All Due Respect Issue 2 by Owen Laukkanen Page B

it. And they did.
    Loraine’s natural tendency toward tears since the night with Roger served them well when the police came to the shop.
    “Mrs. Zucco, when was the last time you saw your husband?”
    “About a week ago. He and his employee went fishing together. Why?”
    Dottie watched from the back room. Good girl, Loraine. Keep it together .
    The police showed her a set of fingerprints and a ring. Anthony’s wedding ring. She let loose the flood of tears she’d been holding back. They took one of his knives to pull prints from, but everyone in the room knew the severed hand was his.
    That night, Dottie left two more body parts about a mile away from each other. When the cops returned the next day to tell Loraine the fingerprints matched, they told her about the other parts. One of them was his head.
    Dottie told Loraine to bring the paperwork to cash in Anthony’s life insurance right away.

    Two days later, Dottie parsed out several of Roger’s parts for the police to find. The sleepy town had never seen anything like it. Dottie watched the faces of the detectives who came to her door and she knew there was a hint of glee at getting to work such a big time case as this.
    Dottie broke down when they brought her the news. She first buried her face in her hands, then pulled a tall homicide detective close to her and cried into his lapel. The men stood stoically, waiting for her to regain her composure, which she did with scripted timing.
    “Do you have any idea who might have wanted your husband and Mr. Zucco dead?”
    “Have you ever worked in the meat business, detective?” He shook his head. “It’s a real cutthroat industry.”
    They offered their sympathies, vowed to catch the killer, and also admitted they had no leads. She thanked them for their service to the community.

    Loraine moved around the shop like a rat in a room full of traps. Dottie scolded her after work one night.
    “If this was gonna come back and bite us, it would have already. Now would you calm down? No one is looking for him. Either one of them. They went for a fishing trip and never came home. That’s all.”
    “I know, I know. It’s just…”
    “Just what?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Dottie thought about slapping her, trying to get her to come around. It was like having Roger back again. What’s with these people and their murderous intentions, and then they can’t handle it?
    “Look, maybe we should close the shop for a few days. We can look around to hire someone. This isn’t my racket and it ain’t yours. We’re owners now. We got to learn how to act like it.”
    Loraine nodded her head. “Yeah. I could use a break.”
    “We both could.” Dottie put a hand on Loraine’s knee. She tamped down her desire to slap the woman across the face. “It’s all over, Loraine. We did it. Scot free.” Dottie patted her knee. “Have you heard from the lawyer about the estate?”
    Anthony had been well insured. Dottie was holding off on drafting an official document that made them equal partners until after the dust had settled.
    “Yeah, I spoke to him yesterday,” Loraine said. “The check cleared.”
    “What? Why didn’t you say so?” Another strong urge to slap her came and went. “We should definitely take a few days off then. We’ve got cash now. We don’t need the two-bit nickels and dimes from a pile of ground chuck. We’ve got prime rib sitting in that bank. How much is there?”
    “Four hundred thousand.” Loraine said, barely above a whisper.
    Dottie almost choked. That was four hundred thousand more than she got off Roger.
    “Then it’s settled. We’ll take a week off, find a new butcher, and we can relax.”
    “I guess you’re right.” Loraine managed a weak smile. Who says money can’t buy happiness? “I suppose I should take all these receipts to the bank in the morning.”
    “Aw, it’ll keep.”
    “No, I’ve been putting it off. Anthony used to handle all the banking.” At the mention of his