Part 37 (1/2)
Sixty-Nine.
Sunday morning, Thinnes tracked Caleb down at the Graceland cemetery. Not the one where David Bisti was buried. He waited in his car, parked near Caleb's rental car, until the doctor turned away from the modest grave near Lorado Taft's great sculpture.
As Caleb neared the cars, Thinnes got out of his own and folded his arms on the roof, waiting to be noticed. Caleb seemed far away in his thoughts. Then he stiffened. Thinnes could see alarm cross his face momentarily.
”Sorry to intrude, Doctor,” he said. ”I remembered that you come here sometimes on Sundays.”
”No intrusion. It's time I let Christopher go and get on with my life.” He smiled wryly. ”How may I help you?”
There were things in his work that Thinnes could do with phone calls-this wasn't one. He needed to see Caleb's face when he talked to him-to better judge the effect of his words and see if Caleb understood them-but he felt uncomfortable. ”I wanted to thank you,” he said. ”For the other day with Lauren Bisti.”
There was more. Caleb seemed to sense it and waited while Thinnes put it together. It seemed stupid to thank a man for doing the right thing, but d.a.m.n few people were willing to do the right thing if it meant going to any trouble. And fewer still-usually only the cops, who were paid to-were willing to stick their necks out for strangers. But that was what was wrong with the world. And when you found someone who was willing to do what needed doing, you had to say something.
”Elvis Hale may have been an unmitigated b.a.s.t.a.r.d,” Thinnes said, finally. ”But he didn't kill Bisti. Thanks for helping me set the record straight.”
Caleb nodded. ”We all do what we can.” He turned to face the same direction as Thinnes, toward the Crusader statue. Barring vandalism or act of G.o.d, it would still be guarding Victor Lawson's grave when all their bones had crumbled to dust. Artists seemed to leave their works everywhere.
”What will we leave behind?” Thinnes asked.
”In your work, you've probably influenced countless people for the better. And you've raised a decent son. Rob will pa.s.s your goodness on to his children, and they on to theirs-perhaps for as long as there's life on this planet.”
The blatant compliment caused Thinnes instant embarra.s.sment. But he thought about it. If he'd turned out well, it was because of his parents' skill as parents...Jesus! It could really get maudlin if you thought about it too much. Then again, Rob could be killed tomorrow-by accident or gang bullet.
But you didn't plan it that way. Chances were good that Caleb was right, about Rob and about descendants. ”What about you?” he asked.
”I can only hope my art will help others express their talents.”
”The words on Bisti's headstone. What do they say in English?”
Caleb seemed, suddenly, very sad. ”I think it's a b.a.s.t.a.r.dization of a quote from Seneca.
”'Life is short, only art endures.'”
More from Michael Allen Dymmoch.
Caleb & Thinnes Mysteries.
The Man Who Understood Cats.
Two unlikely partners join forces to solve a murder disguised as suicide and catch a killer ready to strike again.
Gold Coast psychiatrist Jack Caleb is wealthy, cultured, and gay. When one of his clients is found dead in a locked apartment-apparently from a self-inflicted wound- burned-out Chicago detective John Thinnes doesn't believe it was suicide. And Caleb is inclined to agree.
But Thinnes regards a shrink who makes house calls suspicious and starts his murder investigation with the doctor himself. An attack on Caleb that's made to look like an accidental drug overdose starts to change the detective's mind.
Soon, the two men find themselves a whirlwind of theft, scandal, and blackmail. Forced into an unlikely partners.h.i.+p, they'll have to confront not only a killer, but hard truths within themselves that will change them forever.
Incendiary Designs.
Arson, pa.s.sion, and religious fanaticism set Chicago ablaze in the deadliest summer on record.
While jogging through Chicago's Lincoln Park, Dr. Jack Caleb runs into murder-a mob setting a police car on fire- with the officer still inside. Caleb rescues the man, but later the cop's partner is found stoned to death. Detective John Thinnes is a.s.signed to investigate.
Evidence points toward members of a charismatic church, but too many of them die in arson fires before the cops can round them up. When arson kills the apparent ring leader, it's too much coincidence. The remaining cop killers plead guilty; the case seems to be closed. But as Chicago heats up in the deadliest summer on record, it becomes clear that a serial arsonist is still at large.
A physician friend of Caleb's is implicated when some of the fire victims are found to have been drugged. To exonerate the man, Caleb sets a trap for the killer, and Thinnes and Caleb are nearly incinerated when the doctor's trap brings the case to a fiery finish.
The Feline Friends.h.i.+p.