The Seasons of the EmmaLee: One grand ship. Two love affairs, decades apart. An idyllic summer resort town torn apart by betrayal, murder and shattered dreams. (The Charlevoix Summer Series Book 1)

by Michael Lindley

  The name of the small boat was clearly visible in crisp gold letters with black trim across the transom of the boat. Alex read the name out loud, “EmmaLee II.”

  “My father restored this boat for my mother when they first met as kids up here at the lake. His father owned a boatyard that used to sit on this property. When I turned sixteen they gave the boat to me as a birthday present.”

  “It’s absolutely beautiful, Sally,” Alex said, mesmerized by the boat. “You’ve taken such good care of it. It looks brand new.”

  “It’s my most prized possession. We all loved this boat and spent so much time together with her. I always suspected my parents lost their virginity on the backseat there,” she said, and laughed. “My father loved boats and learned to build them. He had a very successful small company building custom boats. The building is still over on the way out of town to East Jordan. It’s used for boat storage now.”

  “How does she run after all these years?” he asked.

  “Oh, I’m sure she still runs just fine. They put her in the water for me every year and give her the best care. I just haven’t been able to bring myself down here since I lost… since they’ve been gone.”

  “You haven’t taken her out in all those years?”

  “No, I’m sure the folks over at the marina think I’ve lost my mind. Every year they come to me with offers from someone who wants to buy her. How could I possibly sell her?”

  “No, I can see why she would mean so much to you,” Alex said.

  “I’ve felt terribly guilty letting her sit here all these summers, without even a chance to let her run around the lake and have everyone admire her. I think it’s about time though, don’t you?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She pushed another switch on the wall and the motor for the door buzzed on and began lifting the big heavy wooden door up over the boat. “The key is down in the glove box. Start her up!” Sally said. She untied the lines on the side of the dock and then jumped into the rear seating area. Alex found the key and after they aired out the engine compartment, he pulled out the choke and pumped the throttle a few times before turning the key. The engine fired immediately and the low rumble echoed off the walls of the boathouse.

  “Oh, what a beautiful sound!” yelled Sally. She freed the ropes to the other dock. Alex let the engine idle for another minute and then threw the shift into reverse and began backing the EmmaLee II out into Round Lake. Sally jumped up in the front seat next to him.

  “Here, you should drive,” he offered.

  “No, go ahead. I want you to.”

  The smell of old leather and varnish and gasoline fumes closed in around her and she thought it was just wonderful. The old inboard engine ran like it had just been delivered from the factory and it kicked up a low bubbling wake behind the boat as Alex turned her out into the channel towards Lake Charlevoix. He steered the boat slowly out into the main lake and they cruised along the west shore. He put his arm around Sally and held her close. She leaned in, feeling her emotions swirl, trying to grab on to some thread of common sense and direction.

  She pulled back again and pushed her hair away from her face. “For so many years I was surrounded by my family, my grandparents, my parents, my husband and our daughter. My uncles are both gone now and I never see them. We were all together and shared so much. Then, so quickly, they were all gone and it’s been just me. You get to feeling you are meant to be on your own. I’ve honestly never even thought about having a family again. It just didn’t seem to be an option. I think that’s why Gwen and I have been together for so long, we’re both so damned independent.”

  He put the boat in neutral and turned off the key. The boat continued to drift on silently. He turned her face gently to him and kissed her and then pulled her face close in to his chest, resting his lips in her hair.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Luke McKendry put quite a dent in my face that night. When I came to and realized what had happened, my first thought was of Emily and whether the bastard had hurt her. She was there with me in the back of the car holding a towel to my head to try to stop the bleeding. She told me she was fine, just a little shaken up.

  The doctor stitched me back together and took an x-ray to see if there was a skull fracture. My head must have been as hard as my father always said it was. They told me it was a mild concussion, in addition to the surface wound.

  The sheriff came into the emergency room. I told him what I could remember. He asked if I had any idea where Luke might go. We talked about the obvious choices like Shirley’s and his own place, maybe even back to his mom’s house. They had already sent people to check them out. It occurred to me then Luke was drunk and would probably keep drinking, and he wouldn’t make the smartest decisions about trying to avoid being caught.

  Jonathan sat in the holding cell with his lawyer, David Krupp and Emily Compton. It was early morning and the sun was starting to brighten the room through the small window high on the wall. Emily had just finished sharing the events of the previous night.

  Jonathan sat in silence listening to the story of his brother’s murderous act and his attack and flight from Bud’s bar. He found no joy in the news of his exoneration. He could only think of his brother, the good times they had shared as kids, and the tough times as they grew older. How many times have I tried to help Luke and reach out to him?Some people just don’t want to be helped.

  “We stopped by to see your mother this morning before we came over,” Emily said. She reached out and took Jonathan’s hand in hers.

  He felt her warmth spread up through him like a gust of summer wind. He tried to smile as he looked into her eyes, but he couldn’t find the will.

