‘So that’s it?’ Emmett asked.
‘Yessir, that’s all.’
‘Did you kill Darby?’ Emmett asked, a little desperately.
Josiah laughed good-naturedly. ‘Sorry, Deputy. Don’t mean to disappoint, but no, I didn’t kill ol’ Darby.’
‘By the way, Josiah,’ Emmett said, ‘what does LIOB stand for?’
‘Literal Interpretation of the Bible, Deputy! Every word of that good book is pure truth and should be accepted as such. And those that don’t won’t be rising come judgment day!’
Emmett thanked the preacher man and hung up.
Time to call Bill Williams in Tejas County. He hoped to hell Bill had heard about Hunt’s murder through the grapevine, because he sure as hell hadn’t called him to tell him about it. Emmett, he said to himself, stop thinking about Petal and get serious about this. Okey dokey, he answered himself. Will do.
Dalton sat at his desk in the bullpen and stared at Holly’s back. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face. She was as cute as a mongrel pup, he thought to himself.
He’d talked to Jamie Smith over at the Longbranch First National, the lady who’d loaned him the money for his car, and she’d cleared him for the amount of the house, less his down payment. Since Dalton lived with his mama, and only paid some of the bills (she didn’t ask for rent), he’d been able to sock away a goodly amount. Enough for a down payment and a nice diamond, with some left over to start a college fund for his and Holly’s first child.
The down payment was big enough that his monthly payments, even with taxes and insurance, would be well within his means. When he first heard the realtor lady say how much the house was, he thought he’d never be able to swing it but, here it was, right here on his desk, in black and white. He could do it. With enough left over from his paycheck for all the rest – like utilities and insurance and his one credit card, and groceries and such. Holly’s paycheck could be used just for fun. Until she got pregnant and quit her job, of course.
Hands shaking, Dalton picked up the phone on his desk and called Holly’s extension. She was less than a yard away from him, but he thought she’d think this was funny. And he loved making her laugh, even when he didn’t mean to.
Holly looked at the readout on the phone, turned to look at Dalton and laughed as she picked up the receiver.
‘How may I help you, Deputy?’ she asked in a mock-serious voice.
‘You wanna have dinner tonight? There’s something I want to show you.’
‘Sure. What do you want to show me?’
‘It’s a surprise,’ he said. ‘Where do you want to eat?’
‘How about my place? I’ll stop by the grocery store on the way home.’
‘Why don’t we do that together, after the surprise,’ Dalton said, unable to wipe the smile off his face.
‘Sure,’ she said. ‘Why not?’
Milt – Day Six
We had a lot of work to do before the ship docked in Galveston. Jean took her scooter and the boys up to the pool level for them to go swimming, while I stayed in the security area to work out what to do with Chief Heinrich. We sat in his office, coffee mugs in front of both of us, the chief leaning back in his big old leather chair while I tried to get comfortable in a small visitor’s chair that at least had arms.
‘Do you think there is a possibility that Clifford Dunne had anything to do with the boy’s death?’ the chief asked me.
‘I thought he thought the younger kids did it. Did he change his mind?’ I asked.
Heinrich shook his head. ‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘You think we should talk with him?’
Heinrich appeared to think about that for a moment. Then he shrugged his shoulders and sat his chair up closer to the desk. ‘Can’t hurt,’ he said, then hit a button on his phone and said into it, ‘Clive, find passenger Clifford Dunne for me, please. Bring him to my office.’
‘Yes, sir,’ came the disembodied voice of Clive, who had an English accent that went well with his name.
‘What else?’ Heinrich said, looking at me. ‘I was serious when I said you had more experience with murder investigations than I have. I’ve been a ship’s security chief for twenty-five years, and in all that time I’ve never had anything even close to a murder.’
‘What’s close to a murder?’ I asked.
He thought about that for a moment. ‘Assault, I’d say. Rape or a serious beating. Not on my watch.’
‘Well, I gotta say you’ve been lucky. Dealing with all these people on vacation, all the booze floating around, all the pretty women in bathing suits.’
