Harbor Nights

by Rick Polad

  “And what does that have to do with this trip?”

  “Kathleen was warned that the police were coming that Friday morning. That gave her several hours to hide the painting.”

  “That’s the one that Cletis switched the frames on, right?”

  “Yes. And the one that holds the pirate treasure.”

  She was thinking again. “And you think she came out here and hid it in the cave?”

  “That’s what I’m hoping.”

  “And you remember where the cave is?”

  “I think I can find it. There’s a lake on the east side of the island. Mackaysee Lake. To the west of that is a smaller lake called Mud Lake. In between is a hill of limestone and in that hill is our cave.”

  As we rounded the north point, I angled in toward the island and a short, wooden dock came into view.

  “Are there people here?” asked Maxine.

  “There are some cabins and some people live here in the summer, but none permanently.”

  I told Maxine to throw a line over one of the dock posts and showed her how to tie it to our cleat. I grabbed a flashlight and we stepped onto the pier as the boat bobbed gently in the swells.

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  It only took ten minutes to hike to the eastern shore of the lake along a footpath that rose above the marshy land.

  “This is beautiful, Spencer.”

  “It is.”

  “I can see why you came out here.”

  I pointed out two islands in the lake.

  “That’s amazing. Islands in a lake on an island in a bay. Wow.”

  “Yes, nature is wonderful. All you have to do is look around.”

  “Well, a bit more than that. It took some effort to get here. I would never have known this existed if it weren’t for your pirate treasure.”

  “Ah, yes.” I looked around, remembering what it looked like ten years ago. It hadn’t changed much. “I’ve always had a strange feeling knowing that I was looking at something few people would ever see.”

  We walked around the south end of the lake and headed west toward Mud Lake. I thought of Cletis. Only one D in the lake name.

  Maxine stopped to look at a flower.

  “So, what if it’s not there?”

  “There are other possibilities.”

  “And what do you think is going on with the frame?”

  “No idea. Hopefully we’ll soon know.”

  It took a little bit of hunting, but I soon found the overgrown entrance to the cave. We had to stoop to walk in. As soon as we did, the temperature dropped in the natural air conditioning of the limestone cooled by the groundwater which was only a few feet below the ground.

  The cave wasn’t very deep. I shone the light on the back wall illuminating a few bats hanging from the ceiling. I didn’t point those out to Maxine. I moved the light around the cave and saw nothing besides cave.

  “This is very cool, Spencer.”

  The floor of the cave was dirt and pieces of rock. I pointed out an opening ahead on the left and beckoned for her to follow me. I held my breath as we reached the opening and shone in the light. Propped against the left wall was the painting.

  As my light found it, Maxine exclaimed, “There it is, Spencer! You’re a genius.”

  “I doubt that. Just a logical assumption.”

  “Well, I’m impressed.”

  I gave her the light and picked up the painting. I instantly felt sad. I was holding a connection to Kathleen and remembered all the wonderful times we had shared. Maybe I was too selfish and stubborn about our relationship. But the logical part of me realized I was thinking with my heart and there was much more to it than that. Regardless, I missed Kathleen.

  Maxine was quiet. I think she realized what I was feeling.

  “Let’s go, Maxine.” She turned and led the way out.

  When we got back to the boat, we sat on the edge of the pier and looked at the painting. I decided to hang it in the cottage. I looked at the frame and didn’t see anything meaningful. I handed it to Maxine and she couldn’t find anything either. The mystery remained.

  “I have a question, Spencer.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Why did Kathleen just write PIRATE? Why not just explain where the painting was?”

  “Good question. If you knew Kathleen, you wouldn’t have to ask. Several reasons, I’m guessing. She loved games. We would constantly try to stump each other. But more importantly, I think she wanted to make sure no one else would be able to find the painting. If she thought someone was trying to steal it, she might also have considered someone getting ahold of the letter. So this way I’m the only one who would know what it meant.”

  “Pretty smart.”

  “She was very smart. Too smart to have been done in by Vitale. I’d love to know how that happened.”

  We watched the waves for a few minutes.

  “Let’s go, ma’am.” I took her hand and helped her up. She stowed the painting, let go the lines, and we headed back to Eagle Harbor as the sun slipped lower in the west. The breeze from the moving boat felt good in the heat of the sun as a few puffy cumulus clouds floated across the blue sky.

  ***

  We docked the boat. Maxine stayed at the inn and I drove over to the Ephraim police station. Paul was there alone. I asked him if he had any news.

  “Not yet, but we’re trying. Photos have been distributed to all the marinas and put in the papers, and I talked to most of the staff at the marinas. But he could have driven a boat up from somewhere south and docked by the hour instead of renting a boat from here. The guys on the docks can’t remember everybody. I also passed his photo out at the gas stations. The sheriff is covering down in Sturgeon Bay.”

  “Okay, thanks. Gonna have to get lucky. What’s my buddy Iverson been up to?”

  He shrugged. “Haven’t seen him for the last few days. Said he was going to do some fishin’.”

  “Good for him. Maybe that’ll help his attitude.”

