Just a Memory (30 page)

"Probably right. We'd made two trips by the time we got the groceries. He had to see where we were going. Sure you don't want to have a slumber party and invite me over?" Hines asked.

"Gee, I can't tonight. I'm expecting an out-of-town guest."

"Meet you at Mama's then?" Hines asked as they left the station and locked up behind them.

"Right. Order the usual if you beat me there. I'm going to drive the main drag once to be sure it's all quiet."

"Don't be long or I'll eat it for you too."

"Hines?"

Hines turned back to face Mac. "Yeah?"

"I just want to say…well, to say thanks. It's been great having your ugly face around all these weeks," Mac told him, making his sincere thanks sound like a jest.

"Listen, man, don't you go talking about my ugly face like you ain't gonna see it no more, ya hear? This face is going to be around as long as you need it to be, man. Got that?"

Mac smiled, his gaze locked with his friend's. "Thanks. And Hines…if anything should happen to me, tell Carolyn that I–" Mac stopped. "Ah hell, nothing's going to happen to me."

"That's right. That's right." Hines nodded and climbed into his car. After adjusting the music to a volume great enough to deafen a lesser man, he headed for Mama's with a wave.

As Mac drove through the small downtown area, he thought of Carolyn. If Eddy was smart enough to ask the right questions, or if there was someone in a gray car in Lakehaven keeping track of him as they suspected, he could hurt Mac more than if he tortured or shot him. All he would have to do is hurt Carolyn.

And Mac would kill him.

His hands tightened around the steering wheel as he cruised the deserted main shopping street and swung up
Lake Street
. Waiting at the stop sign, he could see nothing amiss at the costume shop. He turned and circled back in the opposite direction. No gray cars in sight.

At the red light at
Cayuga Avenue
, Mac opened his window several inches. Silence. That was the strangest part of living in a small town. In the city there was never silence no matter what the hour. Always traffic sounds. Here he waited for cars to drive by, cars that never came.

Mac inhaled the cold air deeply and smelled it. Caro was right. He could smell the snow coming. With a smile he headed up for Mama's
Pizza Place
when the light turned green. Snow started to fall in giant flakes as he entered the small restaurant. He grinned and nodded to Hines who was talking to Mama. He joined them at the table.

"Where's the pretty lady you bring in here, eh, Mac? What's the matter, she no go out with you no more?"

"You got that right. Who'd want to go out with a cop like me, huh, Mama? Maybe I should ask you out."

"Oh, no you don't. Papa beat you up if you try to take me away from him," she told him with a pointed glance at Papa. Then she laughed and said, "But thanks. We could have a good time." She flicked her eyebrows up and down in her version of a sexy look, and they all dissolved into laughter again as they watched her sashay over to the counter.

"This is one of the few places open this late," Hines said, serious again. "I got a good look at everyone while I waited for a table. There's no one that looks out of place in this town."

Mac nodded. "Downtown is quiet as a morgue."

"Unfortunate metaphor, Mac," Hines growled.

They looked up to see their pizza coming already.

"Can't beat the service here," Mac said loudly enough for Mama to hear. Mac knew better than to shake off the uneasy feeling that came over him as Mama returned to the kitchen. He concentrated on the gooey piece of pizza he lifted from the tray. Saluting Hines with the drooping piece, Mac toasted, "Here's to good friends." When the friends were putting their lives on the line for each other, that's when friendship really ran deep.

Hines raised his piece and responded, "Long may they live."

Funny how a man could eat when his life was in danger. Adrenaline could be flowing, but he'd still be hungry. It took only ten minutes for the pizza to disappear down to the last piece.

Mac's ears caught the siren long before he saw the red flashes reflected on the buildings across the street. State police, judging by the color of the car.

His adrenaline surged.

Showtime.

Chapter Eleven

Mac stood and wiped his mouth with a little napkin dwarfed by his hand. "You finish the last piece, Hines. I'll radio in from the car and see what's happening."

He pulled some bills from his wallet, threw them on the table, and hurried to his car. He leaned in through the open car door and reached for the handset. He'd begun to call in before he was even seated behind the wheel.

"A state car went out to your lake place because we got no answer on your phone at the apartment," the Sheriff's dispatcher told Mac. "No phone at the lake?"

"Not yet. I just moved in. What have you got?"

"We wanted you to know that they got the Santini guy. Spotted his car at a little motel off the state throughway."

"Where is he now?"

"He's being taken back to the city. They didn't want to keep him there."

"So fast?"

"He wasn't objecting. He's dead. They shot him while trying to take him in. They got the coroner out of bed to release the body already. Good thing for you they got him though, huh? Now you don't have to worry."

"Yeah, good thing," Mac said, trying to sound like he agreed. Good, but too easy. "Who was on it?"

