Read Dunston Falls Online

Authors: Al Lamanda

Dunston Falls (24 page)

BOOK: Dunston Falls
6.62Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“No.”

“Don’t worry,” Peck said. “We won’t be left out in the cold, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I’m thinking a murdered town mayor is news. Even in a small town like ours.”

“Ed Kranston and a woman are dead. Think about that.”

The officer sent to investigate the woodpile returned. “She has one out back. Logs just like that one. And Doctor McCoy is here.”

McCoy, carrying a medical bag, entered the bedroom. He took one look around and said, “My good God, what the hell happened in here?”

“Somebody,” Peck said, “was really, really pissed off about something.”

 

In front of the Boyce home, Peck lit a cigarette and looked at Reese. “I’m going to the office to wait for the state boys. Nobody except Doctor McCoy goes in or out, right.”

Reese nodded and Peck walked to his cruiser and drove away. Reese stood on the front steps with the floodlight shinning on him. Suddenly, the floodlight turned off and McCoy quietly exited the house. They stood in darkness and looked at each other. Reese sighed loudly to himself. McCoy cocked his head to look at Reese and in an instant; McCoy went from zero to sixty.

“Goddammit all,” McCoy said in a sudden burst of fury. “Goddamn it all to hell.”

Reese looked at McCoy and said nothing, knowing when to keep his mouth shut.

“Did you know about Ed and this woman?”

Reese shook his head. “After what happened the last time she was pulled from the program. She shouldn’t even be here.”

“Ed must have reinstated her for some reason on his own.”

“I think I know what that reason is,” Reese said.

“Christ, what the hell do we tell Washington?”

“We?” Reese said. “You’re the boss, Tom.”

“Ah, fuck me,” McCoy said. “I spent five years reinventing that broken down drunken Kranston. Programming him to believe he is a respectable, government scientist in charge of a billion dollar project. What the hell am I going to tell them, that my prize subject just had his brains mashed in while he was fucking a class B subject?”

Reese mulled it over in his mind before answering. “Tell them it’s the perfect opportunity for Peck to act like a cop and catch the bad guy. He’s the focal point of the whole thing after Kranston, anyway.”

McCoy looked at Reese and slowly smiled. “Yeah. That’s very good. That’s exactly what I’m going to tell those assholes.”

McCoy pulled a cell phone from a pocket, walked off the steps, and stood in the driveway to place a call.

Reese watched McCoy talk on the phone from the steps. He reached into a pocket and withdrew a package of cigarettes wrapped in plain, white paper. He pulled one and lit it with a wood match.

McCoy finished his call and returned to the steps. He looked at the cigarette in Reese’s hand. “Where did you get that? You know those are illegal.”

“They’re bootleg. I know this guy on the Canadian border,” Reese said. “Besides, Peck smokes them all the time.”

“That’s how he gets his medication,” McCoy said. “In small doses every time he lights up. Just like Kranston and his damned gum. You know that.”

Reese let the cigarette fall to the steps where he crushed it under his shoe.

“Pick it up,” McCoy said.

Reese picked up the butt and slipped it into a pocket. “So what did Washington say?”

“They said let him play cop,” McCoy said. “They said to make it as stressful as possible. If Peck performs well, the project goes green light.”

“This is so fucked up,” Reese said. “We’re supposed to let him run around with the state police and play detective?”

“That’s exactly what we’re supposed to do,” McCoy said. ‘Get ahold of what’s her name playing Deb and tell her I want Peck seduced. Some sexual tension should add a bit more stress to the mix. Tell her to lay it on good. Then find out who is in the think tank nobody will miss. See if a few more victims to worry about will bring out the best in Mr. Peck.”

“Or fuck him up,” Reese said.

“Either way, we have to know. If a few murders and a blond cause deterioration, it will never work on some crazy dictator looking to rule the world.”

“How do we know he’ll kill again?” Reese asked. “This could be a one time, isolated incident for him.”

