Gayle Roper - Caught Redhanded

“Faith is just optimism by a different name,” he said.

“Oh, no. Faith is knowing things you can’t see and being certain of things you can’t touch. And it’s believing even when you don’t understand.”

He shook his head. “That’s too vague for me, but if it works for you…” He gave a cynical smile, grabbed a piece of paper and began to write.

I recognized dismissal when I saw it. I returned to my desk and called Tug Mercer, asking for an appointment at his earliest convenience.

“The News is going to do an article on Good Hands?” I could hear the pleasure in his voice. “How cool is that! How’s ten tomorrow morning?”

Wednesday, 10:00 a.m. I noted it on my calendar.

Before I called Tony Compton, I did a quick computer search on him. There was lots of material on everything from his education (Bucknell University, University of Pennsylvania Law School) and his past employment (Harrison, Ritter, McCorkle and Compton in Harrisburg) to the shockingly sad death of his fiancée, the daughter of state representative Martin Gladstone. Valerie Gladstone had been found stabbed to death three years ago, her body found in her apartment, apparently the victim of an unknown intruder. Congressman Gladstone and Tony Compton had offered a substantial monetary reward for any information leading to the apprehension of the killer, but there were no results.

Immediately my heart bled for this man and his loss, and when I called him, I almost apologized for bothering him. I had to remind myself that three years had passed. Though his pain would never go away, my mentioning it would seem strange so long after the horrible event.

“Wonderful,” he said when I told him what I wanted. If his strong, authoritative voice was any indication, he was a man comfortable with himself and life, a man recovered from the depths of his grief. Maybe he could deal with Trudy’s legacy. “How about tomorrow? Say, four-thirty?”

After I hung up, I turned to Jo. Before she could nail me about the phone call from Mr. Henrey, which I knew she had not forgotten because she never forgets anything, I said, “So tell me about Ken Mackey.”

She made a face and blew a raspberry. Since Jolene tended to look at most people with some degree of contempt, her response didn’t surprise me. What surprised me was the obvious depth of her dislike.

“Pretty bad, huh?”

“Worse.” Her lips compressed.

When she said nothing more, I held out my hands toward her. “So give.”

“They say he’s reformed.” Her skepticism was evident. “But I have my doubts. If there was ever a poster child for recidivism, he’s it. I couldn’t believe it when I heard he was living with Martha.”

“Recidivism?” Was that really the word she wanted?

“Yeah, you know. Sent back to jail or wherever. Back to your old bad ways.”

It was the word she wanted, all right. “He’s an excon?”

She nodded. “He’s got a rap sheet as long as my arm. In and out of juvie for years, then a five-year stint for robbery and another for vehicular manslaughter, though to be honest, I don’t think he’d have been convicted in that accident if it weren’t for his previous problems with the law.”

“Good grief!” Why would a woman live with someone like that? No wonder Mrs. Wilson hadn’t taken to him. “Was he known to be violent?”

Jo shrugged. “No more than other guys like him. Too many beers and they’ll go at it with their fists over some imaginary slur. He went at it once with Reilly back in the old days.” She shook her head. “Pitiful.”

“Who won?”

She looked at me as if I were nuts. “Reilly, of course.

Of course. The fists comment made me think, though. “Did you ever hear that Ken hit Martha?”

She shook her head, obviously disappointed that she had to admit something positive about him. “He’s always had a short fuse and I’m sure his time in jail didn’t help that any, but he liked to think of himself as a charmer.” She grinned. “I used to call him Charm Boy. He hated it. But he must have been doing better if someone as nice as Martha was willing to live with him.”

“Would he take advantage of her, do you think? Let her pay the bills, buy the groceries, stuff like that?”

“Probably. Thick on charm, thin on responsibility and reliability.”

Thoughtfully I began a Google search to see what more I could learn about Martha and about Ken Mackey. There was next to nothing about Martha, but I was surprised at the amount of material on Ken. He even had his own blog where he generously shared his views on the problems of the world. Every so often, he said something unexpectedly profound or insightful. Whatever else Ken was, he wasn’t stupid.

When the back door of the newsroom opened and William Poole entered, his craggy face set in determined lines, I smiled at him, assuming he wanted to talk to Jolene and me about finding Martha. I hadn’t yet stopped to give my statement.

He nodded briskly at us and continued past our desks to stop beside Mac’s.

“Uh-oh,” Jo muttered.

The tattoo, I thought. MAC. That was why William was here. Oh, Lord, please don’t let it be my Mac who killed Martha!

Mac offered William a seat, something he never did for me or the others on staff. William sank down, his back to the newsroom, and the two began talking quietly, William writing Mac’s comments in his notebook.

“It’s only because they knew each other,” I said to Jolene. “That’s all.”

“Huh.” Grabbing her watering can, she rose and began moving around the room, watering her thriving jungle. I noted that each plant took her closer to the two men and that the closer she got, the less water the plants demanded. She had just gotten close enough for some really good eavesdropping when William stood abruptly.

“We’ll talk again later,” he said and strode from the room.

We all watched him go, Jolene with speculation, me with anxiety, and Mac with a frown and a touch of what looked to me like distress or maybe worry. Or fear?

He blinked and became all business. “Jolene, you’re drowning that poor philodendron and watering the floor. Since there’s nothing to hear anymore, I’d suggest you get back to work. Or go home and bother Reilly.”

Totally unintimidated at being caught redhanded, Jolene walked slowly, gracefully, to the shelf where she kept her watering can. She put it away and grabbed a handful of paper towels, returning to the scene of the inundation and mopping the puddle that had formed on the floor.

Mac pushed back his chair, rose and made for the rear door. His posture was rigid, his lips pursed. “See you tomorrow,” he muttered.

I watched the door close behind him. “He’s upset.”

“Wouldn’t you be if the police came to interview you?”

“The police have interviewed me lots of times.”

“Yeah,” Jo agreed, “but your name wasn’t tattooed on a murdered woman’s shoulder.”

By the time I walked from The News to Ferretti’s to meet Curt for dinner, I had regained most of my tattered self-esteem lost during the chase by Mrs. Wilson, eightysomething terrorist. After all, Mr. Henrey wanted me. And Curt wanted me.

I couldn’t wait to tell him about my job offer. He was always so supportive and encouraging, I knew he’d be delighted for me and would find the prospect of starting our marriage in Pittsburgh exciting. New horizons. New possibilities. The Steelers instead of the Eagles. The Pirates instead of the Phillies. The Penguins instead of the Flyers.

The Chronicle instead of The News.

And I’d be back in familiar territory again, no longer the outsider trying to find my place among the raised-in-Amhearst crowd. We could buy a house not too far from my parents. Curt could get to know my brother, Sam, a sophomore at Penn State. I could take Curt to my old church and show him off to all the people I’d known most of my life, especially to Jack, the old boyfriend. Of course, Jack already knew Curt, but still it would be sweet for everyone to realize I had chosen Curt over Jack. I could show Curt all my favorite places and take him to eat in all my favorite restaurants. We could ride the Duquesne Incline and I’d show him the sparkling city by night from the top of Mount Washington. I’d show him the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers as they formed the Ohio. I’d take him to the Carnegie and Andy Warhol museums. And the zoo. I loved the zoo.