Dunston Falls (23 page)

Peck’s private office was located at the rear of the large central office and enclosed behind a large window and glass door. The word s Captain David Peck were stenciled on the glass door in white lettering.

“Good morning, Dave,” Kranston said when Peck entered his office.

“Ed,” Peck nodded. “What can I do for you?”

“Close the door.”

Peck closed the door and took a seat behind his desk. Kranston occupied the chair facing the desk.

“Dave,” Kranston began. “We have almost sixteen thousand residents in our town. Another ten thousand are expected for tomorrow’s celebration.”

Peck took a sip of his coffee. “You don’t want a repeat of last year.”

“That’s right,” Kranston said. “But, you’ve only been here ten months, how do you know about last year?”

“I can read reports, Ed.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Relax, Ed. I didn’t work twenty five years in New York City and not learn a few things about crowd control.”

“I realize that,” Kranston said, removing the wrapper from a stick of gum. “I guess I’m just jumpy. These celebrations are very important to the economy of small towns. Maybe you could give me an overview for tomorrow night.” Kranston placed the stick of gum into his mouth and looked at Peck.

Peck sipped coffee, and then picked up a folder from his desk. He flipped it open to the first page. “The fair begins at five PM. I will have my entire staff posted on the ground from start to finish, beginning at three. I will be there as well. There are six reserve officers for backup duty and they will be on walking patrol. The fire department will have an EMT truck posted at entrances, north and south. Doctor McCoy and several nurses from the hospital will be on duty at aid stations around the park. The fireworks will begin at nine and will run forty-five minutes. The fire chief has coordinated the event with the pyrotechnics team hired by the town council.” Peck paused to look at Kranston. “Of which you are head of.”

“What about the underage drinking?” Kranston said. “That was the main concern of the council after last year’s disaster. Another incident like that and the council will vote to shut down the fair.”

“All vendors are on alert,” Peck reassured Kranston. “If any of them are caught selling alcohol to kids, they will be arrested on the spot and banned from future events.”

Kranston looked at Peck. “It sounds like you’ve covered all the bases.”

“There’s always a last minute detail, but I’m confident tomorrow will go off without a hitch.”

“Well,” Kranston said and stood up. “I’ll be in my office. Let me know if there is anything you need.”

Kranston left Peck’s office and walked through the main office to the door. As he passed Reese, they made brief eye contact. Kranston appeared to give Reese a tiny nod.

Around twelve thirty, Peck set aside his paperwork and walked to the main office. Only Reese, recovering from a line of duty gunshot wound was around.

“Feel like lunch?” Peck said. “I’ll buy.”

“What if there’s a 911 call?” Reese said.

“Put the phones on call forward to my cell phone,” Peck said. “We can always relay it to a car in the field.”

“Just like in the big cities.” Reese stood up from his desk and walked to the door with a noticeable limp in his left leg.

Peck and Reese crossed Main Street and entered Deb’s Diner. The sleek, ultra modern restaurant combined new age and art deco architecture in its décor. Peck and Reese found a booth near the window. The diner hummed with activity.

A short, blond woman of about thirty approached Peck and Reese. She held a coffeepot and smiled at them. “Coffee?”

Peck and Reese turned their cups over and she filled them.

“What are the specials today, Deb?” Reese asked.

“The meatloaf is heaven,” Deb said. “I made it myself.”

Peck and Reese looked at each other. “Two,” Peck said.

Deb smiled and went to get their orders.

Peck said, “How is the leg today?” looking at Reese.

“Stiff. It’s been a year, but I still can’t believe that kid shot me over a speeding ticket,” Reese said. “I think Doctor McCoy is taking the brace off the knee next week. God knows, I’m ready.”

Peck looked at Reese. “He’s a good man, Doctor McCoy.”

“Yes,” Reese said. “He is.”

Peck drove to his large, two story home on the west side of town. Situated off a back road in the woods, it faced a small pond. He nearest neighbor was a thousand yards to the right.

Having grown up and lived most of his life in a city of nine million, the quiet, country setting was a welcome change of pace, even if it took some getting used to at first.

