Chapter 1

 

Captain Harvey Larson sat down across from Police Chief Mike Browning in the chief’s office. “I’m sending Winfield and Cook to the Academy next month for some detailed homicide training. They’re ready.”

“Good.” Mike poured himself a second cup of coffee. “Things are settling down in your unit.”

“Yes, I’ve got the men I want, finally, and things have been quiet for a couple of weeks. We had that drug case we’ve been working on with New Hampshire and S.P., but our part’s done. Eddie’s heading up the investigation on the Stockford murder, and Nate’s chasing a cyber perp.”

“You’ve been loaning him out a lot for public speaking.”

Harvey nodded. “He did three high school graduations and seven assemblies this spring. Now he’s getting calls from civic groups.”

“Great. It’s good P.R. for us.”

“Nate’s steady, and he’s doing a lot of good with the talks about cyber safety. I let him take Jackie along on the last one.”

“Really?” Mike’s eyebrows arched in surprise.

“Relax. She took her car and met him in Camden. They spent the weekend up there, got away from the kids.”

Mike’s phone burbled quietly, and he lifted the receiver. “Browning. Sure.” He replaced the phone, rising to his feet. “The mayor’s here. Look sharp.”

Harvey stood and faced the door with him as Mike’s secretary, Judith, a relic from the administrations of the last four police chiefs, opened it and ushered Jill Weymouth into the fourth-floor office.

“Mrs. Weymouth!” Mike stepped forward extending his hand, with genuine pleasure in his voice.

“Chief Browning, good to see you.” The mayor turned toward Harvey. “Captain Larson! How’s that baby?”

Harvey smiled and shook her hand. “He’s terrific, thank you.”

“I’d love to see him again. I’ll bet he’s all grown up.”

“Only three months, ma’am, but he is growing fast.”

Mrs. Weymouth turned back to Mike as he pulled a comfortably upholstered chair over near the desk for her.

“I’d have called about this, but I had an idea you’d need face-to-face persuasion.”

“Oh-oh,” Mike said, smiling. He and the mayor sat down.

Harvey felt a prickle of apprehension on the back of his neck. Jill Weymouth was hard to say no to. She was in her second term as mayor of Portland, and she got things done. He liked her. She was good for the city. But her schemes often involved a lot of time and sweat from the other city employees.

“Should I, uh—” He glanced toward the door.

“No, no, Captain. Sit down. I’d like you to hear this, since it involves you.”

Harvey sat down, keeping the half-smile on his lips with effort and hoping Jill’s latest plan for the good of Maine’s largest city wouldn’t interfere with his jealously-guarded personal time. As long as he had his evenings and weekends at home with Jennifer and little Connor, he would jump through hoops for her.

Jill smoothed back her short, dark hair and looked first Mike, then Harvey, evenly in the eyes.

“Now, I know this may sound a little frivolous at first, but hear me out. The city of Bangor has issued a challenge to the city of Portland. They want us to compete against them in various areas of public service.”

Mike looked blankly at her. “Keep score on who solves the most murders?”

“No, no, it would be a week-long festival Labor Day week. First we’d send teams to Bangor to compete in a firemen’s muster and some sort of Parks and Recreation competition. Building a playground and running games for kids, that sort of thing. Good publicity, and the city gets a job done. See which team can finish their part of the new playground first. The kids would score the Parks and Rec people on their games, too. Then they’d send teams down here to compete with the Police Department and Public Works. We’re replacing the water lines downtown, you know. We’d save the last section for the two teams to work on and see whose men could complete their section first. Sort of like the golden spike on the Transcontinental Railroad, you know?”

Mike looked over at Harvey. “What are you thinking, Harv? You don’t look too happy.”

Harvey shrugged. “Don’t you think traffic downtown is snarled up enough with the streets torn up all summer, without making a circus of it?”

“Oh, we’ll have it all done and working by then, just save a little section for the ceremonial finish of the project.”

“Hm,” was all Mike said. He leaned one elbow on his desk, chin in hand, frowning.

“You don’t think it would work?” Jill asked.

“Maybe, if you don’t delay letting people have their water. What would our guys at the P.D. do?”

