(no subject)

25.
“Dying”

Archie wrangled an invitation to dinner out of the conversation. Mehitabel was as thunderstruck by the Agent’s presence as Pappy had been.

They embraced briefly, with the closeness of cousins who don’t know each other very well, but feel compelled to hug anyway.

“It’s just fried chicken and salad, if that’s okay.” She told him.

“As I remember your fried chicken was some of the best I ever tasted,” Archie said, “Didn’t you use white pepper?”

She stopped in mid stride, “Yes.”

He looked at the pair of them, feeling a need to explain.

“I do a lot of cooking now,” He said, “You get tired of eating out in restaurants after a while.”

They all talked about silly little things for the rest of the time till dinner was done. It was a nice evening, if a little stilted.

As they sat around the living room, Bel passed the coffee around.

“How are you doing Arnold?” She asked him.

“I’ve had a good career, made a lot of good friends,” He told the pair of them.

“You’re awful young to be retired,” Pappy said, “Gonna get in some fishing and such?”

“Naw, Pappy, I never was much good at that sort of stuff. The retirement wasn’t really my idea.”

The anticipation floated over the room like a wet wool blanket.

“What is it, Arnie?” Bel asked.

“I have cancer,” The agent admitted.

No one said anything. What could they say?

“That’s a lot of the reason I am here,” He told them, with an artificial smile forcing itself onto his face.

“I have only one blemish on my record. I never forgave myself for the lack of a conclusion to this case in Setonville,” He seemed to turn inward as he thought about this, “I didn’t want to die without trying to find this killer one more time.”

He looked at Pappy and they nodded understandingly.

Then he looked at Bel.

“And I had to see the one woman I ever loved again, one more time.”

Despite herself Mehitabel blushed.

Pappy fought not to react.

 

© 2005 by C. Wayne Owens

(no subject)

26.
“Coffee & Clues”

The rest of the evening was, strangely enough, spent talking about the case. Archie had, for some time now, had a feeling about the acreage down by the pond.

This area was the site for 7 of the original set of killings (8 if you counted the Elkins boy, but Archie wasn’t at a point of conceding that) and 5 of the new 8. The rest had been all over the place. Closed businesses were the next highest location, and 4 were in abandoned homes.

If the pond had not been so remote it could have caused a theoretical problem. Out door killings would have seemed so different from the indoor killings, but with the remoteness it was not so much of a variation.

Pappy wanted to throw the idea Gates put forward out and see what Archie thought of it.

“I’ve never heard of that sort of thing before,” The FBI man said, “Part of the whole thrill thing is the least amount of misdirection must be involved. These guys, the ones I’ve done profiles for, anyway, like to draw attention to themselves. If they are not committing in their home town, it is an area that they spend a great deal of their time in. That was why, when the school connection came up, we checked out all of the teachers and everyone involved in the facility.”

That made sense to Pappy, but he wondered why Porter, who should have known better, would push the idea.

“The Troopers were very proprietary about the case,” Archie confessed, “We always felt they were holding things back. We even talked, the other two agent and I, about sneaking into their offices and seeing if we could ‘appropriate’ with some of the info we needed.”

He leaned back and sipped his coffee. He had an air of superiority that was unflattering. Mehitabel was suddenly very happy Hannibal had never looked to move higher in law enforcement than he had.

“I’d like,” Archie said as he blew on his cup, “To take a look over at the Mayor’s property tomorrow. Do you think you could get an okay from him?”

Pappy assured him that anything that brought attention to that property would not be unwelcome by Freemont. He promised to call first thing in the morning.

Out of nowhere the FBI agent looked a bit weak, and an attempt to stand was reversed.

“I think I need to get back to the motel,” He said to Pappy as Mehitabel was out of the room, “I need to take some medication.”

As Bel returned to the room with some coffee cake of her own creation, she found the two men making their way to the front door.

“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” Arnold said, “But if I have to get started early in the morning, I’d better get to bed.”

Bel hurried over to give the man a hug and then the two men exited and got into the Cadillac.

By the time Pappy got behind the wheel he found that Archie was asleep. So the trip over to the Motor Inn in Packard was made in complete silence.

 

© 2005 by C. Wayne Owens

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