Harbor Nights

by Rick Polad

  It was dark by the time we got back to the inn. I went in first to explain the situation to Aunt Rose.

  She was just coming down the stairs when I walked in. She hurried over and put her arms around me. When she pulled away there were tears in her eyes.

  “Oh, Spencer, this is so sad. Thanks for calling me and letting me know. I just can’t believe anyone would do that to such a sweet person.”

  I kept my arm around her. “There are people who would do that to anybody, Aunt Rose. I have something I want to talk to you about.”

  I told her about Peggy Sue and that I would pay for the room. I asked if she would find some work for her to do. She was glad to and told me I didn’t have to pay.

  The three of us brought in Peggy Sue’s things and Rose showed her to her room. I sat in a rocker on the porch and waited for Maxine. Lights danced out in the harbor.

  The screen door squeaked open ten minutes later. Maxine came over and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

  “What’s that for?”

  “For being wonderful. And if it weren’t for you, I’d still be…”

  I patted her arm. “Not as wonderful as you think. It’s more selfish. She might lead Cletis here. It’s more than I had three hours ago.”

  “Whatever you say.” She sat in the rocker next to me. “Why did you ask that?”

  “Ask what?”

  “If he cared about her.”

  “I wanted to know how much leverage I have.”

  She stopped rocking. “Leverage?”

  Coming out of her mouth it didn’t sound so pretty.

  “Leverage. If he doesn’t care about her, I have none. If he does, the fact that I helped his girlfriend will hopefully make him more cooperative, if he ever shows up.”

  She looked like she was thinking, and I wasn’t happy about what I thought she was thinking.

  “So, kinda like they have your girlfriend, so you have his?”

  “At the risk of cracking the pedestal you have me up on—kinda. But I have a feeling Pitcher isn’t being so well taken care of. And Peggy Sue is free to go any time she wants. Just leverage, not kidnapping.”

  Her eyes twinkled above a little smirk. “The pedestal is still intact. Your offer was made out of a kind heart. As time went by, you saw how it might help with the Cletis situation. I can’t blame you for being good at your job.”

  I looked at her and squinted. This wasn’t the first time Maxine had shown a flare for good intuition and common sense.

  A family with two kids walked up the stairs and said hello. We sat there in silence for an hour watching the running lights on boats returning to harbor.

  Chapter 26

  I made pancakes for breakfast and headed for Ephraim as the sun was just peeking over the tree tops. It was going to be another hot day. I parked in front of the police station on Highway 42. Paul was making coffee.

  “Want a cup?”

  “Sure.” I sat down on one of the two chairs next to his desk and threw the envelope with the key inside on the top.

  He put a mug of coffee down in front of me and sat on the chair next to mine. “Find anything?”

  “Not inside.” I told him about Peggy Sue.

  “Interesting. You think she knows something she’s not sharing?”

  I took a sip. It was too hot for a drink. “Nope. She has no clue. And she’s worried. If she knew where he was, she wouldn’t be.”

  “What’s your guess on the getting rich part?”

  The phone rang. He picked it up on the first ring and told someone the chief would be back later in the afternoon.

  I blew on the coffee. “Your guess is as good as mine. Drugs?”

  He rolled a pencil between two fingers. “What would drugs have to do with paintings? How about stolen paintings?”

  I shook my head. “We’re talking paintings by Kathleen. Not worth that much.”

  He agreed. “How about insurance?”

  “Nope. They were insured for two thousand. Not much there.”

  He took a drink and pushed the mug back and forth by the handle. “Well, this whole gallery setup doesn’t make sense. How about she painted over a valuable painting?”

  “You’re watching too much television.” I blew on my coffee and took another sip.

  “It’s possible.”

  “Not very. Kathleen would have to be in on it and there’s no way. She was a little crazy, but there wasn’t a dishonest bone in her body.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “You think the Coast Guard is still looking?”

