“I wasn’t aware of that.”
“I used to worry he’d be killed in the line of duty. I never imagined he’d go like he did.” She paused, drawing on her cigarette, using smoke as a form of punctuation.
“It must have been difficult.”
“It was awful,” she said. Up went the hand again, resting against her mouth as the tears began to well in her eyes. “I still can’t think about it. I mean, as far as I know, he never had any symptoms. Or let’s put it this way: If he did, he never told me. He did have high blood pressure and the doctor’d been on him to quit smoking and start exercising. You know how men are. He waved it all aside and went right on doing as he pleased.” She set the cigarette aside so she could blow her nose. Why do people always peek in their hankies to see what the honking noseblow has just netted them?
“How old was he?”
“Close to retirement. Sixty-three,” she said. “But he never took good care of himself. I guess the only time he was ever in shape was in the army and right after, when he went through the academy and was hired on as a deputy. After that, it was all caffeine and junk food during work hours, bourbon when he got home. He wasn’t an alcoholic-don’t get me wrong-but he did like to have a cocktail at the end of the day. Lately, he wasn’t sleeping well. He’d prowl around the house. I’d hear him up at two, three, five in the morning, doing god knows what. His weight had begun to drop in the last few months. The man hardly ate, just smoked and drank coffee and stared out the window at the snow. There were times when I thought he was going to snap, but that might have been my imagination. He really never said a word.”
“Sounds like he was under some kind of strain.”
“Exactly. That was my thought. Tom was clearly stressed, but I don’t know why and it’s driving me nuts.” She picked up her cigarette and took a deep drag and then tapped the ash off in a ceramic ashtray shaped like a hand. “Anyway, that’s why I called Dietz. I feel I’m entitled to know.”
“I don’t want to sound rude, but does it really make any difference? Whatever it was, it’s too late to change, isn’t it?”
She glanced away from me briefly. “I’ve thought of that myself. Sometimes I think I never really knew him at all. We got along well enough and he always provided, but he wasn’t the kind of man who felt he should account for himself. His last couple of weeks, he’d be gone sometimes for hours and come back without a word. I didn’t ask where he went. I could have, I guess, but there was something about him … he would bristle if I pressed him, so I learned to back off. I don’t think I should have to wonder for the rest of my life. I don’t even know where he was going that night. He told me he was staying home, but something must have come up.
“He didn’t leave you a note?”
“Nothing.” She placed her cigarette on the ashtray and reached for a compact concealed under her pillow. She opened the lid and checked her face in the mirror. She touched at her front teeth as though to remove a fleck. “I look dreadful,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. You look fine.”
Her smile was tentative. “I guess there’s no point in being vain. With Tom gone, nobody cares, including me if you want to know the truth.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Please.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but were you happily married?”
A little burble of embarrassed laughter escaped as she closed the compact and tucked it back in its hiding place. “I certainly was. I don’t know about him. He wasn’t one to complain. He more or less took life as it came. I was married before … to someone physically abusive. I have a boy from that marriage. His name is Brant.”
“Ah. And how old is he?”
“Twenty-five. Brant was ten when I met Tom, so essentially Tom raised him.”
“And where is he?”
“Here in Nota Lake. He works for the fire department as a paramedic. He’s been staying with me since the funeral though he has a place of his own in town,” she said. “I told him I was thinking about hiring someone. It’s pointless in his opinion, but I’m sure he’ll do whatever he can to help.” Her nose reddened briefly, but she seemed to gain control of herself.
“You and Tom were married for, what, fourteen years?”
“Coming up on twelve. After my divorce, I didn’t want to rush into anything. We were fine for most of it, but recently things began to change for the worse. I mean, he did what he was supposed to, but his heart wasn’t in it. Lately, I felt he was secretive. I don’t know, so … tight-lipped or something. Why was he out on the highway that night? I mean, what was he doing? What was so precious that he couldn’t tell me?”
“Could it have been a case he was working on?”
“It could have been, I suppose.” She thought about the possibility while she stubbed out her cigarette. “I mean, it might have been job-related. Tom seldom said a word about work. Other men-some of the deputies would swap stories in social situations, but not him. He took his Job very seriously, almost to a fault.”
“Someone in the department must have taken over his workload. Have you talked to them?”
“You say ‘department’ like it was some kind of big-city place. Nota Lake’s the county seat, but that still isn’t saying much. There were only two investigators, Tom and his partner, Rafer. I did talk to him-not that I got anything to speak of. He was nice. Rafer’s always nice enough on the surface,” she said, “but for all of the chit-chat, he managed to say very little.”
I studied her for a moment, running the conversation through my bullshit meter to see what would register. Nothing struck me as off but I was having trouble understanding what she wanted. “Do you think there’s something suspicious about Tom’s death?”
She seemed startled by the question. “Not at all,” she said, “but he was brooding about something and I want to know what it was. I know it sounds vague, but it upsets me to think he was withholding something when it clearly bothered him so much. I was a good wife to him and I won’t be kept in the dark now he’s gone.”
“What about his personal effects? Have you been through his things?”
“The coroner returned the items he had on him when he died, but they were just what you’d expect. His watch, his wallet, the change in his pocket, and his wedding ring.”
“What about his desk? Did he have an office here at the house?”
“Well, yes, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that. His desk is a mess. Papers piled up everywhere. It could be staring me in the face, whatever it is. I can’t bring myself to look and I can’t bear to let go. That’s what I’d like you to do … see if you can find out what was troubling him.”
I hesitated. “I could certainly try. It would help if you could be more specific. You haven’t given me much.”
Selma’s eyes filled with tears. “I’ve been racking my brain and I have no idea. Please just do something. I can’t even walk in his den without falling apart.”
Oh boy, just what I needed-a job that was not only vague, but felt hopeless as well. I should have bagged it right then, but I didn’t, of course. More’s the pity as it turned out.
TWO
Toward the end of my visit with her, the Valium seemed to kick in and she rallied. Somehow she managed to pull herself together in a remarkably short period of time. I waited in the living room while she showered and dressed. When she emerged thirty minutes later, she said she was feeling almost like her old self again. I was amazed at the transformation. With her makeup in place, she seemed more confident, though she still tended to speak with a hand lifted to conceal her mouth.
For the next twenty minutes, we discussed business, finally reaching an agreement about how to proceed. It was clear by then that Selma Newquist was capable of holding her own. She reached for the phone and in the space of one call not only booked my accommodation but insisted on a ten percent discount on what was already the off-season rate.
I left Selma’s at 2:00, stopping off in town long enough to flesh out my standard junk food diet with some Capt’n Jack’s fish and chips and a large Coke. After that, it was time to check into the motel. Obviously, I wouldn’t be leaving Nota Lake for another day yet, at the very least. The motel she’d booked was the Nota Lake Cabins, which consisted of ten rustic cottages set in a wooded area just off the main highway about six miles out of town. Tom’s widowed sister, Cecilia Boden, owned and managed the place. When I pulled into the parking lot, I could see that the area was a bit too remote for my taste. I’m a city girl at heart and generally happiest close to restaurants, banks, liquor stores, and movie theaters, preferably bug free. Since Selma was paying, I didn’t think I should argue the point, and in truth the rough-hewn log exteriors did look more interesting than the motels in town. Silly me.