Jill smiled. She was an attractive woman, and that smile had gone a long way for her.

“That would be the crowning touch. Portland’s finest versus Bangor’s … whatever. We’d set up some sort of crime-busting simulation for the two police department teams.”

A bad feeling started in Harvey’s stomach. Who was going to come up with this brilliant simulation?

“No.” Mike cushioned it with a smile.

“No? Just like that?” Jill’s eyes widened. “Why not?”

“I can’t take my guys off duty to solve fake crimes for P.R.”

“You don’t think they’d volunteer their personal time for this? It’s a challenge, Mike. The city’s honor is at stake.”

She was smiling and calling the police chief by his first name, Harvey noted. Yes, Mayor Weymouth wanted this badly.

“Bad idea,” Mike said. “It sounds like a lot of hoopla to me, a lot of money and man-hours invested, and it could fall flat.”

“It could also unite people behind the city administration and make us look pretty good.”

“Happy Days Are Here Again, and all that?” Mike shook his head.

“Oh, come on. This isn’t an election year for me.”

“But you’d make it an annual event, right?”

“Maybe, if it went well. Bangor is certainly looking at it that way. Maybe next year they’ll challenge another town, though. And if we pout and say we don’t want to play, they’ll invite somebody else this year. You don’t want to read in the paper about how Lewiston showed them up and won the police department trophy, do you?”

“What kind of things would the P.D. have to do?”

Mike was wavering, and Harvey’s nerves kicked up.

“I really ought to get back downstairs.” He pushed toward the edge of his chair.

“No, stay, Captain.” Jill was commanding, rather than coaxing now. She must think she had Mike on her side. “The mayor of Bangor had a few suggestions. A bipartisan team could set up a quasi crime scene, and our competitors could be timed on finding the clues. They’re thinking about planting fingerprints of Maine celebrities, for instance, and seeing how long it takes each team to find and identify them all. And they could set up a crime scene similar to the ones you fellows make for the Citizens’ Police Academy.”

“Hm,” said Mike.

Harvey wriggled a little in his chair, wishing he were elsewhere. He enjoyed playing games and using his wits, but not on city time. The only thing that seemed a bigger waste was talking about it on city time.

Jill leaned toward him confidentially. “I’m thinking the Priority Unit would be our city’s team.”

Harvey blinked. “Not a representative committee, composed of one patrolman, one dispatcher, one detective, and one administrator? Including one female and one minority, of course.”

She smiled. “You’re a cynic.”

“I could think of better ways to employ our best detectives.”

“I promise, you won’t have to do anything for the preparation,” she said. “Just have your men ready to go into action Labor Day week.”

Harvey grimaced. The guys would love this, giving up their Monday holiday. On the other hand, maybe he ought to get involved. At least he could put the kibosh on anything too outrageous. He glanced at Mike.

“It might work,” Mike said. “It’s good to have the constituents cheering for the city employees now and then.”

So Jill had won.

“Make it the holiday weekend, not all week,” Harvey said. “Send our people to Bangor on Saturday and have them come here on Monday. I’m not pulling my squad on a weekday.” He stood up.

Mike eyed him with surprise. “All right, Harv. Don’t get all hot under the collar. Jill and I will suggest that to Bangor.”

The mayor nodded. “Yes, your point is well taken, Captain. If things go well and they want to extend the festivities next year, they can.”

Harvey took the stairs down one level to his office. He still didn’t like it, but Mike had committed himself, and there was nothing he could do about it.

 

 

*****

Jennifer hurried to the breezeway door when Harvey drove into the garage. He walked over and pulled her into his arms.

“I am so glad to be home.” He lowered his head to kiss her.

“Lousy day?” Jennifer murmured near his ear.

“You have no idea.” He kissed her and held her close.

“Tell me about it,” she said.

“No, you’ll feel better if I don’t.”

She smiled. “Tough case, or stubborn people?”

“Both. Eddie’s stuck with not enough evidence in a very messy homicide, and I’ve been helping him all afternoon. And Mayor Weymouth has a kooky idea that’s going to tie up our whole unit Labor Day weekend. Mike actually went for it.” He sighed.

“Do you want a shower before we leave?” Jennifer asked.