  “Yup. They’ll keep the bulletins live till we cancel them. They have to show up sooner or later. Not easy to hide a boat.”

  “Sooner would be better. We’ve got a kidnapped detective.”

  “Yeah, strange.”

  I told him about Larry Maggio.

  He whistled. “That adds another level to this. Must be something huge if those guys are involved. But why would Cletis think he was going to get rich?”

  “How about he saw a way to steal from the big boys and then figured on disappearing.”

  “Pretty dangerous.”

  “Yeah, but I have a feeling Cletis isn’t too bright. And maybe he didn’t know who he was stealing from. I only found out about Maggio because someone did some serious digging.”

  He took a drink and turned the handle away from him. “So, the mob has something going on. Cletis somehow gets wind of it and wants to cut himself in. But he doesn’t know about the mob.”

  “Which brings us back to paintings. That’s how Cletis got involved.” I took another drink. “You have any idea what Kathleen did when you gave her time to turn herself in?”

  “I’m guessing she hid the painting.”

  “Well, yeah. I was more wondering where. No idea where she went?”

  “Nope. You want some more coffee?”

  “No thanks. I’m going to hit the road for home.”

  “Aren’t you getting tired of making that trip?”

  I laughed. “I just point the car and it finds the way by itself.”

  Paul stood up and took the mugs to the counter. “When are you coming back?”

  “No clue. Depends on what happens.”

  “Okay. I’ll let you know if we get anything.”

  “Thanks, Paul. Appreciate it.”

  I stopped for gas in Sturgeon Bay. The thermometer at the station read 92. Pretty hot for the end of June. And the weather man was saying it was going to get hotter. Something about a stalled system over the Midwest. I decided I needed to spend more time on the deck at the cottage where the bay kept temperatures down a few degrees.

  Chapter 27

  As I passed the turnoff to Sheboygan my pager vibrated. It was Lieutenant Powolski. This would not be good. I decided to wait until I got home for my tongue lashing.

  I pulled into my drive about one o’clock. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the heat in Chicago was worse than Door. Steele’s car was in front. This time I brought my bag into the bedroom, hoping I’d get to unpack it. Steele was watching the Lead Off Man show before the Friday Cubs game, the first of the weekend series with the Cardinals. There was a commercial running for Danley Garages.

  “Hi P.I. Short vacation.”

  “Some vacation. I got paged by the lieutenant. He knows?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “What’d he say?”

  Steele shrugged. “Said he wasn’t surprised.”

  “Hmmm. I’ll bet he’ll have thought of more by now. No calls?”

  “No calls. This whole damned thing is pretty strange. I get the feeling whoever this is doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.”

  “I agree. Nothing about this is professional. The two killings were pretty sloppy. If you want somebody to talk, you don’t beat them so badly that you kill them. And when I told the guy I had no idea what he was talking about, he didn’t know what to do.”

  Steele nodded. “You gonna call the lieutenant?”

&nb
sp; “I suppose I’d better face the music.”

  I called. Marge answered and said he had just walked down the hall. She asked me to hold. He came on the line two minutes later.

  “Spencer. Nice of you to bless us with your presence.”

  “Look, Stosh…”

  “I’ll lecture you later. The Coast Guard found the boat with your boy Cletis aboard.”

  “Where? When?”

  “About two hours ago a boat from Station Wilmette spotted the boat heading south about two miles offshore of Belmont harbor. They boarded it and detained Cletis on a stolen boat charge. Lonnigan and Parker are bringing him back here.”

  “They find anything on the boat?”

  “Don’t know. We’ll know more when they get back.”

  “Okay. I’m coming in.”

  “No, you’re not. Stay put in case these morons call. We’ll fill you in later.”

  “Okay.” I hung up and told Steele about the boat.

  “Progress.”

  “I hope so.”

  We watched the Cubs and Cards for two hours. By the end of the seventh it was six to two Cubs. The phone rang in the middle of the eighth inning. Steele slipped on the headset, started the recorder, and pointed at me.

