' Holly said, 'we'll know for sure once the lab runs some tests. Do you know if the victim was much of a drug taker?' she asked Jensen.
'I thought Davy was more of a drinker but he liked a good time so it wouldn't surprise me.'
'Marylou ever mention anything?' Gail asked.
'She doesn't like talking about Davy. I think she wants to leave all that in the past. Anyways, the thing between me and Marylou is kinda new—' he paused.
'So you haven't exchanged confidences,' Holly said.
'Yeah, I guess. We're just getting to know each other.'
Holly nodded and got back to work. From what Gail had seen Jensen was one of those taciturn men who didn't voluntarily share information about himself and had a marked lack of curiosity about the people around him, even his girlfriend. A closed book. Gail had dated a few men like that. The relationships had been largely transactional, which had suited her at the time having been burnt one time too many. Was that why Marylou had settled for Jensen?
Once again Gail had the camera and under Holly's direction took photos of Davy's hands, feet and face and the great gaping wound in his chest. Figuring she may as well use this as a learning opportunity, Gail had given Knuffle the job of keeping an inventory and he proved remarkably eager, if a little under confident, checking and double checking that he was recording everything correctly.
As Holly started to pack up, Gail took some shots of the room itself. You never knew what might prove useful to forensics. As she zoomed in on the doorframe, she saw it didn't have a lock.
'This room was secured last night?' Gail asked the two officers, who shook their heads. 'That's going to really mess with the chain of custody.'
'Chain of custody?' Knuffle echoed dumbly.
'For the body,' Holly explained. 'Same goes for any evidence we bag. We need to ensure it isn't contaminated.'
'I get it. So the wrong person doesn't get convicted,' Knuffle said.
Holly and Gail exchanged a look. Now you care about that, Gail wanted to say.
'Or a defense lawyer doesn't use it to throw doubt on the the guilt of the accused,' Holly added.
'Any chance anyone besides you two and the manager could have been in this room since you left last night?' Gail asked Jensen and Knuffle.
'I could go ask the manager,' Jensen pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against, seemingly relieved to have an excuse to get out of the room.
'Ask if we can put a lock on the door as well,' Gail called after him.
They had to wait nearly an hour for the locksmith. The manager swore no one had entered the cool room, though he did admit that he hadn't been in a position to keep a watch all morning.
It was way past lunch by the time they wrapped up at the meat works.
'Where can you get something to eat around here?' Gail asked the two officers.
'Mae's which I guess is out for you,' Jensen had the decency to look apologetic, 'or the convenience store.'
'That where our sandwiches came from yesterday?'
'Yep. You complaining about them too?'
Gail only just stopped herself from rolling her eyes. 'I guess we can see if Mick is working,' she said.
Mick was stacking shelves when Holly and Gail walked into the convenience store. They'd ditched Knuffle and Jensen, who'd gone to get lunch at Mae's. Gail wasn't sure who was more relieved when they parted ways—the two men or she and Holly.
Mick was eager to help. Spending his days observing the habits of his customers had made him into something of a gossip. He had found Alma standing over the body. She could barely put two words together so he led her home, where luckily Marylou answered the door.
'Did Alma say why she was out on the street?' Gail asked.
Mick shrugged. 'I figured she was on her way back from Sleepy Joe's.'
'Was Marylou surprised to see you?'
'I suppose but she was pretty focused on getting Alma inside.'
'And what about Alma? Was she carrying anything?' Holly asked.
'Carrying?' Mick frowned.
'Like a bag or anything?'
The smoking gun perhaps, Gail thought to herself.
Mick shook his head. 'There was one weird thing though.'
'Yeah?' Gail prompted.
'Alma's hands were sort of cut up.'
'Scratched?' Holly asked.
'No, more like scrapped. Like across gravel or something. I only noticed because I had to take her hand to get her moving.'
'Scrapped on the inside or outside of her hand?' Holly said.
'Outside,' Mick said. 'Why? You don't think she had something to do with Davy's death?'