She could tell immediately that he had forgotten and was looking forward to a quiet evening at home.

“What day is it?” he asked. “It’s not our anniversary yet, is it?”

“No, sweetheart. Four more days. Abby and Peter invited us to supper tonight.”

“Oh, that’s right. Sorry.” He sighed. “I guess I’ll get a shower and change. How long do I have?”

“Not long, but take what you need. I’ll get Connor ready.”

“Where is the little guy?” Harvey pulled off his necktie as they walked through the kitchen and sunroom. In the master bedroom, he paused beside the playpen and stooped to heft his son. “Hey, fella! Daddy’s home.”

Connor gurgled and laughed, clutching at Harvey’s hair. Jennifer put her arms around her husband again and laid her head against his arm. Harvey looked down at her, his blue eyes contented, though the crow’s feet at the corners were deep.

“I’m sorry we have to go out,” she whispered. “You’re tired.”

“It’s okay. I love your sisters. I was just thinking, Jenny, Connor, and a comfortable bed.”

The sound of a vehicle turning into their driveway came muffled to her. “Speaking of sisters, here’s Leeanne.” She reached for the baby.

“Is she going with us?”

“No, I think she’s seeing Eddie tonight. Go take your shower.”

Harvey walked to his dresser and unloaded his pockets. Jennifer carried Connor out to the kitchen as Leeanne came in.

“Hi! How was work?” Leeanne was living with the Larsons while she completed a summer internship that summer at the Portland Press Herald.

“Great. Really exciting today.” Leeanne’s eyes lit with pleasure. “They’ve offered to send me to a week of special training in investigative reporting. The speakers are all big-name award winners. And it’s in Hawaii, Jenn!”

Jennifer stared at her. “Wow. When?”

Leeanne frowned. “That’s the bad part. It’s August seventh to thirteenth.”

Jennifer’s jaw dropped. “But, honey, you can’t. The wedding is the twelfth.”

“I know,” Leeanne said unhappily, “but this is a really big deal. If I turn it down, I’ll never have another chance like this.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Jennifer shook her head. “You promised Eddie, and he’s waited so long. Do you really feel you can ask him to change the date now? It’s less than a month away. You’ve got the invitations already.”

Leeanne’s face contorted. “He’s not going to like it, you’re right about that.”

“You said you won’t get another chance like this, but will you get another chance to make Eddie as happy as he is this minute?”

“I don’t want to upset him,” Leeanne conceded. “But, Jenn, I think they’re grooming me for something big. I don’t want to lose out on this.”

Jennifer saw that her sister was close to tears. “Come in the other room. I need to change Connor. Are you going out with Eddie tonight?”

“That’s the plan. You guys are going to Abby’s, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I wish we’d be here to talk this over with you and Eddie.”

“I thought maybe we’d go next door.”

“Good idea,” said Jennifer. “Why don’t you call Beth? Jeff is at the fire station tonight, and she’d probably be glad to have you there, even if you need some private time to talk.”

 

*****

“Now for the real reason we asked you over here tonight,” Peter Hobart said, pushing his dessert plate away and folding his napkin.

“I thought you just wanted our company,” his brother-in-law replied. Harvey was holding Connor and letting the baby pull his hair while he carefully sipped his coffee.

“Actually, there’s a bit of news in the family, and I wanted your advice,” Peter said.

Abby refilled the coffee cups around the table.

“Dad, can we go outside now?” asked ten-year-old Gary.

“May we,” Peter corrected. “Sure.”

Gary and his younger brother Andy pelted toward the back door.

“Dishes!” Abby called after them. The boys veered back to the table, seized their plates, forks, and milk glasses, and rushed toward the kitchen with them.

“Slow down, or you’ll be sweeping up the pieces,” Peter admonished.

When the back door had slammed, a deep quiet descended on the house. Peter looked at Harvey and Jennifer. “See what you have to look forward to when Connor’s older? Once you have a boy, things are never calm again.”

Harvey smiled and bounced the baby against his shoulder. “This guy makes his share of noise. I love it.”

Abby sat down beside her sister.

“Do you miss work?” Jennifer asked her.

