Veiled (A Short Story) (3 page)

A few hours later, Lacey slid onto the high stool at The
Anchor as Jack grabbed the seat to her right. They were the only two spots left
in the little pub at lunchtime. Helping other customers, the bartender pointed
at the menu just out of Lacey’s reach. Jack nodded at him and stretched to grab
it.

It’d been a long morning of patiently listening to Terry
interview guests and employees at The Pacific Inn. She was glad the chief had
asked them to stay. He was stretched thin with just two cops in his department
on duty. At least she and Jack were able to offer experienced eyes and ears.

Jack studied the menu. “What do you want?”

“A beer and a big greasy burger. Extra bacon.”

He grinned. “Hungry?”

“Long morning. My brain is tired. At least we got to leave.
I don’t think Terry is going to take more than five minutes to get something to
eat.”

“Terry takes a case like this personally. He sees it as his
responsibility to find the killer, and he won’t rest until he’s exhausted every
possibility. Some of the guys used to call him ‘Bull,’ because he never stopped
charging forward.”

“Didn’t he play college football? Were they the ones that
called him Bull or did the Lakeview police?” Lacey asked.

“Both,” grinned Jack.

The bartender took their orders and pulled them drafts of a
local microbrew he claimed was his best seller. Lacey held her beer below her
nose and inhaled. Wheaty. Fruity. Maybe some honey. She had a healthy
appreciation for Northwest brews. She sipped and smiled. It was terrific.
Glancing at Jack, she saw that his was a third gone already. Had he even tasted
it?

The noon newscast on the TV above the bar caught her
attention. The murder had made the Portland stations. The bar suddenly grew
quiet as everyone listened. Several patrons lifted their drinks in toast to the
screen when the victim’s picture appeared.

“I hope they hang the guy that did that to Patty,” said the
man next to Lacey. He was a skinny guy in weathered jeans and a black T-shirt.
He had the tan and squint lines of someone who spent a lot of time on the
water. Not on a surfboard, but more likely on a fishing boat. He had workingman
hands with dirt under the nails and several fine white scars.
Fish hooks?
According
to the patch on his shirt, his name was Saul.

“Did you know her?” Lacey asked. Beside her she felt Jack’s
radar tune in on the conversation.

“Yep. Everybody knew Patty. As sweet as could be. She tended
bar here five nights a week. Was she supposed to be here tonight, Rick?” he
asked the bartender. The other man nodded, his gaze still on the TV screen as
he mechanically dried a glass.

“That’s really sad,” said Lacey. “We’re staying at the hotel
where it happened. It was quite a shock to wake up to all the police this
morning.” If Terry didn’t know the locals yet, she’d see what she could find
out.

Saul looked at her with interest. “Did you see what
happened?” His eyes crinkled in curiosity. The man on his other side leaned
forward to listen. He looked like he’d hopped off the same fishing boat, but he
wore a hat that said “Deere.” Both men appeared to be in their early thirties
and in need of haircuts.

“Not really,” answered Lacey. “We just saw them wheeling the
body out in one of those bags.”

“They said on the news she was wearing a wedding dress. Is
that true?” Deere asked.

Lacey widened her eyes. “I heard that. I don’t know. Was she
getting married?”

Saul snorted. “No, I think she was done with that. She was
married once, and it didn’t go so well. Most of us have known her and Will
forever. I coulda told them it wasn’t going to last. She was way too
independent for him. Will was a bit too controlling. He’s an okay guy, but
those two together were like oil and water.”

Deere nodded in grave agreement.

“Then why do you think she was in a wedding dress?” Lacey
asked.

The two men exchanged glances and then looked at Lacey. “No
freaking idea,” said Saul.

“Maybe she had a secret boyfriend and was running off with
him, but he changed his mind at the last minute. She seeing anybody?” Lacey
asked, giving her sweetest smile. She felt Jack squeeze her upper thigh,
warning her to tread carefully. What was the harm in a few questions?

