Red Leaves

‘That Ethiopian premed student hacking his girlfriend and her roommate with an ax.’

Kristina widened her eyes. ‘Oh, that was horrible.’

‘Yes, it was. I was the first officer on the scene.’

Kristina made a disgusted face. ‘You found the bodies?’

‘Yes.’

‘Yuck. Was it awful?’

‘As awful as you can imagine.’

‘I can’t even imagine.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I’ve never even seen a dead body.’

‘Really? Never?’ Spencer found that hard to believe. He’d been going to funerals of his parents’ relatives since he was two.

‘Never.’ She cleared her throat. ‘My grandmother - she died just a few months ago, but I didn’t go to the funeral.’

‘Why not?’

Shrugging, Kristina said, ‘I wasn’t invited.’

‘You weren’t invited to your grandmother’s funeral?’ It was Spencer’s turn to widen his eyes. ‘What kind of family do you have?’

‘Not a very close one,’ she admitted, changing the subject. ‘The Ethiopian, do you think that was power and intimidation?’

‘That’s all it was,’ said Spencer. ‘The girl didn’t want to marry him, and he wanted to let her know how he felt about it.’

‘I see. What’s happened to the guy now?’

‘He’s behind bars for life.’

‘Ahh. Just punishment.’

‘Just? I don’t know. He killed two people in cold blood. Maybe he should have died himself.’

‘Do you think he should have, Spencer?’

‘For premeditated murder? Yes.’

They were done drinking their hot cocoa and eating, but Spencer definitely did not want to get up and go.

Kristina asked him if he was the boss at work.

‘I wish. No, there’s the chief above me. Ken Gallagher.’

‘Irish, like you.’

He nodded.

She seemed thoughtful. ‘I didn’t know policemen made enough money to live in Hanover.’

‘I know - you kids drove the price of this town way up. Three-bedroom houses start at two hundred and sixty thousand. Two-bedroom apartments rent for nine hundred.’

‘You must be making good money.’

‘Nah - I gave up smoking.’

‘What, so you could afford a place in Hanover?’

‘That’s right.’

Smiling, Kristina said, ‘Didn’t give up taking girls out for coffee, though.’

‘Did.’ He paused. ‘But I just fell off the wagon.’

‘I see.’

‘What kind of a name is Kim?’ Spencer asked her.

‘An unusual one?’ she offered. She didn’t seem to want to talk about it, so he left it.

‘Go back much to visit your family?’

‘Not much,’ said Spencer. ‘You?’

‘Not much,’ said Kristina.

‘Your folks, they must be pretty proud of you, going to Dartmouth and all. Me, I just went to a state university for a year and then joined the force.’

‘Do you miss home at all?’

Spencer nodded. ‘I miss my brothers and sisters.’

‘Oh yeah?’ She smiled. ‘How many have you got?’

‘More than you’ve had dinners,’ replied Spencer, repeating

Kristina’s own expression. ‘Eight. Five brothers, three sisters.’

‘My God, I’ve never in my life met anyone with that many siblings. I barely read about that many siblings.’

‘Yeah, we had a big family.’

‘Are you guys Catholic or something?’

‘No, no, Protestant,’ said Spencer. ‘Of course we’re Catholic. With a last name like O’Malley?’