Bloodlines

small-time. He can’t compete with a broker. What Simms is doing, really, is just supplementing his own income at Rinehart’s expense. Simms runs a puppy mill, and, other than that, he’s just a delivery boy. He’s using Rinehart’s van and his whole organization, including whatever vet Rinehart’s bought off, to deliver to Rinehart’s customers.”
    Kevin ambled to the refrigerator, got a beer, popped it open, and upended it over his mouth. When he lowered it, he said, “We cops aren’t the brightest people in Cambridge, of course, but we can manage simple arithmetic. Course, we have to count on our fingers and all that, but...” He sank back into his chair.
    “So have you talked to Rinehart? Because, you know, in a way, Diane Sweet was cheating him, too. So is Janice Coakley, if you want to look at it that way. For all I know, maybe Rinehart found out, and he decided to make an example of her, of Diane Sweet. Or else maybe... Kevin, I wondered if Diane Sweet could have told Rinehart?”
    Kevin gave a strange, knowing grin. “Joe Rinehart catches a guy sticking his hand in the till, and...” He zipped a beefy thumb across his throat and made a gruesome sound. “And why would Diane blow the whistle on Simms? Simms was her boyfriend. And if he hadn’t been? She blew the whistle, she’d’ve ended up paying more than she already did.” Kevin looked down at the pages spread on the table. “Now you feel like telling me how you got hold of these?”
    “No,” I said. “Kevin, the other thing is... Someone suggested to me that Walter Simms might have the same thing going with Janice Coakley that he did with Diane.” I paused. “Or maybe just that Janice wishes he did.”
    Kevin finally perked up. “Where’d you hear this?”
    “From someone who couldn’t possibly know about Diane and Simms. Interesting, huh?”
    Kevin’s blue eyes go slightly out of focus when he’s mulling something over. Eventually he said, “Yeah, but she did call her Sunday night. Janice called Diane. Phone company says so and—”
    “Or someone called?”
    “Janice did. Answering machine was on at Puppy Luv. Machine picked up, and then Diane did. What’s on the tape is just her saying hello and Janice saying it’s her, and then Diane turned the machine off.”
    “What time was this?”
    “Ten after ten. Call lasted two minutes.”
    “Does Janice say why she called Diane?”
    “Checking in. Women do that.” I let that pass. Kevin continued. “She knew Diane’d be working, and she called her up to give her a little break.”
    “For two minutes?”
    “Diane said she was busy and she’d call her tomorrow.”
    “Kevin, does Janice inherit anything from Diane? Did Diane leave her—?”
    “One opal ring, belonged to their grandmother. Maximum value maybe a hundred bucks. And something like a sixteenth of an interest in a cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee. One of those family messes where it got left to everyone, and now no one knows who owns what.”
    “Those things cause a lot of family fights,” I said.
    “Did—?”
    “Yeah, but Janice and Diane were on the same side, and they couldn’t’ve sold their shares, anyway.”
    “Oh.” I thought for a second. “Kevin, if there’s an answering machine at Puppy Luv, then... Her husband says he kept trying to call her, right? Did he leave any messages?”
    “She didn’t turn it back on. After she talked to Janice, she must’ve forgot. People do that all the time.”
    “Huh. Do you still think maybe the husband— What’s his name?”
    “John. Could he’ve gone there? Yeah. Is he strong enough? Human gorilla. Did he know about her and Simms? He’d’ve had to have been pretty dumb not to know. But you talk to him, and that’s how he hits you, big and dumb. If he’d’ve known, would he give a damn? Show me the guy that wouldn’t. We told him, real gentle, and all’s he says is that she was raped. And he gets all broken up, and then he starts asking when we’re going to get out so’s he can open up again.”
    “Kevin, what about the stuff you sent to the lab? And the autopsy?”
    Kevin tilted his chair and teetered on the back legs. “Well, let’s see,” he said. “For dinner she had an eggplant sub and potato chips. She’d had her appendix out. She wasn’t pregnant.”
    “That’s all really helpful,” I said. “Look. Janice and Diane were business rivals, okay? Look at their ads sometime. They competed for business. And maybe they also