Читать книгу Safety Harbor - Chuck Cooper - Страница 12

Marshall sat in his office with his feet on his desk. He’d only been in law enforcement for two years. How could he do this? Maybe he would order some lunch in the diner and then wait until everybody was gone to tell her. He rehearsed several other scenarios, but they all involved delay in notifying her. He knew he couldn’t follow through with any of them. He just had to go in there and tell her.

He got in the car and drove the three blocks to the diner, pulling up next to the front entrance. For a few minutes, he sat there in a vacuous state, neither thinking nor feeling. He noticed movement to his right and turned to see Susanna pulling in beside him. Suddenly, he saw a way out. He rolled his window down and waited for Susanna to pass by the car.

“Could I talk to you a minute?”

“How may I be of assistance, Deputy?” she asked.

“It’s difficult to talk about it here. Would you mind sitting in the car with me?” he asked.

She hesitated. She was reluctant to make herself vulnerable, even to an officer of the law.

“Could we discuss this over lunch in Joe’s?”

“No, we can’t.”

The look of desperation on his young face disarmed her and she moved toward the passenger seat of the car, opened the door, and sat down, leaving the door open. She looked over at Marshall and raised her eyebrows inquisitively.

“There’s no way of sugar coating this,” he began. “Sally’s husband has been killed.”

“Keith?” There was incredulity in her voice.

“An explosion at a pipeline somewhere.”

“Does she know yet?”

“No, that’s what I’m here to do,” he said. “I’m a bit of a wreck about it, to tell you the truth. I have to do it now before she gets the word some other way.”

“I’ll call her and ask her to come to my house after she’s closed up. You can come over and we can tell her then.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said. Susanna was clearly surprised that the young man disagreed with her. And so was he!

“Carmelita asked me to do it while she is gone and she might well be back in town by then.”

“You are right.”

“How would Joe do it?”

“He would tell her immediately, privately, and preserve her dignity at all costs,” she said.

“You know what I think he’d do? I think he’d call her out back to the storage shed, away from everybody, and tell her there and then. I think he’d take her around the cafe and to his car and take her home. I think he’d have others close up for the day.”

“You stay here,” Susanna said. “We don’t want anyone to see a uniform come in and ask her to leave the building,” she said. “Rumors of all sorts will fly.”

“Right.”

She walked through the entrance of Joe’s and stood at the counter. Sally came over.

“Hi there!” Sally greeted her cheerfully.

“I need to talk to you.”

“What’s up?”

“Can we go out back?”

“Can’t we talk here? You see how busy it is.”

“This will need some privacy.”

Sally knew now that it was not good news.

They walked outside together. Marshall got out of the squad car as he saw them approaching the storage shed, joining them as they went inside.

“There’s no good way to say this,” Susanna said, graciously providing an opening for the young policeman to step up to the task.

“Keith has been killed in a pipeline explosion,” he said.

His voice was emotionless, matter-of-fact, and yet kind. He had gotten through the hard part and had done a good job.

Sally’s face fell and she collapsed against a refrigerator. Susanna went over and comforted her, placing her arm around her neck and gently steadying her with the other.

She looked up, her eyes red and filled with tears.

“How? How did it happen? Where?” she asked. “Did he suffer?”

“We don’t know any of the details yet Sally. We just know it happened about thirty-six hours ago. We expect to get more word today. Marshall will take you home now. We’ll get the place closed up.”