‘I’m not saying it hasn’t happened,’ he said. ‘I am just saying it has not been reported.’
I nodded my head. ‘I hear what you’re saying. Lot of women don’t want to report it, especially if they drank a little too much and were flirting – they think it’s their fault. One thing I’ve already been teaching my boy is when a girl says no, you stop what you’re doing. Girls need to know it’s not their fault, but boys need to be taught that no means no.’
‘That’s true,’ he said.
‘I saw you send some guys out during the meeting. I assume it was to check the Weaver boys’ cabin for Dunne’s money,’ I said.
‘Yes,’ Heinrich said. He looked up at the window of his office to see the two men he’d sent come in the door. ‘And I believe we are about to get the answer to that.’
One of the men came in and saluted Heinrich. I thought that was carrying the faux navy stuff a bit far, but what do I know?
‘Chief,’ said a swarthy guy with a heavy accent. All I can say is it wasn’t Mexican. That accent I recognize. This was different. ‘We searched the cabin and found ten dollars in the boy’s wallet, nothing else.’
‘Thank you, Papademetriou,’ Heinrich said and Papa-whatever saluted again and backed out of the door.
‘Papa-what?’ I said.
‘Papademetriou,’ Heinrich said. ‘He is from Athens.’
‘As in Greece?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ Heinrich said. ‘Now, we know that Josh Weaver did not hide the money in his cabin. Where else would he hide it?’
‘Damned if I know,’ I said. ‘Where else could he? Not like he had free reign of the ship—’
Heinrich made a rude sound. ‘Well, he certainly seemed to think he did!’
A buzzer sounded on his desk. He hit the button he’d been talking to Clive on and said, ‘Yes?’
‘Chief? I have Mr Dunne for you,’ Clive, or another English accent, said.
‘Send him in,’ Heinrich said.
We both stood up when the door opened and a sailor-suited security guard let in Clifford Dunne. He looked a little more respectable today, wearing Bermuda shorts and a Polo shirt. He was also wearing black wingtips with white socks pulled up to his knees. I said respectable, I didn’t say good.
‘You find out who robbed me? You got my money?’ Dunne said as he entered.
‘Please sit down, Mr Dunne,’ Heinrich said, indicating the chair next to me. ‘I’m not sure you met Mr Kovak formally when you were accusing his children of having robbed you.’ Dunne made a noise that wasn’t pleasant. Heinrich went on: ‘But other than being the father of one of the boys, he is also the sheriff of a county in Oklahoma, taking a vacation with his family.’
‘Well, wooptifuck,’ Dunne said. ‘Why’d you have me dragged down here to hear this?’
‘Sheriff Kovak is assisting me with the murder,’ the chief said.
That shut Dunne’s mouth for almost thirty seconds. Then he said, ‘Murder? What murder?’
‘The boy who actually robbed you was found dead,’ Heinrich said.
‘Ha!’ Dunne said. ‘Good for him! You find my money?’
‘Not yet, no,’ Heinrich said. ‘But the question has arisen regarding the possibility that you may have taken matters into your own hands.’
‘Do what?’ Dunne said, looking slightly perplexed. Then, having obviously worked through what Hei
nrich said, continued, ‘You think I— What the fuck? Are you out of your mind?’ he said, jumping up. ‘I’m the victim here! I’m the one who was hit on the head, knocked to the stairs, robbed and left for dead!’
‘I don’t think anyone wanted to kill you,’ I said. ‘You were moaning pretty good when the younger children found you. And, by the way, saved your ass.’
‘Or were fixing to rob me more if I hadn’t stopped them!’ Dunne said, turning on me.
‘Sit down, Mr Dunne!’ Chief Heinrich said in a very stern voice. Hell, I would have sat down to that voice. So did Dunne. ‘We are not forgetting that you were a victim. But that does beg the question: did you ever meet or see Josh Weaver?’
Dunne was already shaking his head. ‘Who’s that? Is that who died? Was he the kid who robbed me? How old was he? Because I remember little hands—’
‘The little hands you remember may have been from when the little kids were trying to help you—’ I started, but Dunne interrupted.