  “Hmmm. I doubt it. He’s been fishin’ before.”

  I laughed. “I bet he has. Take care, Paul.”

  I got up to leave.

  He looked serious. “Hey, Spencer. Nice job.” He held out his hand.

  I took it and nodded. We didn’t need any words, but I was dying to tell him about Iverson.

  ***

  I took Maxine and Aunt Rose out to the Greenwood for dinner and filled Rose in on what I could that wasn’t covered on the news. She was glad I was here to tell her about it. So was I. Maxine asked a few more questions.

  “So, are you staying for a while now that you got him?” asked Aunt Rose.

  I shook my head and finished chewing a bite of steak. “Only if till tomorrow afternoon is a while. I have an interview Monday morning about the incident.”

  “Interview?”

  “With the cops. They want to know what happened.”

  Aunt Rose looked concerned. “Is there going to be any trouble?”

  “I don’t think so. It was really pretty simple. And we did get Pitcher back and there’s one less bad guy walking around.”

  She took a deep breath. “Well, call me when it’s done so I can stop worrying.”

  I said I would.

  Maxine was just sitting quietly, listening, and eating salmon.

  We all had cherry pie and ice cream for dessert and went home well fed.

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  It was dark by the time I pulled up in front of the cottage. I had put a timer on the light in the living room and it was on. I decided to take a better look at the frame.

  I placed the painting on the kitchen table with the light shining down directly on it. I looked at every inch of the frame and found nothing. I got a Schlitz, popped off the top, and got my tool kit. I pried the fasteners from the edges and pulled the painting out of the frame. I looked at the inside edges and again found nothing.

  Maybe there was something in the joints. I got a small pry bar and considered forcing the pieces apart,
but decided that would damage the wood and, since I had no idea what was important, I decided not to do that. I looked at it for a minute and then picked it up and tried to pull apart a corner. It didn’t budge. Cletis had done a good job on the frame.

  I wasn’t going to be beaten by a frame. I looked at it some more and then held it out from my chest by opposite corners and squeezed. In a few seconds it started to collapse slowly and then the corners gave way and the rectangle became a parallelogram. The corners were still attached, but now I could pull them apart. Before I did, I marked the parts with four letters—B,T,L, and R, so I could put them back in the same relative position.

  I looked carefully at each end and still came up empty. There was nothing there. Maybe Cletis had made a mistake with the painting.

  I called the inn. Maxine answered and I asked for Cletis.

  “Hello, Mr. Manning.”

  “Howdy, Cletis. Things going okay?”

  “They sure are. Your aunt has been so nice to us, and I found a job. I start Monday at the marina in Ellison Bay. I’ll just be a dock hand at first, but the manager said he’d move me up since I have experience with boats.”

  “That’s great, Cletis. Good luck. I have the painting Blue and Green and I’m not seeing anything special about the frame. Could you have been mistaken about which painting you switched?”

  “No, it was Blue and Green.”

  I was clutching at straws. “How did you know it was Blue and Green?”

  “Simple. The names are on the back of the stretcher frames.”

  I turned the pieces over and there was the name on the one marked L. I thought some more. “Maybe the names got rewritten somehow. Would you remember the painting?”

  “I think so. I liked it more than the rest.”

  “Okay. I can be there in twenty minutes. Would you take a look at it?”

  “Sure.”

  I set the painting and the frame in the back seat and headed back to the inn wondering what I was missing. Then I thought of another possibility. Vitale was cheating Bloom and Cletis was cheating Vitale. Maybe there was another player. Maybe Gunderson had cheated all of them and hidden whatever it was in his house.

  ***

  Cletis and Peggy Sue were waiting for me on the porch. They were sitting on the wicker bench holding hands. We exchanged hellos. Peggy Sue looked happy.

  I was holding the painting with the back facing Cletis. “Let’s go inside, Cletis, where there’s good light.”

  “Mind if I come?” asked Peggy Sue.

  “Not at all. The more eyes the better.” Maxine was working at the reception desk. I asked her to get Aunt Rose.

  They both came out of the kitchen as I set the painting upside down on the table.

  “Okay, Cletis. I’m going to turn it over. I want you to try and remember Blue and Green and tell me if this is it.”

  I turned it over.

  In less than five seconds, he nodded. “That’s it.”

  “You’re sure.”

  “Yes, I am. That’s the painting I switched.”

  I was sure it wouldn’t be the same one. “Then I’m stumped.” I brought up the frame pieces and laid them out on the table.

  Maxine asked how I knew what went where. I told her about the lettering.

  “Everyone take a look and tell me if you see anything someone would get killed over.”

  They passed the pieces around. They turned the pieces over and held them up to the light. Nothing.

  “Sorry, Spencer,” said Maxine.

  “Me too. There’s something I’m missing. But I have another thought. Maybe Gunderson never put whatever it is on the frame.”

  Maxine’s eyes widened. “That makes sense, Spencer.”

  I turned to Cletis. “Cletis, did you see Gunderson working on the frame?”

  “No. I asked him about it. He said he’d frame it himself. I left before he started.”

