in Blog, Serial Fiction 7:57 am Monday, November 26th, 2007

“Death On The Breeze”
A Danny Stark Mystery
by James Walling

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17

Three days passed before Danny could spring Bean from police custody. Danny spent the early part of the third day at Herb’s funeral. Later that afternoon he attended a formal dinner at Jillian’s house.

The Schaller women rushed in and out of the kitchen while the men sat more or less patiently at the big dining room table as it was piled high with food.

In the living room, the children fidgeted around a low card table, helping themselves to paper plates stacked with ham, casserole, French bread and the obligatory vegetables. A pair of partially closed French doors separated them from the adults.

Danny felt helpless—the gathered diners were all relatives of Herb’s: cousins, in-laws, parents, and even an aged uncle. Danny knew roughly half of them by name, but the rest were total strangers.

Jillian seated herself to Danny’s left and squeezed his knee under the table.

“How did I end up at the big kids’ table?” Danny asked in a hushed voice.

“We’re handicapped accessible here at the Schaller homestead,” Jillian whispered. She handed Danny a goblet of merlot and he took an indecorous gulp to calm his nerves and set it on the table.

A teaspoon rapped on crystal as Jillian’s father signaled for silence.

”Herb Schaller was a good man, a loving father and husband,” the old man intoned, holding his glass aloft. “To Herb!”

The collected diners touched glasses and sipped. Danny opted out of the toast lest he smash somebody’s glass by accident. In answer to some unspoken signal, the group began to hand plates of food right to left around the table.

Danny sat uncomfortably still as Jillian served him a helping from each dish as it was passed. He waited until the sound of clinking forks signaled the end of the rotation before reaching greedily for his goblet of wine.

It’s a far cry from scotch, he thought, as he hoisted the cup to his lips, but it’ll have to do…

After dinner, Danny and Jillian walked side by side down the drive to the Volvo. They had been the first to leave, and their exit had been slightly awkward.

“Sorry to drag you away,” Danny said. “I expect Bean is anxious to part company with our boys in blue.”

“Poor kid,” Jillian said, sounding wan. “After everything he’s been through…

They reached the car and got in. Jillian navigated the nameless roads from memory.

Danny reflected on the violence that had overshadowed their lives since the night of Herb’s death.

We ain’t seen much in the way of justice, Herb, Danny thought bitterly. But we sure have taken a beating…

Even as he thought it, Bill Fox was wincing in pain on Danny’s couch as Charlene changed his bandages. The buckshot hadn’t caused permanent damage to his leg, but it hadn’t done much to improve his disposition either.

Bean was waiting curbside in front of the jail when they rounded the bend into Amboy. Jillian pulled the Volvo to a halt and Bean jumped into the back.

“Fancy meeting you here…” he said, as Jillian started off toward Danny’s place.

“Figured they’d keep you as long as they could,” Danny said. “Can’t hold you longer than 72 hours without having you arraigned.”

Bean checked his watch.

“That Poveda’s a punctual bastard alright,” he said.

“Uh, huh,” Danny said, nodding, “regular as clockwork.”

They crested the edge of the valley that ringed the city limits and started down the far side into the flatlands that surrounded the mint fields of Fargher Lake.

“What did they keep him for,” Jillian asked, “if they weren’t going to charge him?”

“That would be my fault,” Danny said.

Bean was taken aback.

“You couldn’t have played nice?” he moaned after Danny relayed the gist of his conversation with Poveda.

“Let me ask you this,” Danny began, “they bring any big brawler types name of Jimmy Elmer into lockup while you were cooling your heels?”

“No, I-I don’t think—“

“That’s right,” Danny interrupted. “And they aren’t going to. They’ve known Elmer was holing up with his mother at that trailer for some time. Knew he had a record too. Tell me, they take a report before you checked out of the hospital.”

“Of course, but—“

“Then they could’ve run the same game we did, only faster. Elmer would be in a cell right this minute if those boys were interested in anything more than fucking with old blind guys and children.”

“Hey,” Bean objected, “I’m nineteen!”

Danny laughed. Jillian slowed to a stop on the shoulder of the highway.

“Get your ass inside and take a shower, kid,” Danny chided. “You stink.”

Bean ambled across the highway to the door of the garage and let himself in. He closed the door behind him and flipped on the floodlight illuminating the worn block letters that spelled “Danny’s Garage” over the work bays.

Jillian let the car idle.

“I knew Lorraine Elmer when I was little,” she said quietly. “Used to clean house and watch us girls when mother had errands to run.”

“Ever have a play date with her darling son?”

“Nope. I didn’t know she had any children.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

Jillian thought about it.

“Be years ago now…” she guessed. “I musta been eleven or twelve last time she came to the house. I was old enough to sit after that.”

Danny filed the information away, and made to leave. Visions of Talisker danced in his head, and he wanted to get inside before Bean helped himself to the remnants of the last remaining bottle.

Jillian placed a finger on his mouth to stay him when he leaned in to kiss her goodnight.

“Danny,” she said, with some trepidation, “I don’t think Herb would want you getting yourself killed over this.”

Danny froze.

“You divine the wishes of the recently departed now?”

“Send Bean back to Seattle,” she pleaded. “That boy has seen enough.”

“That boy,” Danny replied, “has seen more than you know.”

“Let me help you, damnit,” she begged. “I’ll come by first thing in the morning and we can work on this together.

“Listen here, lady,” Danny issued coolly. “I don’t need a guide dog to cross the street, and I don’t need you taking me on as a pet project.”

“You’re being dull,” she said. She reached out to touch Danny’s cheek, but he brushed her hand away.

“Then it’s a character flaw,” he said in a measured voice, “and you better get used to it.”

Jillian shrank back.

“Maybe I oughtta find a better way to wile away the hours…” she said. “Playing chauffeur to Sam Spade isn’t exactly my idea of heaven.”

Danny laughed and pushed open the door.

“Now that sounds sensible,” he muttered, climbing out. “Go home, Jillian. See to your sister and the girls. Leave the pursuit of justice to the lame and intractable.”

Jillian didn’t respond.

Danny closed the door and crossed to the garage. She watched him walk all the way to the door and into the building. She shook her head in disbelief and drove off into the night.