"Sorry, Chief, I didn't get the names. I can try to find out and let you know as soon as I can. It'll probably be in the morning though before I find anyone around."

"Right. Appreciate it." Mac signed off and looked at Hines who was leaning on his front fender.

"Well, well, well," Hines said, rubbing his chin. "Looks like we may get some sleep after all. This might even make some sense by morning."

"
Hmph
! We both know that despite what we just heard this isn't over yet."

"Not over–but changing." Hines dug his keys from his jeans.

"And it's time it was finished." Mac slammed the door shut. "Besides if you don't get out of this little town soon, you're going to go nuts, and I'd hate to have that on my conscience," Mac added with a grin.

"See you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning."

Mac headed out the road to the point. He saw the patrol car coming back toward Lakehaven but made no effort to stop it. He didn't want another conversation with anyone. He just needed to think. He was the one holding up the conclusion of the case. His damned partial amnesia. He must have a piece to the puzzle somewhere besides in his memory or they wouldn't have sprung Eddy so he could come after him.

He'd never have made it that far, and he would never choose to escape and have the whole state after him. Someone had wanted Eddy dead.

Mac slowed so his headlights swept the house as he pulled into the drive. He saw the torn paper and plastic containers from his garbage in the grass by the shed behind the house and a raccoon running toward the woods. "Damn nuisance! Hines and I eat one take-out meal here and they're into my garbage can already." He would need to buy a rake to clean up all the shredded pieces they left behind. He would also need a better garbage can with a lockable top.

Heavy snowflakes floated through the lit space between the car and the house and were already creating a white blanket on everything. Mac doused the headlights and let himself into the kitchen, locking the door again.

He stood still and listened for any unusual sounds.

"Silence," Mac muttered as he slipped off his coat and hung it in the closet, "is golden."

After walking through the house checking every room and finding nothing amiss, he opted for a shower. The warm spray actually woke him up while relaxing him. In jeans and a comfortable flannel shirt, he switched on the TV to the news channel. He set the remote to turn itself off in an hour when Mac figured he would be asleep. He shook his head, admonishing himself, as he pulled thick socks onto his cold feet.

"Maybe I am getting too old for this."

He emptied out the contents of his duffel bag. He had extra rounds for his service revolver, a few toiletries, and his handcuffs, in case he got lucky. He stuffed the key for the cuffs into his jeans pocket and felt the hiding place to be sure the spare key was in place. He pulled on his shoes to be ready for anything, then laid his gun by the wall and spread the bedroll on the carpeted floor. He layered together his two pillows so he could lean back against the wall to watch.

The story about Eddy had not made the local news. Mac did learn the snow was part of a big front that was parked just north of Lakehaven. The early winter storms that had surprised the area were teasers compared to this one.

By the time they got to the sports news for the last time, Mac was sound asleep. The sounds of the TV drowned out the sounds of the waves hitting the rocky shore below the house. The wind was coming up. The snow that had been falling straight down was now blowing at an angle and getting heavier by the minute.

While Mac slept, Harry drove slowly toward the point along the lakeside road. He hoped it was impossible in the dark to tell the color of his car because he'd seen the State Patrol cars passing every half hour. He knew Mac had fingered him by now and he didn't want to be discovered.

He drove past Mac's driveway and went down a quarter of a mile before he turned around and parked in a driveway he selected because it was obviously not in use in the winter. He backed up behind the trees until he could no longer see the road.

Harry turned off his headlights after he set his wristwatch alarm for sixty minutes. Pulling up his collar and folding his arms across his chest, he leaned back. "Damn snow," were his only words before he shut his black eyes, hoping to get a little sleep. He figured he would be awake the rest of the night.

An hour later, Mac's eyes suddenly popped open. In an instant he realized where he was and that he'd fallen asleep watching TV. The set was off now. The timer had worked. Maybe that was what woke him, the light and sound going off.

After listening without moving a muscle, Mac slowly reached for his thirty-eight and rose. He flipped off the safety. Holding it steady with both hands out in front of him, he crept near the television. When he put a hand on the top of the back of the set, he could tell it had been off long enough to feel cool. The sudden absence of sound hadn't been what woke him.

He stepped carefully to the bedroom door. Touching the frame to get his bearings in the dark, he slipped through the doorway and faced the far end of the house. Stealthily walking the hall, he stopped at each doorway and listened before moving on.

A few more steps and he reached the end where the hall opened into the great room. He heard the whistle of the wind in the trees surrounding the house. The clock numerals on the microwave in the kitchen at the other end of the dining room cast an eerie blue light across the empty rooms. That was all the light Mac needed to see nothing had changed. No place to hide anything, or anyone. Whatever had awakened him had been outside.

Every muscle in his alert body remained tensed for action. Intending to check the back yard, he bent low and crept toward the wide sliding doors in the dining area. Silently, he removed the bar safety lock.