Rag and Bone Read online

  RAG AND BONE

  Also by Joe Clifford

  The Jay Porter Novels

  Lamentation

  December Boys

  Give Up the Dead

  Broken Ground

  Nonseries

  Wake the Undertaker

  The One That Got Away

  Memoir

  Junkie Love

  Anthologies

  Choice Cuts

  Trouble in the Heartland (editor)

  Just to Watch Them Die (editor)

  Hard Sentences (co-editor)

  RAG AND

  BONE

  A JAY PORTER NOVEL

  JOE CLIFFORD

  Copyright © 2019 Joe Clifford

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, businesses, locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Frank Turner “Song for Josh” reprinted by permission.

  ISBN 978-1-60809-326-7

  Cover Design by Christian Fuenfhausen

  Published in the United States of America by Oceanview Publishing

  Sarasota, Florida

  www.oceanviewpub.com

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  You can measure the mark of a man on the day that he died

  In the mixture of memory and wreckage that he leaves behind

  And I know you were carrying too much weight on the evening when you slipped away

  But I loved you like a brother…

  —Frank Turner, “Song for Josh”

  In memory of my brother, Josh.

  In the words of our favorite singer, Frank Turner,

  I’ll remember that you were better than your end.

  I love you, little brother.

  CONTENT

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  As always, first and foremost, thank you to my lovely wife, Justine. Writing the Porter books is hard on me; it’s harder on you. Jay’s journey wasn’t an easy one. Thanks for taking the ride with me.

  To Holden: now that you can read, I want you to know that every day I look at you and your brother Jackson’s perfect faces, you guys remind me all over again why I worked so hard to get off the streets and make a better life. I hope to give you boys everything I never had.

  And in no particular order: thanks to Rich, Tom, Celeste, my baby sister, Melissa, the crime writing community, Liz Kracht, David Ivester, and the Oceanview Publishing team.

  Last, a big shout-out to you, the fans. Anytime I was mired in rewrites, freezing my butt off in the frigid New Hampshire mountains, suffering anxiety attacks by proxy, wondering why I did this, I’d remind myself of your commitment. So many of you got behind these books. You believed in Jay. You believed in me. We’ve netted a couple Anthony Award nominations and hit the top of the charts more than once. In some small way, I hope we’ve shone a light on the marginalized and helped put a face on the addicted; and maybe in the process we made a few folks feel a little less alone. These accomplishments are owed to your enthusiasm, dedication, and support. Thank you.

  RAG AND BONE

  CHAPTER ONE

  WHEN I STEPPED in from the snow and cold and pushed open the precinct doors, the first thing I saw was my face on the wall. A composite sketch that didn’t look anything like me, faxed and faded, copied too many times, likeness unintelligible. Should’ve asked my ex-wife for a picture. No wonder they hadn’t caught me.

  Heads glanced up from desks, bodies twisting from the vending machine and water cooler, gazes frozen, locked on the eyes of a stranger. Their confusion was understandable. I had been gone a while. My beard was heavier and, for whatever reason, it had grown out much darker than the sandy mop up top. With my ragged, padded layers, hobo hat, and gloves, Ashton PD probably thought I was just another bum wandering in from the Turnpike seeking shelter from the storm.

  One by one, they came around and the faces dropped. I thought Claire, the receptionist who used to go around with my dead brother, might collapse from an aneurysm. Another cop, a recruit who must’ve joined while I was away, reached for his gun, until Sheriff Rob Turley came beside him and eased his itchy trigger finger. Kid couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, fresh from the academy, all jitters and methy, hopped-up pupils. Must’ve been champing at the bit over the chance to nab a real fugitive. Ashton, New Hampshire, population two cows short of a graze, didn’t see a lot of America’s Most Wanted. At least before the drugs started coming in.

  “Jay,” Turley said, calm and authoritative, taking control of the situation and his tiny team. “A lot of people have been looking for you.”

  “Yeah,” I replied, disinterested. “Heard. Came in to clear that up.” I scratched giant ice chunks loose from my bushy beard.

  Out the long windows, fat snowflakes lazed like balls of eiderdown through the haze of streetlamps. Patrol cars sat idle in the parking lot, buried beneath the snows of November. Blizzards could hit as early as October up here, folks digging their way out long into April. Life on the Mountain.

  Turley asked if I wanted some coffee, and I said sure, swatting the snow and sludge off my knit cap, clumps plopping to join the puddles by my boots. Turley motioned for Claire to bring me a cup. No handcuffs came out, no rights were read; I wasn’t brought into a cell. Turley acted like he was extending a courtesy. Of course, I knew they’d caught the real killers or I wouldn’t be here.

  The town sheriff escorted me to the interrogation room, a communal space that doubled as a place to chow down on hump day. An empty Dunkin’ Donuts box lay ravaged in the middle of the table, a trail of powder and sprinkles, fat gobs of jelly squirted out the blow hole, evidence of carnage left behind at the scene.

