Читать книгу Long Fall from Heaven - George Wier - Страница 12

[ 5 ]

Galveston police lieutenant Leland Morgan was annoyed but not surprised—annoyed because Boland’s people had called their boss first, annoyed too that Boland had sent that Lanscomb clown over before he called the P.D. But he was not surprised because he knew that Cueball had been a cop himself. And you can’t teach an old dog any new tricks.

Cueball Boland was on site when Morgan arrived. Jack Pense’s body was being rolled out to the ambulance. It would go to Houston and the state forensics lab for an autopsy. Morgan looked toward the back of the warehouse. Boland was leaning against the rear wall. Morgan walked over to meet him.

“Tell me how you figure in this deal,” he said.

Boland gave him a jaundiced look. “My guard was killed here. My employee.”

“And?”

“The DeMour family owns three warehouses on the island. Besides doing their security, I’m their property manager. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Sure,” he said. “I already knew that.” Morgan was a tall, slim, middle-aged man with a smooth face and steely eyes. He tried to fix Boland with one of the patented stares he’d copied from Clint Eastwood movies, stares that had proven effective on those occasions when the suspect he was interviewing wasn’t too bright. But in this instance, he felt his eyes blinking in spite of himself.

“Then why not cut the crap, Morgan? You can’t pull anything on me I haven’t used myself a thousand times before.”

“I don’t know,” the man said thoughtfully. “Instinct, I guess. You know, I should like you better than I do since you’re an ex-cop and all. And I should trust you more too. But I don’t. Never have.”

“Remind me to grieve over that when I have time,” Cueball said easily.

“Yeah, right. How about this Pense guy?”

Cueball shrugged. “A very good hand. Dependable, trustworthy.”

“What’s his background?”

“Jack was born on the island. The family moved to Houston when he was young. He retired from a high-stress security company in Houston because of a back injury, but he couldn’t make it on disability and came to me for a sit-down job, which is what he was doing for me mostly. I had him working with a younger man who’s the rounds officer. Jack had a good record. He had no allegations of theft or excessive force. He was a low-key kind of guy who wasn’t averse to using a little diplomacy. Smart enough, but uneducated. He used a lot of painkillers because of the back thing, but I never saw that they affected his judgment.”

“So you knowingly hired a drug addict as a security officer?”

Cueball decided he was getting enough of this fool. “No, asshole, I knowingly hired a good man who was up front about his pain problems and his prescription drug use.”

Morgan’s already pale face went white. “You push it, don’t you? Talking that way to a cop, I mean?”

Cueball gave him a cold smile. “I’ve got a special Texas Ranger commission in my pocket right now, so it’s one cop talking to another. If you don’t like my style of expression, complain to your local senator. Or maybe the governor. They’re both good friends.”

Morgan made a sour face and nodded. “So that’s how it is, huh? Friends in Austin?”

“No. Old friends downtown here in Galveston, which amounts to the same thing.”

Morgan wheezed a little and changed tack. “Who rents the warehouse from the DeMours?”

“Gulfway Discount Stores. You’re familiar with them, right?”

Morgan nodded. “Yeah. A straight-up outfit, as far as I know. What about Pense’s family?”

“His parents are dead, but he has a live-in girlfriend. Micah can give you her name and address. I’ll have Myrna photocopy Pense’s employment file for you. Believe it or not, we’re on the same side here. I’m not hiding anything. Aside from the fact that this is bad for my business, Pense was a decent guy, and I take it personally.”

“Good enough. I’ll send somebody over to your house this afternoon to get it.”

“One more thing,” Boland said.

“Yeah?”

“Now that you know I have friends where a man needs them, it might be wise of you to cultivate me a little. I may be able to open some doors you can’t. I’m not suggesting that you should kiss my ass. Just a little courtesy and benefit of the doubt would do.”

Morgan regarded him thoughtfully for a few moments, then said, “Something to think about. You know, Boland, you’re not the only person with Island connections.”

“That’s right. I remember now. It seems to me Vivian DeMour helped get you promoted to lieutenant, didn’t she?”

“Now how the hell would you know that?”

“I know everything that happens on this island,” Cueball said. “Now, what about my warehouse?”

“You can let authorized people in as the need arises. Keep the immediate crime area taped off and people out of it. Other than that, business as usual. This had to be personal. Nobody killed this guy to steal a pallet full of lawn mowers.”

“I don’t think so either,” Boland said.

• • •

Cueball watched Morgan walk away. He waited until the cop’s city-issue Ford Crown Victoria was gone from sight before reaching into his back pocket for his radio. He keyed the mic. “Micah. You there?”

“Here, boss,” Micah’s slow drawl came back to him over the air.

“Any of the cops still in that room?” Cueball asked.

“Nope.”

“Alright. Lock it down tight then. I’m going to dust that damned safe myself and lift any prints that turn up.”

“And do what with them?”

“I’m going to have a friend in the Bureau up in Houston run anything I find through the national fingerprint database.”

“What about Morgan?” Micah asked. “Do you plan to tell him?”

“Eventually.”

“Are you going to tell me what this is all about?”

“Sure, but not right now. I’ve got to think it through first.”

“So start thinking,” Micah said.

“I will. You go break the news to Jenny.”

“I get all the fun stuff, huh?”

Cueball sighed and felt a little ashamed of himself. “I don’t relish seeing women cry. But I do plan on going to the funeral home with her tomorrow. I imagine I’ll have to be the one who winds up paying for Jack’s funeral service. But for now, I want you to be the one to tell Jenny. You were closer to Jack than I was. Later, she’ll be glad it came from you.”

• • •

The sun was two hours above the horizon when Micah knocked quietly on the door to the apartment Jack Pense shared with Jennifer Day. It was all Jenny’s place now, and Jack’s meager belongings were hers.

She didn’t cry when he told her. Instead she looked at Micah Lanscomb with shocked, baby-blue eyes. Her face went stony and her jaws clenched together like a pair of vice-grips straining at their tolerance point. Then she did the complete opposite of what Micah had imagined. She turned, sat down on the sofa with a defeated sigh and turned off the television with the remote. “Could you make us a pot of coffee, Micah?” she asked in a soft nasal voice that made her sound like a little girl.