Shallow Waters

by Kay Jennings

  They had quickly performed their bedtime hygiene, and gone right to sleep. They hadn’t heard Gary come in.

  “No reading?” Jay asked, keeping his eyes down on his notebook; it seemed like an awfully intimate question to ask.

  “No. It had been a long week for Fred at work. Lots to catch up on after the holidays, meetings, budgets, that sort of thing. We were both happy to see this Friday night and we were tired. I barely remember turning out my light,” she added.

  “Was Fred asleep when you turned out your light?”

  Marjorie looked down at her clasped hands. “I don’t know if he was asleep or not, but he turned out his light first.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

  “Did he kiss you goodnight?”

  “Of course he did. He always does. Not that it’s any of your business.” Feisty words, but still a whisper. Downcast eyes.

  “Did you wake up at any point during the night?” Jay continued.

  “No.”

  “So you didn’t hear or see anything suspicious?”

  “No.”

  “Was the mayor still in bed when you woke up?”

  “No. He was in the kitchen. He’d made coffee.”

  “Was he dressed?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, he’d been up for a while?” Jay pried.

  “I have no idea.” Marjorie paused, turned her head, and looked up at her wallpaper with disdain, muttering something to herself about it needing to go—Jay didn’t quite catch her entire remark. Fern followed Marjorie’s gaze into the dining room to her left. She interrupted Jay to ask Marjorie what she was thinking about. Marjorie replied that she thought the Ralph Lauren Cottage Rose wallpaper in the dining room that had seemed so sophisticated when she bought it, now looked tired. She added that she had made a mental note to replace it soon.

  Fern glanced quickly in Jay’s direction to see if he was at all disturbed by this thought diversion. The astonished look on his face told Fern she wasn’t alone.

  “Where is my daughter, Jay?” Marjorie asked.

  Jay lifted his eyes from his notepad, and met Marjorie’s vague eyes. “She’s in Buck Bay, with the Medical Examiner,” he said as softly as he could. Fern was relieved that Jay had avoided using the word “morgue”.

  Out of respect, Jay waited a heartbeat or two before proceeding with a new tack. “What can you tell me about Gary’s activities last night?”

  “He left right after our crab feed, too. He was going to catch up with some of his town friends, and they were going to meet up at the Stirling Tavern and play pool.”

  They’d had a brief discussion at this point about the age of Gary and his friends, but Jay steered the conversation back to Gary’s activities.

  “Paula kicked them out about 1:00 a.m. Gary said, and he came directly home,” Marjorie said.

  “How did he seem this morning?”

  “He was his usual self at breakfast. Nothing out of the ordinary. He slept in a little later, but I imagine that was because he was out late.”

  “What was Gary wearing when he left the house last night?”

  “Why do you want to know that?” Marjorie asked, her tone sharp.

  “Listen, Mrs. Bushnell, I’ve never done this before—questioned the family of a homicide victim,” Jay admitted. “I’m sorry to have to ask you these personal questions, but I’m afraid I’ll screw it up and make it harder for Chief Horning to figure it all out.”

  Fern leaned in, put her hands face down on the table between them, and spoke gently to Marjorie. “Jay doesn’t want to not ask what might turn out to be an important question down the road in this investigation. We all want to do what we can to find out who did this terrible thing to your family. Can you understand and help us, Marjorie?”

  “Well, I still don’t see why Gary’s clothes could make any possible difference. He was playing pool with his friends and wasn’t involved at all.”

  “How do you know that for sure?” Jay asked. “You said yourself that you didn’t hear him come in.”

  In an instant, Marjorie lunged forward and slapped her fist on the table, startling both Jay and Fern. “Because I know my son!” she shrieked. “He loves his little sister. Loves her to pieces. You are out of line, Jay.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  Oh, don’t play mayor’s wife with me, Jay said to himself. He felt so, so sorry for the woman, but he wasn’t about to be hung out to dry. He looked over at Fern, and she calmly took a wayward lock of her shoulder-length auburn hair and placed it firmly behind her ear, as if Marjorie’s outburst had physically ruffled her. To Jay, it signified that he should proceed.

