“Ugh. Now you have sand all over you,” Scooter said. “That’s the problem with wet fur. Stuff clings to it.”
As he tried to wipe her off with his hands, Anabel joined us. “The good news is that Thomas managed to get a hold of Chief Tyler,” she said. “The bad news is that he doesn’t know when he can get here.”
“Doesn’t he know there’s been a murder?” I asked.
“Thomas explained it to him, but he said he has other things to deal with at the moment. Besides, the main road is still blocked, and it will be a while before it can be cleared.”
“Can’t he come by boat?”
“No, that isn’t an option. Thomas also spoke with Melvin. Apparently Penny and he tried to come here this morning in her dinghy, but the inlet to the cove is blocked as well with storm debris. Looks like we’re going to have to wait.”
I put my hands on my hips and frowned.
“It’s not like Gregor’s going anywhere,” Scooter said.
“It’s the birds I’m worried about. Ready, Mrs. Moto?” She squirmed out of his arms and led the way to the dock.
“Wait for me,” Anabel said. “I’ll keep you company.”
I smiled. “I can tell that you used to be married to a police officer. Not many people would call watching over a murder scene ‘keeping company.’”
“I guess I got used to that sort of thing being married to Tiny,” she said.
“He took you to crime scenes?” I asked.
“No, nothing like that, but he’d talk about his cases over dinner.”
I tried to imagine the chief willingly chatting about anything, let alone his cases.
Anabel must have seen my confusion. “He didn’t tell me the details, but he’d share a few things.”
As we walked down the dock, she asked, “Do you really think it was murder? Is it possible it was an accident?”
“Look at his chest,” I said when we reached the dinghy. “I don’t think there’s any way he could have accidentally stabbed himself and then fallen in there on his back. Unless you see something around here that could have done that?”
“There’s a rusty nail sticking out of this post,” she said. “Maybe he slipped on the dock, stumbled into the post, and the nail went into him.”
“Do you see any blood on it?” I asked.
She peered at the nail. “No. But with the rain last night, it would have washed it away.”
I wondered what other evidence the storm might have destroyed. “Good point. But I’m still not sure that a nail could have created that kind of wound.”
She picked up the boat hook I had used earlier to snag the stern anchor line. “What about this?”
“I can see someone using it as a club, but there aren’t any sharp points on it. Everything is smooth, rounded plastic and metal.” Mrs. Moto meowed at the end of the dock. “Do you see something?” I asked her.
We walked over and peered in the water. The only things I could make out in the rocks surrounding the dock were some small red circular objects.
“What is that?” Anabel asked. “Blood?”
“No. I think they might be M&M’S. I wonder how long it takes for them to dissolve in water,” I mused.
“You think the killer was eating candy?” she asked.
“No, those were mine. Although that might be an interesting idea—profiling criminals based on the candy they eat.”
Anabel laughed. “Given how much sugar you consume, you’d be in trouble. You’d fit every profile.”
I glanced at her, thinking about what she had said previously. “Are you really glad he’s dead?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, before you left earlier, I heard you say, ‘good riddance,’”
“Of course I’m not glad he’s dead.” Her eyes rounded. “I don’t like the idea of anyone being killed, even someone like Gregor. I must have been thinking about Victoria when that slipped out.”
“That’s the type of thing you might want to keep to yourself,” I said. “You never know how someone might interpret it. Or rather misinterpret it.”
“You don’t seriously think I killed Gregor?”
“Oh my gosh, no,” I said. “I wouldn’t want anyone else to think it, that’s all.”
“Someone who’s guilty wouldn’t say something like that, anyway,” she said. “They’d want to throw suspicion off of themselves. They’d act upset.”
We both looked at Victoria. She had rolled her pants up above her knees and was wading in the water. She had sobbed uncontrollably when she saw Gregor. Had it all been an act? Had she been trying to throw off suspicion from herself?
“Would they also pretend to be in love with the victim?” I asked. “Pretend to be engaged?”
“I know what you’re thinking, but there’s no way Victoria could have killed Gregor.” Anabel frowned. “You’re as bad as Tiny, always thinking the worst of people.”
“I’m sorry. I know she’s your friend. Scooter is right. I should stay out of things like this. I don’t know why I always feel like I have to investigate,” I said.
Anabel grabbed my arm. “Actually, you should investigate.”
“Me?”
“Yes.” She leaned toward me and whispered, “Chief Tyler is corrupt. There’s no telling how he’ll handle this investigation. If we want to get to the bottom of this, you need to take charge.”
“Corrupt? Did Tiny tell you that?” I asked.
“Yes. A couple of years ago, he came home one night really upset,” she said.
“Were his eyebrows twitching?” I asked.
Anabel looked perplexed. “Huh?”
“Never mind, go on,” I said.
“Well, he had a few shots of whiskey, something he never does, then told me how Chief Tyler covered up a drug smuggling ring that was being run out of Destiny Key.”
“Why didn’t Tiny report it?” I asked.
