Hades

8

Larry Silverbush, Mayor Leona Krill, Justin, and Abigail Harmon met in Justin's office at the East End Harbor police station. Silverbush went to the chair behind Justin's desk as if it were his own and waved at the others to sit down. Justin decided to let the slight go unmentioned. He also decided not to bring up the subject of the DA's comb-over. When it came to hairstyles, Justin had not seen too many even remotely in the same league. It looked as if Silverbush had been walking down the street and a dead squirrel had been dropped from a twelfth-floor window onto his head.

As oblivious as he was to Justin's displacement, that's how solicitous the DA was of Abby. He was a politician after all. And dead husband or no dead husband, she was still an important member of a rich political family, so she was going to see law enforcement at its absolute best. Or, at the very least, at its absolute politest. Silverbush began by thanking her for coming in and offering his condolences, which she accepted passively but graciously.

"I spoke to your father-in-law a little while ago," he said, after her quiet murmuring of thanks.

"I spoke to him this morning, too," Abby told him.

She had. She hadn't wanted to but Justin insisted. She did her best to explain that Herbert Harmon would not want to hear from her, had never in his life wanted to hear from her, but Justin said very quietly that Herbert Harmon had also never lost a son before. He said that it was her responsibility to call him. She was as close to a child as he had left. So she called, reached him at his apartment in the city. She spoke to him from Justin's bedroom while he remained downstairs to give her some privacy. When she came down the steps, she was crying. Justin had never seen Abby cry before. He'd seen her angry and peaceful and bitchy and happy, but he'd never seen anyone come close to wounding her the way H. R. Harmon had in a five-minute phone call.

"He's very concerned about you," Silverbush said. "I assured him we'd do everything we could to help you get through this… situation. And I assured him, as I will now assure you, we will find the person who did this to your husband. You have my word on that."

"Did my father-in-law tell you that he already knows who's responsible for my husband's murder?" Abby asked.

This threw Silverbush. Justin tucked away in his mind the fact that this man didn't have much of a poker face. The best the DA could come up with in response to Abby's information was, "Um… no, he… um… didn't say anything like that."

"I'm surprised. He's convinced I did it."

"I'm sure you're incorrect about that, Mrs. Harmon."

"That's what he told me this morning."

Silverbush was definitely rattled, although he now did his best to hide it. A little late for the poker face, but at least he recovered for the betting round. "I assure you," he said, "the senator never mentioned anything remotely like that."

"It's funny. Everyone calls him that-the senator. But my esteemed father-in-law only ran for the Senate. He never actually won, so it's not really the proper reference. Well, maybe it's not really so funny. More pathetic."

This seemed to push the DA into a deeper state of confusion. The newly widowed Mrs. Harmon was being neither difficult nor cooperative. Those were the only two types of behavior that Silverbush knew exactly how to deal with. So, not on firm footing, he fell back on what he knew best: legal officiousness.

"There was no discussion at all about your involvement." Silverbush spoke as if he were talking about a parking ticket.

"My father-in-law blames me for almost everything bad that has ever happened to the Harmon family," Abby said. "And this morning, he made it very clear that this was no exception."

"I'm sure he was just upset."

"Have you ever met H. R. Harmon, Mr. Silverbush?"

"I have, as a matter of fact. At several charity dinners and fund-raisers."

"Then you know that he spent almost his entire life learning what to say and when or when not to say it."

"I don't really know him that well," Silverbush said.

"You will by the time this investigation is over. And if you want some advice, believe him whenever he makes a threat. Any other time, take things with a grain of salt."

Silverbush had exhausted his patience. He'd paid his respects to the powerful family as best he could; now it was time to move on. Justin was impressed by the man's ability to stick to his agenda while still maintaining a high level of obsequiousness. "We'll be investigating every possible angle," he said. "I promise you we will have a satisfactory outcome for both you and your father-in-law." Now he turned to Justin. "I assume you've prepared an initial report."

"Preliminary," Justin said, looking down at the folder clasped in his right hand. "I'm waiting for the ME's report and a summary from Southampton CSU."

"I can still start with that. Do you have anything at all to go on yet?"

"I have a few thoughts after seeing the crime scene. And I spent the entire night preparing for the investigation. The first few steps are outlined in the report. Once we're done here, I'll be going to the city to talk to people who worked with Mrs. Harmon's husband. And I'm hoping to see Evan's father while I'm there."

"That won't be necessary. Mr. Harmon will be coming here. This afternoon."

Abby spoke up now, surprised. "To East End Harbor?"

Silverbush nodded. "He wants to see his son's body. He's already on his way."

Abby said, "Jesus," and after that there was an uncomfortable silence in the room until Leona Krill spoke up for the first time.

"Larry," she said, "from what Justin has told me, that might not be a good idea." Leona looked at the woman sitting next to her, said, "I'm sorry, Abigail," then turned back to Silverbush and finished. "Apparently Evan was greatly disfigured."

"H. R. won't be seeing his son," Abby said quietly. "He won't be seeing anything that even looks human."

"I understand," the DA said. "I suggested that might be the case, but…"

He didn't finish the sentence, so Abby finished it for him. "But H. R. didn't take the suggestion."

"I'm afraid not." Silverbush inhaled deeply, said to Abby, "Are there any questions you have about what we're going to be doing?"

She shook her head.

