Chat - A Novel Part 21

"So you don't want us to tear into the computer?" Cavallaro asked.

Bruce Fellini held up both his hands in surrender. "Hey, I'll even let you take the whole thing out of here, for as long as you want, if you give me some paperwork. We got insurance for things like this. I was just warning you, is all."

Spinney had lost interest in the conversation a few sentences ago and was back to surveying the room. Now he returned to the manager and asked him, "Your security camera working?"

Fellini stared at him for a blank second before his brain kicked in. "Oh, yeah. Sure."

Lester pulled out the photograph of Rockwell that they'd circulated to the newspaper, and displayed it. "This is the guy we think used your computer. He look familiar?"

The small man shrugged. "Vaguely, I guess."

"How far back do you keep the security tapes?" Lester asked next.

This time Fellini smiled, pointing to the date on Spinney's printout. "Long enough."

Chapter 18.

"Butch-hand me another beer."

w.i.l.l.y reached over the side of his bedraggled armchair, flipped open the lid of the cooler parked on the floor, and fished around in the cold ice slurry for a can, which he then handed the older man.

E. T. took it from him, peeled back the tab with a snap, and brought it to his lips in one smooth, well-practiced gesture. He didn't put it down until it was half empty. On the wooden floor by his feet, scattered among other discarded trash, were the rattling remains of most of a twelve-pack.

They'd settled on the unfinished but enclosed back porch of E. T.'s shambles of a house, dressed in coats, accompanied by two glowing parabolic s.p.a.ce heaters and an old sleeping dog of confused lineage.

They were surrounded by frosted gla.s.s on three sides and perched on the edge of an enormous gravel pit that fell away from the rear of the building like a meteor crater, revealing a snow-covered a.s.sortment of piled stones, sand, and rock, and a haphazardly parked collection of ten-wheelers, a stone crusher, and two enormous backhoes. w.i.l.l.y understood that this was E. T.'s working-cla.s.s version of a landed lord taking some time to enjoy a small drink while surveying his hard-won worldly a.s.sets. Had the setting been conventionally staged, and the old man's son here instead of an undercover cop pretending to be a newfound friend, the next line would have been a variation on "In a few years, my boy, all this will be yours."

But E. T. Griffis was not a man of conventional trappings. True to his roots, and regardless of his acc.u.mulated wealth, he was happiest-or perhaps least unhappy-when in proximity to the world that had given him birth: trucks, cheap beer, and the fruits of hard labor. New and s.h.i.+ny things, not to mention the commercial world that hawked them from all sides, were not for him, including a new roof on his house, or a truck built in the current decade, or any clothing from somewhere other than Goodwill. Money had become a way to keep score or, perhaps, to exact revenge on ancient devils w.i.l.l.y knew nothing about, but it was not to be used on glitzy frivolities-like insulation or central heating. Or cell phones.

w.i.l.l.y had heard that E. T.'s first and only legal wife had walked out on him so long ago, few people recalled what she looked like. Now that he'd become the man's newest drinking buddy-following a week of nightly encounters at the bar-and been allowed into the sanctum sanctorum of his home, he didn't doubt it.

Which wasn't to say that he didn't like the guy. For all his renowned faults as a father and husband, E. T. was the proverbial salt of the earth-honest, practical, hardworking, and, at long last, much to w.i.l.l.y's present benefit, becoming sentimentally philosophical.

"So, anyhow," he was saying. "Dan's mother wasn't Andy's, and Andy's mother and me weren't ever legal. Not that it mattered. She had the first one beat all to h.e.l.l, and that was everybody's opinion, including Dan's."

"What happened to her?" w.i.l.l.y asked, sipping from his hip bottle of amber fluid. This was the third time they'd ended up here to share an afternoon drink-presumably in preparation for the standard evening encounters-but the first that he'd gotten E. T. to open up personally. And, as was so common with otherwise taciturn people, it seemed to w.i.l.l.y that he would never shut up.

"She died," he said simply, taking another deep swallow.

"Must've been hard on the boys."

"Hard on Andy. He was like her. Dan didn't give a s.h.i.+t. He's like the first one."

Joe's mother had described that death as a suicide. w.i.l.l.y now wondered if even the method had been similar for mother and son. He wasn't about to ask E. T., but he made a note to check into it.

Given the broad nature of Joe's a.s.signment to him, w.i.l.l.y was in the comfortable position of considering everything E. T. said to be of potential value. After all, from Andy's fate in prison to Dan's side business in drugs, to the car crash that had hospitalized Joe's family, even to the true story about why Andy had pleaded guilty in the first place, w.i.l.l.y and his colleagues had nothing but unanswered questions.

"How long ago was that?" he asked.

"Ten years."

"That when Dan started acting up?"

E. T. paused then, staring out at how the ebbing light was casting his pit into shadow, almost like a premonition.

"Nah, Dan was always a bad kid," he said darkly. "Annie's death only took off the last set of brakes. What was yours named?" he asked suddenly.

w.i.l.l.y hesitated, at first wondering what he meant, before remembering his own cover story. He then couldn't resist answering, "Joe."

