Parker called Solange Corriveau shortly before eight A.M. While Corriveau was working out of MCU North in Bangor, she agreed to meet with Parker at state police headquarters in Augusta, where he would be asked to give a formal description of the Englishman and his acolyte. She informed Parker that Walsh would certainly join them, since MCU South was investigating the killing of Maela Lombardi. Thanks to Parker’s trip to Indiana, the MSP now had a full name for Jane Doe, a link to Lombardi, and a potential suspect in the form of the unnamed Englishman, all in return for zero expenditure. Parker hoped that he might even receive a letter of appreciation from the governor, which he could then stick to the sole of his shoe.
‘I need to be back in Portland by noon,’ Parker said.
‘This wouldn’t be connected to what happened to your car last night?’ Corriveau asked.
‘News travels fast.’
‘Not as fast as the Stonehurst boy, if he has any sense.’
Parker stayed quiet. He wasn’t about to be drawn into admitting anything that might restrict his room for maneuver when it came to dealing with Billy.
‘Come on,’ said Corriveau. ‘I hear he might have taken it into his head that you were somehow involved with what happened to his truck.’
Despite the distance between them, Parker had the uncomfortable feeling of being interrogated.
‘I might have heard something about that,’ said Parker. ‘I can’t imagine where he got such a notion.’
‘Well, just be sure to take a deep breath before you go knocking hard on any doors. Your help isn’t unappreciated, but it will only buy you so many favors. Turning a blind eye to some feud with the Stonehursts isn’t one of them. I’ll see you in Augusta in two hours.’
She hung up, leaving Parker to listen to Louis, who had spent the night in the guest room, complain about the quality of coffee in the house, and question Parker’s ability to purchase an acceptable form of bread. When Louis was finished bitching, and had resigned himself to whatever he could scavenge, he said, ‘So what’s the plan?’
‘I go to Augusta. You head over to Moxie.’
‘You want me to start tracking down Billy?’
‘No, I just want you to do what you’ve been doing for the past couple of days.’
‘Which is nothing.’
‘Which is wait.’
‘Why?’
‘Because by this afternoon Solange Corriveau should be ready to put the description of the Englishman out there. If she’s lucky, she may even get a hit on Karis Lamb, because she’s getting nothing from federal databases. She’ll also make a final appeal to whoever put Karis in the ground, warning them that they may be in danger. Finally, she’s agreed to thank Moxie and me for our assistance, and trail the Indiana connection.’
‘You’re putting blood in the water.’
‘Best way to draw sharks.’
‘And Billy?’
‘We let him go.’
Louis paused in the act of drinking his substandard coffee.
‘For real?’
‘You did blow up his truck.’
‘Because he was ignorant.’
‘And he paid for it. Look, I could find him, and beat the shit out of him, but I’m not going to feel any better about myself afterward, and it’s not going to change Billy, or his father, or anyone else like them.’
‘You saying you’re trying to be the better man? Doesn’t work, not with their kind.’
‘No, I’m saying that if this continues, someone will get badly hurt, or even killed. Likely it won’t be either of us, but the consequences will be messy.’
‘You’re making me feel more guilty about your car.’
‘Good.’
‘Not so guilty that I’m going to buy you a new one, but still bad.’
‘That level of self-examination on your part is compensation enough,’ said Parker. ‘Plus, I have insurance.’
Mostly for reasons of surveillance, Parker owned three cars – now reduced to two after the destruction of the Mustang – and used the less offensive of the remaining pair to get to Augusta, the Taurus being both crappy and forever tarnished by association with a burning truck. The final vehicle was a 2002 Audi A4 in dark gray that made him feel like the kind of accountant that worked out of a strip mall, and not a good strip mall.
Corriveau and Walsh were already waiting for Parker by the time he got to Augusta. With them were Kes Carroll from the Cape Elizabeth PD, and Sharon Macy, who seemed to progress one rung higher up the law enforcement ladder each time Parker met her. Although Macy remained officially – for now – an officer of the Portland PD attached to its Criminal Investigations Division, she was also heavily involved in the state’s Violent Crimes Task Forces, and had the ear of the AG. In other words, everyone had to be nice to Macy. She and Parker had dated a couple of times, but their timing was off. He could at least be grateful that he hadn’t behaved too badly toward her, and had picked up the checks.
‘Sorry to hear about your car,’ she said, as she escorted him to the meeting room.
‘I’m getting so many messages of condolence, I may hold a wake.’
‘The word is that Billy Ocean should consider leaving for somewhere safer, like Syria.’
‘The word, as usual, is inaccurate.’
Macy raised an eyebrow. ‘That doesn’t sound like you.’
‘If Billy did it,’ said Parker, ‘he’s a fool. If he didn’t do it, he’s still a fool. I have no proof that he did it. I only have opinions on Billy’s foolishness, which hardly makes me unique.’
‘Maybe you’re mellowing as you get older. Then again, it’s not as if you could become any less mellow.’
‘Hush now, or I’ll start to regret paying for those dinners.’
He stepped back just in time to avoid a punch on the arm.
‘Jerk,’ she said.
‘Sticks and stones. Meanwhile, it looks as though you’re being kept busy.’
The news bulletins were filled with four Maine murders in twenty-four hours, including the shooting dead of a heavily pregnant woman as part of a triple homicide, to add to the killing of Maela Lombardi. The state could usually count on twenty homicides a year, give or take, at least half of which would be domestic killings. This meant that the last week alone accounted for a quarter of the annual total, and the year was not yet three months old.
‘The triple is strange as hell,’ said Macy. ‘We’ve got a positive ID on Gregg Mullis and Tanya Wade, but the victim shot at the kitchen table was initially a mystery. No driver’s license, but he had a wallet filled with business cards, and we found one on the table belonging to Marcus Light, an employee of the Office of Child and Family Services. Light lives in Millinocket, but is currently at a wedding in San Diego, and has no idea why his business card should be center stage at a murder scene.’
‘Misrepresentation?’ said Parker.
‘That could be it. One of the vehicles at the scene was registered to an Ivan Giller. Single, apparently unemployed, living in a nice condo in Bangor.’
‘Too nice for a guy without a job?’
‘Too nice for a lot of guys with a job. He was a fixer. Business deals, politics: if there was a price on information, he could find a way to buy or sell it.’
‘Any connection between those three and the Brunswick victim?’