started resembling Grand Central Station in the morning.
Although not smelling like it. You could practically see the baked cinnamon-sugar aroma grasp Bob’s nose, leading him along irresistibly. “You ladies missed a trespassing charge by the skin of your teeth yesterday,” he informed us.
“Um. Yeah. Thanks for your help,” I said, meaning it.
“I told old Walt you were just a harmless pair of town do-gooders, putting together a survey on local library usage,” our police chief said. “Got past the two dogs onto his porch by dumb luck, I told him, and then had to run for it.”
Which was close enough to the truth to make me wince; the dumb part, anyway. Not that Henderson had believed it; his look as he’d greeted me still made me feel as if a set of crosshairs was centered on me.
“Don’t like the cut of that guy’s jib, never did since he moved here,” Bob said, looking sour. “Henderson’s got more pull than a team o’ Clydesdales when he wants something, I don’t know why.”
He finished his first muffin, washed it down with coffee. “Look at the way he got that big house o’ his built there. Land was s’posed to be in a nature trust, all of a sudden he’s gotten himself a mansion on it,” he said, taking another.
“
I
heard he also had something to do with the Trow boy being convicted on stalking,” Bella said. “Payoffs or something.”
Or maybe just the right lawyers. Either way… “Henderson’s shaping up to be quite the steamroller, isn’t he?” I asked. “Where his interests are concerned.”
I didn’t like what I thought that meant for Jemmy. I’d driven up to check on him that morning, watching all the way to be sure I wasn’t being followed by anyone, but I hadn’t been and Jemmy was okay.
So far. “What did Henderson want yesterday morning?” I asked Bob. “When he was talking to you on Water Street? He looked upset about something.”
Bob nodded. “His lawyers’d already called him to say Cory Trow hadn’t showed up at his sentencing hearing in Machias. So of course Walter came charging downtown to find me and let me know in no uncertain terms that I’d better do something about it toot sweet.”
His face conveyed what he thought about that, the rosebud lips twisting as if instead of sweet blueberries he’d encountered a lemon slice. “He asked about you,” Bob added.
“Walter Henderson did? But I thought you told him we were just… ”
“Not at the barn,” Bob clarified. “Before, when I was with him on the street and you both were driving by with that guy in the backseat of Wade’s truck.”
It was a useful trick of Bob’s and one of the traits that made him such an effective day-to-day police officer in Eastport, his ability to seem fully engrossed in one thing while at the same time observing every single pertinent detail of another.
But I had the feeling Walter Henderson knew the trick, too, and five would get you ten it wasn’t me or Ellie who’d drawn his attention as we drove by.
It was Jemmy, even hidden behind his new face. Bob finished the muffin. “So do you want to let me in on what you were really doing out there?”
Yeeks. Rushing in where angels fear to tread, was the honest answer. In this case honesty probably wasn’t the best policy, though, because Bob was another reason Ellie and I had exited the snooping business.
The last time we’d done anything in that regard, Bob had been quietly in favor, but by the time it was over, Ellie and I had nearly gotten killed. So afterwards he’d reversed his policy.
Bella spoke up. “They were trying to find Cory. His mom asked me to ask ’em. So they did,” she defended us stoutly. “And as for this suicide nonsense… ”
“Bella,” I intervened quietly as Bob got up. She looked at me and fastened her trap.
“All right,” Bob conceded. “Kid bein’ such a damn pest with runnin’ after the Henderson girl, guess maybe it was reasonable thinkin’ he might be
Although not smelling like it. You could practically see the baked cinnamon-sugar aroma grasp Bob’s nose, leading him along irresistibly. “You ladies missed a trespassing charge by the skin of your teeth yesterday,” he informed us.
“Um. Yeah. Thanks for your help,” I said, meaning it.
“I told old Walt you were just a harmless pair of town do-gooders, putting together a survey on local library usage,” our police chief said. “Got past the two dogs onto his porch by dumb luck, I told him, and then had to run for it.”
Which was close enough to the truth to make me wince; the dumb part, anyway. Not that Henderson had believed it; his look as he’d greeted me still made me feel as if a set of crosshairs was centered on me.
“Don’t like the cut of that guy’s jib, never did since he moved here,” Bob said, looking sour. “Henderson’s got more pull than a team o’ Clydesdales when he wants something, I don’t know why.”
He finished his first muffin, washed it down with coffee. “Look at the way he got that big house o’ his built there. Land was s’posed to be in a nature trust, all of a sudden he’s gotten himself a mansion on it,” he said, taking another.
“
I
heard he also had something to do with the Trow boy being convicted on stalking,” Bella said. “Payoffs or something.”
Or maybe just the right lawyers. Either way… “Henderson’s shaping up to be quite the steamroller, isn’t he?” I asked. “Where his interests are concerned.”
I didn’t like what I thought that meant for Jemmy. I’d driven up to check on him that morning, watching all the way to be sure I wasn’t being followed by anyone, but I hadn’t been and Jemmy was okay.
So far. “What did Henderson want yesterday morning?” I asked Bob. “When he was talking to you on Water Street? He looked upset about something.”
Bob nodded. “His lawyers’d already called him to say Cory Trow hadn’t showed up at his sentencing hearing in Machias. So of course Walter came charging downtown to find me and let me know in no uncertain terms that I’d better do something about it toot sweet.”
His face conveyed what he thought about that, the rosebud lips twisting as if instead of sweet blueberries he’d encountered a lemon slice. “He asked about you,” Bob added.
“Walter Henderson did? But I thought you told him we were just… ”
“Not at the barn,” Bob clarified. “Before, when I was with him on the street and you both were driving by with that guy in the backseat of Wade’s truck.”
It was a useful trick of Bob’s and one of the traits that made him such an effective day-to-day police officer in Eastport, his ability to seem fully engrossed in one thing while at the same time observing every single pertinent detail of another.
But I had the feeling Walter Henderson knew the trick, too, and five would get you ten it wasn’t me or Ellie who’d drawn his attention as we drove by.
It was Jemmy, even hidden behind his new face. Bob finished the muffin. “So do you want to let me in on what you were really doing out there?”
Yeeks. Rushing in where angels fear to tread, was the honest answer. In this case honesty probably wasn’t the best policy, though, because Bob was another reason Ellie and I had exited the snooping business.
The last time we’d done anything in that regard, Bob had been quietly in favor, but by the time it was over, Ellie and I had nearly gotten killed. So afterwards he’d reversed his policy.
Bella spoke up. “They were trying to find Cory. His mom asked me to ask ’em. So they did,” she defended us stoutly. “And as for this suicide nonsense… ”
“Bella,” I intervened quietly as Bob got up. She looked at me and fastened her trap.
“All right,” Bob conceded. “Kid bein’ such a damn pest with runnin’ after the Henderson girl, guess maybe it was reasonable thinkin’ he might be
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