you. And you’re right: My career is in the shitter anyhow. Busting you isn’t going to help me with Internal Affairs. So get in your car and drive home… slowly.”
I was speechless.
“Get in your car, Bowditch. Go home.”
Before he could change his mind, I slid back behind the wheel of my Jeep. And then, driving five miles under the speed limit and wondering the whole time if he was toying with me, I steered a course for home.
Hutchins followed me the entire way, stopping finally beneath the copse of white pines at the top of my muddy driveway. Sarah’s car was parked in the dooryard. Beside it was a bright yellow Volkswagen. What is Reverend Davies doing here? I wondered. I fastened my splint back on, gritting my teeth against the pain, then pulled the sling out of the glove compartment and arranged it around my right shoulder. I glanced in the rearview mirror. The blue Ford was still parked at the edge of the drive. Stiffly, I climbed out of my Jeep.
I opened the door, to find my girlfriend seated on the sofa beside Deb Davies. Sarah was in her pajamas. Her eyes were wet when they fastened on me.
She jumped to her feet. “Mike! Where the hell were you?”
“I got held up.”
“Hello, Michael,” said Davies. She wasn’t sporting her uniform or clerical collar. She was wearing jeans, a fuzzy purple sweater, and her signature eyeglasses. She rose more slowly.
“Reverend,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“She came to see you,” said Sarah.
Davies’s forehead was creased with worry. “Sergeant Frost told me about Professor Westergaard.”
I wriggled free of my coat and hung it on a peg beside the door. The coat was heavy from the Walther pistol still hidden in the pocket. “Did Kathy and Pluto find that lost girl?” I asked with affected casualness.
“Yes,” Davies said. “The little girl is all right.”
“Kathy’s been trying to call you,” said Sarah. “We all have.”
“I didn’t receive any messages.” I stuck my hand in my pants pocket, but the cell phone wasn’t there. Nor was it in my wool coat when I checked. “I must have left it out in the Jeep.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been driving with a broken hand,” Sarah said.
“I managed all right.” Then I sat down on the bench and began to tug ineffectually at my boots.
Sarah watched me struggling for a while and then came over to help pull them off. As she leaned close to me, her nose twitched. “Have you been drinking?”
“I had a beer with dinner.”
She covered her eyes with her small hand. “Are you crazy? Mike, you’re taking Vicodin. What the hell is happening to you?”
“I’m fine,” I insisted.
“You’re not fine!”
I went to the front window and parted the curtains. Hutchins’s cruiser was still parked there. What was he waiting for?
Sarah peeked over my shoulder. “What are you looking at?”
I turned to block her view. “I should have told you I was going to see Erland Jefferts,” I said. “I shouldn’t have been driving with a broken hand. I shouldn’t have stopped for a beer.”
“That’s it? That’s your apology?”
“Perhaps I should go,” said Davies. “Please feel free to call me-either of you.”
“Thank you, Reverend.” Sarah opened the door for her.
I peered outside at the top of the hill. It was hard to see from the light spilling out into the dark trees. Hutchins’s cruiser was no longer there.
“Take care,” said Deb Davies. I sensed that she was speaking to my girlfriend, not me.
“Good night,” I said.
After she closed the door, Sarah spun around. “I am so mad at you, I can’t even think straight.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again.
“I don’t want your fake apologies.” Her shoulders were rigid. “Ever since that woman disappeared, you’ve been like another person. And you’ve only gotten worse since that boy was injured. You’ve been avoiding your phone calls. Charley’s probably called ten times since your accident. And what about Kathy? You can’t just blow off your sergeant.”
“I told you, I misplaced my phone.” I knew she was right, but there was something afire inside me. “What do you want me to do, Sarah? Tell me, and I’ll do it.”
“I want you to get help.”
“From who? Reverend Davies?”
For a moment, I thought she might step forward to embrace me, but the pain in her eyes made me terrified to touch her. “Michael,” she said softly. “You can’t let yourself be destroyed by guilt or whatever this is. We’ve been through too much for you to fall apart now.”
“I told you, I’m fine.” I walked past her toward the bedroom.
“Michael?”
“I’m going to call Charley.”
I didn’t mean to slam the bedroom door. But I did. Through it, soon, I heard the sound of Sarah crying.
I sat on the bed, dialed Charley’s cell-phone number, and waited for him to pick up. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why I was so mad. I didn’t even know who I was mad at. Sarah had been correct about everything. Over the past week, despite all my best efforts to move forward, I’d become someone I scarcely recognized. Maybe I really was my father’s son.
“Charley?” I said. “It’s Mike.”
“Hello there!” said the old pilot. “I guess it’s true that a good man is hard to find. I heard about your accident from Lieutenant Malcomb. How’s the broken claw?”
The sound of his voice made me realize how much I’d missed the old fart. I could feel my heartbeat slowing down, returning to its usual rhythm. “I guess I’ll be joining you in physical therapy.”
“That bad, huh? It’s a shame about that Barter boy. How are you holding up?”
“I don’t know.” It was probably the first honest thing I’d said all day. “I’ve been a bastard to Sarah.”
He hesitated. “Has she said anything to you about her condition?”
“No.”
“Maybe Ora was mistaken.” He coughed away from the receiver. “So you found the missing professor, I heard. That’s some smart detective work.”
“Tell that to Menario.”
“Don’t worry about him. He’s just exercised because you keep embarrassing him in front of his superiors.”
“There’s no way Westergaard killed himself, Charley.”
“I’m inclined to concur.”
“There’s some connection to the Erland Jefferts case, but I haven’t figured out what it is yet.”
“You might want to ease up on the pedal and let someone else get behind that wheel.”
“Spare me the folk sayings, Charley.”
“I just worry about you. The state police will crack this case with or without your assistance. If I were in your boots, I’d stick closer to home for the time being.”
I paused and moved the phone away from my ear. Through the door, I could no longer hear Sarah weeping. The house had fallen completely silent.
33
Sarah slept on the couch that night. I offered her the bed, but she wouldn’t take it. By the time I’d finished
