Brunonia Barry - The Map of True Places

Roy pulled the plastic wrap off the cake and carefully removed the toothpicks that were holding it away from the frosting. When she got here, he would light the candles. Then they would celebrate her birthday, just the two of them. He’d already checked out the house. He thought the upstairs bedroom, her room, was the perfect place for a birthday party.

He took the rest of the bottle of wine up the stairs. He took the cake, too. He was about to go back for the rest of the cheese when he heard her come in.

SHE ENTERED THROUGH THE MAIN door on the Turner Street side. She didn’t stop in the kitchen or in the rest of the house. If she had, she would have seen the broken window, the overturned drawers in Finch’s study, their contents dumped on the floor.

But she was tired. She knew that Jessina had left a cake for her in the kitchen, but she couldn’t face it tonight. The week had been tough, and seeing Michael again had taken its toll. Instead of stopping she walked straight upstairs to the bedroom. She saw the glow from the birthday candles but thought at first that someone had reported the broken streetlight and it had been repaired. Or maybe they had a new light across the street at the House of the Seven Gables.

Roy was quick. He gagged her first, coming up behind her as she stared at the cake. Then he pushed her down on the bed and tied her there. She struggled hard, but he was double her size. When he had her where he wanted, he sang “Happy Birthday,” then went over to get them each a piece of cake. He laughed at the thought, because she couldn’t share the birthday cake with a gag on. She couldn’t even blow out the candles.

He ate the cake slowly, taunting her and seeing the fear in her eyes. He watched her struggle against the ropes he had used to tie her. He’d been careful to use the constrictor knot, one he used for almost everything and one that Hawk would recognize as Roy’s signature, if Hawk was the one who found her.

JOHN RAFFERTY, SALEM’S CHIEF of police, was waiting on the wharf as the Friendship tied up.

“I need to talk with you,” he said to Hawk. “You want to take a walk with me?”

Hawk seemed surprised. He stopped what he was doing and walked down the ramp with Rafferty.

“Where were you Saturday night?”

“On the ship.”

“All night?” Rafferty asked.

“We were at Star Island first. Then we had dinner in Newburyport.”

“Can anyone vouch for you?”

“Sure, they can all vouch for me. Except for about ten minutes when I was making a phone call.”

“I tried your cell,” Rafferty said. “You didn’t answer.”

“The battery’s dead,” Hawk said. “What’s going on?”

“The Marblehead police are looking for you. They got a call from Weirs Beach.”

“About me?” Hawk was surprised. He hadn’t been anywhere near Weirs Beach.

“About a hammer with your name and phone number scratched into the handle.”

Now Hawk was interested.

Rafferty watched him.

“What did he do?” Hawk asked.

“Who?”

“His name is Roy Brown. He stole my hammer a couple of weeks ago. Said it was payback for one I took of his at my old job site. Which was a total lie.”

“Did anyone see him take the hammer?” Rafferty asked.

“Yeah,” Hawk said. “A lot of people.” He thought about it. “Zee Finch was there.”

“Let’s go talk with Zee,” Rafferty said.

“I was just going to do that,” Hawk said. “Let me get my gear.”

“Leave your gear,” Rafferty said.

Rafferty called the Marblehead police as they walked to his car and told them to pick up Roy at his last known address.

“What did he do?” Hawk asked again as they got into the car.

“He killed a woman at Weirs Beach,” Rafferty said.

ROY SAT AT THE table in her room watching her struggle. He finished both pieces of cake before he got undressed and came to the bed. He wanted to take his time. He was tired, but he was up for this. He folded his clothes neatly and then ripped the strap of her dress. It fell away, revealing her breast.

A shock like lightning went through him. Maybe it was the coke, maybe it was just knowing what he was going to do and how he was going to do it that made him so excited, but the thrill of it shot through him like electricity, up his arms and all the way down his spine.

Zee stared, terrified, as Roy moved closer.

HAWK SPOTTED THE BROKEN kitchen window as Rafferty pulled in. His eyes scanned the street for the red truck. He might have felt relief at not seeing it, but he didn’t. He was out of the car before Rafferty had a chance to pull over.

Hawk ran into the kitchen, saw the cross and the coke still on the table.

“Upstairs!” he yelled back at Rafferty, taking the stairs two at a time.

Rafferty got to the top of the stairs as Hawk pulled Roy off of Zee. Hawk threw him with such force that Roy immediately went into spasm, his back arching wildly, bending him backward until his head almost touched the ground as the first wave of the strychnine hit him.

There were eight spasms in all before he died. In between he collapsed limply while his body gathered energy for the next spasm.

Rafferty called for both backup and an ambulance. Beyond that, there was nothing anyone could do but watch.

MELVILLE PULLED THE OLD lobster boat up to the wharf on Turner Street and helped Zee aboard, taking her duffel bag and a few other things she had brought along and stowing them in the cabin for her.

“Careful,” he said, holding her arm as she jumped in. “It’s slippery.”

At the end of the season, Melville had finally gotten his boat back into the water after it sat dry-docked in Finch’s driveway for as long as he could remember. There were a few repairs he’d had to make, but all in all it was in surprisingly good shape.

Bowditch lay in the stern, sunning and snoring. When Zee jumped aboard, he lifted his head and wagged his tail, though he didn’t get up.

Melville had talked her into this. She hadn’t wanted to come today.

“You know what I always did when things got to be too much for me?” he’d said.

“You ran?” she answered, remembering how he had disappeared.

“I went to sea,” he said. “Until things cleared up.”

“How long did that usually take?” she asked.

“One time it took four months, and the next time it took two years.”

“I haven’t got two years,” she said. “Or four months, for that matter.”

“I could argue that point with you,” he said. “Instead I’m going to suggest a week or two.”

“Where would we go?” she asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Not really,” she said.

“South,” he said.

“Okay.”

THEY HEADED DOWN TOWARD CAPE Cod, cutting through the canal and out the other side and then on over open ocean to the Vineyard. Melville picked up a mooring from the Edgartown harbormaster, and they stayed on the boat. Though there were plenty of bunks below, Melville would often awaken to find Zee sleeping on the bench in the stern of the boat, as she had done as a child in the years after Maureen died. Bowditch snored loudly, asleep next to her on the deck.

Melville called once a day to see how things were going at home. Sometimes he talked to Ann or Mickey, who were taking shifts visiting Finch, but mostly he spoke with Jessina.