“Captain of the brass balls battalion,” Eric said.
“Did you tell her that I have a mask and cape?” I asked. “Yes. I think you laid it on pretty thick. And suppose I do find someone following her?”
“Call me.”
“Suppose there isn’t time for that?”
Eric’s eyes narrowed and I sensed the tension in him. “Intervene,” he growled. “Then call me after you’ve sorted things out.”
“You got it,” I said.
“This is her,” Eric said. “Emily French. She works at the Tillamook Creamery Cafe in the ice cream line.”
He pulled out a laminated 3 by 5 inch picture from his coat pocket and slid it across the picnic table to me. The picture was of a leggy blonde in a lemon yellow summer dress. She had on round, mirrored glasses and wore blood-red lipstick. She reclined on a green beach towel with a sand dune behind her, and was talking to whoever held the camera. The wind had caught her shoulder-length hair and pulled it away from her face, revealing perfect skin, a soft chin, and a smooth, rounded nose. Bright smile, perfect white teeth. I bet she got noticed wherever she went.
“I hope they make her wear an apron and a hair net at her job, Eric. She’s pretty memorable. If you’re trying to keep her out of sight, working at a tourist trap isn’t the best choice. Also, I hate to ask this, but has it not occurred to you that she might have attracted a stalker?” I asked.
“She took the job at Tillamook Creamery over my objections. I wanted her to work in the back room of the post office. And yes, it has occurred to me that someone is following her because she’s attractive.”
I let out a long breath. “Okay. I’ll try. Do you have an address? Work schedule? Anyone she’s dated or turned down for a date? Information about where and when she thought she was followed or watched? Details about why she went into WITSEC to begin with?”
“You know that I can’t tell you why she went into the program. The rest of it I can get you by tomorrow afternoon.”
“All right.”
We sat at the table for a minute or two in silence, watching the afterglow of the sunset over the Pacific. Stars began to appear and then brightened against the night sky, shining like silver against black velvet. The air smelled of moss, saltwater, and wood smoke. A small fire was burning down at the beach. A few people were circled around the fire, talking and laughing in the darkness.
Eric took a deep breath and then let it out. “Listen,” he said. “There’s something else I wanted to ask you about.”
“Shoot.”
“I need to talk to you about your parents,” he said.
I felt as if I were on a rollercoaster that had just made a sharp and unexpected turn. I had the sensation of my stomach trying to force itself into my throat.
“Why are you bringing that up?” I said.
“You never talk about what happened. I know you lost them when you were pretty young.”
“That’s true, Eric, but why are you asking about it now?” I said. “We’ve known each other for quite a while.”
“Because I was notified that the Oklahoma City police are looking for you. Apparently someone doing maintenance on an oil well found a body about a quarter mile from where your parents were killed.”
I swallowed hard. “And?” I said.
“A credit card found with the body points to someone who was a leg breaker for a loan shark at about the same time your parents had the home invasion.”
“Do the police think he was involved?”
“It’s like this, Delorean: they found two pistols in a shallow grave. One was a chrome plated .357 magnum. The other was a Colt Model 1911 .45 caliber automatic. The serial number on the Colt was traced back to your father’s service unit in the army. Seems reasonable that your father brought the pistol home when he mustered out. That ties the gun and the body to your parent’s home invasion.”
I was reeling, just trying to digest the news.
“Any theories about why this guy would be buried in your backyard?” Eric asked.
“No. I don’t have any theories. What you’re telling me doesn’t make any sense.”
“Right,” Eric said. “It doesn’t make sense to me, either. Based on what little I know, I’m assuming that there were two or more guys in the home invasion crew. Seems like the bad guy and his partners finished at your parent’s house, left with your dad’s gun, then wandered over to the oil well, had a disagreement, and the leg breaker, who was six and a half feet tall by the way and had a .357 magnum, gets put in the ground. I can’t think of a good reason why it would it happen like that.”
“I can’t either. Who was the leg breaker running with at the time he was killed?”
“Well, Delorean, that’s part of the reason I came to see you,” he said. “Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation thinks he worked for a loan shark back then who has since turned himself into a money launderer on a massive scale.”
“Are you going to give me a name?”
“Anthony Peck,” Eric said.
“The guy building the casino?”
“Right. The money behind the Gold Beach casino going in at Astoria.”
“It really is a small world, isn’t it?”
“Six degrees of separation, and all that,” Eric said.
“To think that I might actually get closure after all this time.”
The album was between songs. You could hear the whisper of the surf against the shore. Seagulls gliding on the onshore breeze called to each other.
“Two things to know,” Eric said. “One: Stay away from Peck. He’s dangerous and extremely well connected. Two: The detective working the case in Oklahoma City has a reputation for being a bulldog. He’s going to want to interview you about your parents.”
“Before or after I have a discussion with Anthony Peck?”
“I just told you to stay away from Peck. He’s big-time, Delorean. I can’t protect you from him.”
“I’ve always liked a challenge, Eric. And you knew before you told me about him that I’d track him down and peel him like a grape. Right?”
“I hoped that if I talked to you about it first I could keep you from going off half-cocked. Peck has senators and congressmen in his back pocket. He can make trouble for you like you’ve never seen. You’ll probably hear this from the detective anyway. His name is Eccles and he’s flying into Portland tonight. He’ll be here in the morning to talk to you.”
“Can’t wait,” I said. “I assume he’ll be interviewing Anthony Peck, too.”
“He’s communicating with Peck’s attorney. Apparently Peck’s schedule is very tight.”
“So is mine. I planned to paint the deck if the weather stays dry. You probably noticed that the paint is peeling.”
“If Eccles says he’s going to interview Peck, it’ll happen.”
“Maybe I can tag along when he talks to Peck. That would be fun.”
“Can you try not to be such an asshole?”
“Discretion is my middle name,” I said.
Eric let out a long sigh. “Unlikely,” he said.
“Like a grape,” I said.
The moon and pinpoints of stars lit the ocean with a grey-blue shine. The rhododendron blossoms, deprived of sunlight, had reverted to grey.
“Okay,” I said. “What do you expect me to do?”
“Let Eccles run this down. If Peck’s connected to what happened to your parents, Eccles will get him.”
“If Peck was behind what happened to my parents, and Eccles can’t make it stick, all bets are off,” I said. “I’ll bury him regardless of how well-connected he is.”
“Understood,” Eric said. “In the meanwhile, just help me with the lady, okay? Do something constructive.”
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