Secrets at Spawning Run

by Sally Roseveare

  “I learned that years ago, Charlie,” said Sam.

  Carole stopped stirring the dill sauce and smiled at Jill. “Guess things will never change. Here we are again, females in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove, while the men lounge around outside and drink beer. Except for Sam. He can drink beer and grill fish at the same time.” The three women laughed.

  “The guys sent me in to find out what smells so good.” Jill lifted a pot lid. “They’re salivating out there, Aurora.”

  “They’re just hungry.” Aurora crumbled the cheese into the salad. “But on the menu tonight is grilled striper with a dill sauce, lemon-buttered asparagus, scalloped potatoes, and a spinach salad with mandarin oranges, walnuts and crumbled feta cheese.”

  “Sounds yummy.” Jill nibbled on a slice of orange. “May I help?”

  “Certainly. Would you pull the rolls out of the oven and put them in that basket there next to the stove? The cloth liner’s in the drawer next to the refrigerator.” Aurora pointed to the drawer.

  Carole poured the dill sauce into a bowl. “Did you make these rolls, Aurora?”

  “Yes, I did. They’re made from Mother’s whole wheat recipe. You’ve always loved that one. Thought you deserved something special.” Aurora handed Carole a roll.

  Carole grinned and took a bite.

  “How’d the promo Aurora made for you turn out, Carole?” asked Jill.

  “Great. I’ve booked nearly eight rentals through October, and sold two houses. All because of the promo. Aurora is a genius with her cameras.”

  Aurora pulled the scalloped potatoes out of the oven. “Thanks. I’m glad I could do it for you, Carole.”

  “Have you thought of doing more promos here at the lake?” asked Jill. She put a stick of butter on the butter dish and rummaged in the drawer for a butter knife.

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” said Carole. “Aurora, I have lots of contacts in the area that I know would jump at the chance to use you.” She grabbed Aurora’s hands. “Please say yes!”

  Aurora laughed. “You two are good for my ego. But I can’t. I missed Sam like crazy while I worked on Carole’s promo. I couldn’t stand being here for long periods while he’s in Augusta.”

  “I understand, but it surely would be fun having you here. Now, what else can I do to help?”

  “You could put ice in the water glasses. They’re in the cabinet next to the window.”

  Jill waved her left hand in the air and brushed the hair off her forehead. “Have either of you noticed anything different about me?”

  Aurora and Carole shrieked when they saw the large diamond ring.

  “It’s gorgeous!” Carole leaned toward Jill for a closer look.

  “The ring belonged to Robert’s great-great-grandmother. Can you believe that?”

  “It’s beautiful, suits you. I’m so tickled for you and Robert.” said Aurora. “Have you set a date yet?”

  “The sooner the better. We’ve missed some wonderful years together. When the police accused Robert of embezzling funds and murdering Lampwerth, my world flipped upside down. I realized then that I’d never stopped loving him. He’s more important to me than any career could ever be.”

  “So glad you and the accountant proved him innocent. Has the press grabbed hold of that story yet?” Carole snitched a walnut from the salad bowl. “This is one they’d kill for. It’s got everything: intrigue, murder, embezzlement, decency, passion.”

  “No, Robert doesn’t want Bob Tinsley’s wife to know her husband was a gambler and an embezzler. She’s not well. Robert will side-step around the embezzlement facts as long as he can.” Little Guy whined and Jill patted him on his head. “I’ll quit my job as soon as I find a replacement. During the week, we’ll live in Robert’s apartment in Washington and come here to the lake most weekends. And you know what surprises me? I’m looking forward to cooking. Even cleaning. May need recipes from you, Aurora. I could count on two hands the complete from-scratch meals I’ve cooked in the last nine years.

  “Robert and I were hoping, Aurora, that you’d be willing to keep Little Guy with you for a while. We both think he’d be happier here than in the middle of the chaos that always comes with moving. Didn’t you say you’d be here a few more weeks?”

  “Yes, I will. And yes, I’ll keep Little Guy for you.”

  “Thank you so much. Robert and I appreciate it.”

  “Aurora, the striper’s almost done!” Sam called from the porch.