  “What was Gary wearing when he left the house last night, Mrs. Bushnell?” Jay repeated.

  A period of quiet while Jay and Marjorie stared at each other. Mrs. Bushnell blinked first.

  “He had on jeans, and a green Ducks sweatshirt.”

  Jay had a bizarre urge to say “Go Ducks!” He resisted it.

  “Was he wearing a cap?”

  “No, Gary has beautiful hair and rarely wears a cap.”

  “What kind of shoes did he have on?”

  “I don’t know—I didn’t look at his shoes. Probably some kind

  of sneaker.”

  “What about Jack? What was he wearing when he went to the movies?” Just answer the question, Jay thought. Let’s don’t go there again.

  “Also jeans. And, I think he had on a sweater and his Port Stirling lettermen’s jacket. He got it for track, he’s on the varsity team. He’s a good distance runner, especially for his age. He’s proud of that jacket and wears it everywhere. Jack always wears the same shoes, black and silver Nikes. They’re almost worn out. I must remember to take him to buy some new ones.”

  “Was Fred with you the entire evening?”

  The quick change of subject appeared to throw Marjorie for a split second.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What time did Fred get home from work, and was he within your sight all night?” Jay studied Marjorie’s face carefully as he rephrased his question.

  Marjorie didn’t flinch, but she did look puzzled. She looked away from Jay and Fern, and briefly put her hand under her chin, while she gazed off into space, thinking. She coughed.

  “The usual time, about 5:30 p.m. We had a cocktail while he helped me prepare the crab.”

  “Was that normal? The drink?”

  “Yes, we always have a cocktail on Friday night to celebrate the end of the week. We try to not have liquor any other night of the week.”

  “Ah, a worthy goal,” inserted Fern. One which Fern herself

  rarely met.

  “Is it safe for me to assume that Fred was home all night?” asked Jay. “Through dinner and afterwards during your movie? Was he ever out of your sight?”

  “My husband was with me the entire evening.” Frigid.

  “Was Emily at home when Fred arrived?” Jay continued.

  “Yes, she was coloring at the kitchen table. She asked her father

  if she could have a martooni, too,” Marjorie smiled weakly at the

  memory. The end of her nose got red, and her lower lip started to quiver.

  “I know this is hard, Marjorie,” said Fern, “but we need to get all the facts if we’re going to find out who killed your daughter. You OK?”

  Marjorie nodded.

  “Did Emily act normal?” Jay continued. “Did anything seem out of place?”

  “She was the same as always. A happy child.” Tears were streaming down Marjorie’s face, but they were silent tears. Fern, trying to hide it from Jay, discreetly wiped away a tear from her cheek, too.

  “Tell me about your family dinner. What did you talk about?” Jay asked.

  “You know, the usual—Fred’s work, Jack
and Susan’s school day, whether or not they had homework for the weekend . . . that sort of thing. Gary told us he was being recruited to join a fraternity on campus, and asked our opinion. We explained to the kids about Greek life.”

  “How long is Gary to be home? When does he go back?”

  “He came home a couple of days before Christmas, and I think his classes start up again on January 15. He’ll probably go back to Eugene a day or two before that.”

  “I’ll bet it’s been nice having him home again.”

  “Yes,” said Marjorie. “In some ways, it feels like he never left, but in other ways, it’s completely different. It’s like he’s an adult now.”

  “What’s been his mood since he’s been here?”

  “Fine. Pleasant. He was pretty tired when he got here. He sleeps a lot.”

  “Has he been any moodier than when he lived here full-time?” Jay pressed.

  “I just told you. Gary is pleasant and happy.” Again with the icy demeanor.

  “Were there any sharp words at dinner?” Jay said, determined to keep going.

  “No.”

  “Really? No sibling rivalries? Nobody in trouble with you or Fred?”

