John Sandford - Bad blood

"We don't know yet, George, but… uh…"

"Things are getting very strange, and very complicated," Virgil said. "We need to ask you something: do you know whether or not Bobby was acquainted with, or dating, a young woman, a girl from the west end of the county, named Kelly Baker?"

Irma: "Baker? Wasn't that the girl who was murdered?"

"Yes. Last year, down by Estherville," Coakley said.

"You can't think that Bobby had anything to do with that," George Tripp said, anger threading back into his voice.

"No, no, we don't," Virgil said. "But we're wondering if Jacob Flood might have."

The Tripps stared at him for a moment, then Irma Tripp rocked back on the couch and said, "Ohhh. Oh, no. You think Bobby found out about… Ohhh."

"Did they know each other?"

The two looked at each other, and then George Tripp said, "Our son, you know, never really had much to do with girls, yet. He was shy. But there was something going on a year ago. We don't know with who, because he wouldn't talk about it."

"He didn't take anybody to the junior prom," Irma Tripp said. "We kept trying to get him to take Nancy Anderson, she's really a nice girl, and we'd hoped… Do you think he was seeing this other girl? Kelly?"

"She lived out in the countryside," Virgil said.

"He was always borrowing the car, soon as he got his license," George Tripp said. "That wouldn't have been a problem."

"She worked at the Dairy Queen here in Homestead, during the summers," Coakley said.

"There you go," George Tripp said. "The Dairy Queen's a regular meeting place for the kids. He would have been down there most every day, at one time or another."

"So there's a possibility he could have known her, but you don't know that specifically," Virgil said.

Irma's head bobbed. "That would be it. But now that you bring it up, I think he must have known her. He was so strange last fall. He grew up a cheerful, outgoing kid…"

"Got a football scholarship, over in your hometown," George Tripp said to Virgil.

"I heard that," Virgil said.

"… but last fall, he was so gloomy," Irma continued. "We thought maybe the football team, it didn't do as well as people hoped. We thought he was down about that. But if…"

"We would like to look through his private things… anything would help," Coakley said.

"What would you look for?" Irma asked.

"Any indication that he had prior contact with Flood, with Baker, with Crocker, any notes or letters…"

"Oh, I don't know," she said, turning to her husband.

"Probably the best thing would be to have agent Flowers look," George Tripp said. He said to Coakley, "I know you were doing your duty, Lee, but I gotta say… if you hadn't taken him… if your men were up to standard… he'd still be alive. I think I'd prefer it if you didn't come back here. Not unless you have to."

Coakley bobbed her head and said, "I know what you're saying, George, and I'm so sorry. But Virgil would do a fine job, as good as anybody in the state. He's one of their top men."

"So let's do that," George Tripp said. "Not right now. Irma and I have to… do things. If we get our boy back tomorrow…"

"There's a time problem," Virgil said. "How about if I give you my cell number, and you call me when you're okay with it. Tonight or tomorrow. There is the time thing. We've got at least one murderer running loose, and probably more."

George Tripp nodded. "We can do that."

Pat Sullivan, the newspaper reporter, covered cops and everything else in town, and had been calling the sheriff's office on a fifteen-minute schedule since the rumors of Crocker's death began to leak out. Coakley called him back, with Virgil sitting next to her desk.

She said, "Pat? Lee Coakley. You called?" She listened for a minute, then said, "Why don't you walk over? We've got a state investigator here and we can fill you in." A few more words from the reporter, and she said, "See you then," and hung up.

To Virgil: "He's on his way."

"Good guy?" Virgil asked.

"Yeah, for a reporter," she said. "He's accurate, usually, but he's ambitious. The editor tells me his friend-his relationship, his guy-lives up in the Cities. He'd like to get up there with the Pioneer Press or the Star Tribune."

"Fat chance," Virgil said. "Those places are bleeding to death. Bet there are a hundred good reporters looking for jobs."

"You know them?"

"A few," Virgil said. "And they talk about it."

"You think they'll be down here? For these murders?"

"May get some TV," Virgil said. "The newspapers, you're more likely to get a call. I mean, they could have a staff meeting in a phone booth."

They sat for a minute, looking past each other, then Coakley asked, "You at the Holiday?"

"Yeah."

They looked past each other some more, until Virgil asked, "You didn't mention to Sullivan that we wanted to talk to him about Tripp."

"I thought I'd leave that to you. Best to ask him first, before we get to Crocker. That way, we're holding the Crocker information over his head. Or, you are. I'm just a humble county sheriff, who has to defer to the state agent, if he decides to screw over the local media." She leaned back in her chair, turned, put her boots up on top of a wastebasket, put her hands behind her head, and stared at the ceiling. She did it in a comfortably coordinated way, which made Virgil think it was her regular thinking posture. "I have two possibilities."

"Only two?"

"No, there are several more, but two I'm thinking about. One: Flood and Crocker were friends, which we know, and that Crocker killed Bobby out of simple revenge. Two: Crocker killed Bobby because he was afraid that when Bobby told us why he killed Flood, that it'd come back on Crocker."

They considered that for a moment, then Virgil said, "Crocker didn't kill Tripp until early morning, almost time for a shift change. I wonder why he waited? I wonder if he needed to talk to somebody about it? Like your other woman. We oughta check the phones here, see if he called anyone during the overnight. And check his cell."

"We can do that," she said. Another moment, and she asked, "You cook? Or you eat out?"

"I'm not much interested in food," Virgil said. "I mostly eat microwave. Healthy Choice, like that. Cereal. Milk. Scrambled eggs."

"My husband used to cook, a lot, when I was married," Coakley said. "I used to work some odd hours. Now, I get home in time to cook, most nights, but can't get it going again. The boys are happy with pizza and burgers and fries, but I feel guilty about it."

"How many kids you got?" Virgil asked.

"Three. Sixteen, fourteen, and twelve," she said. "The twelve was supposed to be a girl. So was the fourteen, for that matter. All I got is a bunch of big lugs. Though I love them to death."

"Sounds like you kept busy for a while. Three kids in four years."

"Yeah, well. Going to Mankato State, got married halfway through my senior year. I was knocked up by Memorial Day," she said.

"What'd your husband do?"

"He's the new car sales manager over at Gable Ford," she said.

"Still see him?" Virgil asked.

"Oh, no. The new wife wouldn't like it, for one thing," Coakley said.

"Oh-oh."

"What can I tell you? He got married three weeks after our divorce was final," she said. "I guess it had been going on for a while. Never saw it coming."

"She have really big breasts?" Virgil asked.

The thin smile again. "Ample. Or ample-and-a-half."

"Give her any speeding tickets?"

"Hadn't thought of it, but now that you mention it, I'll keep it in mind," she said. Her phone rang, and she picked it up, listened, and said, "Send him in."

Pat Sullivan was a short, thin man, of the sort that Virgil thought of as "weedy." He had brown hair, a prominent nose, a brush mustache, and square Teddy Roosevelt teeth. He wore brown boots with studded soles, was carrying a parka and a reporter's notebook.