Breacher (Tom Keeler Book 2) by Jack Lively (reading well TXT) 📕

“I appreciate you speaking up for me.”

She said, “It was just the right thing to do is all.”

“Even so.”

“Well, it isn’t just about you. I’ve taken a personal interest in the question of Mister Lawrence, you could call it a hobby.”

“Because of the place up by the fire tower?”

Ellie nodded. “Yes.” She had a strange look on her face, like she didn’t know exactly how to express what was swimming around in her head. “The land is smack dab in the middle of tribal territory, like a black hole in my jurisdiction. That’s one thing. Another thing I didn’t tell you. Happened earlier this year, late March. We found a body up by the fence. Looked like it had been there all winter long and nobody had come by to find it.”

“What fence?”

“Perimeter fence around the property.” Ellie pointed through the kitchen window to the right. “Up there after the fire tower. Property starts about a hundred yards off. We found the body leaned against the fence. Some old toothless guy.” She put her hand back on the table and curled it around her coffee cup, like it had gotten real cold all of a sudden. “At the time we figured it was some old drifter who froze to death, and that’s probably what it is. But that was early April by the time we’d given up on identifying the body, and we still have no idea who that was because of the lack of dental information. Prints came up clean.”

I said, “Which side of the fence?”

Ellie snapped her fingers. “Bingo. Our side of the fence, which is precisely why I was never able to go up there and ask any questions. So, truth is, we’ve never even been able to go look into that compound. No idea what he does.” She took a sip from her coffee and swallowed elegantly. “It just rubs me up the wrong way is all. So, yeah. When you mentioned Mister Lawrence, and the trouble you’ve been having, let’s just say that the entire situation gets my ears pricked up and alert.”

I said, “So what are we doing here?”

She said, “We’re going to team up, Keeler. You and me. I’ve told you how I see it, what about you?”

I said, “Way I see it, your Mister Lawrence mystery is a sideshow at the moment. From my point of view it’s more simple than that. A mother comes up here looking for her missing son and gets killed. Doesn’t look like anybody’s picked up the trail, so I’ll take it from here. No doubt it won’t be pretty. I wouldn’t mind finding Chapman either.”

She said, “Oh yes, I’ll bet. Apparently the Port Morris PD had a great time with the bed sheets.”

I didn’t rise to it. I continued. “Like I said, what are we doing here?”

“You mean, assuming the Port Morris PD isn’t going to be doing effective work.”

I said, “I’ve got a few reasons to believe that the Port Morris PD will not be sufficient. The first is that as far as they’re concerned it’s a murder, not a missing person’s case. Abrams went to the police and got bounced, hard. Second, someone gave the local cops my name as Jane Abram’s killer, which they accepted without enough critical reflection, far as I’m concerned. I’m operating under the assumption they are constitutionally unable to work in any acceptable manner.”

She said, “Jim’s a good guy, but he’s one guy.”

“Good guy meaning what?”

“Meaning not corrupt, and only drunk in the evenings and weekends.” Ellie leaned back and looked at me coolly. “So where do we start, Keeler?”

I said, “You have to know something Ellie, before we get into it. There aren’t two ways of doing this, and there aren’t any moral equivocations, as far as I’m concerned. The ethical part of this is all wrapped up with a bow on it. My moral compass has only two settings, wrong and right. I’m not the philosophy department. People have done some very bad things, which they are currently getting away with scot-free. No reason why they’d shy away from doing more bad things. Now that I’m here, it’s going to get straightened out. Simple as that.”

She said, “You seem very confident. But things are never simple, Keeler.”

I said, “Every problem looks impossibly complicated when you don’t know the solution.”

Ellie’s eyes were smiling, her mouth too. She said, “You’re like a poet, Keeler.”

“That’s what Deckart said. We’ll see what happens to him. Dollars to donuts he doesn’t last the week.” I glanced at the backpack over by the door. I said, “Two things up top on my list. One, while you were telling me about the toothless old guy, I was thinking that it might be a good idea to get a look at that old Navy research base after all, tangential or not. Two, we need to find a computer geek of our own.”

Ellie cocked her head to the side. “Why?”

“See that backpack over there?” I pointed to it, Ellie followed with her eyes. “George’s laptop, from his apartment. Password protected, so maybe one try left before it triggers whatever security he’s got set up.”

She whistled. “Withholding that from the police?”

I got up and walked over to the backpack, parked on a chair by the door. “Are they investigating the disappearance of George Abrams?”

Ellie said, “No, not that I’m aware of.”

“Right. I am.”

I opened the bag and removed the envelopes that I had taken from George Abrams’ mailbox. I brought them back to the kitchen table. Ellie was watching me carefully. I cleaned off a knife and started slitting the envelopes open. The first two were junk mail.

She said, “I may be able to find a geek. In fact, you met him briefly. At the old fire tower.”

I said, “In regards to the first thing on the list, I borrowed a bike from Guilfoyle’s boat. Need to get it back to him.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Need is a four-letter word.”

“So I hear. But the