River of Lies by R.M. Greenaway

Author:R.M. Greenaway [Greenaway, R.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2020-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It was raining as Leith returned to the Hartshorne home, and there was a tightness in his chest. Just past noon, yet the daylight seemed to be on the wane. Talking to next of kin in a murder investigation was always the worst box to tick off, but it had to be done.

On his first visit late last night to inform Millie Hartshorne her son was dead, she had been too drunk to fully understand. He hoped she would be sober today. The door swung open and the woman swung along with it. She gripped its jamb for stability as Leith attempted to reintroduce himself, and damn it, she was about as far from sober as she could get. “Thassomushfuckumin,” she slurred.

He followed her inside and watched her collapse into an armchair. She was a squat woman with a greyish crew cut. She wore the same quilted housecoat that she’d had on last night, pink and plush. Behind her was a faux fireplace, its motor churning quietly. On the mantelpiece was a framed snapshot of Kyler. Beside her on a TV table was a mostly empty bottle of Crown Royal, and next to the bottle a tumbler containing an inch of liquid gold. She reached for the tumbler and her feet went up to a footstool, ankles crossed.

She cradled the drink in her lap and gazed sideways at the fireplace. The lights flickered and danced within plastic logs, and Leith could see that his presence was altogether forgotten.

He brought over a kitchen chair and placed himself in her line of vision, forcing her to speak to him, eye to eye. “I was here last night,” he said. “And we talked a while. Do you remember?”

“Yessir. My boy, he’s dead, you said.”

She began to ramble about Kyler. Leith listened a moment before holding up a hand to slow her down. “Let’s take this one step at a time, Millie.”

“Who?”

Victim Services, Leith was thinking. He would have to get this woman some help. It wouldn’t be enough, and it wouldn’t last, but he would try. “So what’s been going on in Kyler’s life these days?” he asked. “What’s he been up to? Has he talked to you at all about that?”

She looked at her hands in her lap, and her face brightened on finding a glass of Crown Royal there. Her favourite! She brought the tumbler to her mouth, but Leith reached out for it. “Let’s put that aside for a minute, Millie, a’right?”

“S’okay,” she assured him. “Just a little one.”

He insisted, taking hold of the glass in her hand, struggling against what turned out to be a fierce grip. With the glass placed behind him, out of sight, he leaned toward her again. “I’m sorry. I know this is hard, but we should talk about Kyler. Did he help out around the house? Help you make dinner, clean up? Did you two have meals together, watch TV, talk?”

He wasn’t sure how much Millie loved her son. She seemed to be broken up by his death, but she was also smashed.

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