  “We’re coming.” The three women gathered up the rest of the meal and carried the dishes to the porch. Aurora didn’t miss the way Luke and Carole looked at each other or the way his hand caressed her arm when she sat down close beside him. She caught Carole’s attention, raised an eyebrow, and glanced at Luke. Carole nodded and grinned. So that’s the way it is, thought Aurora happily. King stretched out beside her chair.

  “Can an old man make an announcement?” asked Charlie.

  “Of course you may,” Aurora and Sam replied in unison.

  “I turned in my resignation today.” He set his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I’m quitting the legal system. Gonna play golf with my retired buddies. Plan to enjoy the meals my widow neighbor brings over, might even suggest she join me.” He looked at the faces staring at him. “Whaddaya think? Am I nuts?”

  “Of course not. I believe you made a wise decision. Time for you to have some fun, Uncle Charlie. Dad, Mom and Aunt Annie would all agree with me.” The others echoed Aurora’s sentiments.

  “A toast to Charlie.” Sam held up his wine glass.

  “To Charlie.”

  “This striper’s the best I’ve ever eaten, Sam.” Robert took another bite.

  “I agree,” echoed Luke.

  “Thanks. I think Aurora’s sauce makes it, though.” Sam smiled at his wife.

  “Luke, I apologize for giving you such a hard time. I was wrong about you. And thanks for helping Aurora and Sam. You put your life at risk for them. If ever there is anything I can do for you….” Charlie looked at Luke.

  “You were just doing your job, judge. There’s no need for an apology.” Luke smiled.

  “Kind of like poetic justice, don’t you think?” Sam said. “Here Harold spent untold amounts of money designing his state-of-the-art hiding place, put all kinds of walls, hidden rooms, even an elevator, everything operated electronically by remote control, into his cabin. And a simple, perfectly-timed power failure was his downfall. Red’s, too.”

  “Excuse me, Sam, could I have another piece of fish?” Robert passed his plate.

  “Of course.” Sam put some striper on Robert’s plate and continued. “The two were stuck there, with Jimmy Ray’s dead body, until the cops arrived hours later at the exact time the power came back on. Imagine Harold’s and Red’s surprise when they rode the elevator up to the garage and ran smack into the cops.”

  “What caused the power to go out?” Robert reached for the scalloped potatoes and another roll.

  Charlie laughed. “The power went out—this really is hilarious!—because a common gray squirrel knocked out a transformer.” King jumped up and cocked his ears. Little Guy whined.

  “It’s okay, guys. There’s no squirrel,” Aurora whispered. Both dogs relaxed.

  “But didn’t they have a key?” Carole asked.

  Sam laughed so hard tears streamed down his cheeks. “Keys were seldom used because all the locks in his cabin are on remote control. Remember, Harold’s an electrical engineer and a genius. I’m not surprised that all the door locks were electronic. Only one key opened the doors, so as a precaution, Harold had ordered Clyde to have two duplicate keys made only a week before. Clyde did what he was told.” Sam doubled over with laughter. “Clyde took—he took the one key with him, had duplicates made, but hadn’t gotten around to giving them to Harold.” The others laughed, too. “When Jimmy Ray stabbed Clyde, he tossed Clyde—along with the keys that were in Clyde’s pants pocket—into Luke’s boat. You could say that Cly
de is responsible for their capture.”

  When everyone’s laughter subsided, the judge asked, “Want to know more about Jimmy Ray?” Everyone nodded. “Sheila led the cops to Harold’s cabin, and once the electricity came back on,” he snickered, “Harold and Red were apprehended. Sheriff Rogers found Jimmy Ray, dead from a gunshot in the back of his head. The guy was a sicko, got what he deserved. But you’ll never guess what they found in his pants pocket.” He took a swallow of wine.

  “What?”

  “The diamond and ruby necklace Aurora took off the grebe. Jimmy Ray must have swiped it when he was loading the van. The man just couldn’t stay out of trouble.”

  “Pass the asparagus, please, Robert.” Sam dished some onto his plate and said, “You know, I still can’t fathom the criminal activities Harold was involved in. He had brains, social status, a high-paying job. Why did he do those things?” Sam shook his head. “I thought he was my friend, but he tried to kill Aurora, Luke and me. And he was responsible for Jack’s death. Guess I’ll never understand.”

