‘I didn’t believe it when Kevin told me he saw you this morning, waiting for him in your minivan,’ Humphrey said. His latex-covered hand held a mobile against his ear – Ben Masters’s phone, the Palm Treo. ‘What were you going to do to him, Jamie?’
The room kept going in and out of focus.
The kids weren’t in the bedroom – at least she couldn’t see them. She looked at the opened door next to the nightstand and saw the familiar short hall with the two walk-in closets and the small area she and Dan had used for storage. No sign of Michael or Carter in there but –
Her eyes flicked to a dusty bottle sitting on top of her nightstand. It took her a moment to focus on the label. Johnnie Walker Blue. Had Humphrey brought a bottle of booze with him? No. No, he must have found it in the house but where? She didn’t remember seeing it.
Empty glass next to the bottle. A burnt spoon, syringe and candle.
Humphrey covered the phone with his hand. ‘How you feeling, love?’
‘I… ah… ah… can’t… ah…’
‘Can’t concentrate?’
‘Yes.’
‘Feel any pain?’
‘Ah… ah… No.’
‘Good. Gave you a little shot of heroin to calm you down – feels wonderful, doesn’t it? I’ve never indulged myself, mind you, but I thought –’ He held up a hand, motioning for her to stay silent, and then spoke into the phone. ‘I’m at the Russo house. Everything’s all set. Take your time.’
Humphrey hung up and stared at the phone, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
‘Listed me as Judas,’ he said, smirking. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Ben was blessed with a dark sense of humour. The man is an Irish Catholic to the core. Do you know him as Ben or Frank? Which is it?’
Jamie couldn’t hold her head up any longer. She rested it back against her shoulder and stared down the hall to the dead room.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ he said. ‘We’ll get to all that in due course.’
She heard the clink of glass as Humphrey poured himself a drink from the bottle of Johnnie Walker.
‘Where… ah… ah… where…’
‘Where did I get the bottle?’
‘Y-y… ah… yes.’
‘From Danny’s private hiding spot in the basement,’ Humphrey said. ‘We had a lot of drinks and talks down there that last month, mainly when you weren’t home. Sad that a man has to hide a bottle from his wife. Then again, I always had you pegged as a meddlesome cunt.’
Jamie blinked. The mattress in the dead room came into sharp focus for a moment. She blinked again, wanting to hold on to the image, the clarity so she could –
A hand reached out from underneath the bed.
‘You’ve got a tough decision to make,’ Humphrey said. ‘I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Before we get into that, I want you to tell me how you came to acquire Ben’s phone.’
Jamie blinked again and forced her eyes wide open. Michael’s hand had pulled back the valance. He lay next to his brother underneath the bed, his other hand covering Carter’s mouth.
Michael whispered something to his brother. Carter’s eyes were shut but he was crying, shaking.
‘Come, Jamie,’ Humphrey said. ‘There’s no use hiding it.’
Michael started sliding out from underneath the bed.
‘I want to be reasonable,’ Humphrey said.
Michael stopped.
‘
‘I’m not following you, Jamie.’
Michael slid underneath the bed, retreating behind the valance. She turned back to Humphrey. It seemed to take a long time.
‘Go… ah… back. Go.’
‘I can’t go back,’ Humphrey said. ‘You started this, love. And I should tell you that the man who’s on his way here doesn’t share my virtues. Especially when it comes to matters involving patience.’
Humphrey was lying on her bed, his head propped up on her pillows. He rested the glass on his flat stomach. The shades had been drawn. She thought she heard rain.
‘Are you listening to me? Please pay attention, because I don’t want what happened to Danny to happen to you. I really don’t.’
‘Dan… ah… happened?’
‘They shoved his hand down a waste-disposal. What do you
‘I… don’t… ah… ah… know.’
He lifted his head off the pillow. ‘Dan never told you?’
‘N-N-No.’
‘Well, ain’t that a hoot.’
He took a sip of his drink and stared up at the ceiling.
‘The short version is your husband was a stubborn son of a bitch. I’ll give you the longer version once you tell me how you got your hands on Ben’s phone – there’s no use denying it.’
Jamie licked her swollen lips, felt another string of drool drip from her mouth and plop against her leg.
‘Whenever you’re ready,’ Humphrey said. He smiled, patient and pleasant, waiting for her to answer. I’ve got all the time in the world, that smile said. Nothing in the world can touch me. Not even God Himself.
54
Coop’s house was a thing of architectural beauty – a white-painted New England saltbox with black shutters and two chimneys built at the turn of the twentieth century for the mistress of a lumber baron. It was one of the few houses that came with a driveway and a lawn – the size of a postage stamp, but still it was grass.
The house stood on a corner, cut off from the more famous downtown historic homes four blocks down the street. Darby eased her car through the gap between the waist-high white picket fences and parked behind Coop’s Mustang. The sun had disappeared, giving way to yet another thunderstorm.
Stepping out into the heavy rain, she noticed the pair of opened bulkhead doors leading into the cellar. She eased the aluminium doors shut, then ran up the steps and stood under a canvas awning over a small deck. A gauzy ivory curtain covered the windowpane in the back door, and she could see Coop’s shadow moving inside the living room just down the hall as she rang the doorbell.
He ducked around the corner and disappeared.
‘Who is it?’
‘Darby.’
‘I’m sort of in the middle of something right now. I’ll call you later.’
‘I need to talk to you now, Coop. Open up.’
A moment later she saw his shadow coming down the hall. Locks clicked back and the door opened.
Coop stood in front of her, barefoot, dressed in jeans and a tight-fitting olive-green tank streaked with dust, dirt and sweat. His eight-month-old niece, Olivia, lay sleeping against his chest.
‘My sister’s babysitter bagged this morning so she called me in tears and asked if I could watch her,’ he said.