"Anything you need, I'm available twenty-four seven." The DA then handed her his card, which she accepted with a nod. "I appreciate your coming to meet with me," Silverbush went on. "I know how difficult this must be. But I want you to know that Chief Westwood has an excellent reputation. We've never worked together, but I have the highest confidence in his abilities. I hope you'll be as cooperative with him as possible."

"I don't think I could be any more cooperative with Chief Westwood," Abby said and smiled for the first time in the meeting. Justin made a point of not smiling.

"Excellent," Silverbush finished. "I'll have someone drive you home."

"I'm not staying at home," she told him.

"Of course. Understandable. Just tell my driver where you're going and he'll be glad to take you."

"I'd rather walk, if you don't mind," she said. "It's not very far and I need the air."

"By all means," Silverbush said. Then he turned to Justin and Leona and said, "I'd like to talk to you both before we disband."

When Abby was out of the station, Larry Silverbush spoke quietly to Justin, although he never glanced in his direction while his lips were moving. "You do know how fucking important this is?"

"It's a murder," Justin said. "On a scale of one to ten, pretty high."

"I don't need any smart-ass shit. This isn't just a murder."

"Oh, that's right. It's a high-profile murder that'll get you lots of headlines."

"I know about you, Westwood."

"My excellent reputation, you mean?"

"Believe me, I fucking know all about you."

Leona reached over and put her hand on Silverbush's arm. "Larry, I don't know what you've heard, but Jay is a superb-"

He didn't let her hand rest on him for more than a moment, immediately shaking it away and cutting off her words. "I know how superb he is. I also know what an asshole he can be."

Justin shrugged, as if he'd been caught with his hand in a cookie jar. "Nobody's perfect," he said.

"Look," Silverbush said, "I really don't want this to get nasty. But I want you to understand I know what you're capable of, good and bad. I know the way you work. I know the trouble you've been in and the trouble you've caused in the past. This is an important case. It's highly visible, the media's going to be all over it in about five minutes, and it's got political ramifications."

"For you, you mean."

"Fuck yes, for me." He turned to face Leona. "And for you. It ain't like you're mayor of New York City, Ms. Krill, but I'm sure you like what you do. Running a cute, little town like East End has its perks. You're already on thinning ice thanks to your choice of sexual partners." She started to interrupt, but he barged ahead without letting her speak. "Hey, I couldn't give a shit who or what you're banging. But some voters do, so you better make it up to 'em by making sure we find out who killed Evan Harmon. You're in charge of the police department. This drags on, nothing gets solved, you look foolish, incompetent. Out here you can get away with being a dyke, but a dyke who can't get the job done, that doesn't fly. Am I right?"

Leona's head drooped and her voice was barely above a whisper when she said, "Yes, you're right. You're astoundingly offensive, but you're right."

Silverbush allowed a faint gloat of a smile to cross his lips, then pursed them and looked at Justin. "Same goes for you, too. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, cowboy, we live in a political world. I know you think you make it up as you go along, but you live by the rules, same as the rest of us. Maybe you bend 'em more than most, but you've built up a life here. Got a nice little house; I haven't been able to find too many friends but I'm sure you got one or two; got the occasional girlfriend. And you took this job, which I know you didn't have to do, so it must mean something to you. You care about what you do; you care about the people in this town; you care about the results you get. In this instance, I care about the results you're going to get, too. We got the same goal-make everything come out all right so our happy little lives just keep rollin' along. So, you see, we're not all that different, you and me."

Justin didn't hang his head and his voice wasn't close to a whisper when he said, "You'll be good on the stump when you run for governor one of these days. But what is it you actually want from me?"

"I want you to work with me. I want you to work with my men. I want full cooperation. I don't want you going off half-cocked, and I don't want you to talk to anyone in the media."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. I don't want you messing around in places you shouldn't be messing around in."

"Any specific places you have in mind?"

"H. R. Harmon."

"He's kind of relevant to the investigation, don't you think?"

"Obviously, he might be helpful. It remains to be seen just how much."

"But you'll be doing the seeing."

"That's right. I think a slightly more delicate touch than yours is required here."

Justin didn't answer immediately, not that Silverbush was looking for an answer. He was merely looking for acquiescence, which Justin gave him when all he said was "Okay."

"Good." Silverbush smiled at them both now. He stood as if waiting for them to leave.

"Can I just point out one thing?" Justin asked.

"Of course."

"You're in my office. You're the one who's actually got to make the graceful exit."

Silverbush laughed. It was almost an affectionate laugh-almost, but not quite. Justin handed him his preliminary report when the DA's laughter stopped. "You might want to read this sooner rather than later."

"I'm not big on reading. I'm big on action."

"Well," Justin said, "as you made clear, you're the boss." He nodded toward the report now in Silverbush's hand. "All I can do is tell you what I know and make my recommendation."

"Would you like my recommendation?" Silverbush asked. "Don't fuck up. Or I'll have your balls for breakfast."

"If the whole governor thing doesn't work out, try football coach," Justin said. "You've got that inspirational touch."

Silverbush laughed once more, this time with genuine good feeling, and left the East End Harbor mayor and chief of police alone in the office.

"Charmer, isn't he?" Leona said.

"You might want to read my report," Justin said, handing her another copy, "before Mr. Charm does."

"Something you didn't mention just now, Jay?"

"Hey," Justin said, "I'm not big on mentioning. I'm big on action." And then he said, "But read it."