  Marjorie thought for a minute. “Well, Susan accused Gary of acting like a big shot in front of her girlfriends yesterday at the Dairy Queen, but Gary laughed it off. Fred told Gary to quit embarrassing Susan in front of her friends, but it was more like “boys will be boys”.

  “Anything else?”

  “Emily wanted Susan to help her crack a piece of crab, and Gary and Jack told her to quit being such a baby. She threw a piece of crab at Jack.”

  Jay stopped writing and paused with his pen in the air.

  “What?” said an agitated Marjorie, noticing the change in Jay’s posture. “She was just being playful with the boys. It was perfectly natural. Gary laughed and wagged his finger at her and said something in a fake stern voice like ‘We don’t throw food in this house, young lady.’ Everyone laughed and it was over.”

  Chapter 9

  Saturday, 3:45 p.m.

  “Before we bring in the county crime team, there’s something I want to be clear about,” Matt said to Ed, Jay, and Fern, who were still gathered in the Chief’s office. “Y’all don’t know me very well yet, but I am a team player. However, because of the nature of this investigation and who is involved, and also because I’m new, we’ll keep this headquartered with us. I want this town to feel confident they got the right guy when they hired me. I want to make that clear up front in the meeting. What I want from you guys is to tell me if I’ll be running into any buzz saws on the crime team.”

  “Understood, Chief,” Jay said, Ed and Fern nodding in agreement. “The only member to watch out for is David Dalrymple, the county DA. He knows his stuff, but he’s a jerk.”

  Ed snickered. “Jay’s correct, Dalrymple’s the only guy who will give you grief.”

  “Is he the guy Dr. Ryder mentioned? Her boss?”

  “Yep,” Jay answered.

  “And while, technically, I report to the CVA Program Director,” added Fern, “I also have a dotted line to Dalrymple. I’m automatically assigned to any case he files.”

  “Do you think he’s a jerk, too?” asked Matt.

  Fern folded her hands primly in her lap, looked directly at Matt, and didn’t say a word.

  “OK, I get it,” he smiled. “I’m writing ‘Dalrymple, watch out’. Do you know all of the crime team folks, Jay?”

  “I know them all, if it’s the usual call out,” Jay said. “It will be the Chief and his main investigator from the Buck Bay PD since it’s a homicide. Buck Bay is the largest police force in the county, and they can provide lots of boots on the ground for us. I’d also expect the Chinook County Sheriff…all good guys. The Sheriff is Earl Johnson—been sheriff for years. And then Bernice if the situation calls for her.”

  Matt scribbled names.

  “I also called the investigator from Twisty River PD since we’re dealing with a homicide,” added Sonders. “Twisty River is a woman, Patty Perkins, and she’s sharp, really a first-rate investigator. The best we’ve got in the county, in my opinion.”

  “Are they all good to work with in your experience?” Matt asked all three colleagues.

  Jay leaned back in his chair. “I would say ‘yes’,” he answered.

  “Bernice is tough and doesn’t suffer fools gladly.”

  “I noticed that already,” Matt said with a wry smile. “Tell me more about her boss.”

  “Dalrymple is smart and driven,” Jay answered. “More so than most people around these parts. He worries more about the PR than the rest of us. He’ll be apoplectic when he learns it’s the mayor’s daughter.”

  “Yeah, I talked to Dalrymple before I met you at the Bushnell residence, and the victim definitely got his attention,” Sonders said. “He’ll be here.”

  “What’s his backstory?” asked Matt.

  “He’s originally from Los Angeles,” replied Sonders. “L.A, for God’s sake,” he concluded, shaking his head, as if that was all Matt needed to know.

  Jay fidgeted in his chair and added, “You might want to be on the lookout, sir, for Dalrymple to make a move to take over. He tried to assert himself in a case we had with a tourist who went missing at the golf course last summer. The guy was found down in Silver River the next day recovering from a toot. Dalrymple insisted on running the show for those 24 hours.”

