P. Alderman - A Killing Tide

"That's pure bunk. And Gary's got buddies from the military in several of the neighboring towns. The fishermen may not be real happy with him right now, but I think that's related to what's going on."

Kaz's panic subsided a little. Lucy was right—Gary knew several vets who lived up in the hills, which meant he had access to supplies for as long as he needed to hide out. Long enough for Kaz to ferret out who could've done this. She should've realized that herself, which was one more sign she wasn't firing on all cylinders. If she could get some sleep and then keep digging for answers—

Lucy gave her a scowl. "I do not like the look on your face. You need to take a step back and let me handle this."

Kaz kept silent.

"I mean it," Lucy insisted. "I need to conduct the investigation by the book—it's Gary's best hope of coming out of this cleared of any wrongdoing." She pointed a finger smudged with tomato sauce at Kaz. "And you need to quit letting guilt about what happened fifteen years ago color your judgment."

Kaz shook her head. "Gary hasn't had the breaks I've had. And I haven't been here for him."

Lucy snorted. "He got himself into this, he can get himself back out. I was wrong to ever make that phone call to you."

"You know he won't last even one night in jail."

"He should've thought of that before now. Hell, he should've thought about that six months ago when he punched out Svensen for dissing Ken."

"Do you think the two incidents are related?"

Lucy looked thoughtful, then shook her head. "…nah. How could they be? Too much elapsed time." Her expression became grim. "I saw the photos from the fire."

Kaz's stomach clenched. "Did you say anything to Michael Chapman?"

"I've managed to avoid him for the last couple of hours."

Abandoning any pretense of eating, Kaz kicked back from the table, staring out the window at the garden that Gary had maintained for her all these years, which now looked bedraggled in the late winter rains. "Chapman's all but convinced Gary did it—he's just looking for evidence to convict, at this point."

"Yeah." Lucy sighed. "That was my impression, too. He thinks you're withholding evidence from him. Are you?"

Kaz hesitated, then shrugged. "Nothing important."

"If you know anything, you should tell us." When she didn't respond, Lucy glared at her. "I don't believe this—you're keeping me in the dark? You won't let me help?"

"Chapman outranks you—"

"Like that's ever stopped me before. That guy gets in my way, I'll mow him down."

Kaz chuckled and held the cold beer bottle against her forehead, trying to ease her headache. "This is where I'm supposed to be grateful you're armed and have poor impulse control, right?"

"Hey, that's why I joined the force. I figure if I lose it and shoot someone, they probably had it coming."

"Just as long as the person you shoot isn't my brother."

Lucy sobered. "You know I wouldn't do that. I could never hurt Gary."

Kaz studied her friend's face, seeing the truth there. She'd always wondered, in the back of her mind, whether Lucy had a thing for her brother. But if she did, she'd kept it well hidden over the years. Which wouldn't exactly be in character.

Lucy wiped her hands with a paper towel and picked up her beer. "We executed a search warrant at the Lundquists' today. God! That was hard."

Kaz frowned. "What were you looking for?"

"Anything related to the crime—it was a general warrant. The place was a mess. I thought Julie usually kept it pretty neat and clean."

"She does. Someone tossed it."

"What?"

Kaz shifted in her chair, realizing what she'd given away. "I went up there earlier, to pay my respects—"

"And to pry information out of the poor woman."

"—right. And she told me she'd been burgled. Wouldn't let me call you or help clean up. What are the chances of a burglary—"

"Happening coincidentally the day after Ken was killed?" Lucy shook her head. "Slim to none."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I wonder what they were after."

Lucy picked up another piece of pizza and contemplated it. "Do you think Gary broke in and had a look around?"

"I hope not." Kaz considered, then shook her head. "I don't think so."

"So," Lucy mused, chewing slowly. "What could Ken have that someone would want? Something small enough they'd tear apart the house looking for it? Shit. This case gets weirder by the hour."

Kaz stood up and got them another beer. Beer seemed to be all her stomach was accepting without staging a rebellion. At this rate, she'd be on Pabulum with alcohol chasers by morning.

"What's your take on Chapman so far?" Lucy dug into her third slice of pizza, obviously having no such problems.

Kaz hesitated. "Why are you asking me?"

"Hell. Ivar is right—you two have a thing going."

"We do not! Chapman's too stubborn and overbearing and—"

"Sexy?" Lucy leaned forward, dropping her pizza. "Please tell me you are not interested in this guy."

"It's just chemistry. No big deal."

"I'm serious. We don't know jack about him, except that he lost it on some arson investigation back East. Well, okay, and that he's related to the Boston Police Commissioner."

"Whoa." Kaz took a moment to absorb that little factoid. "You told me he was an arson investigator. You didn't say anything about him being associated with the police."

"He isn't. But the latest info that's floating around on him is that the police commissioner was his guardian during his formative years. His parents were killed in a car crash, or something, and the commissioner was a family friend who stepped in to keep him and his brothers out of foster homes."

"Where do you hear this stuff?"

Lucy shrugged. "Ivar told me, and he heard it from somebody on the force, who probably heard it from someone in the Mayor's office…you know how this shit gets around."

"So Gary and I are up against an experienced arson investigator who just happens to have deep ties to law enforcement." Kaz shook her head, closing her eyes as depression settled over her like a wet bank of fog. "Just shoot me now."

"The point being," Lucy continued in a stern tone, "that it wouldn't be smart to get involved with Chapman right now, or even—speaking from a purely one-night-stand-no-attachments point of view—jump his bones." She twisted the cap off her beer and lobbed it into the trash. "Not, mind you, that he doesn't have very nice bones. And not that you'd ever be practical enough to consider sex as a recreational sport instead of the first step toward Happily Ever After."

"Phil would argue that my failure to commit was the reason we broke up," Kaz pointed out, experiencing the twinge of guilt and sadness that surfaced whenever she thought her ex-boyfriend. "I'd say that makes me commitment-phobic, not the other way around."

"Yeah? Well, Phil's a twit. A good lawyer, maybe, but definitely a twit."

A laugh sputtered out of Kaz. "Come on. He's a nice guy."

Lucy just snorted. "Chapman's definitely not a twit, but until we have a chance to see how this guy really handles himself…" She gave Kaz a reprimanding look.

"Okay," Kaz admitted. "So I looked a little more closely at Michael Chapman than usual, but that's all. I'm not dead, but I'm also not crazy."

"Since when?" Lucy shot back, then harrumphed. "So tell me what you really think of him."

Kaz took a moment to think about it. "He doesn't know the people involved," she mused, "so it's easy for him to think that Gary's the obvious suspect. Whether he'll keep digging if there are unanswered questions…" she waggled her hand to indicate that she thought he might go either way. "For some reason, my gut is telling me that he's honorable, that he'll work to find out the truth. But you know how good my instincts are when it comes to men."