Heartbreaker Hero: Eddie's Story (Maine Justice Book 4) Read online

  Half an hour later, the Wainthrops drove out without Leeanne. Peter had already left.

  “Ready?” Harvey asked.

  “Yeah, let’s go.” Eddie glanced at Leeanne.

  “Are you coming back later?” she asked.

  “Jennifer’s probably tired.” Eddie looked tentatively at Harvey.

  “She’s exhausted, if you want the truth, what with the wedding and all the company.”

  Eddie nodded. “Well, I’ll come back with Harvey, but I should probably go see my folks tonight.” He thought it was about time Jennifer didn’t have to feed everyone. Abby would go to work at the hospital, but Harvey and Leeanne could look out for themselves.

  Leeanne nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

  Harvey’s Explorer was in the driveway, and they took it. “You can hang around here tonight if you want to,” Harvey said.

  “Thanks. I don’t want to wear out my welcome, and besides, like you said, Jennifer deserves some rest. I’ll clear out before supper.”

  “Okay.”

  The side roads were slushy. Worst case scenario, it would freeze again that night and leave a frozen mess in the roadways.

  In ten minutes, they were at the Quinlans’ house. Eddie was glad for a chance to talk to Kyle’s family without Mike and his son there. Sometimes people opened up more to strangers.

  Harvey introduced him to Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan. They were Mike’s age—graying, looking forward to retirement, but probably a power couple twenty years ago. They took the detectives into their living room, where Jordan waited. They all looked puffy-eyed and ready to start bawling again any second.

  “I’m sorry about your brother,” Eddie told Jordan.

  Jordan shook hands with him. “Thanks. He was ... he did a lot of stupid things, you know? But he was still my brother.”

  “Do you know any more now than you did last night, Captain Larson?” his mother asked.

  Harvey shook his head. “Not really. We know the gun hadn’t been fired recently, and it carried a full load.”

  “Kyle never had a gun,” Mr. Quinlan said.

  “Yes, he did, Dad,” Jordan said, and his parents stared at him.

  His father frowned. “First I heard about it. A handgun, I mean.”

  “He’s had it a while,” Jordan insisted.

  “How long?” Eddie asked.

  “Five or six years, at least.”

  “Whatever for?” Mrs. Quinlan asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jordan said. “That was just Kyle. He was always into stuff. When he was in junior high, he thought it was cool to smoke, so he started smoking. Later he had to have a motorbike. Are you really surprised he had a gun?”

  “There’s no permit on it,” Harvey said. “I assume he bought it in a private sale or at a gun show.”

  “Probably,” Jordan said.

  “And you have no idea why he wanted it?”

  “No. But I don’t even know that the one you found is the one he showed me a few years back. For all I know, he’s got a dozen of them.”

  Harvey nodded. “True. It could be a different weapon.”

  “Why would he go to the chief’s house?” Eddie asked.

  “No idea.”

  Harvey said, “You and Mike Browning Junior were very good friends.”

  Jordan ran a hand through his dark hair. “Yeah. Mike’s a good guy. And his parents are the best.” He glanced at his mother. “Next to mine, of course. They let me go over there anytime I wanted. The Brownings fed me half the time, and they put up with Mike’s and my shenanigans. If I didn’t have these two, I’d wish they were my parents.”

  “So, you knew their house well,” Harvey said.

  Jordan nodded. “I was in and out of there constantly. I knew every smudge on the wallpaper.”

  “How about Kyle?” Eddie asked.

  “No, he didn’t go there much. He ran with different friends. I think he liked Debbie Browning for a while, but I don’t think he ever actually took her out. She was probably smart and said no.”

  “So, your brother was a bad actor in high school?” Eddie asked, softening it with a smile. He wished the parents weren’t hovering.

  Jordan shrugged. “Everybody knew he was a cut-up.”

  Mr. Quinlan said apologetically, “He got in some trouble.”

  Jordan barked a laugh. “The only reason his class didn’t vote him most likely to be arrested was that he’d already been arrested.”

