Heart of Ice

50

The murmur of voices woke him up. It took Louis a moment to realize they were coming from the TV. He reached across his pillow to turn the sound down, but the remote was gone.

“You’re awake.”

Louis dropped his head to his left. Rafsky sat in the bedside chair, comfortably slumped down, ankle on his knee, holding the remote in one hand and a can of Vernors in the other.

“You want it up or down?” Rafsky asked.

“Down.”

Rafsky muted the sound.

“What time it is?” Louis asked, looking to the dark window.

“About six,” Rafsky said. “How you feeling?”

“My feet hurt.”

Rafsky took a drink of the ginger ale. “I would have been out there with you on the lake, but some dumb shit sent me on a wild-goose chase to the airport.”

Louis hit the button to raise the bed. “Any sign of Ross yet?”

“He’s disappeared,” Rafsky said.

Louis was silent, looking at the television. The screen was full of men and microphones. The crawl identified the tall man with a shock of white hair as the Mackinac County district attorney Greg Thom. Behind him were two men Louis didn’t recognize and one he almost didn’t. It was Chief Flowers wearing a blue dress uniform.

“Turn that up,” Louis said.

The sound came up just as Flowers stepped to the microphone. His face was serious, his mondo-grass hair gelled back.

The reporters’ questions came in a salvo, and for a second Flowers looked flustered. Then he launched into a smooth recap of the investigation and a credible explanation of why Julie’s existence was kept secret.

“It was a carefully calculated decision designed to protect not only the suspect Julie Chapman but also Senator Ross Chapman from a media onslaught until we were able to get a clean and complete statement,” Flowers said. “There was never an attempt to cover anything up. We were in control the entire time.”

“He learns fast,” Rafsky said.

“Who’s that bald guy behind him?” Louis asked.

“My boss, Captain Leathers,” Rafsky said.

As if on cue Leathers stepped to the microphone and, after heaping more praise on Flowers, he gave a short speech about how diligently the police had worked to solve a very difficult case. Rafsky was mentioned in passing. Louis was not.

Louis looked back at Rafsky. “How come you’re not there?”

“I told them I had to visit a sick friend.”

“Norm, this was your case,” Louis said.

Rafsky muted the sound on the TV. “Flowers needed to lead the parade, not me,” he said.

“You get anything at all out of this?” Louis asked.

Rafsky took a moment to answer. “I got a bump in rank to captain. And they offered me a high-level administrative position at the training center in Lansing.”

“That’s great.”

“I’m not going to take it.”

“Why not?” Louis asked. “I thought you were getting tired of the field. That’s why you were putting in your papers, right?”

“I asked to stay in the Marquette post,” Rafsky said.

Louis understood. “Chloe and Ryan will like that,” he said.

Rafsky didn’t comment. The press conference ended, and the station switched to the weather.

“Has the DA made a decision yet on whether to charge Julie?” Louis asked.

Rafsky turned off the TV and leaned forward on his knees. “He’s looking at manslaughter.”

“Seems a little harsh.”

“You don’t think she deserves some sort of punishment?”

“I don’t know.”

“Look at it this way,” Rafsky said. “After she hit Rhonda Grasso with that stone she had two choices. Sit there and let her bleed out or try to get help.”

Rafsky was right. Julie could have gone to town to get help for Rhonda, but the truth was, she never considered it. She had covered up her crime and gone upstairs to wait for Cooper. And then there was Chester Grasso. Didn’t he-and his daughter-deserve some kind of justice?

“You think she’ll be found guilty?” Louis asked.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Rafsky said. “Our job ends when they close the cell door. After that it’s all up to the lawyers.”

Rafsky finished his Vernors and tossed the can across the room, making a nice swish into the trash can.

He stood up. “I have to get going.”

Rafsky started to hold out his hand, then drew it back when he remembered Louis’s sore fingers. Instead, he picked up his coat and laid it over his arm.

“You take care of yourself,” Rafsky said.

“You, too.”

Rafsky turned to leave. Louis watched him, thinking about staying here all night, watching the one TV station, and eating the bland food. Joe wasn’t going to get here until tomorrow, and damn it, he wanted some company. He didn’t mind at all if it was Rafsky.

“You know,” Louis said, “you could hang around and bring me a burger later from the Mustang.”

“Can’t,” Rafsky said. “I have a fresh body waiting for me in Newberry.”

“A new case already?”

Rafsky paused at the door to give Louis a small smile. “The dead keep us alive, right?”

And then he was gone.