'Just dotting the i's and crossing the t's,' Gail said.
'Only, Alma's fiercely protective of children but she wouldn't kill anyone. She's totally anti-violence. Has been since her husband suicided. You know he used to beat her up.'
'Is that right? How'd he kill himself?'
'With his own shot gun.'
Just then a customer came through the door with a brood of unwashed and shoeless kids, the oldest looked no one than seven years of age. They were pushing and shoving each other and then tattling to their mother who ignored them, and they moved like an amorphous mass.
'I gotta go,' Mick said, adding in a stage whisper, 'light fingers.' Gail didn't know if he was referring to the woman or her children.
'One more thing. Can we take a look at your CCTV footage?'
'Um. Maybe I should check with the boss,' Mick made an apologetic face.
'I'm sure your boss would want to help solve a murder,' Holly smiled reassuringly.
Up until now Mick had been completely forthright but now he looked from Gail to Holly nervously.
'If your boss says no, we'll just get a court order,' Gail pointed out.
'It's just Mae doesn't like us to do anything without her say so.'
'Mae owns this store?' Gail .
'Yeah,' Mick replied, like it was no big deal. 'I can ask her I guess.'
'No matter,' Gail shook her head, thinking under the circumstances it best if the request came through Sergeant Lincoln.
Mick considered for a moment. 'The computer is out the back.' He jerked his thumb in the direction of a door across which was taped a staff only sign. 'I better go help my customers.' He put air quotes around the last word.
The room out back was little bigger than a closet. Windowless and airless, it had just enough space for a filing cabinet, a chair and small desk with a computer. Gail hadn't thought to ask Mick for a password but it was written on a post it note stuck to the side of the computer screen. She found the CCTV footage fairly quickly. Seemed like nobody ever bothered cleaning up the files for they stretched back two years with the exception of the most recent.
'Am I missing something?' Gail said.
'You want me to take a look,' Holly asked, swapping places with Gail so she was now sitting in front of the computer and Gail was standing.
Gail watched as Holly did a systematic search of the files and then a more random one.
'As far as I can tell the last two nights are missing,' Holly said. 'Coincidence or—?'
'Mae deleted them,' Gail finished.
'You think Mae killed her own son,' Holly was sceptical.
'Davy was an asshole, but yeah, you're right, sounds like Mae thought the sun shone out of his ass.'
Holly opened one of the files labelled exterior. It gave a good view of the main street, right up to the spot where Davy's body was found. 'Gotta admit, it's suspicious that the footage from the night of the murder is missing,' she said.
By the time Gail and Holly made their way back into the shop, the mother and her children had left. Mick was behind the counter playing a game on his phone.
'Any reason the CCTV files from the last two nights are missing?' Gail asked.
Mick shrugged. 'Dunno. It's not my department.I never use the computer.'
'So who does?'
'Well, Marylou takes care of the ordering, banking and wages and I guess Mae might use it sometimes but she doesn't come by much.'
'Marylou works here?' Again Gail tried not to sound taken aback.
'Yeah, she's the manager,' Mick said as though this fact was completely obvious.
Holly was busy looking through the sad selection of sandwiches but at this she looked up sharply.
'What?' Mick asked, nervous again.
'Just wondering if you've got any sandwiches that are little less soggy?' Holly asked, all innocence.
'Nope. You'd have to be desperate to eat those. Your best bet is Mae's bar.'
Like that's going to happen, Gail thought, imagining the scene that would eventuate if they showed up at Sleepy Joe's. In the end, Holly bought a packet of smoked almonds, two snack packs of cheese and biscuits, a bar of dark chocolate and some juice. Gail tossed in a bag of cheese puffs for good measure. It wasn't much of a lunch but it would have to do, especially as it was now past three and Gail's stomach was rumbling so much she was almost desperate enough to eat one of the soggy sandwiches.
Gail and Holly found a bench a little way down from the convenience store where they sat to eat. From here, they had an unobstructed view of Alma's house and Sleepy Joe's with its red open sign blinking on and off relentlessly.
