The Opinions of the Sheriff
Walt had a permanent smile plastered on his face. He and Abby made three of his signature dishes for dinner. We had Walt’s Special Herb Stuffed Pork, Walt’s Special Meatloaf, and Walt’s Special Roast Chicken. They also made potatoes au gratin, twice baked potatoes, sauteed asparagus, roasted carrots, and Walt’s Special Tomato Vegetable Soup.
There were sixteen people at the table including me and Walt, Abby and David, Mitch and Charlie, the two youngest girls, the sheriff and his wife, and six farmhands. We ate like kings and had fresh ice cream from a nearby dairy for dessert. The meal was exquisite. Everyone ate far too much and heaped praise on Walt and Abby.
When everyone had their fill, Mitch and Charlie took the sheriff to the scene of the crime while his wife, Nancy, remained at the table along with David and Abby and Walt and me. Abby touched Walt’s shoulder with a question of concern. “Are you certain you’re alright? You worked so hard today. Do you need to lay down?”
“I promise I’m fine. I had so much fun. I love to cook. It’s great to cook for a lot of people again. This kitchen is wonderful. I’d be glad to work with you every day.”
She tried to argue. “Not on your life! You’re supposed to be resting.”
Walt begged. “Please, I’ve been resting for six months. If I rest anymore, someone will get the wrong idea and throw dirt on my face. Let me work with you. I promise not to overdo it.”
Abby sought my permission. I assented with a shrug. “He’s happiest in the kitchen. If you’re willing to have him, please let him work with you.” I touched Walt’s other shoulder with a plea. “Be careful. I know working here isn’t the same as the long grind at Walt’s Special or the stress of running a business, but it’s still activity and you need to take it easy.”
He promised faithfully and Abby was thrilled. “Oh, I’m so excited to have a real chef in my kitchen! I can’t wait to learn from a man with two Firestone stars! What should we cook tomorrow?”
Abby and Walt went into conference. I got David’s attention and nodded toward the porch door. He took the hint and we went out to wait for Sheriff Andy to get back with the boys. The evening was gorgeous, soft and warm with a light breeze. The sun was low in the sky and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. David and I stood in silence until the Jeep nosed its way out of the fields.
The sheriff got out with an official-looking manilla envelope in his hand. He carried it to the front seat of his cruiser before he joined us on the porch. Charlie took a cigarette from his pack and hesitated. He turned the pack over in his hand until his father noticed it. David understood that Charlie was afraid to smoke in front of him. He gave permission. “Go ahead. You’re an adult. I’ve told you what I think but I’m not going to insist.”
Charlie lit up and blew the smoke away from the group. He shook the pack in my direction. I hesitated, but after the meal I had, a smoke was very inviting. I accepted a cigarette and a light. I held the cigarette up to Charlie with a warning. “I might be partaking, but I agree with your dad. It’ll be better for you to quit. That’s the last thing I’ll say on the subject, besides thank you.”
With the matter settled, David asked Sheriff Andy what he found and what he thought about it. Andy took his campaign hat off and scratched his bald dome. He was about ten years younger than David, but he seemed to have more hard miles on him. His face was lined and weathered, and his voice had a rasp like a heavy smoker, though I hadn’t seen him smoke.
“I don’t rightly know what to think. The boys showed me the evidence, such that it is. I collected it for the file. I’ll have it checked for prints, but I don’t reckon we’ll find any. Young Charles told me all about your figurin’ Mister Law, about the man with the car and his hood open and the flare an all. Says you’re a famous detective from back east. I can’t say I ever heard of you.”
I laughed out a lungful of smoke and choked. I stubbed out what was left of my cigarette and muttered, “serves me right for smoking.” I sat down because my knees were starting to hurt. “If I’m famous, no one ever told me about it. I was a detective a long time ago. I guess I never got out of the habit. I’m a retired restauranteur.”
