“We didn’t want to attract any attention.”
“What about Breezy? Did she come over to complain?”
“No. We didn’t see her.”
“But you had to pass her trailer when you were coming and going, right?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“Did you see anyone there?”
“Ten years ago? Who knows? Breezy always had a lot of company. All I remember is, yeah, there was music, and it was loud, and then somewhere in the middle of Saturday night, it stopped.”
“It stopped? When?”
“Come on, Deputy. Late. I don’t know.”
“What kind of music was it?”
“A radio station, I think. Seems to me we heard commercials. I remember we could make out some Aerosmith and some Stones, too. Vince was a big Stones fan.”
“Do you remember anything else?”
“It was a long time ago. So no, I don’t remember a damn thing. Are we done?”
“We’re done.”
Will got off the bed and went back to the jumble of clothes on the floor. I could see that his knee was mostly frozen. He bent down with difficulty and grabbed a white T-shirt that he slipped over his torso, and he grimaced in pain as he did so. Then he slipped on a blue flannel shirt and left it unbuttoned.
“Remember what I said about Anna,” I told him.
“Talk to her about that. Not me.”
“Oh, I will.”
Will gestured at his jeans on the floor. “You going to help me put my pants on, or what?”
“Are you kidding?”
“You scared off the girl, Deputy. I can’t do it myself, not with my knee locked. It’s not like you need to be afraid of me. I don’t bite.”
I rolled my eyes. “Lie on the bed. If you try anything, believe me, you’ll regret it.”
Will’s mouth stretched into something close to a grin. He limped to the bed and lay on his back. I picked up his jeans, but as I did, something metal slid out of his pocket. I retrieved it from the floor and studied it in my palm. It was a silver chain, and on the end of it was a blue-and-silver enameled religious medal. On one side was an image of a robed, bearded figure, and on the other was a cross with capital letters circling the outside of the coin.
“This is a medal of St. Benedict, right?”
“That’s right. You know it?”
“I’ve seen one before. What do the letters mean?”
“It’s a Latin curse against Satan. It keeps him away.”
“Do you need help with that?”
“We all do.”
He extended his arm and cupped his fingers together. I let the coiled chain and medal fall back into his hand. He slipped the medal around his neck.
“Where did you get it?”
Will rubbed the medal between his fingers. He took a long time to answer. “I think it was a gift.”
“Really? From whom?”
“I don’t remember. Maybe I found it. Does it matter? It’s not expensive, if you think I stole it. You can probably get one online for ten bucks. You should think about it, Deputy. Seems to me Satan must be hanging around you wherever you go.”
I headed for the door. “Goodbye, Will.”
“Hey, what about my pants?”
“I’ll send your girlfriend up.”
I went back into the cold hallway, then downstairs into the warm, crowded bar. I felt lost in a daze. I watched the seas part for me — cop in uniform again — and I headed out of the Witch’s Brew into the night. The snow had finally stopped, but it left behind a silent white shroud over the world.
I got into my cruiser, but I didn’t turn on the engine.
Instead, I sat there and thought about the medal of St. Benedict. Will was right that it wasn’t valuable. You could walk into a flea market or a church basement and find one for a few dollars.
But I knew where I’d seen St. Benedict before. It was a long, long time ago.
Keith Whalen had kept the very same medal on a hook in his barn.
Chapter Forty-Four
Sometimes you get to the end of a crossword puzzle, and you’ve filled in every answer except one. You’ve got most of the letters, but you can’t figure out that last word, even though it’s right there in front of you. Usually, that means you’re thinking about it all wrong.
That’s how I felt as I drove back to Everywhere. I had all the clues I needed to solve this puzzle, but I still couldn’t fill in the blanks.
I drove fast and made good time. The plows had been out through the storm and had already cleared the highway and the main street through town. Even so, it was late by the time I parked in front of the Nowhere Café. I checked my watch and saw that the diner had closed five minutes earlier. The neon sign in the front window was off, but the lights were still on, and sometimes I can sweet-talk them into a last cup of coffee or piece of pie before I head home.
I got out and peered through the window. In a booth at the far back of the restaurant, I saw Monica and Dad. I felt bad that Monica had stayed late again to look after my father and that she’d have a long drive ahead of her on the snowy roads to get home. The night waitress, whose name was Patty, waved at me when I drummed my fingers on the door. She let me inside, and she still had a hot pot of coffee in her hands. I was saved.
“Take your time, Shelby,” she told me. “I still have to clean up before I head out of here.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s horrible about Breezy.”
“Yeah. It is.”
The diner was like a family, so I knew Patty well. I knew all of the waitresses so well that I probably had their shifts memorized better than they did. They were all friendly, all lifers in our little town. But I couldn’t help thinking that none of them would ever call me “Shel” and that I would never see Breezy behind the counter again, joking and flirting with the men.
“Hello, you two,” I said as I slid into the booth next to Monica. Then I noticed Moody’s urn and corrected myself. “Sorry. You three.”
“Much better,” Monica replied with a squeaky giggle.
I leaned over and apologized in her ear for being late, but she shrugged it off the way she always did. Patty came and poured coffee for me. I closed my eyes and listened to the quiet hum of the diner. It always sounded the same and smelled the same, and at that moment, I was glad for anything in my life that didn’t change. When I opened my eyes, I saw Dad sitting across from me. His white hair was combed, his white mustache trimmed. He whistled tunelessly under his breath, and I could read the signs. He was lost in time tonight, somewhere that only he could see.
For years, I had thought of my father as one of those things in my life that never changed, but that wasn’t true anymore. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I could believe in the stories that he’d told me long ago.
“How are you, Dad?”
He turned his warm eyes on me. “Fine, Shelby. How was your day?”
“My day?” I thought about what to say. “My day was all about Breezy, Dad. Do you remember her? Belinda Brees?”
“Do I remember her? After that diving save she made in the game last night? I love how that long hair of hers flies when she jumps. That girl is so intense on the court. Well, you all are. Trust me, you girls are on your way to the championship this year. It’s going to happen.”
I worked up a smile. “I hope so, Dad.”
To him, Breezy and I were still two high school seniors playing volleyball. I almost envied him, because he had this strange superpower to drop himself down into another part of his life. The man with almost no memory could remember everything from some parts of the past, if only for a few seconds. I wanted that power for myself. I wanted to go back to that Sunday morning ten years ago after that rainy, rainy night. I wanted to sit right over there at the counter again and talk to Breezy.