  “He had a couple of OUI’s,” Eddie said.

  “Yeah, and he started on pot in high school.”

  Eddie nodded, remembering the drug incidents on Kyle’s record.

  “You don’t think he died because of drugs, do you?” Mr. Quinlan asked. “Maybe he was just taking a shortcut, crossing the Brownings’ yard to the next street.”

  “Carrying a loaded weapon,” Eddie said.

  The Quinlans all looked at him, and he felt guilty for making the grieving family feel worse.

  “We’ll know more when the tox screens are finished,” Harvey said. “Jordan, is there anything else you can tell us that might help? For instance, who did Kyle hang around with lately?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve lived in Berwick for five years or so. I really don’t know who he chums with.”

  “Girlfriends?” Harvey pressed.

  Jordan shook his head. “The last time I talked to him more than five minutes—and that may have been in September—there was a girl named Misty.”

  “We met her,” his mother said. “I wasn’t very impressed with her.”

  “Was he still seeing her?” Harvey asked.

  “I think so. Maybe.” Jordan didn’t meet his eyes, and Eddie thought there was something more there—something he wasn’t telling.

  “Do you know her last name?” Harvey looked from Mrs. Quinlan to her husband.

  “Carver, Carter, something like that,” Mr. Quinlan said.

  Jordan raised his chin. “Carney.”

  Mr. Quinlan’s brow cleared. “That was it.”

  Eddie wrote it in his notebook.

  “Anyone else you can think of that he might have been close to?” Harvey asked.

  Jordan shook his head. “I don’t think he was working, was he, Dad?”

  “No. I told the captain yesterday, he’d had a job at one of the commercial wharves, but he quit. I don’t know how he thought he could pay the rent.”

  Eddie had some ideas about that, but he didn’t volunteer them.

  “Okay, we’ll see if we can get hold of Misty Carney.” Harvey held out one of his cards to Jordan. “In the meantime, if you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to call me.”

  Jordan took the card and nodded.

  Mr. Quinlan walked with them to the door. “The funeral’s on Wednesday.”

  “Even if the body hasn’t been released?” Harvey asked.

  “Yes. A memorial. My wife doesn’t want to put it off.”

  “I doubt we’ll have all the answers by then,” Harvey said.

  “But you’ll keep us posted?”

  “Sure. Call my cell phone if you want to, sir. If I’ve got anything I can share, I will.” Over the last six months, Eddie had seen Harvey do that—give his personal number to victims and their families. Not just anyone—not reporters, but people with real needs who might feel they had no one else to turn to for the truth about their case. He never used to give out his private number, but since he became a Christian, he seemed to be taking down some walls.

  While he drove home, Eddie asked, “Do you think Jordan was telling you everything?”

  “No. You picked up on that?”

  “I thought he was a little cautious, even though he told us his brother wasn’t perfect. You want me to look up this girl today?”

  “Let it ride until tomorrow. We’re supposed to be off duty.”

  They got to the house around three o’clock. Abby’s car was gone, since it was time for her to start her shift at the hospital. Jennifer
and Leeanne were cuddled up with afghans in the living room, watching It’s a Wonderful Life. Jennifer hit the pause button when the men walked in.

  “How’d it go?”

  “All right.” Harvey joined her on the sofa.

  “Did anyone get their wings lately?” Eddie asked. Jennifer threw a package bow at him, and Leeanne laughed. Eddie walked over to her chair. “How about a walk? I can tell you how that ends.”

  “I’ve seen it before. Oh.” She realized he was joking and laughed.

  “We’ll be over at the park,” he told Harvey.

  It was warmer out than it had been that morning, and Eddie didn’t bother to put on his gloves. They went out onto the sidewalk, and he took Leeanne’s hand.

  “So, your mom didn’t mind about you staying down this week?” he asked.

  “She’s okay with it. Harvey said he and Jennifer will take me home next Sunday.”