  “Manning.”

  “Spencer, it’s Rosie.”

  Steel took off the headset and stopped the recorder.

  “Hey, Rosie.”

  “Hi. You okay?”

  “The thinking part is fine. You get anything from Cletis?”

  “Not much. But we don’t want to tie up the line. I’m coming over. You want anything to eat?”

  “That would be great.” I put my hand over the receiver. “Steele, you have lunch?”

  He shook his head.

  “Neither of us had any lunch. Why don’t you pick up a bag of burgers.”

  “Will do. See you in a half.”

  While we waited for Rosie, we watched the Cubs try to give the game away. When the doorbell rang it was six to five, Cubs, in the top of the ninth and the Cards had the bases loaded with one out.

  ***

  I turned on the TV in the kitchen and Rosie spread the burgers and fries out on the table. I had a Schlitz. They had Cokes. I gave Rosie a ten for the food and got the ketchup.

  The Cubs switched pitchers and brought in Clint Coleman. I just shook my head as I unwrapped a cheeseburger. Were they trying to lose the game? The guy had an E.R.A. of seven. He did strike out two batters, but gave up a walk in between to tie the game.

  As I took a bite, I asked Rosie, “So, what do we got?”

  “Not much besides the stolen boat, and even that’s iffy since they knew each other. He says Gunderson told him he could use it whenever he wanted.”

  “How about the murder?”

  “He started out looking surprised to hear about it, then admitted that he found Gunderson dead on the floor.” She dipped a fry in ketchup.

  “And just left him there?”

  “I guess. Says he was scared. Whoever did it might be after him, too. So he ran.”

  “After him for what?” I took a long drink.

  “Good question. He had no answer—just after him.”

  “You ask about the missing paintings?”

  “He says he knows nothing about it.”

  I took another bite. Steele’s was gone already.

  Jim Hickman led off the Cubs half of the ninth with a home run and Clint Coleman was off the hook.

  “Did he mention anything about a girlfriend?”

  “Girlfriend?”

  “Yeah, seems he left her behind to be thrown out of their apartment tomorrow.”

  “Nice guy. Nope, nothing.”

  Didn’t sound like much caring there. I might have to rethink my leverage.

  “Did you ask why he was going to Chicago?”

  She nodded while chewing.

  “Let me guess. No answer.”

  She managed to get out a muffled right.

  Steele gathered the trash and tossed it in the garbage can.

  “Can I have a chat with him?”

  “Okay with me. I’ll run it by the lieutenant. What makes you think you can get somewhere?”

  “Leverage.” I told her more about the girlfriend. Steele went back to the living room.

  Rosie got the okay and I followed her back to the station.

  Chapter 28

  The desk sergeant said Lieutenant Powolski wanted to see me before I did anything else. I asked if that included breathing and got a dirty look.

  I knocked on the door frame, walked in, and sat down.

  “You miss me?”

  “Yeah, like I miss hemorrhoids.” He finished making notes, put a piece of paper back in a folder and filed it in the drawer behind him.

  “I looked into Chief Iverson. I thought the name sounded familiar. He started his career as a beat cop in Chicago twenty years ago. Guess who his partner was?”

  “Now how the hell would I know that?”

  “Would I ask if you couldn’t make an educated guess?”

  “No?”

  “No. So…”

  “Uh, you?”

  “You’re an idiot. If he was my partner, don’t you think I’d remember that a little more clearly?”

  “I guess. This isn’t a fun game. I give up.”

  He looked like he wanted to throw something at me. “Steele.”

  That was a surprise. “Really? Interesting. We’ll have to have a chat.”

  “He took a detective job in Milwaukee after five years on the street and took the chief job a few years ago.”

  “What’s his record?”

  “Nothing outstanding, but not negative. Did his job. Didn’t piss anyone off.”

  “Till he met me.”

  “I can’t hold that against him. What is it you want to ask Muddd?”