“Are you kidding? These three guys keep me busy.”

It was only a month since Abby had married the widower, leaving her job as a nurse, and she was still settling into her role as mother and wife.

“So, what’s the big news?” Harvey asked.

“Well, it involves a piece of property.” Peter stood and walked to the china closet, opened one door, and came back to the table with an envelope in his hand.

“You knew Peter’s uncle died a couple of weeks ago?” Abby asked.

“Yes. I’m so sorry, Peter,” Jennifer said.

“I’ll miss him, for sure,” Peter told them.

Harvey nodded.

“Uncle Austin was actually my great-uncle, my grandfather’s brother.” Peter opened the envelope and took out three color photographs. “He was a great guy. He was eighty-six, but he stayed alone and took care of himself right up until the last of it.”

“Was he sick at the end?” Harvey asked.

“Nope. Went down cellar to stack some wood, and his heart gave out. I went over to check on him. I’d tried to call him, and he didn’t answer the phone. The doctor said he’d been dead a few hours. I was sorry he was alone when it happened, but that’s the way he wanted it.”

“He was a very private person,” Abby said.

“I tried to get him to come live with me and the boys a couple of years ago, but he wouldn’t,” Peter said. “My mother tried to persuade him, too, but he was just too independent.”

“So independent he never got married,” Abby added.

“Yes, that’s right. He doesn’t have any children. Janelle and I and Uncle Jack and my cousins are it.” Peter held the pictures out to Harvey. “Uncle Austin left me this property.”

“What is it?” Harvey asked. The photographs showed a weathered three-story building that had seen more years than either he or Peter had, but had never seen a can of paint.

“It’s an old lumber camp, up on Churchill Lake. Uncle Austin bought it way back when and used it as a base for his fishing trips. He did a little renovating fifteen years or so ago, but he never tried to do the whole building. Abigail and I want to go up and look it over and see what condition it’s in.”

Harvey eyed him narrowly. “Frontage on a pristine lake like that. How many acres?”

“Fifty, plus or minus.”

“Sounds like quite an inheritance to me.” Harvey scrutinized the second photo. Waterfront, sagging dock with a canoe tied up, and a small aluminum boat with a forty horse-power Johnson outboard.

“I’ll probably sell it,” Peter said with a shrug. “I was up there a few times as a kid. The last time was about five years ago. It’s getting pretty run down, but there is electricity and running water on the first floor of the old boardinghouse.”

Harvey nodded and flipped to the third picture.

“That was the cook house,” Peter told him.

“Isn’t this all on paper company land?” Harvey handed the stack of pictures to Jennifer.

“Well, no, there’s a little settlement at Churchill Dam, and a few families live there permanently. My uncle bought the old boardinghouse and cook shack before the big paper company deals went through, but he never tried to keep it all updated. He fixed the roof once, to keep it watertight. He always went up there to fish in the summer and hunt in the fall, and he took me a few times. It’s a big building.” Peter frowned at the photo of the bunkhouse.

“You think it might be worth fixing up?”

“I don’t know,” Peter said. “If it’s not, I guess I should have it torn down for safety.”

“You know,” Jennifer said cautiously, “Mike Browning’s been looking for something like this.”

“Really?” Peter asked.

Harvey nodded. “He’s been wanting to retire in the north woods and open a hunting camp.”

“You mean, a guest camp?” Peter asked.

“He’s been talking about it for a long time,” Harvey said. “He and Sharon are crazy about the idea, but they haven’t found the right property yet. Mike was planning to retire this year, but when they made him chief last summer, he told the mayor he’d stay on two years.”

“So he’s planning to retire next year?”

Harvey shrugged. “That’s his plan, but whether or not he’ll actually be able to take off his badge, I don’t know.”

Peter paused in thought. “Abby and I were wondering if you and Jennifer could go up there with us for a few days next week and look it over. “We were thinking of going up Monday, if that’s not too soon.”

Harvey looked to Jennifer, and she shrugged. “We probably could.”

Peter nodded. “If I decided to sell it, do you think Mike would want to take a look?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Harvey took the photos back and studied them.

“Why don’t you take those to work with you tomorrow and let Mike see them?” Abby suggested. “If he’s eager to see it, have him call Peter. Maybe he and Sharon could join our expedition.”

