“I would think so,” she said.
“Maybe she’d be too embarrassed to say anything,” Sam continued. “That’d be a tough thing to admit to your little sister. Especially if she felt responsible.”
“Why would she feel responsible if he cheated?” Carla asked.
Sam shrugged. “Stuff like that brings out people’s insecurities.”
“No,” Carla said. “She’d tell me.”
“But what if—and I’m being purely hypothetical—what if what you know about Vanessa is only what she wants you to know?” Sam asked.
“What are you getting at, Sam?” Carla asked defensively.
“I’m just thinking out loud.”
Carla jumped up. “You think she’s hiding something from me?”
Before Sam could answer, they were interrupted by a knock at the front door.
31
Carla tried to hide her surprise when she opened the door to Detective Turner.
“Hello, Miss Davenport,” Turner said. “Is your sister here?”
Turner followed Carla where Jude and Sam were waiting. He deflated with a loud sigh when he saw the detective.
“Paul! How the hell you been?” Sam said in an exaggerated friendliness.
“Lawson,” Turner said, making no effort to hide his disdain.
He nodded at Jude who answered back with his own nod.
“I’m here to see Vanessa,” Turner said. “Just Vanessa.”
“They can stay,” Vanessa said, her voice surprising both men.
Vanessa had emerged from her bedroom. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. It was obvious she’d been crying.
“Have you found him?” she asked, almost afraid of any answer he could offer.
“Yes and no,” Turner said.
“Oh, God,” Vanessa said.
Carla helped her sit down and Jude walked over by her side.
“This ain’t a good time to be cagey, Paul,” Sam said.
“It’s detective. Detective Turner,” Turner replied. “And I wasn’t trying to be cagey.”
He turned his attention back to Vanessa, glancing up at Jude.
“Security footage spotted Norm getting off the ferry at Woods Hole around 11:00 a.m. yesterday morning,” Turner said.
Vanessa let out a sigh of relief.
“But now he’s gone again?” Jude asked with a slight tremble in his voice.
“Did he get in a car? Catch a cab?” Sam asked.
Turner shook his head. “We only caught him on the dock camera,” he said. “There was no sign of him on the south lot camera, and the north lot camera…wasn’t working.”
“But he’s alive,” Vanessa said.
Turner nodded.
“It would appear so,” he said. “But it also means he was most likely on the island at the time of the murder. We’ve issued an APB for all of Massachusetts.”
“And there was no other sign of him?” Sam asked.
“If there were, I’d be there instead of here,” Turner answered, clearly annoyed. “Vanessa, I know I’ve asked you before, but it’s really important…do you have any idea where he might be?”
Vanessa shook her head as she began to sob.
“If she did, don’t you think she would have already told you that?” Carla asked. “We’ve been looking for him for a week now.”
Turner nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I was just grasping at straws. If you think of anything, please let me know.”
“Is there any way I can help?” Sam asked.
Turner stood to face Sam, the compassion on his face immediately hardening into contempt. He motioned for Sam to follow him out of earshot of the others.
“I understand you already took it upon yourself to talk to John,” he said quietly. “I’m getting tired of saying this but I’d appreciate it if you would step back and let me do my job.”
Sam nodded and glanced at Carla to let her know this probably wasn’t the best time to bring up their phone discoveries. Besides, it was nothing that Turner wouldn’t find out on his own.
“Stay away from John,” Turner said again, making his point clear.
“I’m driving Norm’s old work truck. What if it breaks down?” Sam asked. “Can I call him then? I promise to keep the conversation completely vehicular.”
Sam noticed Turner clench his jaw and that made him smile. He showed the detective to the door and watched him drive away, then he turned to Vanessa.
“Did Norm keep all of his stuff in the office?” he asked.
Vanessa nodded. “But we’ve already been through everything. There’s nothing there.”
“Where else would Norm keep things?” Sam asked.
“His boat,” Jude answered. “But the cops aren’t letting anyone near it.”
Sam paced the room, thinking. A smile spread across his face as a plan began to hatch. He looked at Jude and grinned mischievously.
“Want to have a little fun?”
32
Jude turned his headlights off as he pulled to the side of the road. Sam sat in the passenger seat and looked out over Menemsha Harbor.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” Sam asked him.
“If this will help find my son,” Jude answered. “Then I’ll do what I have to do.”
They both got out of the car and walked down the street to the harbor. The sun had set only an hour earlier, but the harbor was already growing dark and a light fog had drifted in from the Sound. Faint lights from the windows of a few boats glowed through the mist, hinting at some signs of life, but most of the vessels were blackened silhouettes sleeping on the water.
As the two men reached the harbor parking lot, they crouched behind a parked truck to assess the situation. They spotted someone on the West Dock, near Norm’s boat. He was looking at his phone and there was just enough glow from the screen for Sam and Jude to tell he was wearing a police uniform.
“There’s your man,” Sam said, handing Jude a bottle of whiskey.
Jude screwed off the lid and poured some out.
“What are you doing?” Sam whispered excitedly.