"Huh," his companion grunted.

w.i.l.l.y then realized the fringe benefit of his private joke.

"That mean something?"

"Just a coincidence. I got a guy named Joe causing me problems."

w.i.l.l.y pushed his advantage, trusting E. T.'s inebriation to have dulled his perceptiveness. "Gunther? The Mackies were telling me there was bad blood there. He's a cop, right? VSP or something?"

"Yeah-something. Not state police. The new one. Bureau of something. Anyhow, a pain in the a.s.s."

"I hate cops," w.i.l.l.y said. "He after you for the business? Is he like the Better Business Bureau?"

E. T. looked at him with widened eyes. "Better Business Bureau? Jesus f.u.c.k, Butch. You don't get out much, do you? The Better Business Bureau is a bunch of limp d.i.c.ks. They don't have cops. I don't know what this p.r.i.c.k is after. He's just chewin' on me, is all-f.u.c.king dog with a bone."

w.i.l.l.y took another pull on his bottle of tea, wincing at its bitter taste. E. T.'s response didn't imply that Joe was much more than a generalized pest. But if w.i.l.l.y kept probing, even Griffis was likely to notice. He decided not to respond, but to do some of his own silent gazing out the window, not that the sunset was allowing for much of a view anymore.

"He's the one who got Andy in trouble," Griffis finally said in a low voice, having obviously been mulling over the subject for the past couple of minutes.

"Andy got in trouble?" w.i.l.l.y asked. "I thought he was your good kid."

"He is," E. T. answered angrily, throwing his empty can into a corner. "Was," he added a moment later. "Give me another beer."

w.i.l.l.y complied without comment.

"Gunther arrested him on a bulls.h.i.+t charge a few years back. Got him sent to prison. That's why he killed himself."

"I thought you said it was a woman," w.i.l.l.y protested.

"You said that," E. T. countered, knocking off another half can.

"What kind of charge gets you to jail first time out?" w.i.l.l.y asked. "I thought Vermont was super soft there-never putting anybody behind bars."

"You thought wrong," Griffis replied.

w.i.l.l.y was starting to worry how much he should pursue this line of inquiry. He'd gotten a fair amount so far. But that was part of the game-how much to pay out versus how much to reel in.

He went for one more try and then figured he'd give it a rest. "I did time once," he said. "Wasn't too bad. Three hots and a cot, like they say. Mostly boring. Your kid must've been the sensitive type."

That hit a chord. E. T. swung on him in a rage, spilling beer on his pants. "What the f.u.c.k you know about it? Three hots and a cot? Like it was some f.u.c.king summer camp?" Griffis lurched to his feet and half fell toward w.i.l.l.y, trying to take a swing at him, the forgotten can still in his hand. "He was f.u.c.king raped, you a.s.shole."

w.i.l.l.y easily swiped away the punch with his good hand, which threw E. T. off balance and sent him stumbling straight into w.i.l.l.y's lap, breaking the arm of his chair. They collapsed into a pile on the floor.

"Get off me, you son of a b.i.t.c.h!" E. T. yelled, thras.h.i.+ng around.

w.i.l.l.y kept his composure, speaking clearly but quietly into the other man's ear, "You're on top of me, E. T. Take a breath. I didn't mean any harm. I didn't know." He repeated slowly, "I did not know."

Griffis settled down, still lying across w.i.l.l.y like a dropped bear, staring at the ceiling with a wondering expression. "s.h.i.+t," he finally muttered. "I know that."

w.i.l.l.y planted his hand against E. T.'s back and pushed him to an upright position, rising behind him. He decided to go for broke then and there, figuring the opportunity would never come up again.

"Who did it, E. T.?" he asked softly. "Who really killed your son?"

There was no response at first. Griffis just sat there, his legs splayed, his hands in his lap, staring at the floor. For a split second, w.i.l.l.y wondered if he might not have pa.s.sed out, or whether he was even breathing.

But E. T. proved him wrong with two words. "Wayne Nugent," he said.

The name Sam hadn't been able to uncover. Griffis couldn't see the smile on w.i.l.l.y's face. Well, that was at least one puzzle solved.

In Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and outside Waterbury, Connecticut, Lester and Sammie, respectively, in the company of their host police agencies, conducted separate searches of the homes of the two men they'd once referred to as Wet Bald Rocky and Dry Hairy Fred.

Lester had gotten lucky with the videotape in the Ardmore Internet cafe. On film, the same man in the postmortem mug shots that Spinney was carrying around was seen sitting at the right computer and at the same time and date that John Leppman had dug up. Bruce Fellini, the cafe manager, still didn't know the man by name, but he did recognize the teenager at the neighboring console. That boy, a regular, was then located and told Lester that the person he was after was Norman Metz. With Detective Cavallaro's help, the last step to finding Metz's address-a single room in a house he shared with others in a run-down neighborhood-had been easy.

