High Noon

incident in Bonaventure. It was Walken who chained Roy to that grave and killed him. Captain Mc Vee was seriously injured today.”
    “Mc Vee? How? What happened?”
    “An explosive was rigged to the front door of his house. Circumstances swung in our favor, and Captain Mc Vee not only survived, he saw and identified Walken. Now if you know how to contact Walken, you need to tell me so we can bring him in before anyone else is hurt.”
    “I don’t. Christ almighty. Jerry?” Vince slumped back in the chair. “Captain Mc Vee said it was Jerry?”
    “He did.”
    “Jesus. Jesus. He’d been on the edge the last few months on the job. Sometimes the edge works for you, but…”
    “You had some concerns?” Phoebe prompted.
    “Yeah, I guess I did. But, you know, I had a lot going on myself, the whole wedding thing. We didn’t hang out as much after a tour. But he was a good cop. Jerry had a cool head on the job. Could be hot off it, but on? He was solid.”
    “There was a woman.”
    “Yeah.” He blew out the word. “He got tangled up with her, and it was like all he could think about. Had this idea they were going to head off together out West—where men were men, and all that. Get themselves a ranch in Montana. I figured that’s what they did. He and the woman took off to Montana.”
    “What was her name?”
    “He called her Gwen, or Guinevere. He kept her to himself. I worried…”
    “What did you worry about?”
    “This doesn’t feel right, Lieutenant. I gotta say, it doesn’t feel right. He was a cop, a teammate, a friend.”
    “Captain Mc Vee was in surgery more than three hours.”
    “Okay.” Vince scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Okay, okay. Listen, it was just when he’d had a couple too many or he wasn’t able to see her for a while that he got jumpy. And maybe sometimes he went off on a tangent.”
    “Such as?”
    “He talked about how it’d be easier to just put a bullet in the guy—her husband. He didn’t mean it, and he’d get right off it again, talking about how they were just going to wait until they had enough money put by for the ranch. Already had a name for it.”
    “Camelot?”
    “Yeah, yeah, ’cause she was Guinevere. He was crazy about her. She was probably stringing him along, and that’s what sent him off.”
    “No, I don’t think she was stringing him along. Other friends, family?”
    “He got along with everybody in the unit. Thought of them like brothers. He’d even say brothers-in-arms, you know?”
    And not a single police officer had been hit when Charlie Johnson’s body was riddled with bullets.
    “Family outside the job?”
    “He had—has, I don’t know which—a mother and stepfather, but they weren’t close. I think he said they’d moved out to California when he was in his twenties, and he stayed here. He got along,” Vince repeated, “but I’d say, except for me, he was kind of a loner. I think he was put out some when I hooked up with Marijay. My wife. Then he got tangled with this woman, and that was it for him.”
    Phoebe got to her feet. “If he contacts you or if you see him, you need to contact me immediately. You understand that?”
    “Lieutenant, if he did what you’re saying, he’s got to be out of his mind. I’ve got a wife and a baby. You can believe me when I say, I hear from Jerry, you’ll hear from me. I won’t take chances with my family.”
    Phoebe pulled out her phone as she walked out of the house. She saw Duncan leaning against his car, hands in his pockets, looking up at a sky where stars were trying to light through the thinning clouds.
    She leaned back against the car with him while she spoke to the team commander, then to the hospital to check on Dave’s condition, and finally to Sykes to bring him up to date.
    When she was finished, she pocketed her phone and stayed where she was another moment, looking up at those persistent stars.
    “You’re an awfully patient man, Duncan.”
    “Most things are worth waiting for.”
    “In an awful way, that’s what Walken thinks, too, and he’s been waiting a long time for this. The man in there? That was his closest friend. In fact, reading between the lines, I’d say he was Walken’s only friend. A loner who got along, hot-tempered off the job, liked to drink, didn’t much care for it when his friend got engaged. But he hasn’t once gotten in touch with his only friend in going on three years. He has no friends now. That’s the way it is for him. That’s