Back of Beyond

They would know.”

Cody said, “Exactly.”

Larry said, “So we need to establish the whereabouts of all of the Helena AA members between the hours of eight and midnight three nights ago.”

Cody paused. “How’d you determine the time of death? The ME?”

“Naw. The receipt from when Winters bought the steaks had the exact time on it: 6:03 P.M. It takes almost an hour to drive from the store to his cabin, so let’s say he was there by seven. Montana Power and Light said the cabin had a power outage at midnight, which I attribute to the fire. So there’s our window.”

Cody was impressed. Larry was good.

“Back to the alcoholics,” Larry said. “Do you know them all?”

Cody nodded.

“Do you have a list?”

“At home,” Cody said. “There’s thirteen in our little group. Of course, there are groups all over and a hell of a lot more alcoholics in Helena than you’d imagine. But our group is small because of when and where we meet. I can e-mail it to you. I can’t officially work on the case, but I can feed you.”

“Cool,” Larry said. Cody could see a light behind his eyes. They were getting somewhere.

“I hate this, though,” Cody said. “I’m betraying their trust. This is really a shitty thing to do to them. I mean, you’ll be surprised. We’re talking doctors, lawyers, a couple politicians. Even somebody in our office.”

Larry was surprised.

“Edna,” Cody said. “But you don’t need to question her. She was working dispatch here every night this week.”

“Don’t worry,” Larry said. “I won’t even hint at how I got their names. I’ll say we’re simply following up on everyone we could find who might have known him. I might even fudge it a little and say we recovered an address book and we’re just calling all the names in it. I won’t mention AA and I won’t bring up your name.”

“Thank you, Larry. Really.”

“But you’ve got to understand something, you asshole,” Larry said. “I’m not being your pal here. I want you to go back. You need to go back to AA, or I’ll never work with you again. And I’m not blowing smoke.”

“I know you’re not.”

“Oh,” Larry said, slapping the tops of his thighs, “I forgot to tell you something else. I sent the hard drive of that fried computer down to some IT guys at MSU. They think they may be able to retrieve the data off it. That surprised the hell out of me because I thought data would, you know, melt.”

“No shit.”

“They’re looking at it now. I’ll let you know what they come up with.”

Cody stroked his chin. “See if they can find any letters or documents he had stored away. That and e-mails, of course. There might be an e-mail exchange with whomever he invited to dinner that night. That would be a hell of a stroke of luck. And the history on his Web browser. Maybe we’ll know what he’s been looking at lately.”

Larry rolled his eyes. “Gee, I hadn’t thought of any of that before, Cody. Good thing you’re here to straighten me out.”

Cody grinned.

The office door opened without a knock. Bodean filled the doorframe, hands on hips. His face was dark.

“I thought I heard your voice,” he said to Cody. “Why in the hell are you still here?”

“Larry got all emotional when he heard I’d been suspended,” Cody said. “I came in to comfort him and talk him off the ledge.”

Larry snorted.

“Get the hell out of here or I’ll have you arrested,” Bodean said. “You have no authorization to be here. And give me your key card so you can’t come back.”

Cody handed it over and picked up his box to leave.

“And the keys to your Ford. It’s a county vehicle.”

Cody said, “I’ll leave ’em at the shop when I turn the Ford over to the maintenance guys. Remember-it’s kind of wrecked.”

Bodean considered that a moment, and nodded. “Sort of like you,” he said.

“Wow,” Cody said, “that was a good one, Bodean. Clever.”

Cody picked up his box to leave.

“It stays,” Bodean said. “That’s county property, too.”

Cody shrugged. Larry simply watched, and raised his eyebrows.

“Go home and stay by your phone,” Bodean said.

“Bye, Larry.”

“Cody.”

“Try not to weep.”

“I’ll try,” Larry said.

* * *

The morning was warm and sunny and the sky was achingly blue. Cody shuffled across the lawn toward his vehicle in the parking lot. As he reached it he turned back and looked at the buildings he’d left and wondered when and if he’d be back.

The county courthouse next to the modern brick and glass Law Enforcement Center was a regal old Victorian building built of stone blocks. He saw the DA and his assistant come out holding files. When they saw him they stopped and the DA pointed. He could read his lips even though he couldn’t hear him at that distance. The DA said, “There he is.”

“Here I am,” Cody mumbled.

He patted the keys in his pocket. He was glad Bodean let him keep the vehicle for the time being. His personal pickup hadn’t run for months; he needed the Ford to get around.

As he pulled out of the lot onto the corner of Breckenridge and Ewing, he noted faded lettering on the side of an old brick building he’d never even noticed before. BOARDING STABLES was still legible in paint.

He hesitated on the corner. If he turned left he would drive by the Jester Bar. He breathed deeply and closed his eyes. He could use an ice-cold beer. Just one, though. To calm his nerves and maybe take the edge off the nasty jagged edges in his brain. He would leave after just one.

His cell phone burred. Larry.

“The ME called. They sliced his eyeballs open. Winters had no alcohol they could detect in his system. You were right.”

“We’re just getting started,” Cody said.

“Wait until I walk down the hall and tell Tubman we might have a homicide after all. With the day he’s having, this won’t exactly brighten it up much.”

“Keep me in the loop,” Cody said, turning right toward his place. “I’ve got a lot to think about. I’ll keep feeding you.”

7

Even though he was exhausted and stabs of pain pulsed through his ear, Cody refused to take the medication they’d given him because he knew, he just knew, that if he let his defenses down even a little he’d start drinking. He knew himself. He’d find a justification to start off on another bender.

His ear hurt;

He was suspended;