  Turley took a seat, squeezing his big belly between the chair and countertop. I peeled off my winter coat and placed my damp cap on the table, facing him on the other side. I offered my best country boy smile.

  “Where you been, Jay?”

  “Around.”

  “Around?” Turley leaned back, adjusting the belt around his gut. The weight he’d shed last time I saw him, he’d put back on, another fifteen added for good measure. “Doing what?”

  “The usual. Working.”

  “Working? Any particular outfit? Town?”

  “I moved around.”

  “Moved around?”

  “Are you going to repeat everything I say, Turley?”

  “You’re telling me you didn’t know New England’s had an all-points bulletin out for you? A BOLO. Be on the lookout. From Maine to Connecticut.”

  “I just learned the authorities wanted to talk to me. Which is why I came in. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”

  “Misunderstanding?”

  “Will you stop fucking doing that?”

  “Sorry, Jay. It’s just that you’ve been wanted … in connection to a murder … for the better part of the past year.”

  “Murder?” I tried my best not to laugh. I’m not sure my mouth was visible beneath my wooly bum beard anyway.

  “Someone killed Owen Eaton. Proprietor of the Clearing House in Lake Winnipesaukee. Same day you disappeared.”

  “I know who Owen Eaton is.”

  “Of course you do. He was your competition. And everyone knows how much you hated the guy. Oh, and your truck was left behind at the crime scene. Where Eaton’s head was bashed in. In his office. Where you’d just visited him. So, yeah, ‘questioning.’” He did that air quotes thing with his fingers I hated.

  I kicked out my boots and settled in. “I’m here now. Ask away.”

  Turley didn’t have anything. I knew he didn’t. If I’d stayed disappeared this long, I wasn’t waltzing into the Ashton Police Department and handing my ass over. Unless I confessed to knowingly evading arrest, he had nothing.

  “We found out who really killed Owen Eaton,” Turley admitted when I didn’t take the bait. “Two men. Andre and Dmitry Volkov. Seems they’d been hiding out at Gillette Gorge. One of the blinds up there. Their shack caught fire. Tried driving away. Couldn’t see in the smoke and fog. Drove over a cliff.” Whistling softly, Turley smacked one hand against the other. He paused, trying
to look cool, avoiding direct eye contact, an interrogation technique. No big thing. Try and catch me off guard. Turley dragged a nonchalant finger through the donut aftermath. “Last year? Didn’t you claim you had a run-in with a couple hunters out by the Gorge?”

  I shook my head. “Different guys.”

  “I’m sure.” Turley turned to face me. “When moose season started in October, a hunter found their truck on a glacial shelf. Took a few weeks but forensics retrieved the remains, DNA linked them to the Eaton murder.” He caught my eye. “You don’t seem too surprised by any of this.”

  “Should I be? Who were they?”

  “A couple troublemakers. Brothers, cousins. Unclear. Did time though. Assorted criminal activity. In Russia. State Department got involved. It’s a mess.”

  I swatted my hat and stood to go. “Glad it all worked out.”

  Turley hopped up, or as much as a man that size could hop, hand on cuffs. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “You said you found the guys who killed Owen Eaton?”

  “We did. But that doesn’t explain where you have been for the past ten months. There’s an APB out for your capture.”

  “Was.”

  “Was what?”

  “There was an APB. There’s not now. I’m not wanted for anything, am I?”

  “I’ve got some questions. Grab some pine, bub.”

  “Did you just call me ‘bub’?”

  “Ten months, Jay. Ten months. Vanished. Gone. Without a trace. No contact with anyone. Including your son.” He knew that would hurt. And it did. Not talking to Aiden for almost a year was the hardest thing I’d ever done. He held up both hands, showcasing all ten of his porky links, mouthing the word “ten” to hammer the point home.

  “I can count without using fingers, Turley. What do you want me to say? Sorry I didn’t know you were looking for me? I was out of state, man. You got the real killers. Where’s the crime? Being a bad dad? Yeah, I’m guilty. But you can’t arrest me for that.”

  “For not paying your child support, I can.”

  “My ex and I have a verbal agreement. And I doubt Jenny would pursue it.”

  “You must be real proud of that.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek. Losing my temper wouldn’t help. My lack of contact with Jenny and my boy shamed me to the core. I’d always stayed up to date on my child support payments. No matter how bad finances got, no matter how well off my ex now was—I’d always pay for my child.

  “Did you call to congratulate her on their new baby? A girl. In case you were wondering.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “Cut the shit, Porter. Jenny told us. Same day she told you she and Stephen were expecting, you informed her that you’d be going away for a while.”

  “I did.” I gave him a second to make the connection himself. But Turley had never been the sharpest tool. “And that conversation took place before Owen Eaton was killed. So unless you’re saying his bashed-in head was premeditated …”

  “No one is accusing you of killing Owen Eaton.”