‘No! I distinctly remember little hands going in my jacket pocket and pulling out the money!’
‘The boy who died was fourteen, but he did have younger children helping him,’ Heinrich said. ‘Those were probably the smaller hands.’
‘How old were those boys?’ Dunne asked.
‘Eleven,’ Heinrich supplied.
Dunne was shaking his head. ‘No, I’ve got a ten-year-old girl, and her hands aren’t as small as the ones stealing my money. These were tiny hands!’ Dunne said.
Heinrich and I looked at each other. The younger Connelly kid – Jacob. He was only seven. Between Josh and Jacob’s older brother Trip, the two must have bullied the child into it. I thought I might ask Jean to have a get together with the young boy.
Heinrich stood up. ‘That will be all, Mr Dunne. Thank you so much for coming by.’ He moved to the door and opened it. To Clive he said, ‘Please see that Mr Dunne gets back to his cabin.’
Clive said, ‘Yes, sir,’ just as Dunne said, ‘Forget it! I don’t need a guide!’ And stormed out of the security office.
Meanwhile, Back In Prophesy County
So Emmett drove the twenty-something miles to Tejas County to see Bill Williams in person. He called first to make sure Bill would be there and got there just in time for lunch.
The Tejas County Sheriff’s Department had moved out of the small downtown area of Elucid, the county seat of Tejas County, to a new building in what they called ‘the metroplex,’ which wasn’t much more than a strip mall with the sheriff’s office at one end and the county food bank at the other, with a couple of county welfare-type places in between. Emmett noticed that he passed a nice-looking Mexican food place on his way to Bill’s shop.
‘You had lunch?’ Emmett asked after he and Bill shook hands.
‘Not yet. You like Mexican?’
‘Does the Pope shit in the woods? That place I passed on my way?’ Emmett asked.
‘That’s the one.’
They headed out in Emmett’s car, although the Mexican restaurant wasn’t more than a couple of city blocks away. Once inside, menus perused, orders taken and sweet ice teas laid down, Emmett said, ‘Guess you heard about old Darby Hunt?’
‘That he got himself wacked? Yeah, I heard that. Was expecting a call from you,’ Bill said.
Emmett felt himself flushing. ‘Sorry about that. Haven’t been in charge in a long time, sort of got the better of me.’
‘So who’re your suspects? Other than the entire McDaniel family, of course.’
Emmett shook his head. ‘He had a girlfriend, and then there’s his family, but that’s about it. I was wondering about her family here in Tejas County?’
Bill shook his own head. ‘You mean Cheryl’s? Never was much of a presence. The senior McDaniels moved here after their kids were grown, but they’re both gone,’ he said.
‘Anybody else you can think of?’
‘Well, now, seems Cheryl had a girlfriend, you know, best friend kind of thing, who lived here with her husband. She was pretty shook up over the whole thing, threatened Hunt right back at the trial – when he threatened her family.’ He laughed. ‘I remember it like it was yesterday. Little thing, maybe five-two, ninety pounds dripping wet, blonde and blue. Hunt starts his crap and she comes flying out of the gallery, her husband trying to catch her, and she says, “You’re a dead man! I’m gonna kill you myself!” And then she called him names I’d blush to repeat.’
‘Hell, Bill! She sounds like a winner!’ Emmett said.
Bill shrugged. ‘Her and her family moved to Oregon about a year after. Saw her mama at the Piggly Wiggly the other day, said Dora has five kids now and is as big as a barn.’ He shook his head. ‘Shame, when you think about it.’
‘What? Her getting fat, or not being around for me to accuse?’ Emmett asked.
Again Bill shrugged his shoulders. ‘Both,’ he said. ‘So what’s with the girlfriend? And why do women do that, anyway?’ Bill asked. ‘I mean, there are plenty of meanass men out here free as a bird if they want a bad boy.’
‘Yeah, well, maybe these women just want the allure of a bad guy, not the real thing,’ Emmett said. ‘When they’re behind bars they can’t hurt you, right?’
‘Right,’ Bill said.