“He did. It went all the way to the state attorney, but then the case was mysteriously dropped. This island takes care of its own. They have enough money to buy anyone.” Anabel paced back and forth on the dock, clenching her fists. “Don’t you want to see justice done? Don’t you want to make sure an innocent person isn’t accused of murder? Because that’s what Chief Tyler will do—he’ll try to pin this on whoever is the easiest scapegoat. He won’t waste any time looking for clues, interviewing witnesses, gathering evidence—”
“Did you say interviewing witnesses? Do you think someone saw Gregor get killed?” I asked, interrupting Anabel’s tirade.
“I don’t know if there are any witnesses, but that’s what a good investigator does—find out if there are. And you’re a good investigator,” she said.
“I am?”
“Of course. Look at how many murders you’ve solved in Coconut Cove already.”
“I’m pretty sure your ex would beg to differ,” I said. “He’s taken credit for every one of them.”
She smiled. “Well, that’s true. But I do know that he thinks the help you provided aided in cracking the cases.”
I was stunned. “He said that?”
“Well, not in so many words,” she admitted.
“What exactly has he said?”
“Uh…” She grinned, then covered her mouth to stifle her laughter.
“That’s what I thought.” I looked at her hands. “Are you wearing your engagement ring again?”
Her face reddened. “Well, yes, but it’s on my right hand, not my left.”
“But it’s still your engagement ring, right?” I asked.
“It’s pretty, that’s all.” She held out her hand to admire it. “Seems a shame to let it sit in a jewelry box.”
“I knew it,” I said. “You two are getting back together.”
She twisted the ring on her finger. “No, we’re not. That ship has sailed.”
“You’ve also been spending lots of time together lately,” I pointed out.
“That’s
because we have joint custody of Frick and Frack. We’re just friends.”
“Would you even tell me if the two of you were seeing each other romantically, or would you keep it a secret like Victoria did?”
“Can we just drop the subject?” Anabel said. She pointed at the dinghy. “Looks like the seagulls are back.”
While Mrs. Moto ran back and forth making a chirping sound, I reached down to jostle the side of the dinghy. “Get off there!”
After they flew away, the calico lay down on the dock and started washing herself.
“Strong work. You deserve a rest break,” I told her, then sat on the edge of the dock. I pulled out Scooter’s phone and took some pictures.
“See, you’re already investigating,” Anabel said.
“These are just photos,” I said.
“It’s more than that, admit it.”
“Fine, I’m curious about who did this and why.”
She clapped her hands together. “Great, you’re in. I’ll tell you what, I’ll be your assistant. What’s our first step?”
“Step number one is to find the murder weapon.”
“That’ll be tricky,” Anabel said.
“No. I think it’s going to be a cinch.” While I had been jostling the dinghy to scare off the birds, something rolled out from underneath the body. “See that there?” I asked. “I’m pretty sure that’s the knife that killed Gregor.”
6
Killer Dolphins
“What’s going on down here?” a man’s voice said.
Both Anabel and I startled. We had been so engrossed in looking at the knife next to Gregor’s body that we hadn’t noticed that anyone had joined us.
I looked up and saw Ben standing behind us, his hands jammed in the pockets of his tattered khaki shorts and his hair pulled back in its usual ponytail. He glanced at the dinghy and whistled. “Looks like you’ve got another one on your hands, Mollie. What does that make? Six bodies now?”
I ignored his question about my body count. “What are you doing here?”
“Olivia and Sawyer are curious about what’s going on. They sent me down to get an update.” Ben rocked back and forth on his heels. “I ran into Thomas in the hallway when he came back in the house. He seemed pretty out of sorts so I followed him into the kitchen. Then he told me that Gregor was dead, but wouldn’t give me any details.”
My stomach grumbled at the thought of food. My adrenaline had worn off and I needed to replace it with some caffeine, carbs, and sugar. “Was he making breakfast?”
“He said something about Dutch pancakes and muffins before he shooed me out of the kitchen, saying that he needed to be alone,” Ben said.
“Did you tell the girls what Thomas said about Gregor?”
“Yep,” the young man said.
I cocked my head to one side. “And what was their reaction?”
“They asked what happened, and that’s when I said I’d check it out,” he said.
“Did they seem upset or shocked?” I asked.
Ben scratched his head. “Not really, now that you mention it. More curious than anything.”
“That’s kind of odd,” Anabel said. “Wouldn’t you be shocked if you heard someone had been murdered?”
The young man’s eyes widened. “Murdered?” He looked more closely at the dinghy. “Is that blood and a stab wound?” After I nodded, he said, “Wow. We just assumed he had a heart attack.”
“Good,” I said. “We need to keep it that way. You can’t tell Olivia and Sawyer what you’ve seen here.”
“How are you going to keep it a secret?” Anabel asked me. “Thomas already knows he was murdered and so does Victoria. They both saw the body.”
“True, but they don’t know about that.” I pointed at the knife. “If we want to figure out who did it, we need to keep details of the murder weapon strictly between us. The less we tell people, the better.”
“I see,” Ben said. “You’re hoping the murderer will trip up and mention something about the knife.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Only the killer will know exactly what type of knife he was stabbed with.” I looked at Ben. “Can you keep this a secret? Even from Sawyer?”