  “Even though it was a Port Stirling PD case?” Matt asked, dumbfounded.

  “Yep. But it was high-profile—a major league baseball player—and Dalrymple wanted the entire country to know he was in charge.”

  “Just what I need,” Matt muttered. “Thanks for the warning. Don’t worry, guys, I’m not about to let a politician take over.”

  “Patty is amazing,” said Fern. “In my experience, she’s dogged, and thinks of details no one else does. She’s going to take the death of this child hard, and will want to help us.”

  “Agreed,” said Sonders. “Turn Patty loose and let her do her thing.”

  “What about the county sheriff?” asked Matt.

  “Earl Johnson is deliberate and a hard worker,” said Jay. “Between us, I don’t think much of his department on the whole, but Earl’s a good guy.”

  “Earl is Dalrymple’s right-hand man on the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team and he’s great on drug dealers. He hates the bad guys,” added Sonders. “Between him and me, we know where all the vermin are.”

  “Good to know,” said Matt. “If our killer turns out to not be one of the family, we’ll have to go vermin-huntin’.”

  “Speaking of the family again,” Fern said with a shaky half-smile, “there were two things that seemed odd to me. The first was Jack’s wanting breakfast and wolfing it down. My experience is that this kind of trauma causes a general lack of appetite. But he’s a teenager, so . . . .”

  “Do you think Jack fully understands the situation?”

  “Yes, I believe he does. Like Ed said, he struck me as a smart kid.”

  “You mentioned two things. What’s the other?”

  Fern shot a quick look at Jay. “Well, I thought parts of Marjorie’s response to Jay’s questioning were downright bizarre.”

  “How so?” Matt noticed that Jay nodded his agreement with Fern.

  “Well, she veered from deeply upset and agitated—which would be a normal response—to snappish, followed by haughty, as if she was too good to be questioned by Jay in this manner. She also made some vague, off-hand remark about her wallpaper at one point—under her breath, as if to herself - which I thought to be curious under the circumstances.”

  “Yeah, that was totally weird,” agreed Jay.

  “So,” Fern continued, “her daughter is dead, and Marjorie didn’t even ask where Emily’s body was un
til late in Jay’s interview. I would have thought that was the first thing she would want to know. When told where Emily was, I expected a series of questions about when she could see her, what happens next, and so on. But Marjorie just said “Oh”, followed by an uncomfortably long pause while Jay and I waited for her follow-up questions that never came.”

  “Did she seem in control of her faculties?”

  “Yes, it didn’t seem that she was demented in any way. Do you agree Jay?”

  “Her behavior was unsettling to me,” Jay said. “But she’s not a psycho, I don’t think. After all, we know the mayor and his family, and it’s hard to imagine any of them killing Emily.”

  “Jay’s right. It doesn’t seem possible,” agreed Fern.

  “You’re both telling me that Marjorie Bushnell acted a little deranged today,” said Matt, his voice calm and even. “Do not let your personal knowledge of the family hold you back from what your instincts are telling you. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

  Both Jay and Fern stared at Matt.

  “Whether you want to believe it or not, our killer is likely to be one of the family. You must throw out any preconceived notions about what you think you know about the Bushnells. Today is the first day of your relationship with them, and you need to pay attention to your gut feelings. Especially you, Fern, because you’re trained in psychological make-up.”

  “I understand what you’re saying, Chief,” said Fern. “It’s just difficult to get my head around a mother killing her own child. A mother who’s married to our mayor.”

  “Mothers kill their children, Fern,” said Ed Sonders. “It’s happened here in Oregon more than you want to believe. Anyone remember Diane Downs?”

  “Oh, Jesus, that was in Oregon, wasn’t it?” said Matt.

  “Yes,” said Ed. “Happened in Springfield. My wife was an ER nurse at the hospital when she came in with her shot children. Said Downs was strange from the get-go.”

  “Still, we know Marjorie,” argued Jay. “It can’t happen here.”