Peck removed the heavy utility belt around his waist and set it on a coat hook in the foyer. He went to the kitchen for a can of beer, opened the sliding doors and stepped out to the backyard. The lawn needed mowing. He sat in a patio chair, lit a cigarette and listened to the slight breeze waif through the tall pine trees. He looked up and the tips of the trees rocked gently as the breeze continued to blow. The temperature had fallen to ninety. Maybe the heat would break for the holiday tomorrow, which, as experience taught him would be a good thing. Tempers were short when people were hot, especially if alcohol was part of the mixture.

The Fourth of July celebration was a complete success.

The temperature at sunset was eighty-nine degrees and dropping quickly. Peck patrolled the fairgrounds and met up with Ed Kranston. The mayor was delighted.

“It’s a record year for attendance,” Kranston said. “I might even be able to balance the budget this year.”

Peck lit a cigarette. “We could use a new squad car, Ed. Those 2015’s we drive are showing their age.”

“Contact Ford, see what kind of deal they have,” Kranston said. “But, don’t make any commitments. The council would have my ass.”

Peck nodded. “Want to see the fireworks, Ed?”

“Why I’m here.”

At the small racetrack in the center of the fairgrounds, thousands of people gathered, anticipating the start of the fireworks display. Peck and Kranston stood on the fringe of the crowd and watched the dark sky.

The blond haired Deb Robertson was suddenly at Peck’s side. “Hey, Dave.”

“Hi, Deb. I thought you were at your booth,” Peck said.

“I was. I closed it early. I love fireworks.” Deb looked at Kranston. “Good evening, mayor.”

“How was business?” Kranston asked.

“Best year ever.”

“Glad to hear it.”

The fireworks began and the sky lit up in a dazzling display of colors and shapes. The show lasted forty-five minutes and drew loud cheers and applause from the massive crowd. During the finale, a barrage of rockets illuminated the sky so brightly; Peck could have read a newspaper.

As the sky darkened, ten thousand people cheered.

Kranston turned to Peck. “I’ll be heading home, Dave. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Mr. Mayor,” Deb said.

Peck lit a cigarette and watched Kranston walk toward a fairground exit.

“Guess I’ll be going home, too,” Deb said. “Five Am comes awful early.”

Peck nodded as he took a puff of his cigarette.

Deb looked at Peck. “You know, Dave. For ten months now, you stop by my diner every morning for coffee. We say our good mornings and you go on your way. What does a girl have to do to get you to ask her out?”

Peck hesitated, thrown by the question. “I don’t know. I wasn’t aware you wanted you wanted my attention.”

Deb smiled as she shook her head. “Silly man. Walk me to my car and we’ll talk about it.”

At eleven, Peck and his men closed the fairgrounds. By the time money was cashed out and the grounds were secured it was after one. Peck dragged himself to his car and drove home, arriving at one thirty. He was in bed and asleep by one forty five.

Linda Boyce soaked in a hot tub full of scented water and oils. She puffed on a cigarette and sipped from a glass of wine while she waited for Ed to arrive. He said he would be there sometime after one AM. She hated all the sneaking around, but Ed was a married man. Besides his wife to contend with, there was his reputation as mayor to worry about.

Therefore, she took the leftover crumbs and made do.

Linda stood up in the tub and reached for a white, terrycloth towel on the rack. She dried herself and smelled her skin. Ed liked her to smell nice. It put him in a good mood and made him generous. Since he paid the rent on her home, she needed him to be very, very generous.

There was a gentle tapping at the front door and she let Ed in just after one AM. He was in the mood and in a hurry, so they went to the bedroom and got right to it. He didn’t even bother removing the damn gum from his mouth. That was okay with her. The quicker he got it out of his system, the quicker she could get some sleep.

He zeroed in on her at the fairgrounds and made the decision on the spot to follow her home. She had dark hair and eyes, a perfect ass and was exactly his type, which was female.

With the amount of people on the streets, it was easy to track her to her house on the fringe of town without attracting attention. Her house was set back off a dark, side road where there were plenty of trees and shadows for concealment.

He waited. He was a patient man and was used to waiting. All good things come to those who wait; his mother would tell him when he was a boy. Little did mother know how right she was?

