Levesque
“Excuse me, sir, you can’t go in there,” said the young officer in blue.
“But I own the place,” said Levesque, lowering the police tape he had lifted from his front door. In his head, he thought about how he hadn’t had a drink yet today. His head was pounding from last night’s session. He wished for the bottle.
“Yeah, well, the Lieutenant said no one was allowed in without his approval.”
“I just need to grab something out of my office. Cut me some slack.”
“What is it you need?”
“It’s just a book.”
“I’m sorry I can’t let you in.”
“God damn it, it’s just a book –“
“Mr. Levesque, what can we do for you?” asked a voice from behind Levesque. He turned to see Chamberlain, in what appeared to be the same rumpled suit and Reilly, in a sharp, new suit walking towards him.
“I was trying to get to my office. There’s a book I need there.”
“Big reader?” smirked Reilly.
“Listen man, what the fuck is your problem?” said Levesque, squinting in the bright sunlight, the glare causing waves of pain to crash into his temples.
“I have a problem with low-life punks trying to dig their way out of a hole they’ve created by robbing their own store, and killing their own employees.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Why would I do something like that? It’s ridiculous.”
“Why don’t we go inside,” said Chamberlain, moving his bulk in between the two men, “Son, please, don’t allow anyone inside.”
The young man in blue nodded his head. His eyes followed the three men as they climbed the stairs and entered the store.
The sunlight coming through the south windows highlighted the red-wine stain on the oak floorboards. The men took care to walk around it. Levesque’s already upset stomach threatened to empty whatever remained in it.
“Mr. Levesque, how are you today?” asked Chamberlain.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to believe yesterday was real. I was up most of the night trying to wrap my mind around it.”
“I can understand that. You do look a little worse-for-wear, no offense.”
“None taken. It was quite a shock.”
“That was quite a bit of excitement for a Wednesday in the Falls, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, I just can’t believe Davis is dead. He’d worked here for more than 25 years. He was family.”
“That’s a long time. You guys get along?”
“I told you yesterday, he was late all the time. I didn’t have the heart to fire him. Well, maybe it wasn’t about the heart. He was good at his job, and I didn’t have the time or the inclination to hire someone new. It was frustrating.”
“Frustrating enough to want to kill him?” asked Reilly.
The pounding behind his eyes increased, “man, have I done something to you? Did you have a horrible childhood, and because your parents bought the engagement ring here, you blame me? Newsflash. It’s not my fault. It was my father who sold it to them. Blame him. I’m the victim here.”
“Listen you little jumped up prick –“
“Reilly, enough,” boomed Chamberlain.
“Guy, you can’t tell me you’re buying this guy’s story.”
“Reilly, he hasn’t told us his story, aside from the events as they took place yesterday. Maybe give him some room and we can find out what he has to say.”
“Well, he’s lying.”
“I haven’t lied to you. I told you everything that happened.”
“You haven’t told us why you killed Davis.”
“I didn’t, wait, you think I killed him? Why the hell would I want to kill him?” the pain in Levesque’s head had disappeared. Now he felt panic.
“Well, Mr. Levesque, that’s what we were hoping to find out,” said Chamberlain, “you see, your prints were the only ones we found on the gun used to kill Mr. Davis were yours.”
“I told you yesterday, the two guys were wearing gloves.”
“That may well be the case, but we didn’t find a single print other than those of you, the victim, and Ms. Simard, of course, they were wearing gloves, but it doesn’t explain why when we arrived, we found your gun in your hand.”
“They did knock me out, they could have done whatever they wanted with the gun during the time I was out. Do you think I would have shot him and then fainted?”
“It does seem a bit far-fetched, but you told us you saw them shoot the victim. We found no other bullets, and your gun was missing only the one. You also had powder residue on your hand.”
“Seeing as how I didn’t fire my gun, I don’t know how that could’ve happened.”
“It couldn’t have been that you fired the gun?” asked Reilly.
“I don’t have to take this.”
“You’re right Mr. Levesque, you don’t,” said Chamberlain, “Reilly, take the car and go to Dunk’s. The one furthest from here. Get you and me a couple of coffees. Then, maybe take a drive around the Lake and bring them back to the station. I’ll meet you there.”
“This is bullshit.”
“You’re right, it is, but I can’t have you badgering Mr. Levesque. You’re antagonizing him for no reason I can see, and I don’t like it, so get the hell out of here and cool off.” The steel in Chamberlain’s voice startled Levesque, causing him to come out of his slouch.
Reilly stormed from the room, mumbling under his breath.
