Death and a Pot of Chowder

by Cornelia Kidd

  I spoke quietly, so Jake wouldn’t overhear. “Rob thinks we should confront Dolan and see if he’ll confess. I’m going to invite Lucy and Dolan here for desserts and coffee. Rob will be here, too.”

  “What about the boys?” Izzie asked.

  “I’m hoping Lucy and Dolan will agree Jake can go to their house to play videos or talk with Matt. I don’t want either of the boys to hear whatever happens here.”

  “You make the call. I’ll check the desserts.” She gave me a quick hug on her way to the kitchen. “You can do this, Anna. You can.”

  “Do I look that scared?” I asked her.

  “Petrified,” she nodded. “But in control.”

  I gave her a thumbs up and called the Martins.

  “Lucy? It’s me. I know it’s short notice, but nights are long with Burt in jail, and I’d love you and Dolan to come over and share some of the desserts people left for us after church Sunday. We have more food than Izzie and Jake and I can eat. I’d hate for it to spoil. Frankly, I’d really like to have company and see friends. Rob’s stopping by, too.”

  Lucy didn’t answer immediately. Then, “We’d planned to make an early night of it. But, sure, we could stop over for a short time.”

  “Would you mind if I sent Jake over to your house? He and Matt could finish their homework together. They should have some time to solve whatever problems they’ve been having.”

  “Or play games. Sure, that’s fine. Give Dolan and me a few minutes, and we’ll be over. Jake’s always welcome here.”

  “All set,” I called to Izzie, who was busy arranging a buffet of cakes, pies, cookies, and brownies that could have fed twenty. “Looks like there’s enough to make a plate for Jake and Matt.” I took two pieces of fudge for myself. Tonight I’d need all the help I could get.

  “Doing that now,” she replied, pulling out my stock of disposable tableware.

  I knocked on Jake’s door.

  “What?” he yelled back.

  “I invited the Martins over to talk,” I said through the closed door. “They’ve said you can spend the evening with Matt at their house.”

  Jake opened the door. “You’re trying to get rid of me?”

  “You and Matt should have time together. Izzie’s making a plate of sweets for you to take with you. I think there are whoopie pies.”

  Jake’s eyes lit up at the possibility of whoopie pies. He loved them, and although many women on the island made them, I never had. Then he turned serious. “Why are the Martins coming here?” he asked suspiciously.

  “Izzie and I need to fill out that timeline we were working on,” I told him. “And, honestly, I thought they might speak more freely if you and Matt weren’t around.”

  Jake didn’t say anything.

  “I’m trying to get your dad home,” I explained. “And Rob Erickson will be here. He agreed that what you told me explained a lot, but wasn’t quite enough to take to the police and get your dad released.”

  Jake nodded. “I want Dad home. If you need me or Matt, we can be here in a few minutes.”

  “I know. And this won’t take long.” I hope, I added to myself. “Have you finished your homework?”

  He shrugged. “Sure.”

  Not reassuring. But with all that was happening today, homework wasn’t the priority it usually was.

  “Get your jacket, then. Izzie has your food in the kitchen.”

  I heard Rob’s voice from downstairs. He’d arrived sooner than I’d thought. The evening had begun.

  Chapter Forty-One

  “To stop bleeding at the nose—Chew a piece of paper; or take two or three pinches of dried salt beef, grated fine, and use as snuff; or raise the left arm and keep it up some time; or bathe the back of the head and neck in cold water.”

  —The Philosophy of Housekeeping: A Scientific and Practical Manual by Joseph B. Lyman and Laura E. Lyman. Hartford, Connecticut: S.M. Betts & Company, 1859

  At first, it seemed like a normal neighborhood gathering, with everyone playing familiar roles. But we all felt Burt’s and Carl’s absences. No one ate much, and the stress in the room was obvious. Lucy and Rob chatted about the weather, while Dolan drank three cups of coffee quickly. I wished I could serve wine, but I wanted all of us to have our wits about us.

  “So, does Burt have a lawyer yet?” Lucy finally asked. The elephant in the room was out.

  “Thanks to Rob, he does,” I answered. “Rob knows several defense attorneys.”

