Who's sorry now?

not do it for him, he was told.
    This would have been the perfect thing to tell a deputy to do. If he had a good deputy. What he had was only Ralph Summer, the cousin of Jack Summer, the local newspaper editor. How could cousins be so very different? Jack was sharp as a tack, and never printed anything in the Voorburg Times that couldn’t be verified by at least two other sources. Ralph, on the other hand, was stupid and lazy. And what’s more, he was currently engaged to the only daughter of a successful (so Ralph said) jeweler in Albany. Howard wondered how that had happened. Would a successful man turn over his only daughter to a lump like Ralph? Unless there was already a bun in the oven. Ralph was spending all his free time, and more, driving to Albany and was there now.
    It was too late today to make the trip clear to south Yonkers. He’d leave early tomorrow to hunt through the birth and death records for McBrides. If he didn’t go tomorrow, he’d have to waste the weekend.
    Since he had a few minutes to spare, he called the chief of police in Beacon. Chief Simpson had a deputy he didn’t like because the deputy was shy. But Howard had recently worked with the chief ‘s deputy on a previous case and thought Deputy Ron Parker had potential. A lot more than Ralph.
    ”Hello, Ed,” Howard said to Chief Simpson. ”How’s the gout?”
    Almost gone. I can get around pretty much during the day, if I wear slippers in the evening. How are things with you, Howard?”
    ”Not so good. My deputy is in love and will probably marry soon and move away. I’m wondering how you’re getting along with your deputy?”
    ”Not well. And I received a letter today from an officer in Buffalo who sent his list of accomplishments and education in police work. He’s so desperate to get farther south that he’d take a slight cut in pay. You want Parker? I’d really like to hire this guy from Buffalo.”
    ”I certainly do want Deputy Parker,” Walker said. ”I got along with him just fine.”
    ”I can’t imagine how. The boy is bone-deep shy. When do you need him?”
    As soon as you get your new deputy. When will he start?”
    ”We can get this done in a day or two, I imagine. How ‘bout if I tell Deputy Parker today that you want him to start next Tuesday. What’s that? The second of May, I think. And I’ll call my new man and tell him to be ready to start here the same day?”
    ”Suits me. Thanks, Ed.”
    Howard sat back in his chair. He’d have to fire Ralph, but he was apparently marrying into a family that might take in the newlyweds anyway. Especially if there were a baby on the way already.
    As it turned out, he didn’t have to fire Ralph. His deputy burst into the office moments later.
    ”Chief, I’ve got bad news for you. Jeanette and me are getting married Monday. Her father says so.”
    ”Jeanette is pregnant, right?”
    Ralph didn’t even blush. ”Yep. And it’s not a church wedding. Just a judge and two witnesses. Her own folks. So I can’t invite you.”
    ”That’s okay.”
    ”Sorry to leave you in a lurch.”
    ”I’ll get by,” Howard said with a smile.
    ”I’ve got to go pack all my stuff. Like I said, I’m really sorry.
    The moment the office door closed, Howard called his former landlady. ”Have you rented both my old rooms yet?”
    ”Not even one of them,” she said in a surly voice. ”Then I can help you out with one of them. The one with the phone connection. I’m getting a new deputy next Tuesday. Will you arrange to have the phone reconnected by then?”
    On Friday when he drove to Yonkers, there were a great number of McBrides listed in the birth certificate files, but only one Edwin. Born in 1899, mother Sharon McBride. No father listed. So he was probably born out of wedlock. Not that it mattered. At least they knew his age. Walker checked for a death certificate for Sharon McBride and came up with nothing. He then searched in the city rosters in Yonkers and found her address given five years earlier. He found the house but Sharon McBride no longer lived there. A friendly neighbor told him where she’d moved.
    Much as he hated giving anyone such bad news, he felt obligated. Sharon McBride turned out to be much older and more shop-worn than he’d imagined. Her gray hair straggled out of a red-and-white handkerchief tied around her head. She smelled of lemon oil.
    She took the news badly.
    ”Poor little Edwin. He was such a nice little boy. Very popular in school.