Which made Emmett think: was that it? Was Reba Sinclair worried, now that her beloved was out, that he’d start the same crap with her that he had with his wife? That her life was in peril? Did she decide to strike first? Was the principal of Petal’s school an excellent shot?
‘You’re paying, right?’ Emmett said as he got up and threw some ones on the table. ‘For the tip. Gotta get back to my county.’ And with that, he was out the door, figuring Bill could use the walk back to his shop.
Milt – Day Six
When I got to our suite, Jean and the boys were back from swimming and had changed clothes. The boys were playing some game that involved ninjas (the one word I heard), and were secure in their part of the suite, so I sat next to Jean on the bed.
‘Heinrich and I figured out that the younger Connelly boy – Jacob, I think?’
Jean nodded her head. ‘Yes, Trip’s the older one.’
‘OK, Jacob. Anyway, he’s the one who actually took the money out of Clifford Dunne’s jacket pocket.’
‘Oh, Lord,’ Jean said.
‘Yeah,’ I agreed. ‘Maybe you should have a talk with him?’
‘I’ll call Rose this evening,’ Jean said. ‘Maybe we can talk after dinner.’
But before she could make that call, we got a call on the ship’s phone from Lucy Tulia, inviting us to the dining room for the early seating at a large table with everyone involved, except, she said, the senior Mr and Mrs Connelly.
So we got the boys dressed in something a little nicer than shorts and T-shirts, Jean put on a sundress and I wore a jacket, and we went to the dining room. We were escorted to a huge round table. We weren’t the first. Esther Monte, her new, for want of a better word, boyfriend, Lance Turner, and her daughter Lyssa were all seated, as were Vern and Crystal Weaver; his son Ryan was sequestered in their cabin. The four of us sat down, with Early taking the seat next to Lyssa and Johnny Mac taking the seat on the end with me and Jean in the middle. I was slightly curious why he didn’t sit next to Early, when the Tulias showed up and Janna ran straight for the chair next to Johnny Mac. The grin he gave off went from ear to ear. I swear the boy was advanced for his age – only ten and already in love. I’d have to keep a strict eye on him to make sure there was no kissing going on. Way too young for that!
Mike and Lucy parked next to their daughter. A few minutes later, Rose Connelly showed up with her youngest son, Jacob, filling the table. Her older boy, like Vern Weaver’s youngest, was sequestered in his cabin. We busied ourselves with looking at the menu and ordering. Lance got up and headed for the restrooms, and the senior Mr Connelly came in to say something to Rose. As he left, I noticed he whispered something in Esther’s ear. She didn’t seem to like it but did not reply.
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br /> There were always some of the same things on the menu – like steak, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, etc., but the main items changed every night. That night I ordered bacon-wrapped shrimp with water chestnut and jalapeño for an appetizer, a soup of lobster bisque instead of a salad, beef Wellington with a side of broccoli gratin, and poached pears for dessert. Though I got to say, the strawberry shortcake that Johnny Mac and Janna shared looked mighty tasty.
It had been decided on the phone that we’d let the kids go to the children’s pavilion, but that one of the parents would escort them there and that the sitters would be told the kids were not to leave without a parent. Mike and I were elected to do the honors.
It took about fifteen minutes to get them there and get back to the dining room.
On the way back, Mike said, ‘So, Milt, what do you think?’
‘Huh?’ I said.
‘About all this crap – Josh being murdered, our kids being taught how to steal—’
I shook my head. ‘I think our kids handled it pretty well,’ I said. ‘Early was pretty smart in spending his money and lying to Josh and, although Johnny Mac said he didn’t have enough money to buy anything in that jewelry store, my take is he didn’t think about it. But he did steal the only thing in the store that cost less than a dollar, and that toy that Janna took was practically a give-away, little more than a dollar. So I think their upbringing paid off, is what I think, Mike. As for Josh’s murder, I don’t know if it had something to do with Clifford Dunne’s five thousand or not. Maybe Dunne found out it was Josh – how I don’t know and it seems unlikely – or somebody else found out Josh had that kind of money on him and wanted it for themselves.’
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