  “Great. This is really great.” Eddie looked over to see if she thought it was great, too, but he couldn’t read her expression. “So, can I see you every night?”

  She laughed. “Are you trying to emulate Harvey?” He was famous in the family for the rush he’d given Jennifer when he met her.

  “Harvey is my mentor,” Eddie said seriously. She laughed again. Eddie was glad she was catching on to his teasing. “So, I really should go home this evening, but tomorrow night?”

  She glanced at him, then looked down. “I’m not sure. Maybe I should ask Harvey and Jennifer. They might have something planned.”

  “I’ll take you someplace,” he said. “You want to go out to eat?”

  She hesitated. “Let me talk to Jennifer, okay?”

  “Okay, sure.” She seemed evasive, which wasn’t like her. Eddie didn’t want to make her uneasy. They walked on. After a minute, he said, “Listen, I just want to spend time with you. If you don’t want me to hang around while you’re visiting, I won’t.”

  “It’s not that.” She blushed, and he decided he’d better leave it alone.

  They headed for the little park at the end of the street. Some kids were building a snow fort.

  “Let’s make a snowman,” Eddie said. They pulled their gloves from their pockets, and soon Leeanne was laughing and rolling a stomach for the snowman. A couple of kids came over to help them, and they made a pretty good statue. The kids brought sticks for his arms and rocks for his eyes and mouth.

  On the way home, Eddie took off his soggy gloves and reached for her hand again. Her gloves were all wet, and she took them off and stuck them in her pockets and let him hang on.

  “Your hands are freezing.” He rubbed her fingers. About halfway back to the house, he said, “Leeanne, I really like you.”

  She looked at him, then away. “I like you, too.”

  “Is there anybody else?”

  “No.” They walked on. When they were almost to the driveway she said, “What about you? Are you seeing anybody down here?”

  “No.” He hadn’t looked at another girl since late October, when he and Harvey had stayed at the Wainthrops’ house during a couple of days of training at the Police Academy. That’s when Eddie had decided Leeanne was the one he wanted to concentrate on. He’d been up to Skowhegan a couple of times since, and he’d started thinking Leeanne was it for him, for life. Now he realized Harvey had been wise when he’d warned him to take it slowly. Eddie was ready to commit, but he was getting mixed signals from Leeanne.

  “So, you want to go to the ice show.” Eddie wasn’t asking, just making sure.

  “I love ice skating,” she said. “I’m not very good at it, but I love to watch people who are.”

  “Good. We’ll have fun.” He watched her from the corner of his eye, but she didn’t look at him. They were almost back to the house. “Everything okay?”

  She stopped in the driveway and turned to face him. “Jennifer told me last summer that you … had a girlfriend,” she said.

  So that was it. She’d heard about Sarah. “Not really,” Eddie said. “There was somebody, but … well, she’s not a Christian. I stopped seeing her. It never got really serious.” He watched her anxiously, searching for clues to her thought train.

  “It’s not important,” she said, but he could see that to her it was important.

  “Could we walk around the block?” Eddie asked. “Because I think we need to talk some more.”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it and looked away. She didn’t start walking.

  “What else did Jennifer say?” Eddie couldn’t imagine her sister saying anything disloyal. He and Jennifer were staunch friends. But something was definitely simmering.

  “Nothing much, but Abby said you have this reputation.”

  Oh, Abby. Eddie didn’t say it out loud, but he thought plenty. Should he defend himself? It was true, he’d been a real jackass. For too long. But what did Abby know?

  Leeanne finally looked up at him, so he said, “Okay.”

  “Women she works with talk about you.”

  That wasn’t good.

  Chapter 6

  Eddie’s brain zoomed through the women he’d dated, trying to home in on nurses, like the IAFIS program trying to find a match for a fingerprint from a catalog of thousands. He hadn’t dated many nurses.

  “Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked.

  Leeanne sighed. “I’m not the jealous type, really, but...”