Just like this morning, there was little movement on the street. The occasional car pulled up outside the bar and each time a patron entered the noise from inside floated out, a steady hum rather than a roar, the volume that of people a few drinks in rather than drunk. Still it sounded like the place was full and Gail figured there must be a car park and entrance out back. Perhaps the townspeople were rallying around Mae. Interesting she hadn't shut the bar to grieve.
'Everything's within spitting distance,' Gail said, popping some almonds in her mouth, 'and everyone's interconnected.'
'That's life in a small town.' Holly smiled.
'What are the chances Marylou deleted those files?'
'Pretty good I'd say, but who is she covering for?'
'You're thinking Alma aren't you.'
Holly nodded.
'Alma's certainly got motive,' Gail agreed, 'but according to Mick she wasn't carrying anything. If she'd just shot him, where did she hide the rifle?'
'Could she have had help?'
'Marylou?' Gail asked.
'Let's say Marylou went home to hide the rifle while Alma tried to conceal the body by dragging it into the alleyway. It would explain her scraped hands.'
'True. But Marylou is younger and stronger than Alma. Why didn't she move the body,' Gail asked.
'Good point.'
'Okay what if Marylou killed Davy, went home and told Alma. She's probably a mess because she just killed her ex and the father of her child. So Alma, who remember Mick said would do anything for her kids, tries to hide the body.'
'Except she didn't exactly do a great job,' Holly sighed. 'Even if she had managed to drag Davy into the alley he would have been found eventually.'
'Maybe Mick disturbed her. Maybe Alma's some sort of vigilante. Maybe her husband's death wasn't suicide either.'
Holly tilted her head to one side.
'Too far fetched?' Gail asked.
'What did you tell Dumber and Dumber. Never rule anything out.'
Gail smirked.
'What?' Holly asked.
'You called them dumber and dumber.'
Holly bumped Gail's shoulder. 'I didn't mean to say that.'
'Perhaps it was your subconscious speaking.'
'More likely I've been hanging round you too long.'
'Too long?' Gail cocked an eyebrow.
'You're a bad influence Gail Peck.'
'Yeah,' Gail drawled, slowly pulling her teeth against her bottom lip to stop the grin that was trying to spill out.
Holly didn't reply but kept her eyes on Gail's face. Holly wanted to kiss her. Gail could tell because Holly had this thing where her face softened and yet there was a keenness about it too and, without really being conscious of what she was doing, she sort of swayed toward Gail. She might be on the other side of a room and still she would angle herself toward Gail.
Every time, every single time, it caused in Gail a frisson, like her heart had literally expanded to fill her chest and she was lightheaded, giddy even, with a joy she had never thought possible. Holly would say it was the dopamine flooding her brain but Gail knew she didn't really believe it was simply that.
Gail looked up and down the street. There was no one in sight. Not even a single car. So she turned and leaned in to Holly, then stopped when Holly exhaled. Gail smiled and then moved in closer still so her lips were close but not quite brushing Holly's ear. 'And you love it,' she breathed before pulling back, grinning widely.
'Tease,' Holly protested.
'We're on duty,' Gail shrugged nonchalantly, shoving the last piece of chocolate in her mouth and balling up the wrapper.
'Nominally.'
'Imagine if we were caught kissing in the main street. We'd be run out of town or burnt at the stake.'
Holly shook her head, amused but unconvinced.
'Seriously, Toto we're not in Kansas anymore.'
'Did you just call me a dog,' Holly asked.
'That was not my meaning,' Gail stood and started collecting the rubbish from their lunch. 'I think it's time to have a chat with Alma and Marylou.'
Alma's place was shuttered up. The curtains were drawn tightly although Marylou's car was out front. There was a buzzer, cracked and grubby from years of use, next to the door that first Marylou and then Alma and Mae had disappeared through. Gail pressed it gingerly several times but no one answered. She took a step back onto the curb and scanned the upstairs' windows. Where her eyes deceiving her or had one of the lace curtains twitched?