  I ran my hands down the smooth arms of the chair and told him about the girlfriend. “I figure he knows something about the paintings. He’s the one who took Blue and Green in the first place. I’d like to know why. And he might know what our kidnapper is looking for. And I’d like to know if he knows about Mr. Maggio.”

  “And you think he’ll answer all those questions?”

  I told Stosh about the girlfriend angle. “I’m hoping he’ll open up when I tell him about Peggy Sue.”

  Stosh folded his arms. “Give it a shot. I’ll have him brought to interview two. Lonnigan will be watching.”

  “You arresting him?”

  “I need someone to press charges for stealing the boat and the owner is dead. Doesn’t seem worth pursuing. Door County Sheriff wants to talk to him about the Gunderson murder. By the way, the medical examiner puts the time of death between three and five. Also, there was no water in Kathleen’s lungs. She was dead when they dumped her in the water.”

  I nodded. “Thanks. Muddd ask for a lawyer?”

  “He refused. Doesn’t seem too smart.”

  “Maybe he thinks the truth will set him free.”

  “Yeah, good luck with that.”

  ***

  Cletis was sitting at a wooden desk when I walked in. A female officer left the room. He looked tired and scared. He wasn’t exactly as I pictured him, but close. Not taller than five foot six, sandy brown hair that not only wasn’t combed but probably would refuse the effort, blue eyes a little too far apart, and a small mouth with almost no lips. I wondered what Peggy Sue saw in him. His eyes darted around the room, sometimes stopping on me.

  “Cletis, I’m Spencer Manning. I’m a private investigator. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

  “They already asked me questions,” he said with too much bravado for the guy sitting on the wrong side of the table.

  “Yes, they did. There are two people dead. One is…”

  “Two? I only know one.”

  “One is Gunderson. You said you walked in and found him on the floor. Right?”

  “Yes,” he answered meekly. The bravado was gone. Evidently, t
hinking about Gunderson had an effect.

  “What time was that?”

  “About six.”

  “Was the door locked when you got there?”

  “Yes.” He tapped the table with his right forefinger.

  “Why did you go there then?”

  He squirmed in the chair and kneaded his hands. “Do I have to answer your questions? You’re not a cop.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Then why should I?”

  I managed to make eye contact. “Because I don’t think you’re involved in the murders. And if you’re involved in anything else, and you cooperate, they’ll go easy on you.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “And because Peggy Sue cares about you.”

  His eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed. “How do you know about Peggy Sue?”

  “I met her in Fish Creek and found her a place to stay.”

  He bowed his head into his hands. “Where is she staying? She doesn’t have any money.”

  “At my friend’s inn in Ephraim. She’s working there for room and board.”

  “She’s okay?”

  “She’s fine. Why did you come to Chicago?”

  He looked nervous again and clenched his left fist.

  “I needed money. Gunderson was supposed to pay me Wednesday but…”

  “How were you going to get money here?”

  He looked right at me but didn’t answer.

  “Okay. Why did you take the boat? Why didn’t you just drive?”

  “I wanted to leave the car for Peggy Sue.”

  “How did you get the key for the boat?”

  “I had a key to his house. He sent me there a lot to pick up things. The boat key was on a hook. Gunderson let me and Peggy Sue go for rides if he wasn’t using it. I wasn’t stealing it, just borrowing it—honest.”

  “Let’s talk about the store. I found him and called the police. When I got there the door was unlocked. Did you lock it when you left?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe not. I just wanted to get out of there.” He looked up at me. “Who else is dead?”

  “Kathleen Johnson.”

  The look on his face was shock. “Kathleen? Kathleen is dead?”

  “Murdered. She was beaten to death.”

  “Oh, damn.” He shook his head. “She was a nice lady. She gave us things for our apartment.”

  “Cletis. Both of them were beaten, like someone was trying to get them to tell something. Do you have any idea what that might be?”