CHAPTER 111 MATT

111

Matt

THE brEEZE COMING DOWN off Mount Washington had a slight edge to it. Just enough to cause Deputy Matt Maro to shiver and remind him that fall and yet another harsh New Hampshire winter were not as far off as they were yesterday. Thanks to a brief cold spell last week, the leaves were putting on a show—all golds, reds, and yellows—so much so half the drivers edging out of town toward Route 112 had their heads in the trees rather than on the road. It was a wonder none had kissed fenders.

Give it time , his mind muttered. The day has just begun.

Matt crossed the street and pushed through the door of the Stairway Diner. A bell above the door let out a chime sharp enough to be heard above all the voices, and he stood there a moment taking in the smells of breakfast, long enough to catch Gabby's eye.

"You don't grab your stool, someone else will!" she shouted to him from across the room. "We're on a twenty-minute wait as it is for tables!"

Matt grinned back at her. Her skin was flushed, her uniform was covered in various stains, and she never looked more radiant. "We're still on for barbecue later, right?"

She gave him a wink before turning back to the large booth holding all eight of the Lockwood family.

Matt made his way through the diner, saying his hellos, and paused when he reached the counter. There was a woman sitting on his favorite stool, the one in the far corner against the wall. Her face was buried in a book, the remnants of an omelet on the plate next to her. She looked vaguely familiar, but Matt couldn't place her. Lucky for him, the stool between her and Roy "Buck" Buxton was still open. When Matt got closer, he saw the sign Gabby had taped in front of it: RESERVED FOR DEPUTY SHITHEAD

Buck gave him a sideways glance as he balled up the sign and tossed it into the sink behind the counter. "Not my place to meddle in your business, Deputy, but when your woman takes to calling you shithead publicly, it might be time to pack a bag or buy flowers, as circumstances may dictate."

"She's just messing around."

"Uh-huh. Aren't they all."

The fact that Buck then looked across the diner at Addie Gallagher, sitting in a booth by herself, wasn't lost on Matt, but they had something more pressing to talk about.

"You can't keep drinking yourself into a stupor, Buck. You've clocked far too many hours sleeping it off at the station."

Buck pierced a bite of sausage with his fork and stuffed it in his mouth. Said nothing.

"Complaints aside," Matt added, "you're not getting any younger. Your body can't take much more of that."

"My body is doing just fine."

The woman sitting on Matt's favorite stool took out a credit card and set it on the counter. He stole a glance at the name: Beatrice Sordello

The name didn't ring any bells, but there was something about her he couldn't quite place. He finally just asked. "Excuse me, did you go to UNH? I feel like we've met."

The woman held up one finger to silence him for a moment as her other finger slowly drifted down the text of the page she'd been reading. When she got to the bottom, she looked over at him, studied his face for a moment, then shook her head. "I went to Princeton."

Buck let out a quiet huff and said softly, "Nice try, Romeo. You might want to dial it back; girlfriend number two is on her way over."

Matt looked up.

Addie had risen from her table and started toward them.

Shit.

Gabby had finished with the Lockwoods and was on her way over, too.

Shit. Shit.

Buck stood up. "I'm gonna hit the head."

The woman on his other side had gone back to her book. Many of the pages were folded over, and she'd marked up the one she was on now with several different-colored highlighters. The spine was riddled with so many creases he could barely make out the title: The Divine Comedy

Matt vaguely remembered the title from somewhere but couldn't recall what it was about.

Behind the counter, Gabby set a stack of plates in the sink's soapy water, ignored the crumpled note floating on top, and scooped up the woman's credit card. "Do you want to see the check before I run this?"

Still reading, the woman gave her a dismissive wave. "No need."

Matt was certain Addie would settle into Buck's seat and set about pissing off Gabby, but instead she gave the woman next to him a nervous glance, pressed something into Matt's palm, and kept walking. She vanished down the hallway and left through the kitchen door.

"What the hell?" Gabby was staring at the note in his palm, her face growing red. "Passing notes? Is this grade school?"

This was not how Matt wanted to start the day.

He unfolded the note, frowned, and showed it to her: We've got less than twelve hours to set everything right.