NEVER
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER23
94
Colter Shaw was in the office of FPD detective Dunfry Kemp.
Significantly fewer file folders were present, with the result that more of the walls showed, and the many stains and scuffs on the brown and green surfaces were far more obvious. On the whole, the place looked better with the buffer of files.
Kemp was looking over his statement, nodding.
Shaw noted that the officer accepted the most important line of dialogue in his performance: “In my judgment, Ms. Parker used only the force necessary to protect her own life and the lives of her daughter and myself.”
Always good to have a version of the script ready, in case a firearm and a body were involved.
The police had turned cooperative.
It seemed that the reluctance to pursue Jon Merritt was due not really to the reputation of the Hero of Beacon Hill, but to the fact that Harmon had a captain and two detectives on his payroll. One of these was Dunfry Kemp’s supervisor, who had assigned him the Merritt case, along with the numerous others to hamper the search for the former cop and his ex-wife and daughter. All with an eye toletting the Merritt murder-suicide proceed with as few glitches as possible.
With those on the take suspended, Kemp was unleashed and he’d turned into quite the efficient law enforcer.
“We’ll need you to testify, Mr. Shaw.”
He nodded.
“Bet you’ve done that before.”
“I have.”
“So you travel around the country looking for rewards, do you?”
“That’s right.”
Kemp seemed intrigued, and Shaw wondered if he was going to ask where to submit his resume. But he said, “You like doing that, why don’t you just join up?”
Regulations and a dreaded desk.
“I like traveling.”
“Well, keep it in mind, sir. Fact is, policing’s the best job in the world.”
“I’ve heard.”
“Prosecutor’ll be in touch.” Kemp slid the statement forward to Shaw, who signed it.
The man then asked, “You heard how he’s doing? Need to talk to him too.”
“Better.”
The individual they were referring to was a prior participant in the incident, someone not expected to make a reappearance.
Frank Villaine.
Who was not dead after all.
The Twins had arrived at the man’s house just as he was leaving, intending to torture him into telling where Allison and Hannah had gone. They hadn’t expected him to be armed and he let loose with his Glock and fled into the woods. One of the Twins caught him in the back with a slug and he went down. They assumed he was deador soon would be, and then found that they didn’t need his cooperation; they noticed that the GPS in the Mercedes was programmed with his destination: the cabin on Timberwolf Lake.
Villaine had been found by a neighbor that evening and rushed to a hospital. Allison Parker was presently with him.