'Did you see that?' she asked Holly.
'What?'
'The curtains move?'
Holly shook her head. 'I wasn't really looking,' she admitted.
'If Alma and Marylou aren't at home, where are they?'
'Mae's bar,' Holly suggested
'Who's looking after Cindy then?'
'Hank?'
Gail grinned. 'Might be time to look him up.'
Hank was sitting on a folding chair outside his garage watching Cindy as she threaded around the tyre stacks on a bright pink scooter, giggling and shrieking the faster she went. She was still wearing the pink tutu but this time with the fairy wings attached. It made the whole scene quite surreal. Hank was cheering her on, a can of beer in one hand.
'What brings you two here,' he asked laconically, not rising from his chair.
Cindy skidded to a sudden halt in front of Gail and Holly and stared at them balefully.
'Hey Cindy,' Gail smiled, 'you're pretty fast.'
Cindy shrugged and took off again, but this time much slower, as though despite her apparent disinterest in Gail and Holly, she was trying to listen in to the conversation.
'Want one of these,' Hank held up the beer can.
'Thanks but—' Gail started.
'You're here on official business.'
'Not exactly,' Gail hedged. Apart from her mother asking she and Holly to join the investigation, Gail hadn't received any directive from above so technically it wasn't official.
'What d'ya want to know,' Hank sighed. He seemed flat.
'We're looking for Marylou and your mother.'
'They're at Sleepy Joe's. There's a thing on for Mea, well really Davy I guess.'
'You didn't want to join them?' Holly asked.
'Someone's got to watch Cindy,' Hank deflected. 'You know what, I could do with another one of these.' He held up the empty beer can. 'Sure I can't tempt you.'
Holly and Gail shook their heads. The moment Hank went inside, Cindy came to a stop in front of Gail and Holly again.
'My dad wasn't bad, he just made bad choices. Now he's with the angels in heaven.'
What little kid says that, Gail wondered. Was Cindy parroting something she'd either overheard or been told? Gail hunkered down so she was eye level with her. 'I bet your dad loved you to bits,' she said.
'He yelled at Mom and Granny Alma. He was mad.'
'When did he yell at them?'
Cindy shrugged her shoulders. 'He was mad and now he's with the angels.'
Holly made a sympathetic face. Before Gail could ask Cindy any more, Hank returned and the little girl took off on her scooter again.
'Everything alright out here,' Hank asked as Gail straightened.
'How's Cindy taking the news?' Holly asked as the little girl whizzed by.
'Hard to say,' Hank took a swig of beer. 'A bit manic as you can see but she witnessed Davy beating Marylou plenty of times. Still he was her dad.'
'You didn't tell us Davy set fire to Marylou's house,' Gail said.
'Allegedly. I didn't want you jumping to conclusions.'
'Hank, that's not what we do,' Gail looked at him levelly.
'I know it's just,' he set his beer down on a crate and blew out a breath.
'It must have been hard for you to see your sister in a violent relationship after what your dad did to your mom.'
'Someone told you about that, huh.' Hank rubbed his hand over his cheeks, the rough stubble making a dry scratchy noise that Gail found almost unbearable. 'You know what—Davy was a bully just like his father. People round here used to admire Joe. A man's man, you know what I mean. What do they call it these days—toxic masculinity. At least Cindy doesn't have to grow up around that anymore.'
'What happened to Mae's husband?' Holly asked
'Joe?'
Ah, that at least explained the name of the bar.
'He took off one day. Didn't leave a note and no one heard from him again,' Hank continued.
'Did Mae try and track him down?' Gail asked.
'She said she did. For child support mainly but I think she was happy to see the back of him. Joe and my dad were best friends. Figures huh. Joe left right after my dad suicided so maybe that had something to do with it.'
Just then Cindy came back from one of her circuits around the tyre stacks. She dropped the scooter and it hit the ground with a thud. 'Uncle Hank, I'm bored and I'm hungry and I'm thirsty,' she whined.
