“I don’t know who killed Gina. Or why they would. I don’t even suspect anyone. If I suspectanything, it’s that somebody snuck in a back door to rob her, maybe some guy off the river, and picked up something handy and hit her with it.”
“Didn’t find that, whatever it was,” Virgil said. “What exactly is your relationship with Gina anyway?”
Harney shrugged. “I don’t have one. We went to high school together; we both belong to Trippton National, we’re somewhat friendly; but she’s a pretty woman, and I’m married. So there’s that. I have a checking account at Second National, but my savings and investments are through the Edward Jones office.”
“Essentially, no regular contact except out at the club? You guys play golf or tennis, or something?”
“I’m golf. I’ve never seen her on the course. I think she might be tennis, but I don’t pay too much attention to those people. Gina and I don’t... didn’t... hang out with the same people at the club. We’re friendly, but we’re not close.”
“You think that’s how other people in town would characterize your relationship?” Virgil asked.
“Sure. Talk to people at the club, if you want. Tell them I sent you up,” Harney said.
“Did you finance your business through the bank?”
“No, never did. Our partnership borrowed money for the building here—we own it—from a specialist medical financing company twelve years ago. We’ve never needed additional financing. And we’ve got the medical care business here sewn up. There are five partners, we’re all on staff at the clinic when we’re needed there, and there are three more docs down there who aren’t partners. But it’s all... sewn up.”
Virgil nodded. “After you left Thursday night?”
“Went home. Our office hours start at eight, I get up at six to exercise, catch the morning news, get cleaned up, help get the kids ready for school. I was one of the first people out of there. I’ll tell you, Virgil, the meeting was really boring—I wouldn’t have gone if I didn’t think I had to. And I’ll tell you this: there was no tension there, at the meeting. Nothing that I could see. Nothing at all.”
Virgil could tell when he wasn’t making headway, so after a bit more talk, he let Harney get back to his work. As he was leaving, Harney said, “Get up here on my table. I want to look at your nose.”
“I got a doc down at the clinic,” Virgil said.
“Let me look.”
Virgil let him look, and when he was done, Harney said, “You live in the Cities?”
“No, over in Mankato.”
“There’s a Mayo branch there. Get one of their ENTs to take a look. There’s still quite a bit of swelling, but I don’t like the way the end of the septum looks right now. You might need a little more work there.”
“Well... okay. If they do something, it’ll hurt, won’t it?”
“Oh, yeah.”
—
Virgil called Johnson, who was nearly unintelligible with one of his sawmills working in the background, but managed to get Clarice’s phone number. Clarice worked in the office, and when she came up, Virgil said, “If I wanted to buy some whips and chains, maybe a couple of vibrators and so on, could I do that in Trippton?”
“Nope. Not as far as I know. Why would anybody do that?”
“Because maybe they wanted to get vibrated?”
“Hang on one second, Virgil...” Virgil hung on for ten seconds, then Clarice came back and said, “I put ‘sex toys’ in the search field at Amazon. They sent me to their ‘Sexual Wellness’ category, where they list entire departments: Condoms and Lubes, Performance Enhancers, Bondage Gear, Sex Toys, Exotic Apparel, Novelties, Men’s Toys, Sex Furniture, and Sensual Delights. Those are alldepartments. I am clicking on ‘Sex Toys’... and the first two entries are the ‘Utimi Upgraded Silicone Ten-speed G Spot and Clitoris Vibrating Vibrator,’ which is right next to the ‘Utimi Ten-speed Silicone USB-charging Vibrating Anal Butt Plug Prostate Vibrator.’”
Virgil said, “You didn’t make that up?”
“No, I didn’t. By the way, they’re all eligible for Amazon Prime.”
“That’s a relief. I’d hate to wait for three days,” Virgil said. Getting no response, he said, “You’re telling me that a sex toys store in Trippton would be superfluous.”
“That’s my belief, yes,” Clarice said. “If you bought something here, everybody in town would know in eight seconds. If you buy from Amazon, maybe it’s an electric toothbrush or a rubber dog bone, and it comes in a brown box.”
“I’m sorry to have bothered you, Clarice,” Virgil said.
“And I’m sorry if I embarrassed you, Virgil,” Clarice said.