  “Then he should be fine,” Dolan said, as though having a lawyer would solve all of Burt’s problems. “How are you and Jake coping?”

  “We’re doing the best we can,” I answered. “Izzie and I’ve taken on a couple of projects that are keeping us busy.”

  “Oh?” Lucy asked.

  “Anna and I may open a small restaurant here on Quarry Island,” Izzie explained. “We’ve looked at that property near the bridge that used to be a grill.”

  “That place that used to sell over-priced lobster rolls and ice cream cones?” Dolan asked.

  “Right,” I agreed.

  “That place is a mess,” he declared.

  “True. We’ll have a lot of work to fix it up,” Izzie acknowledged. “And we haven’t made an official decision. But we’re thinking about it, like Anna said.”

  I couldn’t stand putting off the real reason for this gathering any longer. “We’ve also been drawing up a timeline of where everyone was Saturday morning. We’re trying to figure out who, other than Burt, might have killed Carl.”

  The room chilled.

  Dolan and Lucy didn’t look at each other.

  “Of course, the police are also doing that,” Rob put in. “But Izzie and Anna have come up with a few details the police don’t have yet. We hoped the two of you could add some more.”

  “We’ve both already talked with the police,” said Dolan. “There’s nothing we can add to that.” He got up, as though he was going to leave.

  “Dolan, Jake told us what happened Friday night,” I said, deciding to come straight to the point. “You found out Lucy and Carl were having an affair, and you had Burt’s rifle. You must have been furious at Carl. He was one of your closest friends, and he’d betrayed you. He was breaking up your marriage, your life. That your son found out before you did, must have made it even harder.”

  “I told you one of the boys would talk,” Dolan said, glancing sidewise at Lucy, and then turning to me. “I had no idea about Carl and Lucy. I was so angry I didn’t want to talk about it. After Carl left Friday night, I couldn’t think straight. I hid the gun in the closet of our extra bedroom and I slept in there. I didn’t want to see Lucy, or talk to her, or deal with the boys. I was going crazy, and I didn’t know what I’d say or do.”

  “Where were you Saturday morning?”

  “I left early, like I always do. That way I didn’t have to talk with anyone at our house.”

  “But Jake and Matt said you didn’t take your boat out.”

  “I didn’t. Not right away.” Dolan suddenly stared at me. “Wait a minute, Anna. You think I killed Carl? Sure, I was wicked angry at him. And, yes, I had the rifle Friday night. I was going to give it back to Burt on Saturday. You know Lucy doesn’t like guns in the house. Saturday morning, I was still furious and hurt. My life had been turned upside down. But there was no way I’d kill Carl! Or anyone else, for that matter.” He glanced at Lucy. “I wasn’t that crazy! Just angry, and scared, and disappointed. Confused about what I should do. I didn’t want to lose my wife.”

  “So, on Saturday morning when Carl was shot, you weren’t out on your boat.”

  “Once in a while I take a day off. Saturday, I had a lot on my mind.”

  Lucy looked the other way.

  Dolan kept talking. “I was up at first light, as usual, but then I drove over to the mainland to do errands. I wanted an excuse to get off-island, fill time. I bought some groceries and got paint at the hardware store. I’m going to paint the back of our house thi
s year, and I figured I’d get the supplies I’d need.”

  Dolan, like some other Mainers who lived near the harsh cold and salt air that was rough on house paint, repainted one side of his house every year, dividing the time and expense by four years and keeping his house looking good. I wished Burt did that. Our house—all four sides of it and our barn—could use a paint job.

  “When did you get back?” Rob asked.

  “About eleven,” said Dolan. “I dropped the stuff I’d bought off at home, and went to the wharf. By the time I got there, Burt had towed in Carl’s boat, the marine patrol folks were there, and the wharf was chaotic. I took the Harbor Princess out to look for Carl, like everyone else took their boats.” He paused. “Sure, I was mad at Carl. But I didn’t want him dead!”

  “Lucy, did Dolan stop at your house about eleven, the way he said?” Izzie asked.

  “Lucy wouldn’t know that,” Dolan put in. “She wasn’t home when I got there. She was at baseball practice with the boys over on the mainland.”

  Lucy didn’t say anything.

