Chapter 31
At seven-thirty in the evening Wheaton was not lively. Everyone was in watching Entertainment Tonight. The snow made things even quieter than usual. There was a town Yuck with a plow on the front and a sand spreader on the back moving slowly along Main Street. No cops, no roadblocks, nobody saying 'ten four' into a microphone. Just a couple of teenage boys in maroon satin jack` ets with WHEATON on the back, in chenille lettering, near the pizza place trying to make snowballs with insufficient snow.
Caroline didn't seem surprised to see us when we arrived. Hawk put his car in the empty stall of her two-car garage next to a jeep station wagon and closed the garage doors. He came in carrying the shotgun and the box of shells.
'Never had a second car,' Caroline said. 'Bailey always used the unmarked cruiser. Now Henry's got it.' She stared at Hawk and the shotgun but she didn't say anything, and she shook hands politely when I introduced them. Hawk put the shells on the coffee table.
'Will you have coffee?' Caroline said.
'No,' I said. 'Keep me awake all night.'
Hawk said, 'I hope you'll pardon me,' to Caroline. 'I need to take a look around.' She smiled as politely as she'd shaken hands.
'Certainly,' she said.
Hawk moved off through the house. I heard him slide the chain bolt on the back door. Caroline sat on the couch, at the end opposite from the shotgun shells. Susan sat beside her. I sat across from them in the wing chair next to the fireplace.
'Is there something wrong,' Caroline said. She had a bright perky quality that was as natural as a neon light.
'Yes,' Susan said. 'There is and we need to talk.'
'What else could go wrong,' Caroline said. It was as if she'd had a trying day where the washing machine jammed and the cat threw up on the rug.
'The Wheaton police seem to be conspiring with Esteva and are going to shoot Spenser,' Susan said.
'The police?'
'Yes.'
'What did you do,' Caroline said.
'He seemed to be making some progres toward solving the murders,' Susan said 'and interrupting the drug traffic here in Wheaton.'
That was a considerable exaggeration of my progress but I didn't interrupt. Susan probably knew what she was doing. It was probably a nice feeling.
'My husband's murder?'
'Yes.'
'You think the police are connected with Esteva?' Caroline said.
'Yes.'
'Not my husband.'
Susan nodded very slightly. I could see the professional self slowly slide into place. She sat perfectly still, and her nod was not firm enough for agreement, nor lateral enough to imply disapproval. It was merely a movement of the head that said, oh? tell me more.
'My husband never betrayed that uniform,' Caroline said. 'My husband was an honest man.'
Susan made her little head movement again. Hawk came silently back into the room and leaned against the jamb of the archway behind the wing chair where I sat.
'He wasn't being paid by Esteva?' Susan said.
'No, absolutely not. He was . . . he was too fine a man.' Her voice shook a little. 'He was too fine a man to ever sell out. He cared about that job almost as much as his family. He was too fine.'
'Do you know who was selling out?' Susan said.
'No, I don't. No one . . .' Her eyes wandered away from Susan. Outside the windows the snow was coming a little harder than it had, still and gentle, but persistent. 'Bailey was a wonderful father,' Caroline said. 'A wonderful husband. He would never betray us.' Her voice shook again and she paused and the room was quiet. None of us moved. Susan was looking at her steadily, neutrally. Behind me I could hear Hawk's breathing. I could hear mine too.
'He loved Brett when he was little, he was always carrying him on his shoulders. He loved me. He would have stood on his head for me. He loved his little family.' Caroline's voice was stronger now. Flattened by medication, but firm.
'But Esteva hired his son,' Susan said.
'He didn't. I mean he didn't do that because of Bailey.'
Susan was quiet.
'He hired Brett ... Brett needed a job. Brett was a good boy. He hired him. I don't know why he hired him. Just that Brett was a good boy. Like his father.'
Caroline was barely there with us. She was talking about people we didn't know, about a Bailey and a Brett I'd never seen. The ones I'd seen were alike. They were both a mess, and getting messier. Until the process came to a sudden end.
