Dead Man's Song (Pine Deep 2)
“No. He was pretty vague with me the last couple of times we spoke. Said he wanted to talk to me today, though. ”
Ferro grunted. “Interesting. ” He took a business card from his inside jacket pocket. “If there’s anything in what he says, would you be willing to give me a call? One cop to an—”
“Dude, if you don’t want me to play the ‘this town is weird’ card then don’t play the ‘brothers behind the badge’ card on me. Saul’s one of my closest friends. If there is something he needs and if that something is best handled by you, or if it involves the Boyd case, then yeah, I’ll give you a call. ” With a smile he plucked the card from between Ferro’s fingers and tucked it in his pants pocket. “Speaking of which…what about Boyd? Anything new?”
Ferro shook his head. “No one’s had a whiff of him since he fled this jurisdiction. After the first few sightings in Trenton and Newark he’s dropped off the radar, so the general feeling is that he’s either gone to ground somewhere—a safe house—or he’s out of the country. ”
“Gut?”
“I think he’s dead. ”
Crow pretended to toast him. “Here’s hoping. ”
“Mmm. It’d be nice if this case just quietly wound down and blew away. It’s been a major pain in my ass for too long. Yours, too, I imagine. Speaking of which, how’s your lady?” They lapsed into a more genteel conversation and after a while Ferro shook Crow’s hand and excused himself, and Crow watched as he and the other officers headed out of the house and, Crow thought, out of their lives.
He was looking around for Val when he felt a hand close around his elbow and turned to see Saul Weinstock standing at his side. “Word with you, Crow?” Weinstock’s face had looked pinched earlier, and up close it showed even more signs of stress. “Listen…have you noticed anything, um, ‘funny’ going on around town lately?”
Crow suppressed a smile. “Everyone’s asking me that. ”
“I know, I saw you talking to Frank. What did he say? He tell you what we were talking about?” Weinstock’s questions came out so fast it was like they were wired together.
“He said you were bugged about something. What’s up?”
“I told him that there have been some bad things happening around here. ”
“You said as much on the phone yesterday?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled while fishing a tin of Altoids out of his pocket; he opened it, looked inside, closed the tin, and put it back without having taken one. Crow had the impression that Weinstock had not even registered doing any of that.
“You need to lay off the microbrews, kemosabe,” he said.
Weinstock frowned. “Haven’t had a drink yet today,” he said, “but it’s a good idea. ”
He started to move away but Crow caught his arm. “Dude…what the hell’s with you? You’re acting fruitier than a nutcake. ”
Weinstock smiled faintly. “It’s…nothing. I’m just being paranoid. ”
“Saul,” Crow moved closer, “don’t give me that bullshit. Something’s frying your grits and it’s not the corn blight. ”
“I’m not sure I want to go into it right now,” he said, and then seemed to remember that it was he who had brought it up. He took a breath, blinked a few moments, and then met Crow’s gaze. “Look, some funky stuff has been happening at the hospital. I shouldn’t go into it right now. Hell, I shouldn’t even be talking to you about this. ”
“Too late. ”
“Crow…this is going to sound really crazy, but I want a straight answer. ”
“Ooo-kay. ”
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
Crow smiled. “Are you freakin’ kidding me here? You’re asking the biggest horror geek in Bucks County if he believes in ghosts?”
Weinstock touched Crow’s arm. “I’m being serious here. Not Halloween stuff, either. Just answer me straight. Do you believe in ghosts?”
“Sure I do, Saul, but you don’t, so why are you asking me?”
The doctor looked around at the other people milling in the kitchen, some of them smiling as they chatted and ate and drank. He licked his lips and then looked back at Crow.
“You’re right. Forget I said anything. ” He went to move away.