V is for Vengeance (Kinsey Millhone 22)

Mickey swore he was a stand-up guy, someone you could count on in a fight. I had no reason to doubt him. In those days, there was a posse of cops known as the Priddy Committee—Len’s boys, rowdy, rough, and given to busting heads when they thought they could get away with it. Mickey was one of them. That was the era of the Dirty Harry movies, and cops, despite protests to the contrary, took a secret satisfaction in the lawlessness of the Clint Eastwood character. The department had changed radically over the years, and while Priddy had hung on, he hadn’t been promoted since. Most cops in his position would have moved on to other work, but Len came from a long line of police officers, and he was too identified with the job to do anything else.

In Priddy’s company, Cheney seemed to take on a different coloration. Or maybe my perception was affected by my knowledge of Priddy’s notoriety. Whatever the case, I was tempted to avoid the pair, postponing the conversation with Cheney until later. On the other hand, I’d searched him out in hopes of getting the lowdown on Audrey Vance, and it seemed cowardly to veer off when he was only fifteen feet away.

Cheney spotted me as I approached and stood up by way of greeting. Priddy glanced in my direction and then diverted his gaze. He made a faint show of acknowledgment and then became absorbed in the packet of sugar he was tapping into his iced tea.

Cheney and I had once had what is euphemistically referred to as a “fling,” meaning a short-lived dalliance without any lasting effect. We were now studiously polite, behaving as though we’d never trifled with each other when we were both hyperconscious of the once-fiery exchange. He said, “Hey, Kinsey. How’s it going? You know Len?”

“From way back. Good to see you.” I didn’t offer to shake hands with him and Len didn’t bother to rise from his chair.

Priddy said, “I didn’t realize you were still around.” As though my past ten years as a PI had completely slipped his mind.

“Still hangin’ in there,” I replied.

Cheney pulled a chair back. “Have a seat. You want to join us for lunch? We’re waiting for Len’s girlfriend so we haven’t ordered yet.”

“Thanks, but I’m here to ask a couple of questions that shouldn’t take long. I’m sure you have things to talk about.”

Cheney took his seat again and I perched on the edge of the chair he’d offered just to put myself at eye level with the two men.

“So what’s up?” he asked.

“I’m curious about Audrey Vance, the woman who—”

“We know who she is,” Priddy cut in. “What’s the nature of your interest?”

“Ah. Well, as it happens I was a witness to the shoplifting incident that resulted in her arrest.”

Priddy said, “Good news. I caught that. I’m working vice these days. Cold Spring Bridge is county so the sheriff’s department is looking into her death. You have questions about that, you ought to talk to them. I’m sure you have a lot of good friends out there.”

“Scads,” I said. Maybe I was being paranoid, but to me the comment suggested that as long as I’d screwed Cheney for information, I’d doubtless screwed the entire sheriff’s department as well. “I’m actually more interested in whether she’d ever been picked up before.” I glanced at Cheney, but Priddy had decided the subject belonged to him.

He said, “For shoplifting? Oh, yeah. Big-time. That one’s been around the track. Different names, of course. Alice Vincent. Ardeth Vick. She also used the last name Vest. I can’t remember the first on that one. Ann? Adele? Some A name.”

“Really. Was this petit or grand theft?”

“Grand and I’d say five times at least. She had some shit-ass attorney busy filing six kinds of paperwork. He’d have her plead down and take reduced jail sentence plus community service. First two times she got off scot-free. That was nickel-and-dime stuff and charges were dismissed. Did alcohol rehab or some such. What a pile of crap that was. Last time, the judge wised up and threw her in jail. Score one for our side.” He paused, clicking his tongue to mimic the sound of a baseball being hit, followed by an auditory rendition of cheers from the crowd. “If these people did serious jail time from the get-go, it would cut down on the repeats. How else are they going to learn?”

“There’s more,” Cheney said. “Friday, when the female jail officer had her strip, it turned out she was wearing booster gear—pockets in her underwear stuffed with more items than she had in her shopping bag. Major haul. We’re talking two, three thousand dollars’ worth, which makes it grand theft again.”