Doug Allyn - Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 125, No. 6. Whole No. 766, June 2005

He started for his Cadillac, then veered off, leaving it, heading for Main Street. The town was only four blocks long and he knew exactly where he was going. Erin walked beside him with Shea and Puck only a step behind.

A few locals followed, more joining in as they marched through the village. Shopkeepers, retirees, curious, concerned. They’d grown to a fair-sized crowd by the time Raven’s group arrived at a proper, white Victorian home at the end of the block. Trotting up the steps, Beau hammered on the door.

George Stegman opened it. Gray man in a gray cardigan and reading glasses, holding a book that slipped from his fingers when he saw Raven and the crowd in the street behind him.

“What do you want?”

“We found my mother’s body, Mr. Stegman. Buried under the fish house. What happened to her? How did she get there?”

Stegman paled, backing away, the bluish hue of his lips becoming darker by the moment. “Why do you — I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you do,” Beau said, pushing the elderly man farther back into his living room with two fingertips. “This is your town, Mr. Stegman, you know everything that happens here. And you know about Mary Raven.” Stegman’s knees bumped against the sofa and he sat down.

“I make a living reading people, Mr. Stegman,” Beau said softly, leaning over him, their faces only inches apart. “You’ve been carrying the truth like a cancer in your belly all these years. But it’s worse since I came back, isn’t it? Give it up. It’ll take your pain away.”

“I don’t—” Stegman swallowed. “Look, I can give you money—” He coughed, trying to catch his breath. Didn’t work. His coughing became a wrenching paroxysm, convulsing him. Then he stiffened, eyes rolling up, face going blue.

“No, you don’t!” Beau roared, grabbing Stegman’s shirt, pulling him upright. “Don’t die on me, old man! You don’t get off that easy!”

“Beau! Let him go! You’re killing him!” Erin shouted, pulling him off. Cradling Stegman in her arms, she eased him down on the sofa, wiping the foam from his mouth.

Beau loomed over her, eyes dark as a thunderhead.

“Back off!” Erin snapped. “Leave him to me. He can’t tell you anything if he’s dead!”

Beau straightened as the front door banged open and Constable Chabot burst in.

“What’s going on here?”

“Mr. Stegman’s having some kind of a seizure,” Erin said. “Call an ambulance.”

“What did you do to him?” Chabot demanded, pushing Beau backward.

“Nothing, yet.”

“Damn it, I knew you’d be trouble—”

“Constable!” Erin roared. “Are you freaking deaf! This man’s having a seizure! Now call an ambulance and give me a hand!”

“You stay put!” Chabot ordered, glaring at Beau. Yanking the cell phone from his utility belt, he hastily tapped 911 and reported the emergency. When he looked up, Raven was gone.

Puck trailed Raven back to the fish house. Found him kneeling beside the remains, trying to clear away the soil with his fingertips.

“There’s no need to dig any further, Mr. Raven. It’s a crime scene now. The state police will be here in the morning. They’ll see to it.”

If Beau heard him, he gave no sign. Kept scraping away the soil.

“Mr. Raven—”

“Thirty years,” Beau said quietly. “Alone down here in the dark. In this muck. Nobody even looked for her. Not the police. Or my grandfather. Not even me. I don’t want to leave her this way another night, Mr. Paquette. Not another hour. But I can’t dig very well with one hand. Will you help me? Please?”

“Sure,” Puck said, kneeling beside him. “You bet.”

It was nearly dusk when Erin got back from Valhalla. Beau was alone in the inner office. Sitting beside the layout table. A single candle the only light.

His leather coat was lovingly folded around the mortal remains of Mary Raven. It made a surprisingly small bundle.

“Where is everybody? I thought Shea and Paquette were staying here?”

“I sent them away. Wanted to be alone with... my mom.” He nodded at the bundle. “How is Mr. Stegman?”

“He was alive when I left. They’re medevacking him down to Ann Arbor by helicopter. I don’t think he’ll make it.”

“Did he tell you anything?”

“Almost everything. We talked in the ambulance. He knows he’s dying. Afraid to face final judgment, I guess. But... Please don’t make me tell you, Beau. It’s... ugly.”

“It’s all right,” he said, reaching up, covering her hand with his. “It can’t hurt her anymore. What happened?”

“There was a party. Rich Stegman and some of his crew were drunk, decided to... visit Mary. From what Stegman said, there was nothing unusual about that.”

“I know what she was. Go on.”

“Anyway, something went wrong. Maybe they were too drunk or there were too many, but Mary tried to stop them. She started screaming. And... ” Erin took a ragged breath. “Somebody hit her with a bottle. Just to shut her up, Stegman said. But he must’ve hit her too hard.

“They tried to revive her, but couldn’t. So Rich ran and fetched his dad. Mr. Stegman said Mary was dead when he got there. So they buried her under the fish house. The next day Mr. Stegman told your grandfather she’d run away. Gave him money to take care of you—”

“Please. He paid him off to keep his mouth shut. My grandfather didn’t give a damn about anything but his next bottle and Stegman knew it. Who hit my mother?”

“He said he doesn’t know, Beau, and I think it might be true. He wasn’t there. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Thanks for trying. And thanks for backing me off the old man at his house. I was out of control. I don’t know if you were trying to save my ass or his but you did the right thing.”

“No charge. Actually I’ve grown rather fond of your ass. And the rest of you, too. Do you mind if I sit with you awhile?”

“No. I’d like that.”

They sat without talking for a time, the only sound the rising wind whining and rustling around the old house.

“I remember the night it happened... ” Beau spoke so quietly Erin wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or himself. “She sent me away. To my hidey-hole up in the tackle tower. She’d done it before when she had a... visitor, you know? Boyfriends, she called them. But I woke up and... I heard her crying.

“Sometimes she made noises when she was with a man and... I didn’t want to know about it. So I turned up my little radio. Pretended it was the Wolf Woman and her pups howling.”

“Maybe it was only the wind. Like tonight.”

“No. The bay was like glass. It wasn’t the Wolf Woman. It was my mother. Screaming.”

“You were only a kid, Beau. You couldn’t have done anything.”

“Maybe not. But I didn’t try. I didn’t even goddamn try.”

“What will you do now?”

He chewed that one over a moment. “Nothing.”

She glanced at him curiously.

“I won’t have to do anything. They think I came back to get even. Like an avenging angel or something.”

“Didn’t you?”

“No. I didn’t know about any of this. After I got decked in Iowa, I was just trying to find my old hidey-hole again. If they’d let me alone, I would have laid up here awhile, then moved on. None of this had to happen.”

“And now?”

“I won’t have to find them,” he said, rising. “They’ll be coming for me. You’d better go.”

“Not a chance.”

“I mean it. I can’t do what I have to if you’re—” He froze, listening. “Get over against the wall. Right now.”

A single rap on the door. “Mr. Raven? It’s me.” Puck slid inside, closing the door behind him.