by Cindy Bell
“What is that?” He winced and turned the radio down.
“Oh sorry, I must have been listening to a good song.” She laughed. “Sometimes I like to drive around with the window rolled down and music blasting.”
“I can appreciate that.” He smiled at her and turned the volume up enough to enjoy the current song. “I wasn’t able to get any information on the docks last night. There weren’t many people around.”
When they arrived at the docks the parking lot was devoid of any police cars. Suzie felt a sense of relief, but also a good amount of irritation. She didn’t want to be shooed away by officers, but she also wondered why they weren’t there conducting an investigation.
“I guess the police are done with the crime scene.” She frowned.
“Which is exactly why we need to pick up where they left off.” He stretched his arms and yawned. “Where should we start?”
“I think the best place to start is canvasing the dock for anyone that might have seen something. I know the police already did, but we might still be able to find out some information.”
“Some of the captains aren’t too friendly with the police, they’re not likely to give up any real information.”
“Even to Jason?”
“Yes, even Jason. Police is police.”
“I didn’t realize there was so much tension.”
“It’s not as bad as you might think, but since the main suspects are going to be people on the docks, they are going to get defensive about any questions the police ask. They’re going to get defensive about anything that I ask, too.”
“Maybe I should do the talking then.”
“Definitely not. In fact it might be better if you wait at the car.”
“But you know there’s no chance of that happening.” She smiled sweetly at him. He stared into her eyes for a moment.
“If I…”
“Nope.”
“Suzie, I think…”
“It’s not going to happen. I’m going to be by your side the entire time.” She reached out and patted his cheek. “I’m looking forward to meeting your friends, darling.”
“I think you’ll change your mind once you’ve met them.” He chuckled. “All right, let’s go.”
When she walked towards the docks she was startled by how quiet they were. Usually there were fishermen, and locals milling about. “If anyone is even out here to question.”
“They’re here, they’re just hiding out. Because of that.” He pointed to the police tape wrapped around Robbie’s boat.
“I never realized fishermen were such an unruly bunch.” Suzie raised an eyebrow.
“They aren’t always. But marrying the sea, it makes a man a bit rough around the edges.”
“Does that make me your mistress?” She winked at him.
“Never.” He held her gaze. “I’ve kept my options open, never made a full commitment.”
“Oh, I see.” She laughed and slipped her arm through his. As they stepped onto the dock, she noticed a man towards the end of it. The moment he saw them, he bolted towards one of the boats. “There.” Suzie pointed in the man’s direction. “I bet he knows something.”
“Let’s catch up with him.” Paul quickened his pace.
“I think he went on this boat.” Suzie walked towards the boat and spotted the man as he disappeared inside the cabin. She glanced back at Paul who nodded at her. Suzie mounted the boat, side stepped a container of empty oyster shells, and walked over to the cabin door with Paul right behind her. She knocked twice then stepped back. The man inside the cabin opened the door and snarled at her.
“What is it?”
“Careful how you talk to a lady.” Paul raised a bushy eyebrow and stepped in front of Suzie. “Pedro, we just have a couple of questions for you.”
“I bet, you and the entire police department.”
“No, just us.” Suzie smiled at him. “You know Paul don’t you?” She gestured to Paul.
“Sure, I know him. That doesn’t mean I’m going to say anything.”
“I’m not here to give you a hard time.” Paul rested one hand on the door frame of the cabin. “All we want to know is whether you saw anyone around Robbie’s boat. He was one of us and I’d like to get to the bottom of his murder. You can’t blame me for that, can you?”
“No, I can’t, but you know what happens once you get involved with the cops. They just like to dig into things that are none of their business. I’m not sure how you can expect me to expose myself to that.”
“No need to.” Suzie shook her head. “All we want to do is get some information. That information is going to stay between you and us, it will have nothing to do with the police.”
“Not even your cousin, Jason?” He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I know who you are.”
“Pedro, relax. Just because her cousin is a cop, that doesn’t make her one, now does it?”
“You tell me.” Pedro crossed his arms and stared at both of them. Suzie noticed that he had a bandage around his right hand. She knew from experience with Paul that minor injuries often occurred at sea and it reminded her what a tough job fisherman had.
“I just want to find out what happened to Robbie as I’m sure you do,” Suzie said.
“How do I know this whole conversation isn’t being recorded?”
“All I want to know is whether you saw anyone.” Suzie shrugged. “How could that be used against you?”
“I’m sure that they could come up with a way.”
“So?” Paul leaned closer to him. “Did you see anything or not?”
“Since you were friends with Robbie, I guess I should tell you.” He drew a deep breath and then sighed. “I saw a guy. I didn’t know who he was. But he wore this bright yellow jacket so it was hard to miss him. He seemed to be snooping around Robbie’s boat.” He gestured towards the boat. “You know, we try to look out for each other around here, so I was going to say something to him, but by the time I got off my boat he was gone.”
“Did you see where he went? Did he go to the parking lot?”
“No, not that I saw. He was just gone. I figured I must have missed him leaving the dock somehow. Anyway, that’s all I know.”