“I’m a doctor,” McCoy said. “He trusts me. And even if he doesn’t, he’ll kill again because I want him to.”

“Whatever happened to the good old days where we just shot the bad guys?” Reese said.

“Let’s get some coffee,” McCoy said. “You can tell me about those good old days when you were a young man in Iraq.”

McCoy and Reese stepped off the front steps and walked toward McCoy’s car.

“Hey,” Reese said. “Who do we have available to play the state police?”

 

Peck entered the Dunston Falls Roman Catholic Church shortly before eight AM where he found Father Regan preparing the altar for the ten AM, Sunday mass.

The priest was dressed in black pants with a matching shirt. Peck stood at the altar railing. “Father, I need to see you for a minute.”

Regan nodded and set aside the candleholders he was polishing. He left the altar and met Peck in the front pew.

“I have the feeling this is about Ed Kranston and the woman,” Regan said.

“You’ve heard?” Peck said.

“Doctor McCoy asked me to administer last rites. It came as quite a shock to me, a situation like that in our small town.”

“In today’s world, father, no town, no matter how small or remote is safe from predators,” Peck said. “It’s just the way things are.”

“Sadly, I have to agree with you. I suppose that is why people turn to the church more now than ever.” Regan paused to look at Peck. There was sadness in his eyes “.Ed Kranston was a good man, a friend of mine and Linda Boyce was an active member of the church .Both of them will be missed.”

Peck looked at Regan and nodded. “You’ll be mentioning it at the service?”

“Yes, but I will be delicate,” Regan reassured Peck. “Even good, God fearing people have their faults. Only God should judge them at the end.”

Peck looked at the altar for several seconds. It was large and adorned with gold, trimmed with expensive, decorative lace. “Thank you, father,” Peck said.

Regan grinned at Peck. “For I have sinned,” the priest joked.

Peck turned to the priest and smiled, the small joke not being lost on his cop’s sense of humor. “Don’t we all,” Peck said.

Regan nodded and his tiny smile faded. “I will pray for you, sheriff. For the strength and wisdom to catch this man before he can take another innocent life.”

Peck stood up and gently placed a hand on Regan’s shoulder. “Make it a good one, father.”

 

Peck stood on the front steps of the Linda Boyce residence while he waited for the state police to arrive. He was dog-tired and sipped coffee from a deli container, his fifth cup of the day. From inside the house, his second in command, Lieutenant Reese limped out to join him.

“Everything is ready for the state boys,” Reese said. “They should be here any minute.”

Peck nodded and lit a cigarette.

Reese said, “Hey, can you spare one of those, Dave?”

Peck handed Reese his pack as a state patrol car arrived and entered the driveway. The man who exited the car looked vaguely familiar to Peck. He wondered where, if ever, their paths had crossed.

“I’m detective Muse of homicide,” he said as he approached Peck.

Peck stared at the man as he puffed on his cigarette.

“I’m Sheriff David Peck,” Peck said, extending his right hand to Muse.

“Show me what you got,” Muse said.

 

 

 

 

 

EPILOGUE

 

 

Alone in his church, Father Regan sat for several long minutes and enjoyed the quiet solitude the sanctuary afforded him.

Suddenly, he sighed loudly to himself. Another headache was brewing, starting with a spot between his eyes. Probably from all the smoking, he had been doing lately. Why did he ever start such a filthy habit? Gently, he massaged the spot with his left hand.

The pain began to subside and he stood up to return to the altar to continue polishing candleholders. He noticed a splinter in his right thumb that must have come from that damn log. He picked at it, but the splinter was in too deep.

The things people make me do, Regan told himself as he left the altar to dig out the splinter and prepare to say the ten AM mass.

 

 

 

 

THE END.

 

BOOK: Dunston Falls
6.62Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

A Little Bit Scandalous by Robyn Dehart
An Infinite Sorrow by Harker, R.J.
The Happy Mariners by Gerald Bullet
He Who Fears the Wolf by Karin Fossum
Demon Rumm by Sandra Brown
Ultimatum by Matthew Glass