“Sure. I’d rather talk to her about other things, anyway.” He gave me a goofy smile. “I think she wants to go out with me.”
“What makes you think that?” I asked.
“I suggested that she come out sailing with me sometime,” he said.
“What did she say?” I asked.
“Nothing really,” he said. “But she didn’t say no, so I’m counting that as a win.”
That’s one of the things I loved about Ben. No matter how many times women turned him down, or, in Sawyer’s case, avoided committing to a date, he still kept trying. Sawyer seemed like a nice girl. I hoped she ended up saying yes to going out with him. Provided she wasn’t the murderer, of course.
Then I shook my head and pointed at the dinghy. “I’m not sure talking about your love life is appropriate given the circumstances.”
“Did you speak with Victoria on your way over here?” Anabel asked. We all looked over at the grief-stricken woman who was still wading in the water. Her toes must have been like prunes by that point.
“I tried to, but she wasn’t very talkative,” Ben said. “Neither was Scooter.”
“When did you see him?” I asked.
“When I was walking down here. He was heading back to the house. He said something about wanting a cup of cocoa.” Ben tugged at his t-shirt. “I don’t know how he can think about drinking a hot beverage. Man, is it ever sticky. And it’s still early. It’s going to be a humid one today.”
“It’s the chocolate. It helps him deal with what happened.” I sighed. “What I wouldn’t give for some chocolate now too.”
“How can you be thinking about food at a time like this?” Anabel asked. “You need to stay focused on your job.”
“Her job?” Ben asked.
“Yes, she’s investigating the murder,” Anabel said.
“Cool. Do you need help?” he said. “I could be your deputy and wear one of those badges like they do in the movies.”
I smiled. “I don’t think a badge will be necessary.”
“Okay, boss. Whatever you say.” He rubbed his hands together. “What should we do first?”
I furrowed my brow. “I’m not sure. The only investigations I’ve led officially were as an investigative reporter for FAROUT, and those had to do with alien abductions. This is a bit different.” I turned to Anabel. “What does Tiny normally do in a case like this?”
She considered this for a moment before saying, “We should secure the crime scene.”
“But we don’t have any of that yellow police tape,” I said.
“Why don’t I go back to the house and see if Thomas has anything we can use?” Ben offered.
“Sounds good. And while you’re at it, can you bring us back a couple of muffins?” I asked.
“Sure thing.”
As he started to walk down the dock, I added, “Coffee would be great too.” He gave me a thumbs up sign.
“Why would Gregor be out at the dock in the middle of the night?” Anabel asked.
“That’s a good question.” I tapped my finger on my lips. “Did the killer arrange to meet him here? Did he go out for a walk and then was surprised by the killer? Obviously, I don’t think we can answer those questions yet, but we should try to narrow down the timeframe when the murder took place.”
“Well, we all went to bed around eleven,” Anabel said.
“And I found the body around six this morning.”
“So it happened sometime between eleven pm and six am,” she said.
I looked at the branches, coconuts, and palm fronds littering the beach. “Do you think he would have really come down here during the storm?”
“Good point,” Anabel said. “I know the storm was still raging at three-thirty. A branch fell on the roof over my room and it woke m
e up. I remember checking the time after I looked out the window to see what had happened.”
“Did you see anyone on the dock or beach?”
“My room faces the rear of the house. I don’t have a view in this direction. Honestly, with the rain coming down as hard as it was, I wouldn’t have been able to make out anyone, anyway. And, like you said, it’s unlikely anyone would have been outside then.”
“I wonder if anyone else saw anything during the night?” I mused.
Anabel chewed on her lip. “Well, Victoria and Thomas’ rooms face the beach, so one of them might have seen something. The one that Sawyer and Olivia are sharing is in the back, next to mine.”
“I wish I had a notebook,” I said. “We really need to write down a list of things to do, like ask Victoria and Thomas if they saw anything, either during the storm or after.”
“And ask Victoria if she noticed Gregor leaving their room and, if so, at what time,” Anabel added.
“Here you go, ladies,” Ben said as he rejoined us. He handed us each a muffin, then pulled a bunch of scarves out of the tote bag slung over his shoulder. “Will these work? I figure we can tie the scarves together to use as a makeshift rope.”
“Very creative,” I said. “Where did you find those?”
“In an old trunk at the bottom of the stairs,” he said, holding up a paisley scarf. “There’s all sorts of cool things in there like a gladiator shield, wigs, and costumes.”
“Thomas did say that the owner is in the theater,” Anabel said. “Maybe they’re from plays he’s been in.”
As Ben tied the scarves together, I wolfed down my muffin. Anabel ate hers at a daintier pace.
“How’s that?” he asked, holding up his handiwork.
“Looks good,” I said.
He pointed at the end of the dock by the beach. “I figured we could tie one end to the pole on that side of the dock and the other end on the opposite pole. That way no one will be able to walk up here and disturb the crime scene.”
As I tucked my unruly hair behind my ears, I felt sweat dripping down my neck. “I’m kind of getting worried about the heat out here. The hot sun and dead bodies don’t really go well together. Maybe we should drag the dinghy onto shore and find a tarp to put over it.”
Dead in the Dinghy Page 8