  “The police had already been by looking for Luke. She’s really upset, as you can imagine. She wants to know when they’re going to let you out.”

  He just nodded. He thought about his mother and how she was going to be able to cope with all of this. What would the two of them do about the boat business now that his father was gone? His mind was swirling. When only minutes ago his future seemed doomed to gray walls and iron bars, now he searched for that relief his impending freedom would bring and the new possibilities. He still couldn’t lift the heavy sadness and uncertainly that bore down on him.

  “I spoke with the prosecutor this morning just before we came over,” Krupp said. “He explained they will need to verify the information they’ve received from Emily and George, and from old Bud over at the bar. They need to make sure they have a real case against him, and then he’ll need to see the Judge later this morning to discuss dropping the charges against you.”

  Jonathan felt Emily’s hand squeeze tighter. “How can I ever thank you for what you’ve done?” he asked.

  She moved over and sat beside him on the cot. She reached out and put her arms around him and he returned her embrace. The comfort of her body against his felt so soothing and protective. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes and he made no attempt to stop them from dripping down his cheeks.

  It was early afternoon when Jonathan walked out into the sunshine from the jail with his mother holding his arm. Emily Compton and David Krupp followed a short distance behind. A reporter from the Charlevoix paper came up to them. He had tried to interview Jonathan a couple of times during his stay in jail, but he had always refused.

  “Jonathan, we hear they’re looking for your brother for the murder of Catherine Hansen. Is that correct?” the reporter asked.

  Jonathan pushed by without even acknowledging the question. They all got into Krupp’s car. He got in the back with his mother and Emily sat up front with the lawyer. A few people stopped on the sidewalk and watched, whispering to each other. Krupp drove them toward his mother’s house. He looked out the window, beginning to feel a sense of relief seep through him as he watched the people of his hometown move around as if it was just another ordinary day.

  They drove by the park downtown and he looked down across the green la
wn and city docks and Round Lake. Boats were cruising in all directions at low speed, some heading under the drawbridge to make their way out to Lake Michigan, some cruising in single file the opposite direction out to Lake Charlevoix. He looked across and was surprised to see the EmmaLee docked in front of her boathouse along the south shore of the small inland harbor. Her white hull shone bright in the afternoon sun and dwarfed the other boats that came alongside her. Crew members were scurrying around on deck attending to cleaning and maintenance.

  He broke the silence and asked her about the ship. Emily turned to look at him. “The Navy had the EmmaLee brought back home. She just got in yesterday.”

  When they arrived at the McKendry house, a small group of family friends had come by to welcome Jonathan home and to help his mother deal with the uncertainty of another son being sought after for a horrible crime. Everyone got out of the car except David Krupp. Jonathan went around to his window and leaned in, shaking his hand.

  “Thank you,” was all he could manage to say.

  “I’m going back over to see the prosecutor to get all of this finalized. Good luck to you, Jonathan,” the lawyer said, as he turned to back the car out of the long gravel drive.

  Several of their friends came over and hugged him, or shook his hand. He couldn’t help thinking there was so little reason to celebrate. He saw Emily standing, talking with his mother. The two came together and held each other for a long time. The sight of them sharing such deep emotion was overwhelming to him. He turned and walked down toward the lake.

  He made his way past the old boathouse he and his father had put so many hours of hard work in. He walked out onto the dock, his shoes echoing softly and causing the boards to creak under his weight. Out at the end of the dock he stood leaning against a tall cedar piling. Boats of all sizes cruised past, a few people waving at him as they passed.

  He looked down and saw Emily’s runabout tied up in the last slip. Her father had paid them to dock the boat there for her each summer since they had sold it to her. He thought back to that summer working on her boat, the first times they had met. His awkwardness and awe around her in those early days finally brought a narrow smile across his face. How could he have ever known how many times she would come back into his life and pull him up out of the depths, from those first days when he would see her go past on the deck of the EmmaLee, oblivious to his stares and attentions, to their time together that first summer when they shared the joy of her new boat. The thoughts of Emily Compton ever present in his mind all those years away at war and during his recovery, and then her comfort and help during his time at the V.A. hospital down in Ann Arbor.

  Once again, Emily had been there for him now when his life was on a ledge that could have fallen away at any moment. She had never doubted his innocence when so many others had condemned him.

  He was so deep in thought he didn’t notice her coming up behind him on the dock. He was startled when she came up beside him and put an arm around his waist, standing silently with him watching the boats. He looked down into her face and saw the soft freckled beauty of her standing there with him. The wind blew gently on her hair and he reached out to push it away from her face. He turned to face her and they rested their arms on each other’s waists.

  “Emily Compton, you saved my life again.”

  She moved closer and lifted her mouth to his and she kissed him, gently at first, pulling back to look into his eyes. He pulled her to him and their arms reached around and they kissed again, long and slow.

