“What do you mean, ‘killed two of his kids’?”
“It’s right here, man.”
Louis took the clipping. He couldn’t make out the small print of the story but the headline made him pull in a breath.
TEENS KILLED IN LOON LAKE RAID
There were two thumbnail black-and-white photos of the kids, probably high school yearbook pictures. Louis squinted to make out their features. Jesus, one was a girl.
“What happened?” Louis asked.
“The kids broke into a tourist cabin up on the north end,” Delp said. “At least one of them was wanted by the cops for gang stuff and they tracked them to the cabin. The cops called them out but the kids had guns and fired back. Cops threw in gas but two of the three kids were killed.”
“Two?”
“Yeah. The twins. The youngest survived.”
Louis took a slow drink of coffee, thinking of the letter from Lacey’s son at Red Oak. “How’d you find out about Lacey?”
“Well, I wasn’t working here then but when I heard Lacey’s name on the scanner yesterday, I mentioned it to my editor and he kind of vaguely remembered hearing the name before. So I ran it through the morgue and came up with all those clips.”
“Can I have this?” Louis asked.
Delp pushed the envelope across the table. “Go ahead. There are plenty of copies.”
“I’ll need to talk to the reporter.”
“Can’t. He croaked last winter. Heart attack. Guess that’s what twenty years covering cops will do to you.”
Louis was staring at the photographs of the Lacey twins.
“Too many guns, that’s what I think,” Delp said, shaking his head. “People here love their guns. Kids here get rifles when they lose their baby teeth.”
Louis looked at Delp. “You’re not from here, are you?”
“Hell no,” Delp said. “I’m from Detroit and I’m just trying to get back there as fast as I can.”
Louis stood up and pulled on his jacket, picking up the envelope.
“So, what you going to do about Lacey?” Delp asked.
Louis didn’t answer as he started for the door.
“Hey! You let me know!” Delp called out.
Louis hurried back to the station. In the locker room, he quickly changed into his uniform and went right to the files. He tugged at the drawer labeled NOVEMBER 1979. It was locked. He would have to wait for Dale.
He went to his desk, taking the envelope Delp had given him. He spotted his glasses, hanging from the pencil holder where Ollie had left them. He put them on and opened the folder.
There were four articles. The longest was the one he had seen in Dot’s with the headline and two photographs.
BY ARNOLD ROGERS