“The man in the bright yellow jacket, was he tall? Thin?” Suzie narrowed her eyes.
“No, just about average.” He squinted. “I don’t pay much attention to that. I did notice that he was bald. Not a hair on his head.”
“I understand. Thank you for your help.” Suzie nodded at him.
“Just do me a favor and forget my name when you talk to your cousin about this.”
“I wouldn’t dream of mentioning it.” She smiled. “But I will remember it, because you did a good thing by telling us what you know.”
“Sure, if you say so.” He shrugged. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have work to do.”
“What did you do to your hand?” Suzie asked.
“I work as a fisherman. What do you think I did to it? I cut it.” He scowled.
“What about Robbie? Did you notice anything strange about him lately?” Suzie asked.
“Like what?”
“Like, anything he might have been involved in that would have led to this,” Suzie said.
“Paul, you know we stay out of each others’ business.” Pedro turned towards Paul and stared hard at him.
“Right, but one of us ended up murdered, I think it’s okay to ask a few questions,” Paul said.
“Maybe you do, but the rest of us don’t. If Robbie was into something it was his business, and I’m not going to talk about it.”
“So, he was into something?” Paul’s tone hardened.
“You would have known about that, wouldn’t you, Paul? I mean you were friends.”
“He never said anything to me.”
“Because it wasn’t your business.”
Suzie reached up and touched Paul’s arm as she noticed his muscles twitch.
“It is now.” He scowled. “If anyone has a pro
blem with that, they can say it to my face.”
“All right, all right.” Pedro held up his hands. “I’m just reminding you of how things work around here.”
“Maybe you’re the one that needs reminding, of how we take care of our own.”
“Ouch.” He rolled his eyes.
“If you think of anything else.” Suzie offered him a card for Dune House. “I can be reached here.”
“Sure, thanks.” He nodded at her then turned away. Once they were off the boat, Paul spun on his heel and looked straight at her.
“Do you see what I mean now?”
“Yes, I do, but it’s nothing I haven’t run into before, Paul. But I noticed you got a little riled up.”
“He just got under my skin.”
“I noticed.”
“Here, let’s talk to Frank, he might have seen something. He lives on his boat and only goes out for short runs.”
Suzie let the subject drop. As she trailed after him, she noticed a few faces peering through windows on their boats. She gritted her teeth and caught up to Paul.
“Frank.” He clapped a hand on the rail of the man’s boat. Frank turned to look at him. He was big, thicker than Paul and taller, too.
“Hey Paul.” He nodded. “What do you need?”
“I just wanted to know if you saw anything strange around the dock in the past few days.”
“You mean about Robbie?” Frank stared hard at the rope he coiled around his arm.
“Yes.” Paul leaned closer to him. “Did you notice anything?”
“Only you here, asking me questions.” Frank met his eyes. “That’s pretty strange.”
“Don’t start the ‘what happens on the dock stays on the dock’ business with me. Robbie deserved better than that.”
Frank nodded slowly and returned to his coiling. “You may be right about that. I personally kept my distance. I saw him come in and out of here too many times to believe he was just catching shellfish.”
“What do you mean by that?” Paul narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t mean anything. I just said, it’s not my concern.”
“What was he into?” Paul swung his foot over the side of the boat and climbed on.
“Back off, I have nothing to say.”
“Was it drugs or something? Was he running drugs?”
“I can’t say, I don’t know.” Frank shrugged. “It’s not like I inspected his boat. All I know is that the way he kept moving in and out at odd hours was suspicious.”
“Frank, I’m not trying to drag Robbie through the mud, I just want to find out who did this.”
“Why are you asking questions about that?”
“Because Robbie was my friend, no matter what he was into.”
“No, I mean, why are you asking questions, Paul?” He looked at Paul. “I think we both know who did this.”
“We do?” Paul raised an eyebrow. “Please, enlighten me.”
“Look whose boat is right next to Robbie’s.” He pointed down the stretch of dock. Paul turned his attention in the direction that he pointed.
“Is that Mike’s?” He squinted.
“Sure is.”
“So?” Paul looked back at him.
“You didn’t hear?”
“No.” Paul shook his head. “Were Robbie and Mike having problems?”
“Is there anyone that Mike didn’t have problems with? You really can’t tell me that you don’t think that Mike didn’t have something to do with this.”
“All I can tell you is that I don’t know for sure who did. But now that you pointed out whose boat was docked beside Robbie’s, I will be having a conversation with Mike. Anything else you can tell us about that day? Anyone suspicious?”
“What about someone in a yellow jacket?” Suzie stepped closer to the boat.
“A yellow jacket?” Frank looked over at the parking lot. “I don’t think so. I mean, a few people wear them around here, but most of the fishermen wear orange jackets. It’s good for visibility. Nothing stood out to me.”
“No one sneaking around Robbie’s boat?” Paul stepped back off Frank’s boat.
“Like I said, the moment things started getting shady, I stopped paying attention. Better not to know, than to pretend not to know. You know?”
“I hear you.” Paul nodded.