“I can’t very well be drunk if I have a full bottle,” Jude answered matter-of-factly.
He stood and started stumbling toward the harbor, humming loudly. Sam waited until Jude had reached the docks, then he began creeping through the shadows in the same direction.
“Jimmy? Is that you?” Jude yelled at the officer.
“Mr. Mayhew?” the officer asked, squinting toward the man walking toward him. “What are you doing here?”
Jude got closer, putting his hand on the officer’s shoulder.
“You hear about my boy?” Jude asked, purposefully slurring his words.
The officer took an uncomfortable step back. “I did, sir,” he said. “This has to be pretty rough on you.”
Jude raised the bottle of whiskey and grinned. “We all have our trials and tribulations.”
“What are you doing here?” the officer asked again.
Jude walked past the officer, forcing the officer to turn away from the dock entrance.
“I was hoping I could get some things off his boat,” Jude said, pointing at Norm’s boat behind him.
“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t let you on there,” the officer explained. “Police order.”
Jude looked over the officer’s shoulder to see Sam moving toward them through the shadows. He nodded to the officer.
“I understand,” he slurred. “But maybe just for a second?”
“Come on, Mr. Mayhew,” the officer said. “Let’s get you back home.”
He started to turn around toward the dock entrance…and Sam.
“I’m just gonna go on the boat,” Jude said loudly to distract the officer.
The cop spun back around to stop Jude. It was just enough time for Sam to scramble on another boat and hide out of sight. Once Jude was satisfied Sam was hidden, he laughed.
“I’m just kidding,” he said. “I am a law-abiding citizen and resp
ect you and that uniform.”
He saluted at the cop.
“Thank you, Mr. Mayhew,” the flustered cop said. “Can I help get you home?”
“Just point me in the right direction,” he slurred, looking around.
Sam peered over the side of the boat he was hiding in, marveling at Jude’s drunk performance. Who knew this stoic man had such a flare for drama?
A star is born, Sam thought.
Jude started walking in the wrong direction, veering close to the edge and pretending to almost lose his balance.
“Let me help you,” the officer said, as he put his hand on Jude’s shoulder to steady him.
“I just need to get to my car,” Jude said.
“I don’t think you should be driving, sir” the officer said as he guided Jude back down the pier.
“I’ll get in back and sleep it off,” Jude slurred. “It’s a wonderful night to sleep under the stars.”
Sam hunched down as the two men passed him. He finally sat up to make sure Jude was leading the officer further away. Once he felt the cop was far enough, he slowly crawled back on to the dock and crept to Norm’s boat.
33
Sam inched carefully through the boat’s cabin, trying not to make any noise or create any movement, while also attempting to maneuver in the dark. With his hands in front of him, he felt his way along the bulkheads, through the galley and then the stateroom. Finally, he made it to the navigation station. The large front windshield let in just enough moonlight for Sam to see.
Jude’s performance was still keeping the officer occupied. Sam could hear him singing loudly from what was probably the parking lot and was pretty impressed at his drunk act. He clearly knew his way around the bottle. It wasn’t over the top and obnoxious. Just “off” enough to be believable without being annoying.
The loud singing had been Sam’s idea to gauge how far away the officer was from the boat. Knowing they were in the parking lot - and probably just out of sight - Sam dropped to his knees and turned his attention to the locked third drawer. He pulled a lock pick set from his pocket and slid the long, thin pick into the drawer’s opening. He smiled, happy he had thrown the small kit into his duffel before his trip. Admittedly, he had done it out of blind habit, but he preferred to think of it as instinctive foresight.
He inserted the pin into the keyhole and gently jiggled it until he heard the soft click of the pins setting. Sam smiled and pulled the drawer open slowly, peering inside. There was a box of envelopes, some spare lightbulbs and a loose pile of paper. Sam slid the papers out from underneath the other objects and set them on the floor in front of him. He cupped his hand over the front of a small flashlight and turned it on. His hand dimmed the light perfectly, and Sam could spread his fingers ever so slightly to cast just enough of a glow to read.
There was a rental agreement for the dock slip, a couple of parking tickets and some old bank statements. There was also an envelope that contained some sort of contract. Sam began reading it and realized it was an informal lease agreement.
Sam suddenly became aware that Jude had stopped singing. He rose and peered out the cabin window toward the parking lot. He couldn’t see anyone heading back to the dock, but Jude had stopped singing, which was the code that he needed to hurry things up. He was just about to scoop up the papers when a boisterous laugh broke the night’s silence. While Jude’s laugh was loudest, Sam could make out a second laugh.
Good, he thought. The cop is still with him.
He dropped back to his knees to take a closer look at the lease agreement. It seemed to be for a mobile home in a trailer park. Sam skimmed the document for an address and finally found it. The trailer park was in Dennis, Massachusetts.
Remembering there was a chart at the nav station, Sam stood up slowly to take a look. It took him awhile, but he finally found what he was looking for. If Cape Cod was an arm flexed to make a muscle, Boston would be the shoulder, Chatham would be the elbow and Provincetown would be the fist. Dennis would be the bicep.