  “Baseball practice was canceled Saturday morning,” I said quietly, turning to Lucy. “Lucy was on the island.”

  Dolan stared at his wife.

  “When you were home about eleven in the morning did you check to see if Burt’s rifle was still in the closet where you’d put it?” Rob asked.

  “I didn’t even think to look for the rifle until that evening, after we got home from eating supper here,” Dolan said. “We all had a lot on our minds that day. I knew I could give that gun back to Burt any time.”

  “And was it there Saturday evening?” I asked.

  “No,” Dolan admitted. “At first, I thought Matt had taken it back. He was the one who’d brought it into the house in the first place. I was exhausted and angry, and I gave him a real talking to. But he kept saying he didn’t have it and he didn’t know where it was, that he hadn’t seen it since Friday night.”

  “Did you believe him?” I asked.

  “After I calmed down, yes. Matt doesn’t always volunteer information. Honestly, during the past few months he’s hardly spoken to his mom or me at all. We didn’t know why.” Dolan glanced at Lucy. “Although, I’m pretty sure we do now. But one thing I know for sure. Matt never lies. He sometimes avoids the truth, but he doesn’t lie. So, yes, I believed him Saturday night.”

  “What did you suspect had happened to the rifle?” Izzie asked.

  “I figured Lucy had found it,” Dolan said, softly. “She’d taken it back to your house. Or thrown it away. I was worried about how I’d explain to Burt that she’d tossed his expensive rifle.”

  “Did you ask Lucy if she’d taken it?” Rob asked.

  “I didn’t.” He glanced at his wife again. “Frankly, I didn’t want to bring it up again. We hadn’t talked much since our fight the night before, and she’d been all weepy at your house. Carl was gone. Lucy and I would have to make peace with each other, but it was too soon. Too much had happened. After I talked to Matt about the rifle, I went to bed. Alone. I figured I’d talk to Lucy about the rifle in the morning, when we were all calmer.”

  “The police found Burt’s rifle on one of the ledges below the lighthouse, at low tide. Whoever killed Carl must have shot from the light or one of the higher ledges, and then tossed the rifle, thinking the tide would take it out,” I pointed out.

  “It wasn’t in my house Saturday night.” Dolan said. “How did it get from the closet in our spare bedroom on Friday night to Granite Point?” He looked at his wife. “Matt was out with Jake. Lucy, you were the only other person who could have guessed where that rifle was. I had guns when we were first married and I always kept them in my closet. If you wanted to get rid of that rifle there are a lot better ways than throwing it off a ledge at Granite Point. Lucy, you knew it was Burt’s. Why didn’t you just take it back to the Winslows’ house?”

  I’d been so sure Dolan had killed Carl. Motive, opportunity, means. He had them all. But his story seemed to hang together. Lucy had been alone after the boys had their breakfast Saturday morning. She’d been the only one who’d known where Dolan might have stashed the rifle.

  “Lucy. You were the one. You killed Carl,” I said, turning to her. “You took Burt’s rifle. You knew how to shoot years ago. On Friday night, Carl probably told you he’d fixed his engine, and where he’d be working Saturday. You went to Granite Point and shot him.”

  Lucy’s face was frozen. She didn’t move. She stared at me. “You don’t understand,” she said, too quietly. She stood, and looked around the room. “None of you understand. I couldn’t take it any longer.”

  Rob stood, too. He moved between Lucy and the front door.

  “You and Carl were lovers,” I said stepping toward Lucy and trying to stay calm. “Why would you want to hurt him?”

  “Carl was a liar and a blackmailer,” she spat. “Your dear brother-in-law told me he had money. He promised to take me away from this horrible island where no one has any privacy, and there’s nothing to do but talk about everyone else. And then Dolan told me Carl had asked him for money. He’d had the audacity to ask my husband to loan him the money we’d need to leave!”

  And that was probably after Carl had already stolen money from Burt and me. I hadn’t known much about a man I’d known my whole life.

  Lucy kept talking, as though everything she’d held inside for months, or years, was spilling out. “I loved Carl! I’ve loved him since we were in grade school.” She turned to me. “You know what that’s like, Anna. You and Burt loved each other from before you knew what love was. It was all doves and Valentines for you two.”

