Page 5 of The Furies

“Then he definitely must have brought it downstairs with him, because I’ve only ever seen it beside his bed.”

They asked Marie a few more questions, and she answered them as best she could, but it didn’t appear as though they were going to leave very much wiser than when they’d arrived.

“I have one more favor to ask,” said Condell.

“Sure,” said Marie.

“Would you be willing to take a detailed look around the house with us, just to see if anything strikes you as out of place or absent?”

“Of course. Now?”

“No, the crime scene investigators are still doing their thing. But in the morning?”

“Just tell me when.”

“Ten?”

“Ten is good.”

“Okay, then.”

The three visitors stood to leave. Marie could hear the kids watching TV in the living room with her husband. She had a Bolognese sauce on the stove, ready to go, and just needed to boil the spaghetti. They’d be eating later than usual, but never mind; it had been an unusual day.

She walked the officers to the door, and opened it to the dark.

“Was Edwin a religious man?” said Beth Ann. “I ask only because you and your mom probably knew him better than anyone. If a service has to be arranged, it would be helpful to know the denomination. Did I say something funny?”

Marie was smiling.

“Denomination,” she said. “Like money. Denominations were his denomination, mostly. That was why I was smiling.”

“Mostly?” said Condell. He, too, was smiling, but Beth Ann noticed that he was watching Marie closely, and she was impressed at how little got by him.

“Once, when he was in a talkative mood—for him—he showed me a bunch of old coins. They were Viking currency that had been found in England. He said that, over time, he’d started to share some of their beliefs. He liked the idea of a world filled with gods and demons, all of them active in the affairs of men, instead of just one god who preferred to stay hidden.”

“Was he joking?” said Gardner.

“Edwin didn’t joke.”

“I don’t think we can arrange a Viking funeral,” said Beth Ann. “We may just go with humanist.”

CHAPTER VII

It took us a while to get the Fulcis to dial down their tempers from boiling to merely simmering, by which time Raum had ordered himself a beer and found a safer spot over by the restrooms. It was a mystery why he’d come to the Bear in the first place, unless it was to meet someone. It had never been one of his regular haunts, even less so since the Fulcis had thrown his two lackeys into the Fore before advising him that, if he failed to mend his ways, he, too, would find his way into the river, in his case with an engine block attached to his ankles to speed him on his way. It was almost as though he’d made the trip to the Bear just to bait the Fulcis at their favorite bar, which bespoke a degree of confidence in himself to which he had no right.

“You ought not to have let him in here,” said Paulie to Dave.

Tony was helping Paulie into his jacket, because Paulie was more sensitive and impetuous than his brother, and therefore did not wish to remain within striking distance of Raum, which was certainly for the best.

“I didn’t roll out the red carpet, Paulie,” said Dave. “He was on the premises before I even noticed him.”

“Yeah, well, you ought to have, you know, anticipated such an eventuality.”

“I’m not psychic,” said Dave, while obviously chewing over who might have taught Paulie a word like “eventuality.”

“Then find someone who is,” said Paulie, “and put him on the fucking door.”

Tony patted his brother on the back. Only in Paulie’s company could Tony have come across as sane and reasonable. He had a shorter fuse than Paulie, which was no small boast, but lately displayed more frequent signs of rationality.

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