“Are you sure?” Harvey asked. “Or do you want to look it over first?”

Peter sipped his coffee. “I’d just as soon have them go if they’re interested. It would save me another trip later to show them the property. I know I don’t have the time or the capital to deal with it now. Abigail and I have discussed it for several days and prayed about it, and it’s not really what we want to do.”

“It would be a huge project,” Harvey agreed.

“Yes, you’d really have to live up there to make a success of it commercially,” Jennifer said.

Peter nodded. “And if we didn’t use it commercially, it would just drain our finances for taxes and maintenance. We’ve agreed that, unless we go up there and find some compelling reason to keep the place, it’s going on the market.”

 

*****

Eddie’s truck was parked in Jeff and Beth’s driveway when Harvey pulled in at his own house. As soon as they were inside, a knock came at the patio door in the sun room.

“That’s got to be Eddie.” Eddie never rang the doorbell. He always knocked. Harvey handed the fussing baby to Jennifer.

“Oh, it’s probably about that Hawaii thing,” Jennifer whispered.

“Oh, boy.” Harvey went to the sunroom, flipping on lights, disarmed the burglar alarm, and opened the patio door. “Hey, Eddie. Where’s Leeanne?”

“Over at Beth’s. Harv, I’ve gotta talk to you.”

“Okay, come on in.”

Jennifer stood in the kitchen doorway. “I guess I’ll run over and see Beth for a few minutes.”

“Leave Connor here if you want,” Harvey offered.

“No, he’s hungry. I’ll take him.” Her face was anxious, and Harvey went over and kissed her.

“Don’t fret, gorgeous. Go out the back door, and I’ll watch until you’re in over there.”

It was only a few steps from their backyard into Jeff and Beth’s, under the arch where Penny, the once-a-week gardener, was training rose bushes to cover the framework, but after dark Jennifer was forbidden to walk the short distance alone. Even in their idyllic neighborhood, the Larsons and the Wainthrops had dealt with frightening experiences, and Harvey took no chances with his precious family anymore.

“You want coffee?” Harvey asked Eddie, as he saw her open Beth’s kitchen door and enter the little stone cottage.

“No, I want to hit something.”

Harvey sighed. “Come sit down and spill it.”

Eddie followed him into the living room but refused to sit. He paced back and forth angrily, while Harvey sank into his favorite armchair.

“Come on, Ed. Talk to me.”

“You knew, didn’t you? You always know.”

“The Hawaii thing?”

“Aha!” Eddie turned on him accusingly.

Harvey held up one hand in protest. “I didn’t know. Jenny told me tonight on the way to Abby’s house. It was the first I heard about it, I swear.” It hurt him to see his best friend so agitated. He’d been through a lot with Eddie, and they had pulled each other out of depression and rescued each other from danger more than once, but Harvey wasn’t sure he could help this time.

Eddie took another turn around the living room, circling the sofa and the rocking chair. “So, they want to send her for special training as an investigative reporter. I think that means she’s looking at a long-term commitment. What do you think?”

“I think she’s a very talented writer, or they wouldn’t offer to send her for special training,” Harvey said cautiously. “I get the impression this is something that only the best reporters get, and Leeanne is only an intern. It’s unusual, I’d say.”

“It’s unheard of,” Eddie snapped. “That’s what she told me. Unheard of, for John Russell to skip over his three top reporters and pick an intern—she’s not even technically an employee, Harv! They’re bribing her. Russell is bribing her to stay and work for them full time when she finishes her degree.”

“Eddie, Eddie, calm down.”

Eddie paced determinedly, but after two circuits stopped and faced his friend. “Harvey, what am I going to do?”

“Did she ask you to postpone the wedding?”

Eddie snorted. “Oh, yeah. The wedding is off.”

“Off?” Harvey shifted uneasily. “Off, as in totally canceled?”

“What do you think? Postponed indefinitely. What does that mean to you?”

Harvey exhaled slowly. “Well, it could mean a lot of things. And tomorrow it could mean something totally different from what it means tonight.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” Eddie said impatiently. “Tell me she’s too young. I really need to hear that. She’s too young to make a lifetime commitment. Brother, I really didn’t expect you to throw that one at me, Harv. That’s her father’s line, remember?”

