Blood Red

Sullen and bitter, Brian Freemont headed for his empty home. It was his day off, and he had nothing planned. He thought he might go for a drive, however, and see if he could find a few places with pleasant memories attached.

IV

Danny was being a big baby. He wanted to be in church but there was too much work to do. He didn’t want to go to church because of his devout faith, mind you. No, he wanted to go because there were about five women there that he said dressed up so nicely he could go without seeing a girly magazine for a whole day after ogling them. “They’re good for my soul, I tell ya,” was his favorite line on any Sunday when he had to work.

Boyd didn’t care about church one way or the other, and as for ogling women, he could do that when they were dressed like angels, hookers, or even if they were naked. He was, in his own words, an equal opportunity leerer.

So it was IHOP instead of Sacred Hearts. That was okay. The food was better at the pancake place.

“Any leads on the Falcones’ car?” Danny was also nursing a mild hangover, so his normal cheer was down to a dull roar and that was good, because Boyd was nursing a slight hangover too. He blamed his partner; it was just too embarrassing to watch the bastard get drunk on his own.

“Yeah. According to Maria Falcone, it was her husband driving. She has no idea who would have been in the car with him. Says he was always picking up street trash to play hide-the-pepperoni with.”

The lady at the next booth over was listening to their conversation and her eyes went wide when he talked about hiding sausages. She got an indignant expression on her face—she was either on her way to church or on her way back, he could tell by the fancy clothes—and he skewered her with a glare that had her suddenly looking elsewhere.

“What is it about Italian men having to find it elsewhere, Boyd? I swear, fidelity and Italian do not mix.”

“It’s the culture. And don’t be an asshole. Not every Italian man is that way.”

“Name one who isn’t.”

“I’ll get back to you on that. It could take a while.”

“Yeah, call me next decade, Boyd.”

“Anyway, the lady says she wasn’t in the car and she doesn’t have any family with blond hair. So maybe we need to start checking with the hookers.”

“We have hookers in Black Stone Bay?” Danny was waking up, his smart-ass was showing.

“What about the college girls?”

“We got Veronica Miller, and we got Danielle Hopkins . . .”

“Yeah, those two. Any news?”

“Witnesses say one of them was talking to a kid in the park, named Ben, but no last name.”

“Physical description?”

“He’s allegedly ‘really cute.’ ”

“Can we just once not interview only the cute college students?” Boyd rolled his eyes.

“Umm. That was a guy, smart-ass.”

“Of course.” The woman at the next booth was making fish faces. She could go screw herself; which, he decided, was about as close as she ever got to lucky.

“Are we seeing a pattern yet?”

“Aside from what I said yesterday, no.”

“And then we have Freemont’s wife.”

“I’m telling you, he’s up to something.” Boyd scratched at his chin and continued to glare at the fish woman. “You know what? I want you to go over the car in the Veronica Miller case.”

“We already did that.”

“You said her purse was in there?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, I want you to personally supervise taking fingerprints off her wallet and her photo ID. What the hell, let’s go for broke here. I want you to go over her insurance card and her registration, too.”

“Why, you think a cop did something?”

“I got twenty dollars that says Freemont was the cop on duty when her car was pulled over.”

“You seriously think he did something to her?”

“You said it yourself yesterday.” He started ticking off points on his fingers. “He had an hour of radio silence. He had a chance to do it and he was in the area. And I don’t trust that slimy little prick.”

“Will you please watch your language?” The church lady was making even more fishy faces as she stood up.

“You know what? Why don’t you sit your ass down and mind your own business, lady, before I book you for interfering with official police business.”

He took great satisfaction in watching her do exactly that.

V

It was almost sundown, and the day had dragged on for what seemed like a dozen or so eternities. Kelli sat back in her favorite seat on the porch, nestled in a coat and staring at the leaves on the trees.

The Listers were not having a good day and, as a result, neither was she. Despite her best efforts to remain strong and to be supportive for Teddy’s parents, she was ready to scream.

How is it that two people can live their lives together, have a child together, and not love each other at all? That makes as much sense as peanut butter and tuna fish salad egg rolls.