finally dropped.
“Those body parts. Buck Harris?”
140
HARD ROW
He gave a grim nod. “It’s not a hundred percent pos-
itive, but it’s on up there in the nineties.” He finished
his first hot dog and started on the second. “Nobody
seems to have seen your missing Buck Harris since those
legs were found last week. He had a mole just below
his navel; so does the torso we found Friday night. His
navel was an outie and so is this.”
“His girlfriend—Flame Smith—does she know?”
“She’s the one told me about the mole and the ‘pro-
trusive umbilicus,’ as the ME put it. She contacted Reid
and they were both in this morning. We’re getting a
search warrant for the old Buckley place. That seems to
be the last place he was seen.”
“The old Buckley place,” I said slowly. “It’s on Ward
Dairy Road.”
“Yeah,” said Dwight.
That big bull of a man reduced to chunks of hacked-
off arms and legs? My hot dog suddenly turned to ashes.
I set it back on the paper plate and took a long swallow
from the drink can.
“You know this Smith woman?” he asked.
“Not really. Portland’s the one who introduced us
the other day. They used to work together down at the
beach. She was surprised to see Por here and I think
they were going to get in touch with each other, have
dinner or something.”
“How far along was Harris’s divorce?”
“It was final last month, but we’re still working on
the ED. There’s a lot of money, property, and real estate
to divide. That’s why Dent was there to testify.”
“Was it going amicably?”
“Not particularly. Mediation didn’t work for them.
141
MARGARET MARON
That’s why their case came to me. I can’t quote you
chapter and verse but the one time they were in court
together, you’d’ve needed a chainsaw to cut the hostil-
ity. They split hairs and argued every point. But what do
Pete and Reid care? If their clients want to waste time
sniping at each other and not cooperating, that’s just
more billable hours. Wednesday, though, Mrs. Harris
was furious that Flame was even there at all. Whether or
not she’s the primary reason they split, I get the impres-
sion that Mrs. Harris blames her for the divorce. You’ve
seen her.”
