Hell Bent
Also by William G. Tapply
THE BRADY COYNE NOVELS
One-Way Ticket | Tight Lines |
THE STONEY CALHOUN NOVELS
Bitch Creek
Gray Ghost
NONFICTION
Trout Eyes
Gone Fishin’
Pocket Water
Upland Days
Bass Bug Fishing
A Fly-Fishing Life
The Elements of Mystery Fiction
Sportsman’s Legacy
Home Water
Opening Day and Other Neuroses
Those Hours Spent Outdoors
OTHER FICTION
Third Strike
(with Philip R. Craig)
Second Sight
(with Philip R. Craig)
First Light
(with Philip R. Craig)
Thicker Than Water
(with Linda Barlow)
H
ELL
B
ENT
William G. Tapply
St. Martin’s Minotaur
New York
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
HELL BENT
. Copyright © 2008 by William G. Tapply. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tapply, William G.
Hell bent : a Brady Coyne novel/William G. Tapply.—1st St. Martin’s Minotaur ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-35830-3
ISBN-10: 0-312-35830-X
1. Coyne, Brady (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Lawyers—Massachusetts—Boston—Fiction. 3. Photojournalists—Crimes against—Fiction. 4. Post-traumatic stress disorder—Fiction. 5. Divorce—Fiction. 6. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. I. Title. PS3570.A568H45 2008
813′.54—dc22
2008023438
First Edition: October 2008
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Vicki
My love, my rock
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to my “tripod” for their usual indispensable and solid support on this book: Vicki Stiefel, my wife and first and best reader; Keith Kahla, an editor who actually edits and went above the call of duty with this one; and Fred Morris, my agent, who worries about all my business so I don’t have to.
Also to my kids and stepkids—Mike, Melissa, Blake, Sarah, and Ben—for their enthusiasm and encouragement and for always saying they love my stuff.
Also to my writing students at Clark University for not being all that impressed by having an actual published author as their professor, and for the inspiration of their enthusiasm and talent and open-mindedness.
And to the dozens of unpublished but hardworking writers I’ve worked with over the years for reminding me how important it is to have some fun with it.
I don’t want to be a doctor, and live by men’s diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins; nor a lawyer to live by their quarrels.
—NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
—MARK TWAIN
UMASS BLAST KILLS SEVEN,
LEVELS PHYSICS BUILDING
ANTI-WAR GROUPTHOUGHT RESPONSIBLE
AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS, AUGUST
24, 1971: At 3:04
A.M.
Tuesday morning an explosion believed to be set off by anti-war extremists destroyed Cabot Hall, which housed the university’s physics department. Seven people died in the blast.
The school’s fall semester was scheduled to begin in ten days, and summer sessions ended a week ago, so the campus was largely deserted. “We hate to even imagine the possible loss of life if school had been in session,” said university spokesperson Eva Shallot. “The explosion blew out windows and scattered debris over most of the campus.”
Of the seven who died in the explosion, six were graduate students whose names have yet to be released. The seventh victim has been tentatively linked to the Soldiers Brigade, a radical anti-war organization.
FBI investigator Martin Greeley, in a prepared statement, said: “The timing of this unspeakable action is no coincidence. The Sterling Hall explosion at the University of Wisconsin occurred one year ago almost to the minute. There is no doubt that last night’s event is also the work of radical left-wing anti-war
terrorists.” Greeley indicated that arrests are imminent. “We know who’s responsible,” he said.
Last summer’s Wisconsin explosion, which occurred at 3:42
A.M.
, also on August 24, was linked to a student anti-war group called the New Year’s Gang. Four people, all students, have been arrested in connection with that event. A fifth remains at large.
UMASS BLAST TERRORISTS ARRESTED,
VICTIMS’ NAMES RELEASED
FBI: “CASE CLOSED”
AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS, AUGUST
29, 1971: The final two members of the Soldiers Brigade, a radical anti-war group of Vietnam veterans believed to be responsible for the deadly explosion at the University of Massachusetts last Tuesday morning, were arrested without incident last night at a motel in White River Junction, Vermont.
“All of our suspects are now in custody,” said FBI spokesman Martin Greeley.
The alleged leader of the terrorist group, a decorated Vietnam veteran from Keene, New Hampshire, named John Kinkaid, was identified as one of the seven victims of the UMass blast. The other six victims were graduate students working on a laboratory project [see sidebar].
“Kinkaid was the brains,” said Greeley at a press conference. “He was a fugitive, wanted for the explosion a year ago in Wisconsin. In both cases, Kinkaid procured and set up the explosives, which he was familiar with from his military experience. It appears that he was rigging them inside the University of Massachusetts building when an electronic malfunction of
some kind detonated them prematurely. We believe Kinkaid’s intention was for the explosion to occur at 3:42
A.M.
, the same time as the Wisconsin event that he masterminded. It would have been his personal signature on the event.”
When asked to compare the UMass explosion with the one at the University of Wisconsin a year ago, Greeley said: “We believe the date of the explosions—August 24, one year apart—was intentional. However, the Wisconsin explosion was caused by a crude homemade bomb—a ton of ammonium nitrate fertilizer soaked in fuel oil and loaded into a Ford van. The perpetrators of that crime, aside from Kinkaid, were student radicals. This Massachusetts event was the work of a misguided group of Vietnam veterans, including Kinkaid, all of whom appear to be suffering from depression and shell shock and disorientation from their military service. In addition to the timing and their apparent aim of bringing attention to the war, the one commonality between the two explosions was the target.”
Both university buildings housed military research projects funded by government contracts.
No information has been made available about preparations for trials of the alleged terrorists.
NE
I
t was a few minutes before five in the afternoon on the second Thursday in October. I had just hung up the phone with my last client of the day, a pediatrician named Paul Berman who was getting divorced and wanted to hang on to as much of his money and dignity as the law would allow. He had plenty of money, but he was running short of dignity. Divorce does that to people.
It does it to their lawyers, too.
I had swiveled my desk chair around so I could look out my office window. We were on the downside of the autumnal equinox. The low-angled late-afternoon October sun was washing the tops of the Trinity Church and the Copley Plaza Hotel with warm orange light, and dusk was beginning to seep into the floor of the city. It was the last gasp of Indian summer in Boston. Already the scarlet leaves were losing their grip on the maples that grew along the walkways that intersected the plaza. A bittersweet time of year in New England. Evie had been gone for nearly four months, and I had no plans to go trout fishing again until next spring. Global warming notwithstanding—and
I did not doubt Mr. Gore—winter was definitely around the corner.
There came a soft one-knuckle tap on my office door. Without turning around, I said, “Come on in, Julie. I’m off the phone.”