“He’s not a bad cop. Just young. And a little headstrong,” Chamberlain said by way of apology, “he’s one of those guys who just burns to get to the solution and doesn’t care so much about the people he has to deal with to get to that solution.”
“So his people skills suck.”
“In yeoman’s terms, yes.”
“Fair enough.”
“Thank you for your understanding Mr. Levesque. I appreciate it. So, we don’t know why your gun was in your hand, because you said you didn’t fire it, which then begs the question of why you had the powder residue on your hand? Let me ask you another question.”
“Sure.”
“How did the second guy, the shorter guy, get in?”
“When he came up behind me, he said I needed to do a better job of locking the basement windows. I’d assumed he came in through one of those windows.”
“Yeah, so, after taking your story down, we checked the windows downstairs. The dust on those things was unbelievable. We tried to open one of them. It didn’t budge,” the old detective grinned, “we even got that moose, Reilly, all worked up and he couldn’t move the darn thing. It looked like they hadn’t been opened in decades.”
“I’d imagine that’s true.”
“So we sent a guy outside to see what things looked like. He said there was no sign of forced entry at the windows. He also said the door appeared free from any signs of forced entry.
“I noticed there was an alarm on the door and windows, shouldn’t it have gone off if this other guy entered from the outside? Before we get to the alarm though, how the hell did he even get in the door? That’s what I want to know.”
“I don’t know. There are two alarms on the door. One of them is hooked into the whole system. The system was off because I was in the store and had turned it off. The second alarm goes off when the door is opened. The only reason it is ever opened is to take out trash, and we only do that at night.”
“Would someone have forgotten to lock the door and trigger the alarm?”
“It’s not outside the realm of possibility. Maybe they used Davis’ keys?”
“In your statement, you said he never had his keys. Why would yesterday have been any different?”
“I don’t know. It was just a thought.”
“I know it. Hey, wouldn’t you guys have done some sort of check to make sure both alarms were set at the end of the day?”
“In theory, yes, but it may not have happened last night,” Levesque felt the muscles of his lower back tighten as he felt the weight of the implied accusation.
“Why not?”
“We screwed up. We’re human.”
“It’s a little more than a screw up, someone lost their life.”
Levesque’s hangover and anger boiled over, “yeah, they did. And it’s a terrible tragedy. But if you think I had something to do with it, you’re crazy.”
“No one’s said you did.”
“Your partner was clear about what he thought.”
“No one in this room said you had a thing to do with it.”
“Don’t you think that maybe, you guys should be out trying to find these guys as opposed to harassing me?”
“No one’s harassing you, sir. We’re just trying to get as clear a picture as possible, so we can find these guys. You’ve been a big help. Let me ask you just one more question, then I’m out of your hair.”
“One more question.”
“Why was your wife in such a state this morning?”
A bead of sweat ran down Levesque’s forehead. He felt his face go red, “my wife? What? When did you talk to her?”
“We stopped by your house this morning looking for you. When she answered the door, she looked to have had a rough go of it. She burst into tears when she opened the door, said we just missed you by 10-15 minutes.”
Levesque thought back to his departure this morning. He’d left at his usual time in spite of the pounding in his skull. He hadn’t seen Beth before he left. Chamberlain and Reilly must have shown up right around Davis’ normal arrival time. He felt for her.
“She’s pretty upset about this whole business. She was concerned for my well being with the robbery and all. She was also close to Davis. She’s known him since our relationship started. You know, seeing him around the store and such.
“We’d also had a bit of a blowout this morning. She was worried whoever did this might come back, or try to come by the house. She wanted me there, just in case,” the lie rolled off his tongue with ease.
“Why would she think they’d come by the house?”
“I have no idea. She was adamant someone was going to come to the house and get her.”
“Any idea why that might have been?”
“Her meds.”
“What medications are we talking about?”
“She’s sick. She has ovarian cancer. She’d been pregnant eleven years ago and had a miscarriage. Right after the miscarriage, they’d discovered a growth. She had a surgery, and everything looked good. The cancer came back last year.
“She’s tough as nails, but she’s been hopped up on all sorts of different meds. I think some of the side effects involved heightened anxiety. The robbery. Davis getting shot. I’m thinking it might have been more than she could handle.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, it hasn’t been easy.”
“No, I imagine it hasn’t been. Alright, I promised that was my last question, and I like to try to keep my promises. Let’s get out of here. I’m afraid I can’t have you rummaging around here.”
“That’s fine. When do you think we’ll be able to get back to work? Not that I’m eager to rush back in, I just feel like some normalcy might help.”