“Oh, come on!” Jude’s voice yelled from the parking lot. “You don’t have to go back yet, do you?”
Sam looked out the window again. He could see the silhouette of Jude at the edge of the parking lot, yelling toward the silhouette of the officer, who was walking back in his direction. Sam’s heart began to race. Once the cop reached the dock, there would be no way Sam could get past him without being seen. He’d be trapped. Suddenly, Jude let out a strange yell and fell to the ground. The cop turned and ran back over to the fallen fake drunk. Knowing he didn’t have much time, Sam scooped up the rental lease and fumbled his way through the dark cabin and off the boat.
34
“I have no idea what this is,” Vanessa said.
She was sitting on the couch, staring in disbelief at the rental agreement Sam had laid out in front of her.
“Y’all never rented a trailer home in Dennis?” Sam asked again.
Vanessa looked past Sam to Carla and Jude, who were looking on with concern.
“Why would he rent a trailer home and not tell me?” Vanessa asked.
“Well, at least you probably know where he runs off to,” Sam said.
Vanessa’s confusion was shifting to anger.
“I bet he’s got some tramp living there,” she seethed.
Carla knelt in front Vanessa.
“Don’t jump to any conclusions,” she said. “The lease was signed two years ago.”
“But there’s no termination date,” Jude chimed in.
Carla shot a glare at Jude to let him know he wasn’t helping.
“We need to turn this over to Paul,” Sam said. “The cops’ll check it out.”
“No!” Vanessa exclaimed.
She stood and clutched Sam’s hands in hers.
“You need to check it out first,” she said.
“What?” Sam asked. “That borders on obstruction. I like you, Vanessa, but I’m not going to jail for you.”
“Detective Turner has it out for Norm,” Vanessa pleaded. “I’d be afraid of what would happen if he found him first.”
“Paul’s not gonna hurt him,” Sam argued.
“You don’t know that,” Vanessa said. “He thinks Norm is armed and dangerous. One false move and they’d start shooting.”
“Maybe she’s right,” Jude interrupted. “I don’t trust my son if he’s cornered by the police. But if you found him, you could bring him in. Peacefully.”
“Why don’t you go get him?” Sam asked.
Jude shook his head. “He probably would react worse to seeing me than he would the cops.”
Sam took a step back and started pacing.
“Jesus, what is it with you people?” he asked.
“May I remind everyone that we don’t even know if he’s there,” Carla said. “It’s a long shot, at best. And if we send the police on that wild goose chase that’s less time they can look for the actual killer.”
Sam looked at Carla as if she had betrayed him.
“You too, Bluto?”
Carla smiled and shook her head.
“It’s ‘Et tu, Brutus,’ ” she said.
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Sam argued.
“You’re getting off track,” Vanessa interrupted.
Sam looked at Carla. Hers was the only voice he trusted, and he had to admit she made a good point. The chance of Norm being there was a long shot. If he told Turner and it led to a dead end, all it would have done was piss Turner off and, more importantly, pull him and his team away from the investigation. And if Norm was there, but he was as reactive as Vanessa and Jude said, there was a good chance that things could go south quickly if the cops cornered him. Sam wouldn’t say it to the others, but he also worried about a cop planting evidence to speed things along.
Sam let out a groan as he nodded his head.
“I’m coming with you,” Jude said.
Sam turned to Jude with a smirk.
“Got a taste for it, huh?”
Sam teased. “This detective work is fun, right?”
Jude did not smile back.
“He’s my son,” he replied firmly.
35
Carla poured some more Pinot Noir into Vanessa’s wine glass and watched as her sister raised it to her lips with a trembling hand.
“Chances are he’s not going to be there,” Carla said, realizing that was only somewhat comforting.
Vanessa shook her head. “I can’t decide if I’m scared or pissed,” she said. “What kind of double life was he living?”
Carla sat down next to her sister. “It may be nothing,” she said. “It could have been an old, expired lease.”
“He still rented it,” Vanessa said. “And never told me about it.”
Carla struggled for how to put the question that had been on her mind all day.
“Did you and Norm fight a lot?” she finally asked. “I mean…like this?”
“Never like this,” Vanessa said. “We’ve had some nasty ones, but he never ran off for more than a day.”
Vanessa emptied her glass of wine and motioned for Carla to hand her the bottle. Carla gathered the courage to ask the real question she had.
“Did he ever…cheat on you?” Carla asked gently.
Carla noticed her sister pause for a second before pouring her wine.
“I don’t know,” she said weakly. “I really don’t.”
“Oh, Nessie. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry,” Carla said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Vanessa laughed. “Because I’m the older sister,” she said. “I’m supposed to have my shit together. You’re the baby. You’re supposed to look up to me. But you’ve always had to take care of me. Pick me back up. Do you know how hard it is to have such a fucked-up life and then look at your baby sister and see how put together she is? It’s embarrassing.”
It was Carla’s turn to laugh.
“You think I’m put together?” she asked. “Oh, Honey. You have no idea. I’m a hot mess.”
She started listing her faults.
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