Chapter Twenty-Three #2
Cal couldn’t picture this sweet old man—or even the younger, kind man in his memories—fighting. But drinking did mess people up. He knew from experience.
“Charles liked it though. We’d think we’d hit the end of something, and he’d always have another bottle appear. Not the smartest while hunting, I know, but, well, we were all grown men. Gerald and I didn’t think it was our job to stop him.”
“So, you do feel like alcohol aided in his fall?”
“Oh, I’m certain of it. He was stumbling around. That particular time Gerald had been talked into drinking a bit much himself. He was getting … agitated with Charles’s antics.”
Cal watched Jake carefully. Nothing really changed in his outward demeanor. Not his expression, not the loose way he leaned his elbows on his knees. But Cal could see the way those investigator eyes sharpened.
“They fought then?”
“Oh, no.” Mr. Everly laughed. “Your father wasn’t much of a fighter.
And when he instigated things, he never meant to.
He and Gerald were … arguing isn’t even the right word.
Gerald was getting irritated with him, and he shared some short words.
I took a little break from it all and heard the gunshot…
” He tsked. “Terrible, terrible accident. Gerald and I both thought if he hadn’t fallen, we would have been able to get him down that mountain and to some medical attention. ”
“So, you didn’t witness the gun going off?” Jake asked, that sharpening leaking into his voice.
Mr. Everly blinked. Looked taken aback for a moment before he shook his head. “Oh, no. I was there.”
“But you just said you’d taken a break.”
“Yes, I had. Before.” Mr. Everly’s eyebrows drew together, a bit like a man lost.
Cal should know what that looked like, after all.
But then he shook his head. “I … I’m so sorry, Jake. It’s been twenty-five some years. Whatever I told the police then is exactly right. Whatever I remember now … it’s … just not as clear as it was back then.”
Cal studied Jake. He didn’t think the detective quite believed Mr. Everly.
Cal wasn’t sure he believed him either. Not after learning about how Gerald Harrington had died.
But he also knew the tricks memories could play on someone, and there was no way to determine what had actually happened with only one man still alive and so many years between then and now.
Still, they could try to see if any of these strange threads were linked. “Gerald died not too long after, right?”
Mr. Everly nodded. “Just a few months later. Both of them gone in foolish little accidents.” Mr. Everly shook his head. “Such a shame.”
Cal studied the man. He acted like he knew… “Gerald’s death was an accident?”
Mr. Everly’s eyes sharpened on Cal, moved to Jake, then back again. “That was my understanding from Glenda. Cleaning out his gun. I went and saw him in the hospital a few times, but there wasn’t much they could do.”
Cal figured it made a twisted kind of sense. If Glenda played it off as an accident, maybe no one wanted to poke too deeply into how plausible that was. And, hell, maybe it was the truth. Maybe the death certificate had things a little wrong.
But Cal just didn’t think so.
“I never was one for hunting after that,” Mr. Everly said, staring at his hands. “Really threw myself into teaching, then administration. Helped some ne’er-do-wells find their place.” He reached over and gave Cal a fatherly slap on the knee.
Cal smiled. Mr. Everly had always been good to him.
And he really did owe it to those positive forces that he’d managed to get out of Dad’s manipulative clutches.
Managed to build something for himself, even if it had been built on a shaky foundation.
Maybe the past year had unraveled a lot of that foundation, but he was still standing because of the solid base men like Mr. Everly had helped him find.
So why was he here? Poking at old mysteries that involved men he didn’t even remember.
Because you were ten years old, so you damn well should remember Gerald Harrington. He supposed that was the crux of it.
Jake asked a few more questions about the hunting trip, but Cal didn’t think he was getting any answers or leads he was hoping for. Cal poked into Gerald a little bit more, but really the information didn’t change the picture of what had happened.
A group of friends. One died from a careless accident. One from either a mistake or a choice. Maybe Mr. Everly had or hadn’t seen as much of the accident as he’d told police, but maybe he’d just forgotten. Blocked it out.
Mr. Everly had moved on with his life regardless, dedicating it to the students of Marietta even now, retired, still giving his time to the school board. Letting Jake and Cal come in and ruin a perfectly nice afternoon with talk of death.
After a while, Cal figured it was time to give up the ghost. He got to his feet. “Thanks, Mr. Everly. It was real nice seeing you again.”
“You know, I bet the high school would love to have you stop by, Cal. Maybe talk to one of the classes. About law. About college. Just some inspiration that there can be more out there if they’re interested.
I’m retired, of course, but I still get involved in the board every now and again.
You won’t mind if I mention you around?”
Cal tried not to outwardly react. He didn’t mind giving a speech or two, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to haunt the halls of Marietta High ever again.
Still, Mr. Everly seemed so hopeful. “Sure, I’d consider it if someone wants to have me. Let me give you my phone number. I think I still have some old business cards in here.” He pulled one out of his wallet. “The one at the bottom.”
“All right.” He pointed the card at Cal. “You make sure you answer now if someone calls.”
Cal reached over and shook Mr. Everly’s hand. Then Jake did the same. As he turned for the door, he noticed that behind them was a series of frames hanging on the wall with drawings in them.
“You an artist, Mr. Everly?” Cal asked casually.
But his heart had leapt to his throat and lodged there, beating painfully. These drawings made him think of the two threatening ones that had been addressed to him. Something about the usage of pen, the harsh strokes. Cal was no expert on art or anything.
Maybe he was reaching.
“Oh, no. That’s my nephew’s work. You remember Andrew Swenson? He would have been a few years older than you in school.”
“I knew Andrew,” Jake said, studying the drawings himself.
Cal couldn’t tell if he saw the same thing Cal did or not.
“Wrestler, right?”
“Yes, that’s him.” Mr. Everly practically beamed. “He runs a wrestling school up in Kalispell. Very successful and gives back to his community. He has this great artistic talent. Always a bit jealous of our Andy—athletic and artistic is quite the combo, but he’s a good man.”
Cal tried to think if he’d known an Andrew Swenson. Sounded familiar, but he couldn’t picture anyone, and he was pretty good at remembering faces and names.
Except when you’re not.
Cal tried not to grimace as he turned away from the art and moved for the door. “Hope to see you again, Mr. Everly.”
“You, too, Cal. And Jake. Take care of yourselves, boys.”
Boys. Cal shoved his hands into his pockets and walked over to Jake’s truck. Mr. Everly nearly made him feel like a boy again, but those pictures…
Jake turned the key in the ignition, backed out of the driveway. They were quiet for a while, but Jake was the first one to break the silence. “So, did you notice?”
Cal glanced at Jake. He figured he knew what Hayes was asking, but he was still … worried he was overreacting.
Maybe it was about Mr. Everly’s unreliable memory around the accident, not… “Notice what?”
“The drawings.”
Cal sighed, looking out the windshield. “Yeah, I noticed. Be a hell of a thing, driving over five hours to drop off a threat at my door. Especially since I don’t remember him in school.”
“It would be a hell of a thing.” Jake let that sit between them for a few minutes. “But you’re going to Kalispell, aren’t you?”
Cal laughed despite the fact it wasn’t funny. At all. “I don’t really see what choice I’ve got.”
Jake tapped his fingers against the wheel. “If you can wait until Friday, I’ll go with you.”
“Why would I want that?”
Jake sent him a down-the-nose look. “Because I’m a cop, Bennet.”
“You really think I’m going to need one of those?”
Jake didn’t answer, which Cal assumed was answer enough.