  “Then what are you accusing me of? Taking an extended vacation? Not leaving a forwarding address? This is America, man. People don’t have to register with the state every time they take a piss.” I double-tapped the table, then was out the door. I did not look back.

  I made it as far as the blustery parking lot before Turley came huffing behind me. He looked so pissed, red, puffy face chapped in the stinging cold. For a second, I thought he might try to jam me up on some bullshit charge. My disappearing act had to have been a humiliating pain in his ass.

  “You’re right,” Turley said, shoulders slagging. “Technically, you didn’t break any laws. But let me give you a heads-up. You running when you did—”

  “I didn’t run.”

  “Fine. You leaving the region when you did, okay? You made this bigger than our little mountain town.” He forced a chuckle. “Someday maybe we can sit down and you can buy me a beer and tell me how you managed to stay hidden all those months, with every state trooper looking for you.”

  “Sure, Turley, we can have a beer together.”

  “The Feds got involved. There was a statewide manhunt. You made folks look stupid. My advice: lawyer up.”

  “Lawyer? I didn’t do anything except leave. No one told me I had to stay.”

  Now it was Turley’s turn to shrug, ineffectual and smug.

  “The case against Owen Eaton is closed?” I asked but I already had the answer. I’d been assured. My inside man had told me the case was closed.

  “They know you didn’t kill anyone, but the case is far from over.”

  “What the fuck, Turley? Is this about Adam and Michael?” I’d long railed against the Lombardi Brothers, who ran this place, blaming them for what happened to my brother, but I’d been out of the state so long, out of their hair for almost a year; I hadn’t caused them any grief.

  “Adam and Michael Lombardi don’t like you any more than you don’t like them. With their connections in the state senate, having the ear of local—and federal—law enforcement? They can cause you a lot of aggravation.”

  I pulled my Marlboros, fighting to light one against the icy gusts that never relented, doing my best to keep my hands steady. I looked out over the expanse of this small mountain town I’d never be able to escape. What made me think I could outrun my name?

  “You might not believe this,” Turley said, “but I’m glad you’re okay.” Before I could paint-by-numbers another response, he stopped me. “Where you staying? And, no, it’s not so I can tell the Feds where to find you. They want to talk to you, they’ll get in touch no matter what I say.”

  “Planned on crashing in a roadside motel for the night. Shower, sleep. Figure the rest out tomorrow.”

  “I was filling up at Hank Miller’s gas station the other day. Know for a fact he hasn’t rented out your old room above the garage.” Turley checked a make-believe watch. “If you hurry, might be able to catch the old guy before he goes to sleep.”

  “Thanks, Turley.”

  “Don’t thank me. You’re gonna need all your money for a lawyer. Nothing I can do to get you outta this mess.”

  I ducked down into my winter coat, turning to face the next storm.

  CHAPTER TWO

  DRIVING OVER TO Hank Miller’s place, I checked the clock to make sure I wouldn’t be waking the old guy up. Almost ten o’clock, I was pushing it. Like most that age, Hank set his clock to the Early Bird Special. I was glad to hear he hadn’t rented out my apartment. I couldn’t risk coming sooner. No matter what story I was spinning back at the station, I returned after dark for a reason. I hadn’t expected a hero’s welcome. But I didn’t anticipate having to deal with the Feds either. Maybe Turley was blowing smoke. Wouldn’t be the first time he tried to scare me straight. You don’t stay alive underground for as long as I had without having a direct pipeline to reliable information.

  I was there the day Andre and Dmitry Volkov killed Owen Eaton. I knew they were guilty before they dragged me up to the blinds, where they would’ve killed me, too, if I hadn’t been able to set fire to that shack and make a run for it. So high up the mountain, the elements vicious, I couldn’t see two feet in front of my face. Neither could they. And the edge was a lot closer than any of us believed. I didn’t think those bodies could be exhumed. Gillette Gorge’s gully runs a mile deep.

  Not sure I would’ve come back sooner, regardless. I had a job to do, people to find. There was a hard drive with irrefutable proof Adam and Michael Lombardi had sent workers to die in toxic pits, their passion project the Coos County rehab built atop the blood of the betrayed. But I never found that hard drive, and everyone I needed to talk to was dead. Welcome home, little brother.

  Hank Miller’s house lights flicked on.

  “Haven’t changed the locks,” Hank said, bundled up, slouching to the porch.

  I didn’t get the chance to offer excuses or promise to pay back monies owed before my old landlord slipped a key in my hand.

  “In case you lost yours in your travels.” His old eyes crinkled with a sad smile. “Replaced the thermostat, switched the electricity and heat over to my name. Couldn’t risk having the pipes freeze.”

  “Thanks, Hank. I’ll make this right.”