“I’m not sure. I’d like to think if we could have the space through the weekend, that would be enough, but I can’t make any guarantees.”
“Alright, so, maybe Monday.”
“Maybe. Thank you for your time today,” said Chamberlain as he lifted his bulk from the chair he’d landed in. He and Levesque walked out towards the front of the store. Just as they reached the front door, Chamberlain spoke, “Mr. Levesque?”
“Yes?”
“What about your book.”
“Shit, you’re right. Can I run down into the basement and grab it?”
“Sure thing. Just don’t touch anything.
“Right.”
Levesque jogged to the basement door and hurried down the stairs. Next to the fridge was a shelf of books. Most were about jewelry: repair manuals, design guides and methods of identification.
He took a thick book from the bottom shelf. He blew dust off the spine and looked at the cover, tucking it under his arm, he climbed back upstairs.
He paused at the top of the stairs as he looked out onto the showroom floor, his eyes rooted to the bloodstain. He could feel Chamberlain’s eyes on him. He shook his head and moved toward the front door.
“The Bible?” asked Chamberlain as Levesque came out the front door and moved towards his truck, “I wouldn’t have put you down for a religious man, no offense.”
“None taken. I’m more of a lapsed Catholic,” said Levesque with a wry smile, “my old man was a hard charger. He kept me in St. Joe’s through the 8th grade. I made it through Sunday school, and whatnot. After my mother passed I’d make the effort every Sunday in her memory. It also was a good way to stay off the old man’s shit list.
“After yesterday, you have to look at everything in a different light. I thought maybe a run through the good book would help. Kinda quiet all the noise I’m feeling inside.”
“I was never much for church myself. My wife drags me in from time to time. I do enjoy the music when I’m there.”
“Yeah, that was always peaceful,” said Levesque as he climbed into the cab of his truck.
“Hey, Mr. Levesque,” said Chamberlain leaning on Levesque’s passenger side window.
“Yeah?”
“What do you think happened to your father?”
“My father?” Levesque kept his voice calm, while his mind wondered what Chamberlain was headed. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of his neck, “I don’t know. What does he have to do with this?”
“Well, remember that itch I couldn’t quite scratch yesterday? I figured out what it was. Yesterday was ten years to the day since he disappeared. Strange coincidence his business being robbed on the ten year anniversary of his disappearance, right?”
“Yeah, I guess it is. I hadn’t really thought about it. You think it’s somehow connected?”
“Well, I’m not sure. Were you guys close?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Oh, just professional curiosity. It never set well with me, his leaving and us not being able to find a thing.”
“I don’t remember you working the case.”
“I didn’t. I was in more of a support role. I did some early interviews and followed up a few of the tips that came in. Captain Theriault was the one in charge.
“It always felt a little wrong to me that he just up and left. He had a good thing going here, well-respected in the community, good business. Sure, he was a hard man, you could see that easy enough, but he was a good one.”
“Yeah, well, appearances can be deceiving. There wasn’t a lot of love lost at home. He spent most of his love out in the community, keeping up appearances. In answer to your question, no, we weren’t close. We were a father and son who were running a family business together. At out best, we had a grudging respect for one another.”
“So what do you think happened to him?”
“I have no idea. I wish all the people who he saw out in the world could have seen him for the true asshole he was before he disappeared.”
“So you’re not upset that he’s gone.”
“I’d think that was obvious, Detective. No, I’m not upset at all. It was more of a relief than anything else.”
“And you don’t have any idea where he would have gone.”
“Detective, how did we get here? The store was robbed yesterday. One of my employees was murdered, and all you can think to do is ask me about the ten-year-old disappearance of my father.
“You’re starting to sound like your partner. Do you think I had something to do with either one of these events? Is this your way of circling around it?”
“No, I’m not. Like I said, it’s just professional curiosity.”
“The more I talk to you, the more I feel like you and your partner are both the ‘bad cops’ and neither one of you thinks I wasn’t involved in the robbery,” his head throbbed, he had to pause to swallow the anger rising up in him, “and now, it would appear, you think I had something to do with my father’s disappearance.
“I was the one who was robbed. I was the one forced to watch his employee’s murder. I’m the victim. Find the people who did this.”
“We’re working on it son, “ Chamberlain sighed, “no one is accusing you of anything. I apologize it felt otherwise.”
Levesque turned the key in the truck’s ignition, tossed the Bible on the passenger seat and backed out of the lot. His tires squealed as he sped away.
Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw Chamberlain looking after him. A cold wave of relief washed over him as Chamberlain became a dot in the distance.
