“You did?” Culpepper sucked in his gut and straightened his shoulders. “Do you think Marge knows?” Then he corrected himself. “I mean, do you think anybody said anything to Marge?”

“No, they wouldn’t.” Lucy shook her head. People gossiped according to the rules in Tinker’s Cove. They talked about each other, but they never made direct accusations.

“And then I saw you and Jonathan Franke in the coffee shop. You looked as if you wanted to strangle him.”

“Those conservationists make me sick,” Culpepper confessed. “Not a one of ’em knows what it’s like to work for a living.”

“But Barney . . .” Lucy weighed her words carefully. “I’m almost positive I heard a police radio the night I found Sam Miller. In fact, I know I did.”

Culpepper dropped his head on the steering wheel. “I was afraid you’d remember. I tell you, I was sweating like a pig that day Horowitz had me come along to interview you. Boy, was I glad when you didn’t remember. I guess it’ll all come out now,” he said, raising his head and looking at Lucy.

“What will come out? What were you doing in the parking lot?”

“I was a fool,” said Culpepper. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

“You’re really in trouble, aren’t you?”

“You know it. If this gets out, I’ll lose my job.” Culpepper shook his head. “It’s not much of job, but it’s all I’ve got.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Lucy reassured him. “What did you do?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking of,” Culpepper admitted. “You know that magazine? Modern Mercenary? Well, I’ve had a subscription for years. Real man stuff, y’know. Lots of action. I love it. In the back they have a classified section. Dirty deeds done dirt cheap, y’know what I mean?”

“I think I saw something on TV about it.”

“Yeah, I think Sixty Minutes did a story on it. Well, I put an ad in. Partly it was just for kicks, just make-believe. But partly I thought something might come from it. The pay for this job is lousy, and we could use some extra money. So I put an ad in.”

His eyes glowed with pride as he remembered the words. “ ‘Resourceful, enterprising man of action available for assignments in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.’ I didn’t want to be away from home overnight, you know.” He cocked an eyebrow and nodded at Lucy.

“Barney, why don’t you drive while we talk? When the boys’ parents come to pick them up, they’ll wonder if I’m not there.”

“Okay.” He started the car and headed down the road.