“And,” Hadley said, “comfortable.”
He rocked forward and backward as if to demonstrate just how comfortable it really was.
He said, “So how can I help you, Helen?”
“I’m just concerned about the Fullers.”
He nodded somberly, his little potbelly pressing against the khaki shirt of his uniform. He wore a Stetson outdoors. He was of that generation of midwestern men that preferred western-style clothes.
“Oh, that’s right. You know them, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I phoned them personally this morning,” Hadley said. “Took a while but I finally tracked them down in a hotel in London. They’re on their way back.”
“You think you might’ve arrested young McGuire by the time they get back?”
He thought a moment. “Boy, I don’t know about that, Helen. Something like this, we want the cooperation of the district attorney’s office. They may not be ready to arrest anybody yet.”
“Especially with McGuire’s sister being in charge of the investigation.”
“Amy? Oh, she’s a straight shooter, Helen.”
“Oh, I know she is, Chet. I just mean that since her brother’s involved and all—”
“She’s already taken care of that.”
“She has?”
“Yep. Put her deputy in charge of the case about an hour ago.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.”
But of course it wasn’t. Helen had come here to talk Chet into arresting Richie McGuire immediately. She was going to use Amy as her excuse, tell Chet how he had to bypass her and arrest Richie on his own.
But Helen was nothing if not resourceful.
“They’d feel a lot better stepping off that plane tomorrow,” she said, “knowing that the man who’d murdered their daughter was behind bars.”
“I suppose they would.”
“I don’t have to tell you what the Fullers mean to this community, Chet.”
“No, you don’t.”
“He controls a lot of jobs around here. And if he ever took a dislike to us—”
“Mexico,” Hadley said.
She nodded somberly.
Nobody had to tell any small-town official about how fast jobs could disappear to Mexico. Up near Dubuque last year, a plastics manufacturer closed up shop and took 950 jobs across the border. He gave his workers and the town ninety days’ notice.
“You really think he might do that?”
“Put yourself in his position, Chet. Man moved his family out here and turns around this whole plant so that it’s profitable again, and employing more people than ever. And then what happens? His daughter is murdered by some drunken ex-football star. How’s that going to make you feel about the town?”
“Not very good.”
“Not very good is right. And there’s one more thing. And I want to be careful not to hurt your feelings here, Chet.”
“You mean the Baxter case?”
“Yes, the Baxter case. Nobody’s blaming you. In big cities, murders go unsolved all the time. But you can bet that that’s what Fuller is thinking about as he’s crossing the Atlantic. Living here the last year, I’m sure he heard about it.”
“The Baxter case.”
She nodded. “The Baxter case and how nobody’s ever been charged in it.”
Hadley was starting to look uncomfortable.
“But there’s a way out of this, Chet.”
“Oh?”
“What if he steps off the plane and the first thing he hears is that you’ve already got the guilty man in jail?”
“I guess that’d probably make him feel good, wouldn’t it?”
“He can’t bring his daughter back, Chet. But at least he can get justice.”
“And that’s how he’ll look at it, isn’t it?”
“That’s exactly how he’ll look at it, Chet.”
“What if this deputy of Amy’s says he doesn’t want to arrest him yet?”
“Then you just remind him about the Baxter case and how people around here feel about that.”
“You know him? This Dick Wilson?”
“No I don’t, Chet.”
“He seems reasonable enough, I guess. But Richie is his boss’s sister. He’ll be sure to take that into account.”
“Then that’s when you’ll just have to put your foot down, Chet.”
“Put my foot down.”
“That’s right, Chet. Put your foot down.”
She could see he was wavering. This was one hell of a spot to put a lawman in, and she knew it. But the sooner Richie McGuire was put behind bars, the better it would be for David.
“How’s your brother’s farm coming these days, Chet?”
She had never been much of a believer in subtlety.
“He’s doing real well. Thanks to you.”
“I like to do favors for people I like.” She looked straight at him when she said this: “I think most people do, Chet, don’t you?”
“It’ll take some doing, Helen.”
“I know, Chet. But I like to think that I can count on you.”
He sighed, then smiled. “I’m not being a very good friend to you, am I, Helen?”
“You’re a cautious man, Chet. And there’s nothing wrong with caution.”
“He’s the killer. Richie, I mean. I don’t have any doubt about it.”
“Then you shouldn’t feel bad about locking him up. And neither should this Dick Wilson.”
“Amy’ll be another matter.”
“As you said, Chet, Amy has put this Dick Wilson in charge. He’s the only one you have to worry about.”
“Even the state boys agree with us.”
“Oh?”
He nodded. “I had a talk with one of them just before I left the office. He says he doesn’t have any conclusive proof yet but from everything he knows, it sure sounds like Richie’s our boy.”
“I’d mention that to Dick Wilson.”
He smiled again. “I’m going to handle this for you, Helen.”
“I’ll really be appreciative, Chet. I plan to be at the airport tomorrow to meet the Fullers, and I’ll sure be glad to tell them that the killer’s in custody.”
Helen stood up. “I probably should be going, Chet.”
“How’s that brother of yours?” Hadley said as he walked her over to the screen door.
“Just fine.”
“He’s in our prayers.”
“He’s a tough customer, Chet. He’s going to beat this thing.”
He wasn’t, of course, he wasn’t going to beat this thing at all, she thought.
Chet didn’t know it, but he was right now in the presence of the next senator from Iowa.
“You tell him hello for us.”
“I sure will, Chet.”
“And you never have taken us up on our invitation to dinner.”
Oh, Lord, she thought, enduring a three-hour dinner over here would be just about unbearable. Washington had spoiled her. She liked dining out at the best restaurants, and rubbing elbows with interesting and important people. Just two weeks ago, she’d been at a Georgetown brunch where the guest of honor was Kevin Costner.
Dinner at Beth and Chet Hadley’s just wasn’t going to cut it.
“That sounds wonderful,” Helen said. “Let’s set something up for sure.”
She walked down to her car and drove away.
2
Amy was interviewing a witness in a manslaughter case when the call came. This was an hour after Helen Cummings left Chief Hadley’s house.
She excused herself from the room where she and the woman had been talking. She wanted to take the call in her private office.
“This is Richard Fuller, Amy.”
She noted the fact that he called himself Richard instead of Dick. Even though they knew each other from various civic functions, Fuller wanted her to know that this was a different circumstance. “Richard” spoke to his authority in Crystal Falls.