Page 13 of Safe Enough

The woman said, “I’m Mary. Mary Lovell.”

Lovell. Like love, with two extra letters.

“Did you hear anything, Mr. Wolfe?”

“No,” Wolfe said. “I’m just working here. Making a bit of noise myself.”

“It’s just that the police are being a bit … distant. I know that if a wife disappears, the police always suspect the husband. Until something is proven otherwise. I’m wondering if they’re wondering the same kind of thing, but in reverse.”

Wolfe said nothing.

“Especially if there have been disturbances,” Mary Lovell said.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Wolfe said.

“Especially if the wife isn’t very upset.”

“Aren’t you upset?”

“I’m a little sad. Sad that I’m happy.”

Sure enough the police came by about two hours later. Two of them. Town cops, in uniform. Wolfe guessed the department wasn’t big enough to carry detectives. The cops approached him politely and told him a long and rambling story that basically recapped the local gossip. Husband and wife on the outs, always fighting, famous for it. They said up-front and man to man that if the wife had disappeared they’d have some serious questions for the husband. The other way around was unusual but not unknown and, frankly, the town was full of rumors. So, they asked, could Mr. Wolfe shed any light?

No, Mr. Wolfe said, he couldn’t.

“Never seen them?” the first cop asked.

“I guess I’ve seen her,” Wolfe said. “In her car, time to time. Leastways, I’m guessing it was her. Right direction.”

“Green Volvo?”

“That was it.”

“Never seen him?” the second cop asked.

“Never,” Wolfe said. “I’m just here working.”

“Ever heard anything?”

“Like what?”

“Like fights, or altercations.”

“Not a thing.”

The first cop said, “This is a guy who apparently walked away from a big career in the city. And guys don’t do that. They get lawyers instead.”

“What can I tell you?”

“We’re just saying.”

“Saying what?”

“The load bed on that Volvo is seven feet long, you put the seats down.”

“So?”

“It would help us to hear that you didn’t happen to look out the window and see that Volvo drive past with something maybe six-three long, maybe wrapped up in a rug or a sheet of plastic.”

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