Howard Engel - Dead and Buried

“Shut up for a minute, I’m trying to think.”

“Sorry. I always talk too much. I’m sure your wife and family will back you up and stick with you. They won’t let you down.”

“Confound it, man, you’ve got me in a cleft stick!”

“Me? Doc, I haven’t got you at all. I walk out of this nice yard, that’s the last you see of me. You’re the guy you have to worry about. Do you have the guts to stand by your friend and dump on the rest of the community? That’s the question.”

“Can I talk to you about this?”

“Well …”

“It’ll be a relief to see what you think.”

“I can’t promise you any kind of protection. I’m not making a deal with you, Doctor. You understand that?” He bobbed his head up and down. I watched a line of sweat move down his cheekbone and drop to the hood of his sweatsuit. “At the same time, I can tell you I’m not going to make a bee-line to Sergeant Savas’s office. In these matters, I generally keep my own counsel except where it involves my client.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“You were supposed to have breakfast with Norman Caine. You arrived at around seven-thirty.”

“That’s right. We met like that one a week to talk over what was going on in the yard. I told you I was a troubleshooter for them on questions of pollution?” I nodded and kept my mouth shut. “When I got there, I could tell I was early, because Norm’s car wasn’t there yet, so I went into his office. I carry my own key. That’s where I got my first surprise.”

“He was there, right?”

“Yes! He was very upset. He told me I had to bring my car to the door and get him off the lot without being seen. I didn’t ask him what was going on. It was just one of those times when you know that questions will destroy. I did what I was told and drove him through the gate as fast as I could. Norm was on the floor of the back seat.

“When I got down the road, I stopped to let him climb in front, and he started to talk. I couldn’t make anything out a first. Then I understood. There’d been an accident at another location …”

“At the fort?” His eyes opened slightly at the word, then he continued scraping the table.

“You know about that?” I nodded. “Then you’ll understand why Norm had to move the accident to the yard. We never kept illegal substances in the yard overnight. It seemed a harmless enough deception, Cooperman. I just helped to get Norm out of the yard. He’d already planted the body under the truck.”

“I get it. Caine drove Jack’s truck back from the fort at seven-forty according to the dispatcher’s log. Why did you go back to the yard?”

“I had to make sure that Norm’s absence was noted and to be the first medical man on the scene. I’d hardly got out of the car when the fuss started. Then there were the police and the inquest.”

“Webster, the dispatcher, what did he know?”

“Only what I told him: that there’d been an accident and that it would be better for all of us if there were witnesses.”

“So you stayed around to assist the cops until around eleven.”

“I telephoned around and finally located Norm at the City Yard. He came right over. I don’t know how we got away with it for so long. I honestly don’t.”

“Caine never gave you the details, later on, I mean?”

“I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it and he never tried to explain.”

“I see. I see.” I couldn’t think of any more questions for the doctor, not then anyway. He was looking pretty ragged. I didn’t want to put him through any further cross-examination just then, not with his wife looking on from the screened-in porch. I thought I’d better leave him the ability to continue raking up the leaves after I left. Carswell walked with me to the street without adding anything to what he had already told me. What he was interested in was how it was all going to come out. Would he be charged? I told him that frankness was his only card at the moment and wished him luck. He shook my hand in a serious and unnecessary way. I felt like a Cub Scout. I got to the curb and caught him just as he was turning:

“What do you hear about the old lady? How is she?”

“I was over there first thing this morning. It’s hard to tell. They’ve tried to make her comfortable, but she’s very upset. The shock of it all, I guess. The fact that she’s lasted through the night’s a good sign, but it’s still touch and go. I’m surprised you’re interested, Mr. Cooperman.”

“She seemed like a woman of spirit on Friday night. I’m sorry it’s ended like this.”

“Yes, the arrest of Ross was more than she could bear. Well …” He made a helpless gesture and I found a sad smile.

I walked to where I’d left the Olds and got in. By the time I drove by the house, Carswell’s wife had arrived on the lawn and was talking earnestly to her husband.

Monday came, and with a keen sense that I had to talk to Norman Caine, who, I was guessing, packed his plans to wander the long, warm beaches of a special island, along with the big wedding cake, the long dresses and the flower girl. If he was still in town, he was probably at a hotel with his bride. In Grantham, there is only one hotel that beckons to special family events among the well-todo: the Stephenson House, which is partly owned by a friend named Linda Kiriakis. I telephoned the front desk.

“Stephenson House. Good-morning.”

“Good-morning. Is that you Stavros?”

“No, it’s Renos. Who is speaking please?”

“Renos, it’s Benny Cooperman. I was just checking up on the newly-weds. I hope that they haven’t been bothered over the weekend.” I was using a voice that pulses with concern and worry. I hadn’t lost the gift.

“They’ve had a quiet time, Mr. Cooperman. Nobody goes in. Nobody goes out. Like it should be with newlyweds, right? Your friend Bill Palmer from the paper wanted to know if they were staying here. I had my orders, so I told him they weren’t expected. Stavros took up breakfast half an hour ago.”

“Well, you might get some out-of-town papers now that the weekend’s over. I hope you can manage the security.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Cooperman. Slowly, slowly, we are getting our security in apple-pie order. Okay, I gotta get the other phone.”

“Just checking, Renos. I’ll be talking to you. Goodbye.”

I hated to do it, but I couldn’t think of a shorter way. I drove over to the hotel, parked myself in the lobby and moved about from the coffee shop to the bar and back to the lobby again. It’s what a private investigator does best: wait. I waited through the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.

I was doing a crossword puzzle in an out-of-town paper, when I caught sight of my quarry heading for the tobacconist like a man possessed. He bought four packs of my brand and a pack of menthols. He was learning about married life and had a way to go. I let him pocket his change and get a cigarette alight before walking over to him. It looked like his first smoke in some time.

“Mr. Caine, congratulations on your marriage!”

“Oh,” he said looking back to see who had recognized him behind a pair of sunglasses, “it’s you. Thanks a lot. It’s not what we’d planned, but it’s just as legal. Nice running into you.”

“It wasn’t a coincidence, Mr. Caine. I’ve been waiting for you. I think we’d better have a talk. Ross Forbes is in custody. I think we should talk before they let him out.” Caine grinned at me, but it was without warmth.

“Why would I want to talk to you at all, Mister … Cooperman, isn’t it?”

“I think you know my name. Let’s try to be as honest as we can with one another, starting with the little things. Like Sherry knowing that Anna was going to be out of town and would miss being part of the wedding party. That must have put a crimp in her plans when she thought she’d have to get another maid of honour. But you’d just heard the news from someone who heard it from me: one of those hoods who picked O’Mara and me up at the Harding House last Thursday night. I didn’t want them bothering Anna, so I made that up. But they reported back to you. That’s how I know you tried to-Hell, it was more than an attempt! You did effectively snatch both O’Mara and me and take us to Port Richmond. Were you planning to leave us at the bottom of the harbour?”