Andy nodded vaguely. “Uh huh, well I ain’t no big city cop. This ain’t no big city place, and we don’t have no big city troubles. You say someone burned the old Krengel place. You point to the little bit of nuthin’ you found in the weeds. Outta respect for Cousin Abby and David, I come along and take a look. I even waste a tax-dollar-paid-for evidence kit and some paper forms. If you ask me, which I reckon you are ‘cause here I am, that’s all it is, a waste.
“Ain’t nobody in this here county goin’ ‘round burnin’ other folk’s houses down. You ask me, that there young’un,” he tilted his head toward Charlie, “was careless with his cigarette and you, Mister Law want to help him hide it from his papa. I ‘xpect you got your reasons, though I don’t rightly know what they are. If I had a minute to scratch my noggin, I could hazard a guess. I hear your kind ‘ppreciates young’uns. I don’t rightly know why Cousin Abby and David suffer the likes of you and that other’un under their roof, but their reasons are theirs.
“My reasons are mine, so I’ll take m’self and m’wife and wish David and you boys a nice evening. To you, Mister Law, I rec’mmend you and the other’un stay close to the farm while you’re here. I don’t got no say here in this home or on this property, but I got plenty o’ say in town, you get me?”
I wished I was twenty years younger or even ten. If I was five years younger, I would have beaten that sheriff or died trying. I could barely close my hands anymore, so pushing his face in the dirt was out of the question. Luckily for me, I was among friends.
David took my side. “Andrew, get the fuck off my porch before I wear you out.”
Andy stood his ground. “You ain’t got no call to speak to me that way. I’m an officer of the law.”
“In my house, you’re not even a guest. You’re a cur. All bark and nothing to back it up. You’re a badge pinned to an empty shirt. If you were here at all, I’d punch your face for disrespecting the finest man I know.”
Andy looked like he wanted to say something, but he held his tongue. He jerked the screen door open and took his bluster inside. “Nancy, we’re leavin’ NOW!”
While he was occupied trying to get his wife moving, I whispered to Mitch. “Quick! Get that envelope out of his car. Don’t come back here or he’ll see it. Take it away and wait ‘till he’s gone.”
Mitch looked to his father for permission. David nodded and the boy ran off. He got the envelope and kept going around the house. Andy and Nancy came out with Abby and Walt on their heels. Abby didn’t understand the sudden urgency to leave. “Did you get a call on the radio, Andy? What’s the rush?”
Andy didn’t say a word. He put his wife in the car and got himself in. David stepped off the porch and leaned in the driver’s window to have a final word. Whatever he said was brief, because he stood quickly and waited while Andy drove away.
David came back on the porch with his hands in his pockets and a deep scowl on his face. Abby asked why. “Goodness, David; did you fight with Andrew?”
“He doesn’t believe someone burned the house down. He thinks Charlie did it. He also said Law is trying to cover it up because he likes young men. He threatened to harass Walt and Law if he sees them in town. I just told him if he did, I’d make him regret it.”
Abby shook her head in shock. “He said all that?”
“All that and much more. We’ll get no help from him. I won’t have him in this house again, ever. I don’t want you at their place either.”
Abby agreed. “You’ll get no argument from me. I thought we settled all that ugliness years ago. I guess Andrew is the same as he was back then. I’m done with him for good and all.” She apologized to me and Walt for her cousin’s small-mindedness.
I held a shaky hand toward Charlie. “Please, may I have another?”
He put a cigarette between my fingers and lit it for me. I breathed the smoke and tried to calm my rage. Charlie crouched in front of me. “Are you alright?”
I breathed more smoke. “No, young man, I’m not. I’m old and weak and everything hurts. Ten years ago, your father would have had to stop me from killing that man. Now I just gotta sit while he fights my battles for me. I hate it.”
The youth didn’t know what to say, so he stood up and stepped back.
Mitch came through the door onto the porch with the evidence envelope in his hand. “They gone?”
David confirmed they were. He took the envelope from his boy and held it up. “What do we do with this now that we’ve stolen it from a policeman?”