  Yeah, right. “But what?” Eddie was sweating inside his jacket, but he tried to stay calm. Being nervous with a woman was unusual for him. Leeanne was different from any other girl he’d ever dated, in a good way, but that and the fact that she was Jennifer’s sister kept him cautious.

  “I think one of them might have dated you in high school,” she said.

  Eddie sighed and watched a plow truck coming down the street. “I wasn’t very smart in high school. And I’m not just talking about grades.” He did some more mental tabulating. From the shadowy recesses of his gray matter, a couple of names bounced out. “Are we talking about Denise Rancourt?”

  “I don’t know her name. But she told Abby you went from girl to girl all the time, and you never went steady with anyone, but you dated just about every girl in your class and the next lower class and broke about a thousand hearts.”

  Eddie stared at her. She seemed to think that was a very serious charge.

  “Okaaaay. Anything else?”

  “Well, there was another nurse who said she met you when your sister had a baby and you came to the hospital to visit her. And she went out with you that night.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. You just chatted her up and asked her out.”

  “I probably did. I don’t remember.”

  “She, uh ... said you’re a really good kisser.”

  “Oh, great.” Maybe this was one of those conversations it was better not to have, because if she meant the maternity nurse he’d dated after David was born, this could get really messy. He was a beat cop then, and partying hard on the weekends. He was pretty sure it went beyond kissing.

  He lifted her chin a little, and she looked into his eyes.

  “Listen, Leeanne, I did date a lot of girls. I used to be proud of that. I’m not anymore. I think I probably hurt a lot of people, even though I tried to be nice and not do anything really, really. . .Okay, I did some bad stuff.”

  He was getting in too deep. He couldn’t deny too many things, because he’d done most of them. And he couldn’t say what he’d done was right. At the time, he thought it was great, and he was extra cool. He’d had his pick of the single women who worked at the police station, the diner, and a couple of bars he frequented. He could have made time with some of the married ones, too, but that was one line he drew for himself early on. At least he did one thing right.

  He gave himself a mental kick in the pants. That was the best thing he could think of that he’d ever done—not dating married women? That was pretty disgusting.

  He stepped back. “Maybe we need to
think about this.”

  “How do you mean?”

  Her eyes were all shiny, like she might cry, and Eddie hated himself. He wished he could take a Mr. Clean eraser and wipe away all his past relationships, from Madison Smith in sixth grade to Sarah, especially the ones that went too far. But there were so many, it would take a whole bucket of erasers. And there were no relationship erasers.

  He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. His soggy gloves weren’t comforting.

  “Why don’t you think some more about how you feel? Because it true I wasn’t an angel. If you don’t want to go out with me, I could understand that, but it’s better for you to decide now.”

  Her bottom lip quivered. “What if I do want to?”

  Relief hit him. He said earnestly, “Then I want you to know, absolutely, that I will be good to you. I won’t do anything disrespectful. I want to do things the right way now, which means I want to obey God.”

  She nodded soberly, and that encouraged him to elaborate a little.

  “If you date me, I promise I won’t look at another girl again, and I won’t be too ... forward.” It seemed like an old-fashioned way to put it, but it also seemed like a word she would understand the way he meant it. “If you ever tell me to back off, I will. And if you want to know anything about my past, I will tell you, but you have to be really sure you want to ask. Because I regret a lot of stuff, and I don’t think it helps to hash it over. It’s like scratching a sunburn with steel wool.”

  Harvey had told him once that discretion was the better part of valor, and now Eddie believed it was also the better part of romance.

  Tears spilled over and ran down Leeanne’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t say that.” He grabbed her hands. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Look, you’re the kind of woman I want. But I’m the kind of guy you should keep clear of. Looking back, I’m not surprised Jennifer and Abby warned you about me. Did you know Harvey told me last summer not to start anything with you?”

  “No.” Her eyes were huge and teary.

  “That was before. He doesn’t feel that way now. But it’s true I had a lot of girlfriends. But I only got involved if they knew what they were getting into. Does that make sense to you?”