Act of God

something-or-other.”
    “Summary judgment, maybe.”
    “Yeah, that was it. You have to have some kind of evidence for your side—on homicide by the beneficiary or at least suicide by the decedent—and we didn’t.”
    I sat back in my chair, letting the salt air wash over me. “Something tells me you didn’t stop there.”
    Folino worked his hands, then replaced them on the arms of his chair. “It was just too pat, you know? I mean, granted the dead woman lives there for years, you still have kind of a healthy respect for the edge of the building. More so, you have some booze in you.”
    “Autopsy?”
    “Enough of the gin so she shouldn’t have been driving, but not so much she’d have been stiff. And no note or particular depression beyond her apparently shitty life and shitty kids. But all I had was the policy and the neighbors, who wouldn’t have noticed King Kong going by then windows, and the tingling, you know?”
    “My stomach’s acting up on this one, too.”
    “Account of the insurance.”
    “Right.”
    He gave it a few seconds. “Let me tell you, I can’t prove it, and if somebody can sue me, I’ll deny I even said it, but I think my decedent had some help going off that roof.”
    “You said before the aunt claimed the kids did it.”
    “Only about twenty times.”
    “What do you think?”
    “You mean, were they in it together?”
    “Yes.”
    Folino turned that around, but only a little. “No. No, I watched them at the service they had for the mother. Wasn’t more than a ‘So long, have a nice day’ service, by the way. No, I’d say neither one cared for the mother or trusted each other. Oil and water, at best.”
    “Could it have been an act?”
    “I don’t think so. The aunt, neither.”
    “Darlene Nugent?”
    “I don’t think she was acting with the screaming and the carrying on and all. And she didn’t seem like she could stand the kids, either. Weren’t for the aunt, the service would have been over in maybe half the time. This Nugent, she was crying at the coffin—closed, I guess I don’t have to tell you that. But the kids, they were sneaking peeks at their watches, and after a while, not even sneaking them, you know?”
    I let it settle for a minute.
    Folino said, “Sure I can’t get you something to drink?”
    “Just one more question, maybe. You said you didn’t think the kids were in it together.”
    “Right. And nobody else had motive, far as I could see.”
    “So you figure if the dead woman had help, it was one of the kids acting alone.”
    “Off the record?”
    “Off the record.”
    “That’s what I think.”
    “Which one?”
    Folino looked me straight in the eye. “Take your pick.”
    I nodded and got up. “Thanks.”
    As he was about to say something, there was the crackle of gunfire from a fairly short distance.
    Folino said, “You know what that is?”
    “ Moon Island ?”
    “That’s right. I forgot you guys from Boston have to qualify out there, you want a permit to carry.”
    “Every five years.”
    “Let me tell you something, I sit here sometimes, and they’re going all day long. It’s kind of late today, but last year, when the Boston force was switching over from revolvers to the Glocks? They were sending the guys in for like three days, familiarization firing with the things. Man, you would’ve thought it was Kuwait City around here. The funny thing is, though, I... I enjoyed it. I never once fired my service revolver on duty. Never once in the thirty years. But the sound of the gunfire, it makes me think about being a young cop and wondering if I ever would. You know what I mean?”
    “Not knowing what life’s going to bring.”
    “Right. I lived my whole life in this city, Cuddy. Never been west of Worcester , you can believe it. I grew up here and joined the force and just stayed with the folks. I looked after them when they got sick, never married, myself. You?”
    “Once.”
    “Recently?”
    “Not for a while.”
    He nodded. “I been thinking, last couple of years, I should’ve tried it, too. At least once. Never really missed not having a wife while I was on the force, always things to do and people to see and all the other guys getting divorced when their wives found out about their fooling around on the side.”
    I was starting to feel uncomfortable. “It doesn’t work for everybody.”
    “No. But then, you never really know till you try. Me, I never did. Just got a little older and more tired and more