“What’s it doing out there?” I said, surprised to see him.
“Would you like half a tuna fish sandwich?”
Shutting both doors, he sat with his coat still on, and the look on his face frightened me. “Have you talked to Lucy?” he said.
“Not since I left the house.” I put the sandwich down. “Why?”
“She called me–he glanced at his watch-“roughly an hour ago. Wanted to know how to get in touch with Danny so she could call him about her car. And she sounded drunk.”
I was silent for a moment, my eyes on his. I looked away.
I did not ask him if he were certain because Marino knew about such matters, and Lucy’s past was quite familiar to him.
“Should I go home?” I quietly asked.
“Naw. I think she’s in some kind of mood and is blowing things off. At least she’s got no car to drive.”
I took a deep breath.
“Point is, I think she’s safe at the moment. But I thought you should know, Doc.”
“Thank you,” I grimly said.
I had hoped my niece’s proclivity to abuse alcohol was a problem she had left behind, for I had seen no worrisome signs since those early self-destructive days when she had driven drunk and almost died. If nothing else, her odd behavior at the house this morning in addition to what Marino had just revealed made me know that something was very wrong. I wasn’t certain what to do.
“One other thing,” he added as he got up. “You don’t want her going back to the Academy like this.”
“No,” I said. “Of course not.”
He left, and for a while I stayed behind shut doors, depressed, my thoughts like the sluggish river behind my house. I did not know if I was angry or frightened, but as I thought of the times I had offered wine to Lucy or gotten her a beer, I felt betrayed. Then I was almost desperate as I considered the magnitude of what she had accomplished, and what she had to lose, and suddenly other images came to me, too. I envisioned terrible scenes penned by a man who wanted to be a deity, and I knew that my niece with all her brilliance did not understand the darkness of that power. She did not understand malignancy the way I did.
I put my coat and gloves on, because I knew where I should go. I was about to let the front office know I was leaving, when my phone rang, and I picked it up in the ent it might be Lucy. But it was the Chesapeake police
chief, who told me his name was Steels and that he had just moved here from Chicago.
“I’m sorry this is the way we have to meet,” he said, and he sounded sincere. “But I need to talk to you about a detective of mine named Roche.”
“I need to talk to you about him, too,” I said. “Maybe you can explain to me exactly what his problem is.”
“According to him, the problem’s you,” he said.
“That’s ridiculous,” I said, unable to restrain my anger.
“To cut to the chase, Chief Steels, your detective is inappropriate, unprofessional and an obstruction in this investigation. He is banned from my morgue.”
“You realize Internal Affairs is going to have to thoroughly investigate this,” he said, “and I’m probably going to need you to come in at some point so we can talk to you., I
“Exactly what is the accusation?”
“Sexual harassment.”
“That’s certainly popular these days,” I ironically said.
“However, I wasn’t aware I had power over him, since he works for you, not me, and by definition, sexual harassment is about the abuse of power. But it’s all moot since the roles are reversed in this case. Your detective is the one who made sexual advances toward me, and when they were not reciprocated, he’s the one who became abusive.”
Steels said after a pause, “Then it sounds to me like it’s your word against his.”
“No, what it sounds like is a lot of bullshit. And if he touches me one more time, I will get a warrant and have him arrested.”