“Come on, Eddie, just settle down. I know you’re upset, but there’s got to be a solution to this. Did you ask her to set a new date?”

“I want the old date. The one you went to bat for with her father.”

“What did she say, exactly?”

“She wants to go to the seminar.”

“Any chance you could go, too?”

“What, and spend our honeymoon with her going to class all day? Ha! Anyway, she has to stay in a hotel room with another woman. That’s the way they have it set up.”

“So, I’ll pay for the extra room, and she can just tell them she’ll be staying with her husband,” Harvey offered.

“But she’s got to leave before the wedding, Harv.”

“So move the wedding up a week, to the fifth.”

“Oh, yeah, like she’ll go for that.”

“A week isn’t a huge thing, Eddie.”

“To Leeanne it is. I asked, okay? She wouldn’t consider getting married before the seminar. And, anyway, I really don’t want to have to spend all day alone on Waikiki Beach during our honeymoon.”

“How much do you hate the idea?”

“I will not go to Hawaii.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes. She said she wouldn’t move the wedding up, anyway, so what point is there in discussing it?”

Harvey took a deep breath. “Okay, time to regroup. How about moving the wedding back a week? You get married the nineteenth.”

Eddie shook his head. “Any sane person would think that was reasonable, wouldn’t he?”

“Well, sure.”

“Not your sister-in-law! She is no longer rational, Harv. I’m telling you, I’ve had it. I’ve really had it.”

“She wouldn’t agree to the nineteenth?”

“Not the nineteenth, not the twenty-sixth, not any of the thirty-one days of August. She is now contemplating a spring wedding, with no date designated.”

Harvey sat back and let that sink in. “Well, I think you’re right about one thing, Russell wants her to stay with the paper. He wants her badly.”

“He can smell Pulitzer material.” Eddie’s lip curled. “Oh, Harv, why couldn’t she be the domestic type, like Jenny? If she’d give up this reporting thing and learn to crochet or something, I’d be so happy!”

Harvey winced. “You didn’t say that to her, did you, buddy?”

Eddie stared up at the ceiling. “I might have.”

“Bad move.”

“I know. It just sort of slipped out.”

“And her reaction was …?”

“Best if I don’t tell you.”

“Okay.” Harvey rested his chin on his hand. “Well, I’d say you’d better let things cool off for a few days, or at least overnight.”

“If we don’t settle this, she’ll be calling all over town canceling the wedding arrangements tomorrow.”

“Maybe that’s best,” Harvey said.

“Best? Best? Don’t turn on me, Harv. You know I love her. I’d do anything—”

“Anything? Except wait?”

Eddie brought his fist down hard on the back of the couch. “Wait doesn’t mean wait in the Wainthrop Woman Language. You ought to know that.”

Harvey raised his eyebrows. “It doesn’t? What does it mean, then?”

“It means never, that’s what it means.”

“I resent that,” Harvey said mildly. “You’re casting aspersions on my wife. Jenny tells me all the time to wait for things, and she always follows through. Good things are worth waiting for, Eddie.”

“Sure, you can talk. You got married six weeks to the day after you got engaged. I’ve heard the story many times.”

“Even so, she did postpone things. I wanted to get married the next weekend, and she wouldn’t. She made me wait six whole weeks.” Harvey realized that sounded a bit cruel, when Eddie was talking about several months, perhaps a year of waiting.

“I’m going home. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Harvey jumped up. “Wait a second, Ed!”

Eddie stood stock still. “Don’t use that word, Harvey. If you say wait one more time, I’ll—”

“Sorry. Don’t you think you ought to talk to her again? I’ll go get her and Jenny, and the four of us can sit down and discuss it. You wait here—”

Eddie threw him a bitter look and turned on his heel.

“Oops,” said Harvey. He hurried after Eddie and reset the burglar alarm as his friend crossed the strip of lawn to Jeff’s driveway and climbed into his black pickup. Harvey sighed and walked slowly over to the little stone house to see if Jennifer and Leeanne were ready to come home.