She answered quickly, “Oh, it was a long-”
Again her husband stopped her, this time with a hand laid heavily on her forearm. I noticed that when she tried to move it away, she couldn’t.
“Who can tell, Lieutenant?” Norm answered with a smile. “You see a cop on the beat, you don’t pay attention. It wasn’t till he started coming on to her that we really noticed, and that was just recent. We reported it right off.”
“Have either of you had any contact with Officer Padget since the time he drove up next to you and said those things?”
“No,” Norm answered flatly, apparently tired of the game at last, and hoping to end it as soon as possible.
I decided to accommodate him. Turning off the recorder and slipping it into my pocket, I got to my feet. “I think that ought to do it for the moment. I want to thank you for your cooperation. I understand the stress you must both be under. We should be able to reach a determination on this matter within a few days. I hope you understand the process we have to follow, for the good of all involved.”
Ignoring a perfect opportunity to harp on how the system takes care of its own, Norm rose with me instead and merely muttered, “Sure, sure.”
I stuck my hand out to Jan. “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Bouch. Thanks for your help.”
She looked at the hand reluctantly at first, but I forced her to take it by simply not moving. My persistence paid off-her hand was hot and damp with sweat, and trembling slightly. She was a nervous wreck, and I was pretty sure why.
She didn’t join us as Norm escorted me back through the house to the front door.
Norm was all smiles again but without the eagerness he’d shown earlier. “I sure appreciate your coming over, and I’m sorry about my wife. This thing has really shaken her up, you know? It’s kind of a shock when a police officer pulls something like that-I mean, you don’t expect it. You were really professional about it, though. That’ll help her a lot.”
I stepped out onto the porch and faced him. “We do what we can, Mr. Bouch. We also try to make people accountable for their actions, regardless of who they are.”
The smile didn’t falter, but the eyes and voice turned cold. “That’s good, Lieutenant. You have a good day.”
Chapter 6
THE CONVENIENCE STORE near the Bouch home had a small counter with a couple of stools near its front window. I sat there, watching the street, waiting for Jan Bouch to emerge.
She rewarded me three hours later, stepping out to the sidewalk and walking toward Atkinson-the same scenario she’d painted earlier with Padget as the fall guy. She walked like someone expecting a pail of cold water to drop on her at any moment, stiff-limbed and cringing.
I left the store and followed her from the opposite side of the street, not crossing until I’d passed her house, hoping Norm didn’t have his nose glued to the window.
“Mrs. Bouch,” I said gently as I walked up behind her.
She whirled around to face me, her eyes wide, her hand across her mouth. “What do you want?”
I gave her a reassuring smile, falling into place beside her. “Don’t be alarmed. There’re a lot of questions in a situation like this. It’s like packing a suitcase for a long trip. You have to think about what you need, and sometimes you have to backtrack because you forget something. It’s just part of the process. You feeling okay about what I was asking at your house?”
“Sure… I guess so.” She continued walking jerkily, all tensed up.
We reached the corner at Atkinson Street. I stopped and looked around. “This where Padget approached you?”
Her voice was almost lost in the passing traffic. “Yes… Norm should be here.”
The side street continued opposite, toward downtown. Across from us and catty-corner, were a Laundromat and a small store. “And it was about this time of day, wasn’t it?”
She didn’t answer. Her head was bowed and her elbows tucked in.
“Busy,” I mused. “Shouldn’t be hard to find several witnesses who saw an officer stop his cruiser to talk with you-kind of thing people notice. It’s also the kind of thing Brian might do-stop to have a chat. He’s friendly that way, isn’t he?”
She nodded distractedly. “And that’s something you would know, right, Jan? Because you know Brian pretty well, don’t you?”
Her eyes were fixed on the pavement, her chin pressed to her chest. She seemed wholly absorbed in disappearing within herself. The second nod she gave was barely a twitch.
“Still,” I continued, “all that notwithstanding, he didn’t actually stop here that day, did he?”
“Jan.”
We both turned at the fury contained in the shout, and saw Norm Bouch steaming down the street at us. His wife danced from one foot to the other, wringing her hands and moaning. As I waited for Bouch to reach us, I regretted not having steered her around the corner for our conversation.
“What the hell are you doing?” Bouch demanded, his face red, all pretense at civility gone.
“My job, Mr. Bouch.”
“You were waiting for her.”
“She seems to have some doubts about the story you told me this morning. That does make things a little confusing.”
Bouch raised his finger as if to stab me in the chest but then apparently thought better of it and pointed it in the air. “Listen, you son of a bitch. You’re covering for that bastard. He did something that’s against the law, and you’re trying to stick us with it.”
He grabbed his wife’s arm and pulled her to his side. “I knew you fucking cops would pull some stunt. But it’s not going to work. He broke the law, and he’s going to get his butt canned.”
“If what you say is true,” I answered levelly, despite the blood surging through me, “then he will be disciplined. Your being abusive right now won’t affect that one way or the other. It might get you into trouble, though.”
His eyes narrowed, and his grip on his wife’s arm tightened to the point where she began to squirm. “Cut that out,” he snarled at her. He suddenly pushed her away. “Get your ass home. Now.”
He turned his attention back to me. “If you ever come near her again, I’ll sue you.”
“For what? Talking on a public sidewalk?”
It almost worked. I saw the muscles on his right arm bunch up, preparing to send me a roundhouse. But then he regained control. After a long, still moment, his body relaxed, the deceptive smile of that morning returned, and he stepped back. “No-you’re right. This thing’s made me crazy. You married?”
I didn’t respond.
“I don’t blame you-the way I came on. Look, I won’t deny I’m a jealous guy. My wife’s a beautiful woman-maybe not too bright-but a real eyeful. It drives me crazy when guys hit on her.”
I remained silent, watching his eyes.
“I’ll get out of your face,” he kept talking. “And I’m real sorry. I know you got your job… I just want what’s right.”
He’d begun backing away, and at that turned around and walked after his wife, who I could see had reached their house in a sleepwalker’s trance. I half wondered if the police department wouldn’t get a call in about ten minutes for sounds of a domestic dispute.
Early that evening, I met with Emile Latour in his architecturally deformed office.
“Any luck?” he asked hopefully as I sat down across from him.
“I suppose that depends on your viewpoint. I met with the Bouches this morning, heard a cock-and-bull story about how Padget complimented her breasts from a cruiser on the corner of Atkinson and their street, and then spent the rest of the day checking it out with everybody I could find who lives, works, or frequents that corner. Nobody saw it happen.”
I leaned forward and slid a thin folder at him. “That’s my report so far. It also mentions that I have a witness who saw Padget and Jan Bouch making out like Romeo and Juliet in some back alley near her home a week or so ago.”
“He was in uniform?” Latour quickly asked. “No, but rumor has it that wasn’t the first time. Rumor also has it you knew about it early on, which is why I was called in so fast.”