For Sam, the journey had been farther but easier still. The car abandoned at the Springfield bus depot had been eloquence itself, containing all the myriad details of its owner's vital records and habits, from his address to his birthdate, to his taste in music and candy. It had also confirmed the name that Detective Wilson had found through its registration-Frederick Nashman-whose ident.i.ty was confirmed photographically by comparing Sam's mug shot with Connecticut DMV computer records.

Unlike where Lester was searching in Ardmore, however, Nashman's home outside Waterbury was a sedate, middle-cla.s.s two-story house. Unfortunately for Sam, it also came equipped with a wife and teenage child.

Joe sat on what Lyn and he now viewed as his traditional perch, established when they'd first met in Gloucester-at the end of the bar, with his shoulder against the side wall and his hand around a c.o.ke. He watched her traveling along the line of noisy, appreciative drinkers, chatting, laughing, making small talk and change as she served drinks, waved away compliments, and kept an air traffic controller's eye roaming across the room. He remembered what she'd told him then, after he'd plied her with a milkshake and a lobster roll. She'd said that the bar-the actual physical object-was like a barrier that allowed her access to the public while protecting her from it, thereby becoming the perfect platform for a shy person who longed for company. It had been a comment both intriguing and startling, since he'd always believed-as he figured most people did-that anyone in this business had to be a glutton for bad jokes, other people's miseries, and attention in general.

It was Friday night and the place was packed-a harbinger, he hoped, of her business prescience. He knew that many were here out of curiosity, of course. She'd even warned him about that. Not to mention the offer of opening night discount beer.

Bars weren't really his preference. He spent most days out in the public eye. Rest and relaxation for him came in isolation, most happily in the woodworking shop that he'd attached to his house on Green Street. He'd supplied almost everyone he knew with lazy Susans, birdhouses, and magazine racks as a result, and himself with some substantial furniture.

But he recognized the value of bars, and their historical place, as among the earliest of democratic gathering places. Vermont's own independence, it could be argued, found birth in Bennington's Catamount Tavern, where the likes of Ethan Allen-an archetypal barroom bully-took time off from being a lout to act like a leader.

Joe's gaze swept across the crowd. There were Allens aplenty here tonight, if appearances were telling, from the brooders to the boisterous. But, in Lyn's favor, they remained a minority, vastly outnumbered by those simply seeking a good time and companions.h.i.+p.

If she was able to maintain the present mood and clientele, her prospects looked good.

"How's it going, boss?" Sam asked, having appeared at his shoulder.

Joe waved at the activity before them. "See for yourself. A runaway success. You come home with the bacon?"

But she wouldn't be so easily derailed. "Dispatch said I'd find you here, with what they called your 'person of interest.'"

He smiled, shaking his head. "That sounds like Maxine. G.o.d, what a small town."

"So, where is she?"

Joe finally turned in his seat to look at her. "You that much out of the loop?"

Sam punched him gently in the shoulder. "Come on, boss."

Joe faced forward again and gestured to Lyn, who'd been subtly keeping tabs on him.

She came down the length of the bar with a smile.

"Lyn Silva," he said as she drew near, "this is Sam Martens, my right hand. You don't call her Samantha, and she won't call you Evelyn."

The two women exchanged greetings, laughing at the introduction and eyeing each other carefully.

"I have to go," Joe told Lyn. "Duty calls. Congratulations again on making the deadline."

Lyn leaned over the bar and kissed him on the cheek, which he felt was as much for Sam as for him. There were a couple of moans and whistles from nearby customers.

"Thanks for coming, Joe. If you're still up at two, come back."

"I will," he said, sliding off his stool and heading toward the door with Sam.

"Dishy," she said, grabbing the k.n.o.b and letting in a blast of cold air.

"Dishy?" he asked, incredulous.

Chapter 19.

Lester Spinney was already at the office, writing his report about the Pennsylvania trip on his computer. It was late, after nine.

He looked over his shoulder as Joe and Sam entered, and raised his eyebrows at Sam. "So, what does she look like?"

"Enough," Joe told him. "Her name is Lyn Silva. She just opened up the new bar on Elliot, and we're just friends." He circled his desk and dropped his coat across the back of his chair, sitting down heavily before adding, "Christ. I can't believe I just said that."

"It's okay, boss," Lester said. "Rumor has it that's a nice way to start a relations.h.i.+p. Good going."

"Thanks," Joe said, hoping to end the conversation. "What did you both find out?"

Fitting her character, Sam began first, pacing the small office as she spoke off the cuff. "Red Fred, Ready Freddy, or R. Frederick, as he registered at the motel, turns out to have been Frederick Nashman, of greater Waterbury, Connecticut. Middle-cla.s.s, married with a kid, worked at an insurance office. He had no record to speak of, was unremarkable at work, according to his boss, and, from what I could get out of the wife, was about the same at home. He bowled, played cards with the boys every Sat.u.r.day night at the Elks, took the family out to the movies about twice a month, and-again per the wife-spent a lot of time online, alone, in his office. He told her he had an eBay business going on the side to benefit the Legion, which wasn't true when I checked it out. What I found after we got past the locks on his desk and filing cabinet . . ."