“Patty’s not the type to run off with a guy. She would date
a bit here and there, but I suspect that’s kind of hard when you already know
every person in town and you live with your ex-husband,” said Deere.

“What?” Lacey feigned surprise. “She lived with her
ex-husband? So they were still good friends?”

Both men laughed. “Hell, no,” said Deere. “Will and her
could barely be in the same room together. They tried to sell that house, but
they’re upside down in the mortgage. Neither could afford to pay that and go
live with a roommate, so they were stuck.”

“A lot of people are struggling with that these days,” Lacey
said with sympathy. “I guess we might never know what happened to her.”

Once again the men exchanged looks and then both took swigs
of their beer.

“What?” asked Lacey. “Do you know something?” Out of the
corner of her eye she saw Jack had his head turned to the TV, but she was
certain he was listening to every word of their conversation.

Saul leaned in. “Everyone believes her husband did it. No
one is surprised she’s dead. And I heard they can’t find Will. So where is he?
He doesn’t go on vacation. I can only figure he’s hiding out somewhere.”

Deere nodded solemnly.

Lacey stared at the men. They were totally serious. “You
really think he did it?”

More nods.

“Well, they say the police always look at the closest family
members first. They won’t have to look too far if he’s the one,” she said. Her
heart sank. Had Patty been killed by her ex-husband? What kind of miserable
life had the woman led?

“Did they close the hotel?” Deere asked.

“No. Well, I don’t know,” Lacey said. “I know they’re
questioning everyone and checking the entire place for evidence. I don’t know
if they’re taking new reservations or not.”

“Can’t be good publicity for a place like that,” added Saul.
“No rich people want to go to a hotel where people are killed. It doesn’t say
much for their security.”

“I hope it doesn’t affect its business. It’s a nice place.”
Lacey watched a look of disgust cross Deere’s face. “What?” she asked.

“It’s a parasite. Nothing was wrong with the old hotel. Lots
of people worked up there. Then this new owner comes in and does a clean sweep.
Brings in people to work who don’t even live around here. How many people lost
their jobs?” he asked Saul.

He shrugged. “Lots.”

“That’s right,” said Deere. “Mary Lou’s family owned that
place for years. It seemed like nothing could be done to get tourists to come
to Seaport, and her business went down every year, but she tried to keep it
open so people would have a place to work. She finally sold it for a fraction
of what that land had to be worth, trying to get out from under the burden.”

“Sounds like the new buyer did her a favor,” commented
Lacey. What was Deere getting at?

“No, he took advantage of her. Look how successful that
place is. He should have paid a lot more than he did.”

Lacey frowned. How could this be the buyer’s fault? “Did he
pay what she was asking?”

“Yeah, I think he worked her down a little bit. But she
didn’t know he was gonna make such a success out of it.” Deere looked down into
his beer as if realizing his argument was a bit weak.

Lacey tried not to laugh into her own beer. The buyer was
expected to fail? And didn’t? And now some of the townspeople were annoyed that
he’d been successful? Ouch. “Someone sank a lot of money into that property. He
could have lost everything he spent trying to get it into shape. That’s a
pretty big risk. I have to imagine that the people who come to the hotel spend
some money in Seaport at the local businesses, yes? Like charter-boat fishing?
Or even in here to eat? I bet a lot of them eat in the restaurant.”

Both men looked around the room with glum faces. “There’s
that book guy,” said Deere, jerking his head toward a man reading a book at a
table in the back. “He’s in here a lot. Stays up at the hotel all the time.
Some big author. But I’ve never heard of him.”

Lacey cast a quick glance at the man in the corner. He had a
receding hairline and glasses and seemed utterly focused on his book. She
hadn’t recognized the author’s name when Paul had mentioned it earlier. Maybe
he wrote under a pen name. “See? I bet he’d never eat here if he didn’t come
out to stay at the hotel. I wouldn’t be here, either.”

