gave her head a little shake. âThen this morning when those two detectives showed up andââ
âHorowitz?â I said.
âYes. And the female officer. I didnât get her name, but she was very sweet. They rang my bell, and when they showed me their badges, my first thought was Brian. Then they asked if I knew where Jake was, and I thought: Oh, no. Oh, God, no. Not Jake, too. I asked them what was wrong, and that man with the evil smile, he said nothing was wrong, they just wanted to ask me a few questions. As if they went around randomly asking questions when nothing was wrong. But they wouldnât tell me anything, Brady. They just wanted to find Jake. Thatâs all they asked me about. And I told them the truth. That I had no idea where he was, that heâd left around noontime on Sunday, didnât tell me where he was going, and I hadnât seen or talked to him since then. That Horowitz man kept smiling like
he didnât believe me, repeating the same questions over and over again, whereâs Jake, did he own a gunâa gun , for Godâs sakeâand I kept asking him if Jake was all right, and all heâd do is smile. After a while he asked if I had a photo of Jake I could give them, which I did, and then they thanked me and left, and I know goddamn well somethingâs wrong ⦠.â And then the tears brimmed over and spilled down her cheeks. âI donât know if I can do this,â she mumbled.
â Does Jake own a gun?â I said.
She shook her head. âOf course not. He hates guns. Jesus. Do you think he shot Ed, too?â
âI donât know,â I said.
Sharon patted her face with her napkin, and a minute later our waitress arrived. She glanced at Sharon, then at me, frowned quickly, and put our plates in front of us. She gave Sharon a fresh glass of wine and replaced my empty coffee cup with a full one. âCan I get you something else?â she said.
Sharon shook her head.
âNo,â I said. âWeâre fine, thank you.â
I doused my burger with catsup. Sharon picked up her fork, poked around in her salad, then put the fork down, picked up her wineglass, and took a sip.
âSharon,â I said, âI know Lieutenant Horowitz. If something had happened to Jake, heâd tell you.â
âHe would?â
âYes.â
âWould you ?â
I nodded. âOf course I would.â
âOkay,â she said. âSo has anything happened to Jake?â
âI ⦠donât know. Not that I know of.â
âBut ? Iâm hearing a but in your voice.â
âSharon, look. Maybe itâs betterââ
âTell me,â she said.
âWhat did you hear about your police chief?â
She took another sip of wine, put it down, then dabbed at
her mouth with her napkin. âOne of my neighbors called me this morning. Said sheâd heard it on the news. Ed got murdered somewhere in Framingham. Thatâs all I know. I guess that should be a huge shock. But after whatâs happened, I donât feel like I can even react to it.â She bit her lip. âWait a minute,â she said. âYou donât really thinkâ?â
âChief Spragueâs body was found in a motel room on Route Nine,â I said. âItâs the room Jake was renting. He was using a false name. John Silver.â
âA false name?â
I nodded.
She stared at me. âWhat about Jake?â
I shrugged. âHe wasnât there. Neither was his car.â
âSo that policeman this morning with all his questions about guns, he actually thinks that Jakeâ?â
âJakeâs the obvious suspect, Sharon. Horowitz wants to find him and talk with him. I guess he was hoping you could tell him where he is.â
âWell,â she said, âI donât know.â
âYouâre sure?â
She held my eyes and nodded. âI would not lie to you,
Maggie Brendan
Barbara O'Connor
Jan Washburn
Terri Blackstock
Norah Simone
Barry Kemp
G.P. Taylor
Alan Cumyn
Linda Barnes
Lisa Jackson