  Dolan went white under the permanent leathery tan he had from being on the water.

  “So, your affair wasn’t new,” I probed, hesitantly. Lucy’s answer could hurt Dolan even more.

  “Hell, no! We’d been together off and on since I was thirteen. It had gotten more … intense … in the past few months. I was restless. I wanted to leave the island. But I had no money. Carl promised he’d take care of us. He got rid of that simpering Rose Snowe, and he was saving for our life together.”

  I swallowed, hard.

  Lucy started to pace between the living room and the kitchen. “He said we’d have a life together, wherever I wanted to go. He talked about Arizona, North Carolina, Paris! All sorts of places. But it was all a lie. When I confronted him about the money, he said he was still working on that, but I could move in with him any time. Move in with him? Move into an apartment on Quarry Island? I needed to escape!” She shook her head. “I was furious. I told him if he loved me he’d find the money we needed. Fast. We needed at least fifty thousand dollars to start a new life together. Maybe more. I’d been going crazy for years. A few more weeks, or even months wouldn’t make a difference.”

  “And then?”

  “Then Matt and Jake heard us … saw us … Friday night. I’d thought they were in bed, asleep. Dolan and Matt always sleep hard. Carl had come over late lots of nights, or I’d left to go to his apartment. No one had ever woken up. But Friday night, everything was different. I nearly had a heart attack when Matt said he was going to shoot both of us. And then Jake was there, and thank goodness Dolan got the rifle away from Matt. It was like a horrible dream. A nightmare.”

  “So, you and Dolan,” I glanced at him. He’d sat back in his armchair as though he’d been pushed back. Pushed aside. “You and Dolan argued. And Carl left.”

  “Sure. He left. He waited until the house was quiet again, and then he texted me and came back. I met him across the street, so no one at the house could see us. He wanted me to go away with him right away, now that Dolan and Matt knew and there was no reason to keep our love secret. We could live together in that apartment of his.”

  Rob stepped toward the front door, blocking it. Lucy didn’t seem to notice.

  “Can you believe it? He really thought I’d be happy living down the street from Dolan and Matt, and never leaving this island!”<
br />
  “So, you told him no.” I put in.

  “Darned right I did. And that’s when it got bad.”

  “What could get worse?” asked Izzie. She’d kept still until now, but she’d been listening intently.

  “A lot could get worse! Carl said he was tired of waiting around. That he could make me come with him, and that he’d take Matt, too. All he had to do was tell Dolan…”

  “Tell Dolan what?” asked Dolan, getting up quickly. He was about a foot taller than Lucy. He looked down at her. “Just what didn’t Dolan know already that would make a difference? I already knew you were sleeping with one of my best friends. You’ve said it’d been going on for years. What could be worse than that?”

  Lucy jumped up, ran into the kitchen, grabbed a knife from Izzie’s knife kit and held it in front of her. “A lot could be worse than that, Dolan Martin. Carl knew you well. He knew it would freak you out to know what he and I’d known for years. Just a little secret between us. I couldn’t let him tell you. That’s why I had to kill him.”

  Rob and I moved toward the two of them. I headed toward the kitchen door, in case Lucy tried to run.

  Izzie’s knife blade glittered in the kitchen lights.

  “What secret, Lucy?” Dolan reached for Lucy and she spun around, still holding the knife. I blocked her way, and she moved to push me aside. I felt a sharp pain as the knife’s blade pierced my shoulder.

  Her eyes stared coldly into mine. “Why couldn’t you leave us alone? Why couldn’t you just let Dolan and I solve our own problems?”

  “What secret?” Dolan demanded grabbing Lucy by the shoulders and turning her to face him. The knife clattered to the floor.

  Blood was gushing through my sweater.

  “Matt’s not your son,” Lucy hissed. “He’s Carl’s. Carl wouldn’t drop out of school to marry me, so I settled for second best. You never knew.”

  Dolan looked stricken.

  Rob moved between Dolan and Lucy and pulled her arms behind her back to handcuff her. “I can’t arrest you, Lucy, but I can darn well make sure you’ll stay right here until someone comes who can,” he said. “And, for the record, I have everything said in this room tonight on tape.”