A matter of time

with a wife of half a lifetime.

'Anything else?' he asked, knowing she would resent it, yet totally unable to think of any better course.

'No. Bye then.' Her tone was disappointed. It always was. Damned, but he wished he knew how to give her more of whatever it was she wanted. Or that she could understand him a little better.

'Bye.' He hung up with the inevitable feeling of relief.

Beth still watched with those big brown eyes. They seemed to stare right down inside to those shadowed parts of his soul that were alien even to him. His own gaze slid away.

Another bad habit. How come he had so much trouble meeting a woman's eyes?

Maybe he was the one who should make an appointment with the departmental shrink.

'Uh… I'm going out. To see O'Brien's sister.'

Beth merely nodded. Then, as he was moving out the door,

'Norm, I've got to have your LEA paperwork today.'

'Aw, shit. Okay. I'll get it when I get back. Oh. Do me another favor. See if you can track down Tommy O'Lochlain. So I can give him a call.'

Beth sighed again. Cash went out thinking he should do something special for her. He had been dumping on her a lot this morning.

Sister Mary Joseph was openly hostile this time around. Cash pretended not to notice. Maybe he should do something for her, too.

'Just a couple questions this time,' he said. The answers should have been in the Carstairs file. The lieutenant must have carried on a remarkably narrow or uninformed investigation.

'The day your brother vanished he stole twenty thousand dollars from the people he worked for.'

He really needed go no further. Her surprise answered his question before he put it into words.

'I wondered if he'd been home that day? If he had a package or briefcase or anything?'

'Yes. He was there. For half an hour. To change and eat. He'd been away for three or four days. I told you that before. But he didn't bring anything home. I don't think. But I remember he was real happy. Excited.'

'Tch. Yeah. Pretty much what I expected.' He took a deep breath, plunged. 'I'm really sorry about all the trouble I've been. Can I do something, a gesture, you know, to make it up? Maybe have you to dinner some night?'

Damn, it was hard making the feelings translate.

She was surprised. Then a ghost of a smile flickered across her lips. 'Thank you. I might take you up on that. Just to get even.'

'Well, you're welcome. Annie would love having you. Just give me a call at the station when you make up your mind.'

'I will.' She reached out and touched the back of his hand. He returned to the station feeling good.

'Mr. O'Lochlain is waiting for you to call him at home,' Beth told him, handing him a note. 'Your friend from New York called back. He's set it up with the state police, and he'll get back to you in a couple days.' She handed him a second note. 'I told him to ask them to check back a ways, that we have at least one other crime involving our Groloch here.'

'Good thinking. Thanks.'

'John called too. He says he'll be getting the texts of those classifieds come lunch, and he picked up the historical research from Mrs. Caldwell.' She passed him another note, then a fourth. 'Judge Gardner will see you in his chambers. Eleven-thirty.'

'Ha! It's moving. Beth, we're closing in. I can feel it.'

'Crap, Norm. Bet you dinner-you pick the place if you win-that none of this gets you an inch closer.'

'You're on,' he replied without thinking,, turning toward his office.

'And get on that LEA stuff. You've only got an hour.'

'All right. All right. Why don't they hire somebody to take care of that crap?' Then he muttered, 'Christ. Starting to think like a bureaucrat.' Paying someone to handle LEA paperwork would absorb half the district's grant, making the whole thing just another exercise in governmental futility.

He whipped through in time by faking half his data. Lieutenant Railsback was supposed to double-check and countersign before sending the stuff on for the captain's signature, but Cash knew Hank would never see it. Beth would forge his John Hancock for him, with his blessing.

Someday they were all going to get their tits caught in the wringer.

'On my way out, Beth.' He tossed her the papers. 'Don't check them too close.'

'Who gives a damn, Norm? They just file them. Remember that bet. I mean to collect.'

Railsback shoved in the door. 'Oh. Sorry, Norm. Well, I got what you wanted. Captain says we can polygraph everybody who had anything to do with the stiff, long as they're willing. Only, you ain't going to like the arrangements. Says we've got to do it on their time, meaning second shift, which is where most of them still are.'

'Gah. Annie's going to love that. When can I start?'

'How about tonight? I want this done with. Oh, one other thing. If you start this, the captain says you have to