She wasn’t totally off-base, Mitch considered, remembering the old Bette Davis adage about Hollywood: If a man puts his foot down they call him a strong-willed professional who cares. If a woman does it, they call her a bitch.
“But there is one person in particular…” Takai admitted, reaching for her coffee. “I did something a while back that I’m not very proud of, Mitch. I told the state police that Jim Bolan was growing marijuana on his farm. I did it anonymously. Called them from a pay phone. But ever since it happened, well, Jim’s convinced I’m the one who did it.”
“Why did you?”
Takai shrugged her narrow shoulders inside the chunky sweater. “I knew someone who wanted the property, and I delivered it. Strictly business.”
“Was that someone Bruce Leanse?”
She didn’t respond, just sipped her coffee, clutching the mug tightly in both hands.
Mitch watched her, the purpose of her visit clear to him now. “You want me to pass this information on to the resident trooper, is that it?”
“I’m afraid, Mitch!” she cried out. “What if he was trying to pay me back? What if he comes after me again?”
“It wasn’t Jim,” Mitch assured her. “Your father told me that the two of them were getting high together when it happened.”
“Father’s lying,” Takai said with sudden savagery.
“Why would he do that?”
“Jim’s his hands, that’s why. If they put him away, Father won’t be able to work. And that’s all that matters to him. When it comes to people, forget it. He is beyond cruel. He drove my poor mother to a nervous breakdown with his abusiveness. And when he drank he used to beat her up. She was a sweet, gentle soul. A great beauty. And she ended up all alone out in California, working as a cashier in a Rexall drugstore in Laguna Beach. He wouldn’t give her one cent. What little money she had she got from me. I even had to pay for her funeral.”
“He said her death was very sudden.”
“It doesn’t get any more sudden-she hanged herself,” Takai shot back, her smooth, finely planed cheeks mottling. “And he did everything but kick the chair out from under her feet. As for me
…”
“What about you?”
“He’s never wanted my love, and he’s never given me any in return.” She was fighting back tears now, her chest heaving. “Don’t be taken in by him, Mitch. He’s a monster. He destroys people.”
Mitch went over to the fire and poked at it for a moment. “I’ll pass your information on to Resident Trooper Mitry, if you want. Only, do you honestly think your father would falsely alibi Jim for the murder of his own daughter?”
“Mitch, I don’t know what to think.” Takai got up out of the chair and came over next to him. She wasn’t nearly as tall with her heels off, and looked rather frail in his sweater. “I’m not thinking too clearly right now.”
“Because you’re a little upset,” he said, smelling her musky perfume.
A puddle of tears started forming in her eyes. Mitch was just about to offer her a tissue when she let go- hurled herself right into his arms and began sobbing uncontrollably. He held on to her tightly as she sobbed and she sobbed, her face buried wetly in his flannel shirt. Compared to Des, there wasn’t much to her. She was as delicate as a bird.
“God, I am so sorry,” she snuffled when she was finally cried out.
“Don’t be. It’s good for you.”
“I never do that. I never, ever…” She raised her face to his, startled. “My God, you’re doing it, too.”
“I’m actually famous for my somewhat free-flowing tear ducts,” he confessed, wiping his eyes. “The other New York critics call me the Town Cryer. I even sobbed through the end of The Blair Witch Project.”
She let out a laugh of relief as he fetched a box of Kleenex. When the two of them were done honking like Canada geese, she went over to the window and gazed out at the barn swallows that were swooping down into the cedars beyond the lighthouse. “Moose was my moral compass. Without her, I’ll be lost.”
“No, you won’t.”
She glanced at him, her eyes red and swollen. “You sound so sure.”
“I felt the same way when my wife died-lost. But I got through it. Not over it, but through it. And you will, too. In a lot of ways, it makes you a much richer person.”
“You’re a very sweet man, you know that?”
Mitch winced in pain. “That’s what girls used to say to me in college when they didn’t want to have sex with me.”
“All I meant was I thought you were a bit of a smart aleck when I first met you. Now I realize you’re not. And I really love this sweater,” she added, snuggling inside it.
“Go ahead and wear it home. Consider it a loan.”
“Thank you, I will. In fact, thank you for everything.” She finished the last of her coffee and said, “If there’s ever anything I can do for you…”
“Actually, I could use some help with my story.” Mitch lunged for the heap of plot plans he’d just copied at town hall and hurriedly began spreading the pages out on the floor to form a large map.
“What’s all this?” Takai asked, looking down at them guardedly.
“In the past two years several different development companies have bought up the land surrounding the proposed site of the new school. I was wondering two things,” Mitch said, settling back on his ample haunches. “One, if you brokered any of these sales. And two, if you know anything about these companies.”
“Yes and yes,” she answered promptly.
“Excellent. We’ve got a Pilgrim Properties of Boston, Big Sky Development of Bozeman, Lowenthal and Partners of New York and Great North Holdings of Toronto. What I’m anxious to find out is who actually owns them.”
“Bruce Leanse does. He’s the principal owner of all four companies.”
Mitch stared at her with his mouth open. “What, they’re dummy fronts?”
“No, no, it’s all perfectly aboveboard. Pilgrim’s his New England operation, Big Sky’s his Western subsidiary. Lowenthal is Babette’s maiden name. Great North is a Canadian holding company that gives Bruce a foot in the development door for Prince Edward Island, which he thinks is about to get really hot. For that one, he has a Canadian partner. Has to.”
Mitch peered at the maps intently, scratching his head. “So Bruce Leanse owns all three thousand acres?”
“He does. It’s the single largest tract of undeveloped land in New London County. He bought the parcels under different names because he was afraid the sellers would get wise to him and jack up their asking prices. Common strategy when big developers move into an area. Disney does it all the time.”
“I understand,” said Mitch, who did not understand why Takai was being so candid with him about Bruce Leanse’s plans. After all, the Brat had gone to a great deal of trouble to cover his tracks. Was she so grief-stricken over Moose’s death that she was telling him more than she should? Or was there no longer any need for secrecy?
“What do you get out of this?” he asked her, remembering that Jim had called her Leanse’s “enabler.” “Besides a commission, I mean.”
“Bruce has huge plans. I’m talking about something that will literally reinvent how we live. He’s a visionary, Mitch,” she declared, growing more animated and flushed the more she spoke about Bruce Leanse. “He sees things no one else sees. And he knows how to make them a reality. There will be zoning hurdles, no question. That’s why Babette is running for the zoning commission in February. There will be foot-dragging about the wetlands, the additional traffic-”
“Wait, how much additional traffic?” Mitch broke in.
“But he is totally sensitive to these concerns, and totally sure that this is something Dorset will want to embrace. So am I. It’s our best hope for the future. And I want to be a part of it. I want to be a part of him. That’s what I ‘get’ out of this, Mitch. But if you really want to understand what he’s doing, you should go see him.”
“He’d talk to me about this?”