Hank stood and scooped Cindy up so she let out a shriek of laughter. 'Okay honey bear, how about I get you a juice and then we head on home.'
Cindy nodded and buried her head in his shoulder. Hank carried her into the garage. Gail could hear him asking Cindy what flavour juice she wanted. He must keep a supply for her.
'Should we go?' Holly asked.
'I guess.' It felt like Hank had left a lot of questions unanswered. At the same time, Gail sensed nothing would be achieved by trying to push him.
After a moment Hank reappeared without Cindy. 'She's watching a cartoon on my phone,' he explained.
'You're good with her,' Holly said, 'do you have kids of you own?'
Hank made a face and then looked off into the distance for a moment as if considering before looking back at Holly.
'Never found anyone to settle down with,' he said after a pause that was so long it was starting to become uncomfortable. From inside, came the sounds of squeaky cartoon voices and Cindy laughing, a delighted unself-conscious giggling.
'That's too bad.'
'Yeah, well round here there aren't many people like me.'
Gail caught Holly's eye. Had Hank just come out to them?
'You wanna know what happened before my father killed himself,' Hank didn't wait for a reply. 'He walked in on me kissing a boy. I was fourteen and the boy was here on vacation and then, well then my dad found out and he beat me black and blue. He used to belt my mom but never us kids. Two days later he was dead. Now, I need to take Cindy home.' With that Hank turned abruptly and headed inside.
'Now we should go,' Gail said softly.
Back in the car, Gail and Holly didn't speak immediately. Both Processing, Gail supposed. She couldn't work out how she felt. Sad yes, but angry too. A white hot anger, in fact.
'I feel so fortunate that my coming out was so easy,' Holly said finally. 'My parents didn't seem very surprised at all and said they'd love me no matter what. We hugged and we all cried a little but from relief and just the emotions I guess. If anything, it was affirming.'
Gail nodded. She'd heard this story before but understood Holly's need to tell it again. 'Your parents are pretty special.'
'I know but that, that poor man—who does that to their child?'
'Too many people unfortunately,' Gail sighed.
Holly's phone pinged with a message. 'Rodney,' she said as she scanned it. 'He's sending Wilson and Natasha to collect the body. Wants to know if we can meet them at the meat works at midday tomorrow. I better get back to him.'
They had reached the turnoff to Lisa's property and as the house came into view, Gail saw Frankie and Elaine by the front door speaking to a tall woman with long, jet black hair. She had her back to Gail but it was clear from the cut of her clothes that this was someone with money. A neighbour perhaps or one of Lisa's friends?
'Wonder who that is?' Gail said as she parked the car.
'Hmm,' Holly was still busy with her phone and didn't look up.
It was only when they got out of the car that the woman turned and Gail saw that she was strikingly beautiful, with even features and a wide mouth and eyes that were almost violent. The woman knew she was beautiful too. You could see it in the way she carried herself. Someone whose looks and wealth meant she was used to getting her way. She wasn't sneery like Lisa but there was something about the set of her mouth that Gail found cruel.
'Summer?' Holly said it more like a question than a greeting. She stopped in her tracks and peered at Summer in confusion.
Summer had already crossed the little deck at the front of the house and next thing she was drawing Holly into a hug before kissing her, not on the cheek, but the lips, lingering just a smidge too long to make it brief. Gail tried not to feel annoyed. Not that she was jealous. It was just if Summer was this familiar with Holly, Gail was certain Holly would have mentioned her. There was something off about Holly's reaction that bothered Gail as well.
'Oh Holly, are you okay?' Summer asked, the sympathetic tone perhaps a little overdone, and now rubbing her hands up and down Holly's arms. 'I dropped everything as soon as Lisa called me.'
Elaine coughed. Frankie shook her head, her expression caught between amusement and disbelief. Gail screwed up her face. Holly, brain as big as a planet Holly, still appeared to be stupefied. Only Summer looked like she knew what she was about.
'Shall we take this inside,' Elaine suggested.