  On the way back, I thought about the possibilities. I wanted to get into Gunderson’s house.

  I didn’t pass a single car on the way back. When I stopped at the door, I heard the phone ringing. I’d left the door open. It was Rosie. I asked her to hang on while I brought in the evidence.

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  Hey Spencer. I got your machine at home and thought you might be up there. You’re doing a lot of driving these days.”

  “A lot more than I want. I’d love to stay for more than two days.”

  “I bet. You going to tell me what happened?”

  “Didn’t you hear?” I arranged pillows on the couch, sat back, and set the phone on my lap.

  “You mean you got a tip and followed Vitale to that warehouse and shot him when he pulled a knife even though he was holding onto Pitcher and Steele shot another guy who was going to put a knife in your back story? That story?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one.”

  “You’ve gotta be kidding.”

  “Pardon?”

  “How dumb do I look?”

  “Not at all dumb.”

  “Then give, P.I.”

  “Not comfortable on the phone, Rosie. Let’s have dinner tomorrow night. Come on over about six and I’ll grill some steaks.”

  “And you’ll tell me then?”

  “We’ll see. Why don’t you ask Pitcher?”

  “I did. She said a guy in a cape with a big red S on the front suddenly appeared and she doesn’t remember much after that.”

  Good for you, Pitcher, I thought. I liked that girl.

  “She was probably hallucinating after what she’d been through.”

  “Uh huh.” I switched ears. “You find anything in Vitale’s apartment?”

  “Really? I guess I forgot how this works—I tell you everything we have and you tell me nothing.”

  “Come on, Rosie. There’s a lot involved here. I’ll tell you as much as I can tomorrow.”

  I heard a long sigh. “Okay. We’ll follow up with the Door County Sheriff and Chief Iverson, but we found a Door County map and a receipt from one of the marinas up there. There was also a small scrap of paper that had Green and Blue written on it. But mostly we found the painting Harbor Nights. The frame was torn apart.”

  “Good thing criminals aren’t that smart.”

  “Good thing.”

  “How about Bloom?”

  “Disappeared. The gallery is closed, which makes me think he’s in on it, too.”

  “I wonder how he was disappeared.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning did he disappear on his own, or did somebody else disappear him?”

  “Who are we talking about?”

  “Well, I think all this started with Maggio. He’s perfectly capable of disappearing people. If Bloom was on Maggio’s payroll he may be cleaning up loose ends. Maggio is still missing something and he isn’t happy about it.”

  “And you think Bloom was working with Vitale?”

  “Actually, I don’t. I think Vitale was stealing from Bloom and Bloom was just the victim. But Bloom was obviously in on whatever was going on, and Vitale didn’t know that he was really stealing from Maggio. He was dumb, but not that dumb.”

  “And Cletis is out of it?”

  “Yeah. I think his dumb days are over. He has a job and a good woman and I think he wants to keep them.”

  We were quiet for a minute.

  “I do have something and would like to know what you want me to do with it.”

  “And that would be?”

  “I found Blue and Green.”

  “You did? Where?” she asked excitedly.

  I told her about the letter and the cave.

  “That’s pretty amazing. I’d like to see that sometime.”

  “Sure. Come on up.”

  “So what’s the big secret?”

  I took a deep breath. “That I don’t know. I’ve looked at every inch and found nothing.”

  “Maybe another set of eyes.”

  “I had four sets. Still nothing. But here’s my questi
on. You want me to bring it back or give it to Iverson?”

  “Well, I’d love to see it. And we’d love to have the evidence.”

  “But?”

  Silence.

  “No but. Bring it back. It was taken from Simmons so it’s our case. We’ll share information with Iverson.”

  “Okay by me.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Yeah.” I told her about my Gunderson theory.

  “Certainly possible. But what did he do with it, whatever it is?”

  “Don’t know. Maybe it’s at his house. I’ll get Paul next week and go have a look.”

  “Anything else?” Rosie asked.

  “That’s all I’ve got, Rosie.”

  “For the moment.”

  “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

  “Adios.”

  I hung up the phone and put it back on the table.

  I yawned and thought about what to tell Rosie. I wanted to tell her all of it but knew I couldn’t. There were parts that would probably put her in a tough position. Kidnapping was a crime. Technically, it was Vitale’s decision to come along, but if he was alive his lawyer would be arguing a pretty strong point. And I certainly couldn’t tell Rosie about Iverson. Then I wondered how this would be different if Vitale had lived. Steele had said there were a lot of things we hadn’t thought of. That was one of them. It wouldn’t have gone well for us in court.

  There wouldn’t be many questions asked Monday morning because they had some easy answers that tied everything up in a neat package. And because we got Pitcher back, they weren’t going to start untying any of the knots. I knew I could get away with that because there wasn’t anyone else alive to contest our story. I had gotten lucky. But I decided it didn’t matter—I had decided to do whatever it took to get Pitcher back. I was trying hard to hang onto that as my motivation for killing Vitale. I wanted to believe that the fact that I had gotten the bastard who killed Kathleen was just a bonus.

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