‘I had business to conclude,’ said Souleby.
‘You mind my asking what kind of business?’
‘Private. Personal.’
‘You sure about that? Because, if it had to do with the town, I really ought to know about it. This is a delicate time. We all need to pull together.’
Souleby stopped walking, and faced Morland.
‘What do you want, Chief Morland?’
‘I want you to give up your place on the board.’
‘You know that’s not possible. Under the rules—’
‘The rules have changed. The board met while you were away.’
‘There was no board,’ said Souleby. ‘Two members isn’t a quorum.’
‘Like I said, this is a delicate time. We didn’t know what had happened to you, and your wife was of little help. Decisions had to be made. Calder Ayton and Luke Joblin consented to temporary measures pending the election of a new board and the permanent retention of those rules. Selectmen will no longer serve for life, and no selectman will be able to serve more than two terms in succession. I’d have informed you of the changes before now, if I’d been able to find you.’
Souleby understood what was happening. If he resigned from the board, any power that he had would disappear. He would have no protection.
And, eventually, Morland would come for him. He would do so because, alive, Souleby would always be a threat. Calder Ayton would be dead soon, while Luke Joblin was on Morland’s side, and perhaps always had been. Only Souleby knew the details of what had been done in the board’s name, and what Morland himself had done.
‘And if I refuse to resign?’
Souleby noted movement among the trees, and saw that many members of the senior families had not left the environs of the cemetery. They were watching from the woods, and as he stared they began to turn their backs on him, one by one, until he could see their faces no longer. Then, and only then, did they begin to disperse.
‘The will of the people will prevail, Thomas,’ said Morland, and Souleby knew that he was alone.
Morland smiled sadly and walked away. Only when Souleby had seen Morland’s Crown Vic drive off, and was certain the chief was gone, did he join his wife outside the railings.
‘What did he say to you?’ said Constance.
‘I want you to go and stay with Becky and Josh,’ he told her.
Becky was their eldest daughter. She lived down in New Haven. Her husband Josh was Calder Ayton’s nephew. Souleby trusted him.
‘No, I won’t.’
‘You will,’ he said. ‘All this will pass, but for a time things will be difficult. I can’t be worrying about you while I try to make this good.’
‘No,’ she said, ‘no, no …’
She started to cry. He held her.
‘It’ll be all right,’ he lied. ‘Everything will be all right.’
Constance left that afternoon. Becky drove up to collect her. Becky tried to question her father, but he would not answer her, and she knew the ways of Prosperous well enough to pursue the matter no further for now.
Souleby poured himself a glass of brandy. He watched the sun set. He felt drowsy, but he did not sleep.
It was Luke Joblin who came for him, shortly after eight. His son Bryan waited in the back seat. Souleby saw him when the interior light came on as Luke opened the driver’s door. He could have fought them, of course, but what would have been the point? Instead, the old Colt now lay under his wife’s pillow. She would find it there, and she would know.
‘Come along, Thomas,’ said Luke. He spoke gently but firmly, the way one might speak to an elderly relative who refused to do what was best for him. ‘It’s time to go …’
56
The call came through the following evening as Morland was preparing for bed. He was fresh out of the shower, and had changed into pajama pants and an old Red Sox T-shirt. He was quietly eating a late-night sandwich in the dark prior to hitting the sack and maybe spending some quality time with his wife. They hadn’t made love in over a week. Understandably, Morland hadn’t been in the mood. His wife didn’t like him eating late at night but Morland took the view that what she didn’t know, or couldn’t prove, wouldn’t hurt her. It was, he thought, true of so many things.
He had just returned from a visit to Souleby’s bitch wife Constance at her daughter’s house, accompanied by Luke Joblin and three representatives of the most senior families. They’d commented upon Constance Souleby’s lovely grandchildren, and the fine house in which her daughter and son-in-law lived, for the best kind of threat was the one that didn’t sound like a threat at all, the kind that planted bad pictures in the imagination. Becky, Constance’s daughter, offered coffee, but nobody accepted.
‘What have you done with Thomas?’ Constance asked Morland, once the pleasantries were done with.
‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘We just want him to stay out of the way until after the election. We don’t need him interfering, and you know he’ll interfere. He’s safe.’
The election was scheduled for Saturday. Elections to the board were always held on Saturdays, just to be sure that the maximum number of people could vote.
‘Why hasn’t he called me?’
‘If you want him to call, we’ll have him do that,’ said Luke Joblin, all reasonableness and reassurance. ‘We had to take away his cell phone. You understand why.’
If Constance Souleby did understand, she wasn’t giving any sign of it.
‘You had no right,’ she said, ‘no right.’
‘The town is changing, Mrs Souleby,’ said Morland. ‘We just barely survived the mess of the last couple of weeks. That can’t happen again. There can be no more blood spilled in Prosperous. The old board, and all that it did, has to be consigned to history. We have to find a way to survive in the twenty-first century.’
A shiver of unease ran through the three representatives of the senior families, two men, one woman, all as old as any in the town. Morland had convinced them of the necessity for change, but it didn’t mean that they weren’t frightened by it.
‘Thomas can adapt,’ said Constance. She was trying not to plead, but it bled into her voice nonetheless.
‘That’s not the issue,’ said Morland. ‘The decision has been made.’
There was nothing more to be said. Morland, Joblin and the three other visitors got to their feet. Someone mumbled an awkward goodbye, to no reply.
Morland was almost at his car when he heard Constance Souleby begin to wail. Luke Joblin heard it too. Morland could see him tense, even as he tried to ignore the old woman’s cries.
‘Why did you tell her that her husband would call her?’ said Morland. Thomas Souleby wouldn’t be calling anyone ever again. There would probably be no body. Once the elections were concluded, he would be reported missing.
‘I was trying to keep her calm.’
‘You figure it worked?’ said Morland, as the cries rose in intensity and then were smothered. Morland could almost see Constance Souleby’s daughter holding her mother’s head, kissing her, shushing her.
‘No, not really,’ said Joblin. ‘You think she knows?’
‘Oh, she knows.’
‘What will she do?’
‘Nothing.’
‘You sound very certain of that.’
‘She won’t turn on the town. It’s not in her blood.’
Now, as he listened to the ringing of his cell phone, he wondered if he had been right to sound so confident. Great change was always traumatic, and with trauma came actions that were unanticipated and out of character.
His wife appeared on the stairs, come to see where he was. She was wearing a sheer nightgown. Through it he could see the curves of her body. He tossed the remains of the sandwich in the sink before she noticed. He’d get rid of them in the morning. He was usually awake before her.