“Well, it’d help if the hotel would hire locally.” Deere
wasn’t ready to give up his complaints about The Pacific Inn. “That bald
manager is a jerk. Told everyone they didn’t know how to clean or even do the
repairs right. Will was a darned good handyman. He shouldn’t have been fired.”

“Wait. You’re saying Patty’s ex-husband was fired from the
hotel? When?” Lacey’s brain started spinning. Why hadn’t Paul Lott mentioned
that today? Did Terry know?

“Right away. That bald ass hadn’t been running the show for
a month when he let most of the employees go. Said they were slackers.” He
rubbed at his nose with his forearm. Lacey suspected he was more offended by
the word
slackers
than by the fact that so many people lost their jobs.

From what she’d seen of Paul, he didn’t take flak from
anyone. He had high expectations, and she suspected that the old employees
hadn’t embraced his expectations with open arms. Not many people like a
management shake-up.

Did Paul and Will have a falling-out?

Burgers were set in front of her and Jack. Lacey’s stomach
rumbled, and she dug in, momentarily forgetting about the dead bride and her
difficult ex-husband.

“We need to talk to Terry,” Jack said quietly beside her,
his burger disappearing at a rapid rate. Lacey nodded with a full mouth.

Lacey and Jack stood quietly by as Paul stared at Terry. The manager seemed
caught off guard by the chief’s question.

“Patty is Will Marino’s ex-wife?” Paul asked. “I didn’t put
two and two together. Yes, I know Patty from the bar in town. She’s worked
there as long as I can remember. And I heard you mention that you were looking
for her ex-husband. But I didn’t realize she was Will’s ex-wife. I didn’t
work with him very long. It wasn’t until you said his name specifically that I
remembered him.”

Lacey studied Paul’s face, uncertain whether to believe him.
She couldn’t tell if he truly didn’t know that Patty and Will had been married.
This was the most distraught she’d seen the manager. Before, he’d always been
calm and thoroughly in control.

“What happened with Will Marino?” Terry asked. “How long ago
did you fire him?”

Paul sat down in a chair in the hotel conference room.
Lacey, Jack, and Terry followed suit. They’d rushed back from lunch to ask
Terry about Will Marino’s connection to the hotel. Terry had immediately
grabbed Paul for another talk.

Paul ran a hand over his forehead. “I think Will was in the
first group I let go. I’d have to check the records, but I let most of the
maintenance men go almost immediately. Once I saw how little they cared about
the upkeep of the old hotel, I knew they weren’t the type of people I needed
for the new one.”

“Was it a bad scene?” Terry asked. “Did he get angry?”

Paul screwed up his face in thought. “I’ve fired a lot of
people in this business. There’s nothing that stands out about that one. I laid
out my expectations for these guys and asked if anyone had a problem with my
rules. No one complained. I mean, if you walk down a hallway, you look at the
flooring and walls, right? If something is dirty, you clean it up. If it’s
broken, you fix it. What’s so hard about that? It was like these people
couldn’t see what was right in front of them. They were so used to looking at
dirty, stained carpet that they couldn’t see that anything needed to be done
about it.

“I gave them several opportunities to improve their
performance, and they all consistently missed the mark. It was a group
dismissal. There were three men, and I informed all of them on the same day.”

“That could have turned ugly,” commented Jack. He sat beside
Lacey, listening carefully to Paul’s story. Jack knew about holding employees
to expectations. And firing. He dealt with contractors and executives all day
long, and he’d experienced nastiness from both groups of workers.

“It didn’t. They all looked at each other and laughed, and
said they didn’t want to work for me anyway. A face-saving response, I believe.
I didn’t hear from any of them again. Actually, I haven’t heard about anyone
I’ve let go.

“I haven’t fired anyone since the first two months I was
here. All my hires have worked out great,” Paul said matter-of-factly.