Chapter 6
“How is it possible that you didn’t even get the guy’s name?”
Alec Lip wasn’t the kind of police chief who resorted to harsh words or a heavy-handed approach when dealing with his subordinates, but in this particular instance, he felt that a firmer hand was not only necessary but both wise and prudent.
“I mean,” he added as he rubbed an annoyed hand across his hair-follicle-deficient dome, “I assume you talked to everyone involved, right?”
“I did, boss,” said Officer Bill Marvel sheepishly.
He looked so much like a schoolboy summoned to the principal’s office that Alec considered reaching for the rulebook and giving him detention.
“I did talk to everyone involved, but they couldn’t tell me a thing—except that the guy was wearing a cape. ”
Alec stared at his officer, incredulous. “A cape?”
Marvel nodded furiously. “Yeah, that’s what everyone agreed on. That the guy who caused all this commotion wore a cape. And a mask. And a bumblebee costume.”
“So what are you telling me?” asked Alec. “That the guy who caused a big collision on one of the busiest intersections in Hampton Cove was some kind of superhero?”
Marvel considered this for a moment. “Now that you mention it, boss…”
“Look here, Marvel. Superheroes do not exist, all right? This was just a guy in a suit.”
“If you say so, boss,” Officer Marvel murmured deferentially. “Though plenty of people said they wanted to thank him for what he did. Said he’s a real hero.”
“A hero! The guy created a big pile-up! And they want to thank him?”
“Well, he did stop that robbery, boss,” Marvel pointed out.
“He caught the bank robbers, but then he fled the scene before people could thank him. So they’re probably right to be disappointed.
At the very least, he could have signed an autograph or something.
” He smiled. “That’s what a true superhero would do. Or pose for a selfie with his fans.”
Alec sighed deeply. “Okay, so do we have an idea what he looks like? Underneath the mask, I mean?”
“No idea, boss,” said Marvel, starting to get on Alec’s nerves again.
But then his underling’s face lit up with a smile of such wattage that it had to be seen to be believed.
“He did say he would be back, boss. And he said it like in that movie. With Arnold.” At that moment, the man jutted out his chest, took a deep breath, and intoned, “I’ll be back! ”
Alec stared at the guy and wondered, not for the first time, about the quality of the police officers on his force. Clearly their local police academy had a lot to answer for. “Maybe next time you see him, you can ask him if his name is Arnold,” he suggested.
A hopeful look stole over Marvel’s face. “Do you really think he is Arnold, boss?”
“Just get out of here, will you?” he said as he gestured to the door. “And catch the guy.”
“But he’s a hero, boss,” Marvel pointed out. “He caught those bank robbers.”
“On my streets, nobody gets to play the hero, Marvel. The upholding of the law is our job, not some hapless civilian wearing a mask and a cape.”
“And a bumblebee suit,” Marvel murmured.
The moment the officer had left, Alec’s phone chimed, and he picked up. “Dolores?”
“Yeah, your mom was here. Said something about Marge trying to set fire to Odelia’s place? Oh, and some other lady was also here. Her son was murdered, and she wants to know if you’ve nabbed his killer yet.”
“You say they were here? So where are they now?”
“Beats me. They were chatting and getting along like a house on fire, and then all of a sudden, they both got up and walked out.”
“This isn’t good,” he assured Dolores. “Next time my mother walks in, you send her to my office immediately, do you hear?”
“But you said you were busy, boss.”
“I know what I said, Dolores,” he said as he tried to keep his temper under control. “And now I’m telling you that next time my mom is here, you send her straight in. Trust me, it’s better for all involved. In fact it’s better for the entire town of Hampton Cove.”
That way, she couldn’t cause any harm. Like convince this unknown woman that the Neighborhood Watch would solve the murder of her son, as he was pretty sure she did.
“Who was the woman, by the way?”
“Um… Mercedes Saggers,” said Dolores. “Looked real keen for an update on her son.”
“I’ll ask Chase to give her a call,” said Alec, who couldn’t remember a Mercedes Saggers whose son had been killed.
But then Chase didn’t always keep him in the loop.
And since he knew the detective invariably did a stellar job, he didn’t insist on being kept in the loop either.
A good boss knows how to delegate, and that’s what he had learned over the years.
Truth be told, his wife Charlene had helped him a lot with that.
As the mayor of this town, she had to delegate, or she would go nuts.
And since she wanted to spend time with her husband in the evenings and not have to sit and watch TV all by herself while Alec worked late hours at the police station, she had told him in no uncertain terms that he had to learn to trust his people, or she would find someone else to spend her evenings with.
It hadn’t taken him long after she had made that statement—or threat, as Marge had called it—to become an expert delegator.
These days, he was delegating all the time and spending plenty of time with his wife.
At that moment, his phone rang, and he picked up without looking at the display.
“Chief Alec Lip,” he intoned while pressing the space bar on his computer to see what else he needed to do today.
“Alec?” a familiar voice sounded over the phone.
“Marge?” he said, wondering why his sister’s voice sounded so pinched and strange. “Are you all right?”
“I… I think I’ve done something really, really stupid, Alec.”
Alarmed, he sat up a little straighter. “What do you mean? What did you do?”
“I think… well, I think I may have killed a man.”