Page 27 of Ghostmaker

“Her name is Peggy McHugh. According to West, the women have known each other since high school. Peggy was Alice’s best friend.”

Cope snorted. “Some best friend. Wait until you hear her story, if she tells it, that is.”

Jude couldn’t wait to question Peggy. He had a feeling this interview was going to get a bit feisty when Cope revealed what he knew. He got out of the SUV and approached the front door. When he rang the bell a commotion started inside the house. Tiny voices were raised and dogs began to bark.

Ronan rolled his eyes. “I need this chaos like a hole in the head.”

Cope chuckled along with him.

“Who the hell are you?” a dirty-looking little boy asked when he flung open the door.

Jude pulled out his badge. “We’re here to see Peggy.”

The child slammed the door. “Gram! It’s the cops! We’re busted! Hide! Everyone, scatter!”

“What the hell is going on here?” Ronan knocked on the door. “We’re here to speak with Peggy about Alice Strickland. No one is getting arrested or sent to jail.” Ronan turned to Jude. “You told her we were coming, right?”

Jude nodded. “I spoke with Peggy this morning.”

“What the hell do you want?” an older woman asked from the other side of the closed door.

“This is Detective Jude Byrne from the Salem Police Department, we’re working with the Cambridge Police on Alice Strickland’s case. We want to speak with you about Alice and who her enemies might have been around the time of her murder.”

The door was wrenched open. The woman who answered the door was dressed in a pink caftan and matching turban. She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall with a face that was craggier than the Rocky Mountains. Jude had a feeling that was thanks to a lifetime of cigarettes, booze, and bad choices. “Alice? What the hell do you want to talk to me about Alice for?”

“This conversation would be much easier to have inside the house,” Ronan said. “I’d hate for your neighbors to get the wrong idea about why we’re here.”

“I’ll give you ten minutes. No more.” Peggy opened the door and ushered them into the house. “Kids, go play in the yard.”

Five small children ran past Peggy toward the back of the house. All were barefoot and two of them had something brown smeared on their faces that Jude hoped to God was chocolate. The dogs, two large German Shepards, chased after them.

Jude gagged when he shut the door behind him. The house smelled of stale cigarette smoke, rotting food, and something else he didn’t want to sniff again to identify, most likely a result of the dogs. Ten minutes was all he was going to be able to stand in the house. Looking at Cope and Ronan, they were in the same boat.

Peggy led them into the kitchen. Dirty dishes were stacked in the sink and the counter beside it. Flies buzzed around the plates and the soiled skillet on the stovetop. “You want a cup of coffee?”

“No!” Jude half-shouted. Christ, he didn’t want to think of the number of illnesses he’d contract from this house just by standing in it, never mind eating or drinking something prepared here.

“We’ve got a long ride back to Salem, Mrs. McHugh,” Cope said.

“What can you tell us about Alice Strickland?” Jude asked, pulling out his notebook.

“We knew each other from school. I was in her wedding when she married Al Strickland. He was nothing but an asshole with a big dick, but Alice loved him anyway. Well, at least until he knocked her up and started sleeping with a friend of hers.”

“Were you the friend?” Ronan asked.

“Why the fuck would you ask me that?” Peggy shot back. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes and lit one, taking a long puff.

“You said Al had a big dick. I assumed you knew that because you’d taken it out for a spin.” Jude made like he was going to elbow Peggy, but was afraid he’d never get her stank off his arm.

Peggy laughed. It sounded like a rusted screen door swinging on its hinges. “Yeah, I fucked him a time or two. Big dicks don’t mean shit if you come in the first thirty seconds.” She laughed again, which turned into a coughing fit.

“Good to know,” Ronan said. “Do you remember what happened the night Alice died?” He looked anxious to get this interview over and done with.

“Yeah, it was a Friday night. We’d been out the night before. Girls night. Probably the last one we were gonna have for a while. Alice was pretty sure her boyfriend Chet Parks was going to propose. I knew he wasn’t because I was fucking him on the side. He was going to break up with her to marry me, but then Alice was murdered, so that took care of that.”

Jude’s mouth fell open. He shut it quickly so no flies flew inside. “Did Chet have anything to do with Alice’s murder? Did you?”

“Do I look like the kind of woman who’d commit murder?”