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“Knees and hips,” he said in response to Devine’s look. “Need to get ’em all replaced, but I ain’t got the money for that. Even with Medicare, which pays a big chunk of it. I ain’t got no supplemental, see? The deductible and copayments were just too much for my Social Security, which is all I got. Might be able to get one hip and maybe a knee done, but then who’s going to help me with the rehab? Local hospital shut down a decade ago, and the closest place is forty miles from here. And nobody comes to the home no more, not out here.”
“Then where do people go for their health issues?”
“Doc Guillaume does all she can. She tried to help me with the insurance stuff and all. A while back she helped me get a surgery I needed done. She comes by to check on me, and Bertie when she was alive. Did the same for others. Very kind woman. Knew her mom and dad and her uncle. Hell, knew their parents, too. The Bings started the funeral business a long time ago.”
“How about your granddaughter? Could she help?”
“Annie’s got her own life and a business to run. She doesn’t need to be cooking my meals and changing my damn diaper.”
They slowly walked to the edge and both men looked out at the ocean.
“Prettier than any gal I ever seen, ’cept Bertie,” said Palmer.
Devine looked down to the rocks where Jenny’s body had fallen.
Or been placed.
Devine noticed that Palmer never once looked down. He kept his gaze on the horizon.
Maybe this is his safe space, like every ceiling I look at.
“So you came to this spot and looked down and there she was?”
“Yes, that’s right,” replied Palmer, still not looking down, which was odd because most people, with the words Devine had used,wouldlook down.
“Is this spot special to you?”
Palmer swiveled his head to the right and eyed him cagily. “Every inch of coastline is special to me. Just happened to be this one I walked to that night. But not the only one. This was my third that night.”
“You didn’t mention that before.”
“Well,nowI am,” Palmer said, more fiercely than Devine’s comment really merited.
Devine stared pointedly at the man, specifically at his neck.
“You find it hard to wander around like that at night with your hips and knees the way they are?”
“People are meant to move. Actually helps me. You sit all day you get stiff as a board. Walking lubes the old joints. Least it does mine.”
Okay, that was neatly done, thought Devine.
Palmer stared out to the water again. “Penobscot Bay has the best lobster bottom on the East Coast, but it was pretty good in our neck of the woods.” He looked up, but only slightly. “Read the sky and the tide like the back of my hand, the depths out there, the temperatures. Used to know every ledge and crag out there. Crags are where the bugs love to hide. Got to lay your traps as close as you can, hope they bite on the herring.” He turned stiffly to give Devine a sideways glance. “Communing and competing with Mother Nature every day.”
“Right,” said Devine, who was not really paying attention to the man’s words but was instead focused on Palmer’s stiff movements. He looked down at his feet and had an idea.
“What’s that next to your right foot, Mr. Palmer? Did you drop something?”
Palmer didn’t look down. Instead, he slowly backed up a few steps.
“What is it? Can you see?”
Devine said, “Never mind, it’s nothing, my mistake. So did you remain here when they came to take Jenny’s body away?”
Palmer hesitated. “I...yes, but after they brought her up I left. The weather was turning bad.”
“I thought it had been raining hard since early evening.”
“Lightning and all,” said Palmer. “They drove me back to my place. Took a hot shower and just sat there, couldn’t sleep.”