Lights went out and a lone candle flickered in the bedroom. The window was open to take advantage of the cooling, summer breeze. The damn hot spell had finally broken. Tonight was the first night he felt like venturing out.

Spotting her at the fairgrounds was a good omen. He felt it inside his head. He was going to get lucky.

As he waited, he checked the name on the mailbox mounted on a post by the end of the driveway. Linda Boyce. It was a nice name with a nice ring to it and he liked it.

He peeked in the bedroom window. She was taking a bath. He looked around and spotted a woodpile wedged between two trees. He selected a nice, two-foot long log that had some weight behind it.

As he made his way around to the front door of the home, a car suddenly pulled into the driveway. A large man of about sixty exited the car and walked toward the front door. He caught a glimpse of the man’s face in the floodlight over the front door. He recognized the man from around town. It was the mayor, Ed Kranston.

Fueled by a sudden, all consuming rage, he pulled the ski mask from a back pocket and slipped it over his head.

Ed insisted on running the air conditioner even though it had cooled considerably. He hated to sweat during lovemaking, he insisted. She closed all the windows and ran the big one in the living room and the smaller one in the bedroom. What the hell, he was paying for it.

They slipped under the sheets. Even with the pill he took, Ed was slow to arousal, but after a while, he got there. He insisted on being on top and what the hell, he was paying for that, too. As Ed neared the edge, Linda closed her eyes. It was bad enough she would have to listen to him squeal, she did not need to see his eyes bulge like a frog.

The hum of the air conditioners masked all other noise. Linda heard the sound a moment too late and when she opened her eyes, a man in a ski mask was standing over them, holding a fire log.

Everything happened so fast, there was no time to react. The man in the ski mask struck Ed on the back of the head with so much force, Ed’s skull split in two. Blood, skull and bits of brain matter hit her in the face and stuck to her skin.

Linda screamed and her first reaction was to jump, but Ed’s bulk and dead weight pinned her down and she was helpless.

Linda saw the heavy log swinging in a high arc and that was the last thing on Earth she would ever see.

Peck was asleep maybe a half hour when his cell phone, the private number used just for emergencies, rang on the bedside nightstand.

Instantly awake, Peck reached for the phone.

Reese spoke to him on the other end. “Dave, wake up. We got a bad one. A double murder.”

Peck, Reese and several of his uniformed officers entered the residence of Linda Boyce and were shocked at the sight of the very grizzly, double homicide.

Ed Kranston, Mayor of Dunston Falls lay in a pool of his own blood on the bed. His skull was split open at the top and exposed bits of brain matter were everywhere.

A woman lay on her stomach next to Kranston. Her face had been beaten to a bloody pulp. Her features were unrecognizable. Her blood, like Kranston’s was everywhere, even the ceiling.

“Jesus Christ,” Reese said.

Two of Peck’s men went outside to vomit.

Peck said, “Do we know who the woman is?”

“A Linda Boyce, according to our computer and the mail on the kitchen table,” Reese said. “That’s all we know for now. I’m running a records check on her in the car.”

Peck slipped on a pair of latex gloves. “Is Doctor McCoy on the way?”

“I called him right after I called you,” Reese said.

Peck walked around the far side of the bed and picked up the heavy fire log. Dried blood and bits of skull clung to the wood.

“She has a woodpile out back?” Peck said.

“I don’t know. Why?” Reese said.

“I’d like to know if he planned this out and brought this with him,” Peck said and gently shook the log. “Or if something set him off and he decided to kill them on the spot.”

Reese turned to one of the men. “Check it out.”

The man nodded and left the bedroom.

“Who called it in?” Peck said.

“A neighbor,” Reese said. “She said she heard a scream.”

“I’ll bet she did,” Peck said. “Get someone over to the neighbor and take a statement. And where the hell is McCoy?”

“Should I call him again?” Reese asked.

“No. Get on the phone to the state police. Tell them we need a forensics team right away.”

“You want to bring the state boys in on this?” Reese said. “You know they’ll take over.”

Peck turned to look at Reese. “We’re pretty modern for a small town, but do you see a forensics lab anywhere around here?”