Harm's Reach

19

Ren arrived into Safe Streets and threw down her purse. ‘Afternoon, Clifford.’

‘Afternoon, Renard,’ said Cliff. ‘Nice lunch?’

‘Delicious.’ I ate several helpings of discomfort. And went back for more.

Ren sat down at her desk and went to the Denver Post website, scanning the main stories. A week had passed since the murder. In the side bar, there was one small piece on the lack of progress in the investigation.

Great.

Underneath, another piece caught her eye.

‘Well, looky here,’ said Ren, ‘someone has posted a link to a YouTube clip of eeee-vangelist Howard Coombes’ milkshake bringing all the boys to the yard. Is it cruel to watch this? I hate watching videos of people being humiliated.’

‘But you can’t stand the guy,’ said Cliff.

‘Even still, though... it makes me feel dirty.’

‘But we love you when you’re dirty.’

‘Don’t you love me all the time?’ said Ren.

He raised his eyebrows.

‘I invited that,’ said Ren. She pressed play. ‘I have my answer — it’s very cruel.’

‘Get back to work, young lady.’

‘Hold up,’ said Ren a few minutes later. ‘I’ve just spotted a little piece about wifey Coombes, who has been seen without her wedding band. Seriously? If your husband sleeping with another man wasn’t enough to make you take your wedding band off...’

Get back to work.

As she sat back, she realized there was a mug of coffee on Colin Grabien’s desk.

‘Who’s here?’ said Ren.

‘The panic, the panic,’ said Cliff.

Gary walked in as she was asking. ‘Roger Cornett is here for a few days,’ he said.

What? ‘Seriously?’ said Ren. ‘Is that chair doomed to be filled by an asshole?’

‘All chairs are,’ said Cliff.

‘I’d be seeing a doctor if my asshole were filling it...’ said Gary.

Gary has made a joke. The world has gone mad.

‘Sorry, Gary — you know Cornett is a total dick,’ said Ren. ‘There’s definitely a diagnosis there...’

‘Roger!’ said Cliff, looking past Ren, standing up, reaching out his hand. ‘Welcome back.’

Ren’s heart plunged. Oh. Dear. God.

She turned around to see no one behind her.

‘That was so mean,’ she said. She turned to Gary. ‘Aw, Gary, please. Please don’t consider Cornett as a permanent. He is a hater of humanity.’

‘And a lover of numbers,’ said Gary. ‘This is business, Ren.’

Do not smile at me, handsome boss.

Gary smiled more. ‘You handled Grabien.’ He paused and grabbed the mug of coffee from the desk. He took a drink. ‘Roger Cornett is not here, Ren. You can relax.’ He walked out the door, laughing.

Ren turned to Cliff. ‘That was two jokes in a row — what the hell? And this is not business, by the way. It’s home. It’s home!’

‘You young people,’ said Cliff. ‘You have no lives.’

‘I know, I know,’ said Ren. ‘One minute, I’m prom queen, the next my office is my home. That and bars.’

‘You were never prom queen,’ said Cliff.

‘You are not wrong,’ said Ren. ‘I did, however, make out with her. Even though I had not voted for her... which made me feel a little guilty.’

‘How is the Vatican on that kind of guilt?’ said Cliff.

‘They’re big fans of me feeling guilty,’ said Ren. ‘For themselves? Not so much. Robbie gets repression of sexual urges, I get guilt.’

‘Ren, can you please quit talking about all that?’ said Robbie.

‘I am sorry,’ said Ren. ‘And you are right. I think I am a little fascinated by the whole thing.’

‘Robbie has been afflicted with the curse of having happily married parents,’ said Cliff. ‘It has been proven that that can actually mess people up, that you won’t settle for less.’

Oh my God, Robbie, you have told no one.

‘I don’t know,’ said Ren. ‘Ben’s parents are happily married. And he has totally settled.’

Her phone rang. It was Barry Tolman.

‘Ren, sorry, I was out of town for a couple of days. I wanted to let you know that one of my staff here at the lab got a call directly from Robert Prince last Wednesday.’

‘Robert Prince?’ said Ren. ‘What did he want?’

‘Well, he was asking about the release of the body. He thought it would be coming directly from the morgue. They put him in touch with the funeral home.’

‘OK...’

‘He asked about the fetus,’ said Tolman. ‘About whether it could be... transported in a separate coffin.’

Oh my God. ‘Well, I think that’s the surrogacy question answered,’ said Ren. ‘Jesus. That’s heart-breaking. We’ll try to get some buccal swabs from the Princes so we can confirm everything. Thanks for letting me know.’

Ren put down the phone, struck by the realization that Laura Flynn was buried by now.

How quickly you can be gone, how quickly you can be in the ground or ashes in the wind.

Ren called Eli Baer. ‘Hey, Eli — did you get anything from Laura Flynn’s memorial service?’

‘She was cremated at Rooks Funeral Home in Southampton on Saturday,’ said Eli. ‘There was a short service, and they scattered her ashes at sea. It was a small affair, as you can imagine. The Princes were there, both very upset, some of their friends, some of Laura’s friends from New York — mostly Irish.’

‘Was there a guy called Johnny there?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Eli. ‘And, by the way, it seemed none of her friends knew she was pregnant.’

‘That’s just so strange,’ said Ren. ‘I’m thinking surrogacy. Or the father is a married man...’

‘You’re still thinking Robert Prince...’ said Eli.

‘Well...’

‘I don’t know if this is going to make things better or worse for you,’ said Eli. ‘But I got some more on the OCBLA. Robert Prince was not supposed to be running in 2015, but one of the candidates — there are only two — dropped out at the beginning of the year; he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Robert agreed to take his place. This is a position he really wants. My source told me that when he wasn’t elected in 2005, he went all out to curry favor with the other members for 2010. Rumor has it he donated millions to a diocesan fund to pay off victims of child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church in Denver.’

‘And that’s a good thing?’ said Ren. ‘Jesus Christ. I wonder was he looking for anything in return, like land? I don’t get how these lay people are willing to pay for these priests’ actions.’

‘Unless that’s their thing too,’ said Eli.

‘I’m not getting that vibe from him.’

‘“He seemed like such a nice scout leader/clown/elementary school teacher/swim coach”...’ said Eli.

Ren laughed. ‘My radar is usually good for that kind of thing...’

‘If I find out any more, I’ll let you know...’

She put down the phone and filled the others in.

‘So, the pregnancy was secret,’ said Cliff. ‘And he wants to be head of an organization where he needs to be a model Catholic. That’s a worrying combination.’

‘Maybe Laura Flynn wasn’t the target at all,’ said Ren. ‘Maybe the baby was...’