I explained. “Lock it up somewhere. Keep it safe in case he comes back for it. I don’t think he will. If he does, you’ll have to surrender it. Until then, I’d rather we have it than him. Keep it safe and leave it sealed. If he asks about it, say you found it in the drive after he ran away. He must’ve dropped it.”
“What do we do about the arson?”
“We investigate. I’m convinced something is going on at the Krengel place. If Krengel lives nearby, I’d like to talk to him. I want to look all around the place tomorrow. I’d like Charlie to help me. Oh, and I want a gun. I always carried a .38 revolver. If you’ve got one of them around, that’d be perfect.”
Walt didn’t like the idea of me asking for a gun. “What do you need to be armed for?”
“Because I don’t know what the hell is going on. I doubt I’ll have to use it. My hands hurt so damn bad, I don’t know if I could even pull the trigger. Carrying in the open makes people think twice. That’s the point. I’m an old man. The only reason that idiot cop said what he did is because I’m no longer something to fear. He felt safe to mouth off. If I’m going to investigate the so-called bad luck at the dairy farm, I’m going to at least look like I can still handle myself.”
David promised to provide everything I asked. I motioned toward Charlie. “You want to work with me, young man?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Your dad said you carried a .22. What’s it for?”
“Snakes and ground hogs, mostly.”
“You a good shot?”
“I hit what I aim at.”
“You any good with heavier iron? A .22 isn’t much on stopping power.”
“I got a .40 caliber last Christmas. It’s too nice to carry around the farm, but I shot it plenty. I’m good with it and at least as fast as I am with the small gun.”
“From now on you carry that.”
Abby didn’t like the direction of our talk. “What in the world are you getting him into?”
I explained. “Somebody burned a house down on your property and your son almost took the blame. I think whoever did it has been doing other bad things, sabotaging refrigeration equipment, maybe infecting stock with a disease so they’d have to be culled. They might have damaged the original well. I suspect they were doing it to make the last owners sell. I think the same stuff is going to continue until we expose the guilty party or until David sells the property.
“I’m going to look into it, but I can’t do it alone. I’m too old and I don’t know anything about farms. Charlie’s a smart kid. He knows things. He can help, but I can’t protect him. He’s got to look after himself. If we’re up there looking around and someone comes who wants to do harm, do you want him to have a piddly little .22 on his hip, or a .40 caliber that will put a man down?” I pointed at Mitch to include him in the discussion. “If Mitch is gonna be up on that property even a little, he should be carrying heavier too, and he damn well shouldn’t be up there alone. No one should.”
Abby trembled with worry. “This is very serious business, isn’t it, Law?”
“Yes, Abby, it is. Anyone who would risk getting shot or arrested for torching a house is playing for keeps. We need to be prepared to do the same.”
“Could you be wrong?”
I shrugged that it was possible. “I could be. Charlie might have set the fire because he hates his sister. He took the flare cap from a box on the farm and planted it there for me to find. He could be a criminal mastermind leading us into a trap so he can take over the farm and murder us all.”
She scowled darkly. “None of this is funny.”
I apologized for being flippant. “You’re right, it’s not. The real answer to your question is yes, I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am. If I’m wrong, then we’ll spend a little time investigating nothing. If I’m right, our work may head off a bigger disaster. If I’m right, the people we’re dealing with are ruthless, and we’ve got to protect ourselves.”
“What can I do?”
“Do what you always do and don’t repeat a word of what we say to anyone. Criminals who think they’re safe are reckless criminals. I want them reckless and easy to catch. You can’t help. Investigations like this require a small team, two or three at most.”
Walt stood forward. “I’ll be your third.”
I drew on my cigarette and stubbed it out. “No, you won’t. We’re going to be climbing around barns and looking at refrigeration plants and doing all kinds of stuff you’ve got no business doing.”
He argued. “You can’t climb either! As bad as your knees are, you can barely manage stairs.”
