What Have You Done(17)
The boys slid their chairs closer, and each grabbed a wire and paper.
“Okay, first you take the wire…”
The lights of the Ben Franklin Bridge acted like stars in a dark sky that was otherwise absent of them. Sean sat on the back of his boat, listening to the traffic overhead, letting the current of the river rock him. After Liam’s house, he had driven back to the marina to sit and think. He didn’t want to go home just yet. The rain had stopped, and the air was now cool.
They’d made a bunch of paper flowers that day, and the days and months after. Their father was a union carpenter, and it wasn’t unusual to have a job or two and then nothing for a few months. That was the cycle. So they made their flowers and sold them around town. His friends did tease him, but the people in South Philly always stuck together, so their neighbors bought the flowers without question and helped as much as they could. Family looked out for one another. He’d learned that lesson early, and it had stayed with him throughout his life. Being there for Liam was all he’d ever known.
Sean’s teenage years had been spent looking after his little brother and trying to be a good student and model grandson for his grandparents, who had taken them in. By the time his friends were sneaking out and going to parties, dating girls, and snorting lines in club bathrooms, Sean was taking care of his ailing grandfather and preoccupying his grandmother with games of rummy and dominos. He stood by and watched his high school days slip away while everyone else had their fun. Liam was lucky enough to have enjoyed the very dances and dates Sean had missed out on growing up. Sacrifice. His life had always been about sacrifice.
But he had been proud when Liam was accepted to Penn State. He’d clapped at graduation and hugged his brother when he landed the forensics position with the department. Sean had attended college at Temple and worked on campus to pay for it. After graduation, he landed a job as a beat cop to help pay for his grandfather’s medical bills and what he could of Liam’s education. It was a good job that had grown into a nice career. He was the family’s foundation, upon which everything else was built. This thing with Kerri would now put him to the test.
Sean stood and made his way to the wheelhouse. He turned the key and lowered the engine into the water. When it was properly submerged, he walked to each dock cleat and untied his boat from the slip. He started the engine and eased out of the marina until he was on the dark open water.
There was nothing out here except the sound of the wind rushing by and the coldness on his face and hands. The boat bobbed up and down in a wake he couldn’t see as he made his way upriver toward Rancocas Creek and the Quaker City Yacht Club. At that point he’d decide whether to turn around or keep driving. His mind raced with everything that had happened that day.
He pushed down on the throttle and felt the boat pick up speed. Being out on the water gave him freedom from the city that could sometimes feel claustrophobic. Kerri was dead. His mind filled with the images he had seen at the hotel that afternoon. She was gone. Slaughtered. Somewhere from the depths of a place he thought could no longer exist, he felt another wave of emotion come upon him as he pushed the throttle and felt the boat float on the water.
12
It was late. Almost two in the morning. Don hurried out of his car and crossed a street with no traffic. The moon was hidden behind clouds, making it darker than it otherwise would have been, but the rain had stopped, and the sidewalks glistened. He hopped the steps of the three-story apartment house and went through the unlocked front door.
“Police business” was a term Don often used when his wife, Joyce, wanted to know why he was doing something out of the ordinary and he couldn’t give a reasonable explanation or was prohibited to do so because of an ongoing investigation. So when she had caught him rising from bed in the middle of the night to get dressed and slip down to the kitchen, she had asked what he was doing, and he had simply replied, “Police business.” After ten years of marriage and a family full of cops, Joyce knew any follow-up questions would be a waste of time, so she had relented with a sigh, fallen back on her pillow, and warned him to be careful. He’d blown her a kiss and left.
Don’s relationship with his wife was a bit more complicated than most. His lieutenant was also his brother-in-law. He’d met Joyce, Phillips’s sister, at a department charity event, and after a brief courtship, they’d married with everyone’s blessing. Sean had been the best man. Most of the time having the lieutenant as a brother-in-law bought some leeway during investigations, but other times it was a hassle. Phillips was very conscious of not letting it appear favoritism was taking place within his department. Nepotism was bad enough. Every once in a while, he took it a little too far. There was no way he’d approve of what Don was about to do. But Sean and Liam were also family, and the boys needed him. He couldn’t say no.
The stairs squeaked as he crept up toward Kerri Miller’s apartment. This wasn’t really police business. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew it wasn’t proper procedure. If he was being honest with himself, he’d admit this was breaking and entering.
The building was clean but old. At the top of the second landing, he walked the length of a narrow hallway. The overhead lighting was dim, making it hard to see what was ahead. A smell of heating oil emanating from the vents was all around him. He took a small sheet of paper from his pocket and double-checked the apartment number Sean had written under the address. This was it. He looked around once and then pulled a thin metal bar from his jacket to work the deadbolt. The lock sprang, and he slipped inside.