  “Me either,” said Aurora. “As much as I despise him for what he did, I’m intrigued with his mind. The operations center in that old boathouse and cabin required a lot of thought and work. I think Harold enjoyed the complexity of it all.” She stuck a bite of salad in her mouth.

  “I agree,” said Uncle Charlie. “The idea of different colored flower pots on the docks was ingenious, too. The green pots signified those homes were wide-open targets; the orange ones urged caution; the red meant danger, stop, leave alone. That’s why you saw the pots on your dock and Robert’s dock change colors two or three times.” He tossed a piece of roll to Little Guy. The terrier caught it in mid-air and waited expectantly for more. “Aurora, you cramped their style when you showed up unannounced for Margaret’s funeral.”

  “Harold wasn’t perfect, though. Dad found out what was going on and was murdered in the process. Thank goodness he took pictures with his Polaroid, or Harold would still be operating.” She shuddered at the thought of her father dying such a horrible death. “Then again, I guess the pictures are what got Dad killed.”

  “I’m confused on a couple of things, Charlie,” said Robert. “How did Harold use Jack’s dock as a holding tank for stolen objects?”

  “Sheila explained to us how Harold had an elaborate underwater system of ropes and pulleys just under the boathouse. At night, Clyde and Jimmy Ray would put the stolen articles in waterproof bags, hook them to a rope, and drop them in the water. The next night—or whenever they wanted—Clyde, Jimmy Ray, a man called Snake, and sometimes Sheila would retrieve the bags. Then Red would deliver the stolen items to a metal building on a Franklin County farm. I’m guessing that’s the activity Aurora noticed in the boathouse those two nights.

  “Their big troubles started when a plastic bag full of jewelry accidentally fell off Jack’s dock and into the water.”

  “Is that the bag that was stuffed inside the rubber striper?” asked Aurora. “The one Dad photographed?” She spooned more potatoes onto her plate and passed the dish to Carole.

  “No, this was the first of two bags that fell in the lake. They were removing the jewelry from the fake fish and Snake’s foot knocked it off the dock. Harold couldn’t just let the items go; they were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and he had orders from wealthy, unscrupulous customers for most of the pieces. The water is fifteen to twenty feet deep in that spot, which presented a problem even for experienced divers because visibility is so bad. The bottom is soft, so a bag of jewelry could easily sink into the muck.” He buttered a roll and took a bite.

  “According to what we’ve pieced together from the Polaroid pictures Jack took and from what Sheila and Clyde told us, they started diving during daylight hours to take advantage of any light they could get. That’s when Jack first saw them and became suspicious. Jimmy Ray got greedy and heisted a mink coat for one of his girlfriends.”

  Aurora frowned. “Jimmy Ray tried the coat on himself. Dad got a picture of him wearing it.” Sam squeezed her hand. “Right, Uncle Charlie?”

  “Yeah, he did.” He smiled at his niece. “Jimmy Ray transferred the mink from one of the underwater bags to the black boat during daylight hours. That’s when Jack saw Jimmy Ray and photographed him trying the coat on. The next day Jack maneuvered closer to the boathouse and snapped a picture of a painting one of the men took from the bag.

  “The last straw, and the incident that sealed my brother’s death, happened early one morning when Jack took it upon himself to investigate the boathouse. After all, something suspicious was happening on his property; he had a right to know what. Wish he’d called the police or me, but he didn’t. That was a mistake. He carried his camera with him to the boathouse, discovered the pulleys, and pulled up the one that held the fake striper.”

  Robert interrupted. “Excuse me, judge, but I just can’t understand the significance of the rubber striper. What purpose did it serve?”

  “It was a ruse to make outsiders think Clyde and Jimmy Ray were fishing. From a distance, it looked real and gave them a reason to be in the boathouse.” Charlie dropped a bite of roll on the floor. Little Guy wolfed it down and looked around for more.

  “Anyhow, as I was saying,” Charlie continued, “when Jack yanked up the pulley and saw the striper, he unhooked it, placed it on the dock, and photographed it. He noticed the zipper on the fish’s stomach, unzipped it, and found jewelry—including the diamond and ruby necklace—concealed inside a clear plastic bag, the same type of bag that fell in the lake days earlier. Curious, he opened the bag, photographed all the jewelry, and put them back into the bag.