“I love you, Walt, but you can’t help me with this. I’ll do what needs to be done, pain or no pain. If I need to get up a ladder to see something, I’m going to go. It’ll take a while and I’ll hurt the whole time, but I’ll do what I have to. You’ve got no business out in the dusty heat with a bad heart and no gun. You’re going to do what Abby will, stick to the routine, try not to worry, and do your best to enjoy your time here.”
David was the only one who remained pragmatic. “I want you to include Mitch. There’s safety in numbers. It’s easy to get separated if it’s just two of you. I got .40 caliber automatics for both of them for Christmas. They’ve both got plenty of practice with them. I’ll bring you the .38 you asked for in the morning. Alright?”
“Perfect.”
* * * *
The evening wound down and Walt and I went to bed. I said my prayers and stared at the ceiling. Neither he nor I were able to sleep. Walt broke the silence. “I didn’t like to see you smoking.”
“You’re right and I’m sorry. The kid smokes my old brand and I wanted one. I won’t do it again.”
“Earlier you said you didn’t miss being a detective, but you’re looking forward to this, aren’t you?”
I was surprised when I realized that I was. I tried to articulate why. “I’m good at this stuff. It’s nice to be good at something. I loved working at Walt’s Special, but most of that was because I got to work with you. I’m a passable chef and a good host, but being a host isn’t a challenge. Besides, since you let Owen buy into the restaurant and take over the management, we’ve both been lost. After six months of relative boredom, we’ve come to this bustling place. You found a kitchen to cook in and an eager student to teach and I found a mystery to solve.”
Walt insisted I take care. “Just be careful, please. Keep an eye on those boys and don’t let them do anything reckless. Don’t you do anything reckless either. I listened to you about giving up the restaurant because I wanted to spend our twilight years together. I don’t want to lose you over a housefire.”
“I won’t lie to you and tell you there’s no risk. There is, but I’m going to be as careful as I can. I can’t move fast enough to be reckless.”
“I was proud of you tonight. I know how much it hurt you to sit still after Andy said vile things. I’m glad you did. I saw your hands shake when Charlie gave you a cigarette. Once upon a time, those hands would have been fists. You did well to hold yourself in check.”
I held a painful and useless hand up in the dark. “I can barely make a fist anymore. I can’t be Law the Animal anymore. I’m not sure if I grew out of it or got too old for it. I hope the former but fear the latter.”
“I don’t think you were ever as bad as you blame yourself for being, but you definitely got better as you got older. You learned how to be a better man.”
I lowered my hand back to the blanket. “I wish I’d been good all my life like you were.”
“If you had been, I might be dead.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you remember the man who stuck me up when I worked at the diner in Passyunk? If you’d been good, he might have slit my throat. You’ve hurt people in your life, but you helped many more. Hold fast to the memory of the ones you helped. Don’t brood over the ones you hurt. I bet most of the ones you hurt deserved it.”
“They deserved it, huh? When did you get so ruthless?”
“I’ve never known you to harm an innocent.”
I sighed because that wasn’t true. I had harmed innocent people. They were few and far between, but I’d done it. I reminded him of a particular incident. “I beat the hell out of a whore who wouldn’t do me because of my scars.”
“I spat in an order of coleslaw once.”
I gasped in shock. “Did you really?”
“Damn right I did. Some loudmouth asshole came into the diner late one night and tried to boss me around.”
“So you spat in his coleslaw?”
“Yup.”
“You didn’t beat him unconscious, though.”
Walt heaved an exasperated sigh. “Love, don’t look back on your life and find fault with it. You’ve done things you shouldn’t have. So have I. So has everyone. You’ve done what you could to make it right with the people you wronged. You confessed and repented for the rest. What else can you do?”
“You’re right. You usually are. Thanks for letting me down from the hook I keep trying to hang myself on.”
“Sure, Love. You’re a much better man than you give yourself credit for. I wouldn’t have married you if you weren’t. Let your mind rest for a while. We’ve both got busy days tomorrow. It’s time to sleep.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
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