Suzie handed Frank one of her cards. “If you think of anything, maybe you don’t feel comfortable going to the police about, just give me a call here.”
“Okay.” He tucked the business card into the side pocket of his shirt. “Good luck. Be careful with Mike.” He met Suzie’s eyes.
“I will be.” She smiled.
Chapter 6
As Suzie fell into step beside Paul, he seemed to slow down.
“I don’t know if this is such a good idea. Maybe we should let Jason speak to him.”
“Paul? Are you feeling okay?” She reached up and touched his forehead lightly with her fingertips. “I’ve never heard you talk like this before.”
“I get the point, but seriously, Mike isn’t the easiest guy to get along with. The only person he talks nicely to is his wife. I don’t want you to get into any danger. It might be better to have Jason here as back-up, instead of just barging onto his boat.”
“I don’t intend to barge onto his boat, but we also don’t have time to wait for Jason to show up and if he does I don’t think he’ll be very happy that we are talking to people about the murder. I think we should have a quick conversation with the guy at least. How bad could he be?”
“If you say so.” He nodded to Suzie. “You’re the one in charge here.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“You’ve heard my opinion, I don’t think we should go over there without back-up. Now it’s up to you to decide what we do.”
“I think it’s worth at least trying to talk to the man. He is the one who is most likely to have a view of the murder, also, he could be the killer himself. Either way we need to speak to this man.”
“All right.” He shook his head. “But my protest is on record.”
“Noted.” Suzie nodded. She approached Mike’s boat. Luckily he was outside on the deck. She watched for a moment as he polished the railing of his boat. His methodical movements didn’t make him seem like a particularly wild man.
“Excuse me, Mike?” She smiled as sweet as she could. He didn’t respond. Paul frowned.
“Mike, we just want to talk to you for a minute,” Paul said.
Still Mike swept the cloth along the railing and didn’t even bother to look up at them. Paul gritted his teeth and climbed onto the boat.
“Mike. Did you hear me?”
“Get off my boat.” He rubbed the cloth over the railing with sharper, forceful movements. “I didn’t invite you on here. I could have you arrested for being here.”
Suzie stepped onto the boat as well and stood beside Paul.
“Relax Mike, we just have a few questions for you.” Paul tried to meet the man’s eyes. He looked over at Suzie and shook his head.
“I’m not answering any more questions. It’s pretty clear to me why you’re here, and no I didn’t have anything to do with Robbie’s death. Not that you will believe me. So get off my boat.” He finally looked up. His gaze skipped from Paul’s face, to Suzie’s.
“You too.”
“We’re not going anywhere until we get some information from you.” Suzie folded her arms across her chest.
“Suzie, we shouldn’t antagonize the situation.” Paul put his hand lightly on one of her elbows. “Let’s just go.”
“No.” Suzie placed her feet hard on the floor. “I’m not moving. I want to know what he knows, even if I have to stand here all day. Do you have a problem with that, Paul?”
“No, of course not.” Paul straightened up beside her. “I’m here with you.”
“Oh, how great. Let me just call the police. Oh, that’s right, I can’t, because your old lady here has family on the police force. Does
n’t she?” He glared at Suzie. Suzie bit back a comment about how rude he was being.
“Jason has nothing to do with us being here. We’re here because we were told you likely had the best idea of what happened to Robbie,” Suzie said.
“Right. I can tell you that he was a pain in my behind. Is that what you want to hear?”
“No, that’s not what we’re looking for. I would think you’d be a little more concerned about a murder that took place right next door.”
“I have a lot on my mind.” He shoved his cabin door open. Suzie noticed a pile of crumpled laundry and an extra blanket on the cot inside. If he was docked, why hadn’t he taken his laundry home yet? Paul said that he was married so surely he didn’t live on the boat.
“Mike, seriously. Just answer the question.” Paul took an intimidating step forward. Suzie watched as his shoulders straightened and his chest spread. He squinted at Mike. He meant business. Mike glared right back at him with no sign of backing down.
“I don’t have to answer your questions, Paul. You are nothing but a fisherman, or have you forgotten that?”
“I haven’t forgotten who I am, but I’m starting to wonder if you have forgotten who you are. We’re a brotherhood, we’re supposed to stick together. You’re really going to let someone come on these docks and commit murder?”
“A brotherhood?” Mike laughed and shook his head. “You really are ancient aren’t you, Paul? There’s no brotherhood here, at least not one that I’m a part of. You’re going to need to drop that nonsense and get off my boat.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Paul spread his feet shoulder width apart and sank his weight into his heels. Suzie sensed a confrontation building.
“Okay, we’ll go.” She put a hand on Paul’s arm. His muscles tensed beneath her touch. “I’m sure there are plenty of other people we can ask about the man in the yellow jacket, and of course, about your whereabouts since you are so uncooperative.”
“What did you just say to me?” His words were rough as he stepped towards her. Paul moved between them before Mike could get anywhere near her.
“I said, if you want to make yourself look like a suspect go right ahead. It’s usually the people who have something to hide that don’t want to answer questions,” Suzie said.