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“You’re probably right,” he said in a disarming tone. “Now that you know, is there anything you can tell me?”
“I already told Chief Harper all that I know.”
“I’d appreciate if you could take a minute and tell me. That way there’s no buffer between accounts, and you might remember something else. I’m just trying to find out what happened to Jenny.”
She sighed as her frostiness melted away. “Would you like some hot chocolate?”
“I sure would. I’m not used to the cold yet.”
She put a hand on her hip and smirked. “Young man, this isn’t cold. This is mildly chilly. Come with me.”
She led him through the curtain, and Devine found himself in a comfortable apartment setup. While Kingman busied herself with cups, cocoa, and a new-looking electric hot water kettle, he looked around.
Some logs sat unburned in a stone hearth. While the furniture was clearly old, it all looked comfortable. Knickknacks abounded on tables and shelves, and the vast array of photos on one wall seemed to indicate that Kingman had a great many grandchildren.
“Nice-looking crew,” he said.
She looked up to see what he was referring to and smiled. “Eight and counting. Oldest one is ten. Wish my Wilbur could be around to see them.”
“I didn’t know you were a widow.”
“Wilbur was a lobsterman. There was an accident out at sea, and the boat went down and took Wilbur with it.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Thank you. It was just horribly bad luck.”
“Sometimes there is nothing you can do despite the best of intentions. And no one’s perfect. Lord knows I’m not.”
“You’re messing up all my preconceived notions of federal folks.”
He smiled. “You met many?”
“Just on TV. Well, there was Jenny, but she was one of us, no matter where she moved to or what she did.”
They sat in rocking chairs in front of the fireplace and drank their hot chocolate.
“It really is so sad,” said Kingman, suddenly tearing up. “I never thought...Jenny would be the last person I thought this would happen to.” She pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. She stared over at Devine. “She was such a good person.”
“Seems to be the consensus of everyone I spoke with.”
“Do you think it has to do with the work she was doing?”
“What do you know about that?”
“Just dribs and drabs I heard over the years. And I had a cousin who worked doing something for the Department of Defense. Whenever I asked him what he did he said, ‘It’s better if you don’t know. You’d never sleep again.’ Scary.”
“In answer to your question, I don’t know who killed her or why. Just because she died here does not mean that anybody local had anything to do with it.”
“God, I would hope not.”
“I understand you saw Jenny on the night she died.”
Kingman looked even more depressed. “If I had known what was going to happen, I would have held on to her with both arms.”
“Tell me about it. Did she look normal? Anything you can remember.”
“She passed by the office and I saw her out the window. This is from the back path, you understand, the one leading to the cottages.”