  “Jack hurried back up to the house to think about what he’d just seen. According to what Clyde told us, Jack didn’t hear the fishing boat glide up to the dock. Unfortunately, Jimmy Ray and Clyde had seen Jack through binoculars when they entered the cove. When they saw him taking pictures, Clyde used his cell phone to call Harold for instructions. Clyde still remembers the anticipation on Jimmy Ray’s face when Harold ordered Jack’s murder.” Charlie looked at Aurora. “Are you all right, Aurora?”

  “No, I’m not. They didn’t have to kill Dad.” Aurora, a hand over her mouth, left the porch. Sam excused himself and followed her. He knew his wife couldn’t bear to hear any more. King whined and padded after them, his toenails clicking on the wood floor.

  “What happened next?” asked Luke.

  “The first thing Clyde and Jimmy Ray did was cut the telephone lines so Jack couldn’t call the police. We believe Jack had been in the middle of dialing when the phone went dead, and then he noticed the two men outside. I’m sure he knew he was in deep trouble, so I’m guessing he put the message ‘phone line cut’ on the picture frame at that time, then hurried upstairs to slip the five photographs in the back of the Wyeth painting. After hiding the pictures, he wrote ‘ask Wyeth’ on the other frame.

  “Clyde believed Jack would attempt to escape by car, so he and Jimmy Ray waited in the bushes in the front of the house. Jack evidently saw them and sneaked out the basement door, probably intending to take their fishing boat. He would’ve made it, but another boat pulled up to the dock. Poor Jack, he didn’t realize the man in the boat was also one of Harold’s men. Jack asked him for help. The man—the one named Snake—responded by slamming him in the head with a paddle, then hollered for Jimmy Ray and Clyde. We believe Snake opened the bag to check the contents and accidentally knocked it and the necklace in the lake at that time.”

  Carole nudged Luke and pointed to the bottle of wine. He smiled and filled her glass. “So a total of two bags of jewelry fell in the lake?” Carole asked.

  “Yes,” answered Charlie.

  “What happened then?” asked Jill.

  The judge cleared his throat. “Johns devised the plan to murder Jack and make it look like a drowning.”

  “Poor Jack.” Robert reached for the striper.

  “I know. My brother deserved better.” Charlie’s voice broke.
He took a sip of wine.

  “I can’t believe I’d actually planned to marry that monster,” declared Carole. “He certainly fooled me.”

  “He evidently fooled a lot of folks,” said Jill.

  “But not Aurora. She never liked him.” Charlie pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes. Then he smiled at his niece as she and Sam returned to the porch.

  “Where did Sheila come in?” asked Carole.

  “Sheila is Harold’s sister. She and Clyde, bankrupt, moved to the lake and went to work for Harold. At first it was legit, but once Harold hooked Sheila on drugs, well, neither she nor Clyde had any choice but to do as Harold ordered. Johns owned a reputable cleaning company, had Sheila manage it, and she learned which homes contained valuable items.”

  “Sheila’s the woman in the boat who wanted to breed her female Lab to King. Bet she doesn’t even own a dog,” Aurora said.

  “You’re right,” continued the judge. “When Sheila cleaned homes, she hid a tiny digital camera in her pocket so she could snap pictures of valuable objects. Harold would then send the pictures over the internet to his contacts, and soon buyers lined up to purchase the stolen goods. Harold also bought Tom’s Tidy Lawn & Lake Service, which gave him an easy way to mark houses. You know, the different colored flowerpots on the docks. Biff, the yardman, had no idea the pots were signals. He just put them where Harold and Sheila ordered him to.”

  Aurora drained her wine glass. “I hate to even ask, but where did Vanessa fit into all of this?”

  Luke spoke up. “I can answer this one. Vanessa, called Red by her parents and her Uncle Harold, is Clyde and Sheila’s spoiled brat of a daughter. Her job—and I have to admit she excelled at it—was to bedazzle and charm men. She’d worm her way into their confidences and hearts and then pump them for information about wealthy people on the lake. The proposed victims—or targets—could even be prospective property buyers, not just owners. Once she knew where and for how long they were staying at the lake, she’d pass on the info to Uncle Harold, and a ‘chance’ burglary would take place.”