  An hour later he had showered and cleaned up with fresh clothes, a pair of jeans with a swimsuit underneath and a white short sleeved shirt. She was waiting for him in her boat down at the docks. He pulled the lines free and threw them into the boat. She started the engine and he sat on the dock holding the boat with his bare feet while the engine warmed up.

  Emily had gone home and returned with her swimming suit on under a pair of shorts and a denim shirt. She had asked their cook to prepare some food for a picnic and the basket sat on the seat in the back.

  The engine evened out into a slow steady rumble and he pushed the boat back out of the slip, jumping in beside her in the front. The sun still shone brightly in the late afternoon and only a few billowy white clouds floated against the deep blue of the Michigan summer sky.

  She guided the boat out east through the channel into Lake Charlevoix, the boat gently swaying on the smooth swells coming in from the lake. They cruised under the railroad trestle bridge, watching two young boys fishing on the rocky shore. Jonathan thought back to the many times he and George had fished in that exact spot. He had talked to George briefly on the phone. He was still being held at the hospital to rest overnight. Jonathan told him he would stop by later after George had been able to get some more rest.

  Through the channel and easing past the big red channel buoy, Emily edged the throttle down and the boat roared up and into the white capped waves coming at them all the way down from Boyne City on the other end of the lake. Jonathan could see the white triangles of large sailboats tacking across to make way up into the wind. He looked back and saw children splashing in the shallow water along the beach, their parents watching comfortably from shore.

  He felt her hand on his knee and looked over.

  “I was thinking about Horton Bay for a little picnic,” she said loudly over the roar of the engine.

  He just nodded and smiled.

  With the anchor secure in the calm waters of the bay, they stripped down to their bathing suits and both dove into the water together. Jonathan felt the icy shock wash away the heavy weight of his ordeal these past days. He stayed under as long as he could, savoring the sensation of floating in the green silence of the lake.

  When he came up, Emily had just surfaced and was pushing the hair back from her face. She swam over to him and put her arms around his neck, wrapping her legs around his waist. He laughed as they slipped below the surface of the lake. He could see the blur of her face close to him under the water. He pulled her closer and they kissed, slowly sinking deeper. When his lungs were about to burst he let her free and they both swam back to the surface. They came up and he saw she was shivering and he pulled her close again, paddling hard with his legs to keep them afloat.

  They kissed again, then she pulled free and swam back over to the boat. He helped her climb up onboard, then followed her. She threw a towel at him that had been warmed by the sun and he quickly wrapped up in it as she did the same.

  “It feels like that first summer, again,” she said. “You could almost forget about the War and…” she hesitated, “and all that’s happened these past weeks.”

  “There have been so many times when I wondered if I would ever be in this place again,” he said, almost to himself. “Even yesterday, locked in that cell, I found myself thinking about the lake and fresh air… and about those trout over there coming up from the creek.”

  “You have a whole new life out ahead of you now.”

  “You’ve helped give me a whole new life,” he answered.

  Later, they had finished the sandwiches and Cokes packed in the basket. They sat together quietly in the long leather seat at the back of the boat and watched the sun disappear over the trees surrounding the bay. Darkness came quickly and soon the brighter stars began to show. Behind them a half moon rose. Two other boats had been anchored in the bay left earlier and they were now alone in the quiet of the bay, surrounded by darkness and only the sounds of tree frogs screeching from the woods and big bullfrogs croaking near shore. They clung together, looking up into the sky, each silent with their own thoughts.

  He felt Emily move next to him and she sat up facing him and kissed him again. “You’ve probably figured this out McKendry, but I may be falling for you.”

  He had never heard sweeter words and he felt a peace come over him. He kissed her again. “I thought you were just after my money,” he said, and laughed.

  She punched him softly in the stomach. “Of course
.”

  “Emily, these feelings I’ve had for you from the first time I saw you go by up on the deck of your father’s ship… I just never thought it could happen.”

  She fell into him and held him tight and as he looked up into the stars, he found himself silently thanking a God he thought had abandoned him so many times before.

  It was close to midnight when he eased the boat back into the slip at the boatyard. He drove her home and they kissed in the front seat of his father’s truck before she left and walked up to the big house and disappeared inside.

  He turned in at the drive to his mother’s house and heard the loose gravel crumble under the big tires of the truck as he pulled down slowly and parked. The lights were out inside. His mother typically fell asleep early. He thought he should go down and check that the boats were all tied securely before going to bed.

  One large light on the top of the boathouse illuminated his way through the dry-docked boats and empty boat cradles in the yard. A thousand bugs swarmed around the bright light and he saw bats darting in and out of the light picking up an easy meal in the swarm. The large doors of the boathouse were still open and in the darkness. He was startled to see the glow of a cigarette. He stopped for a moment to try to make out who was inside. He walked toward the door and as he came inside out of the glare of the light, his eyes quickly adjusted. He saw his brother sitting against the far wall, his knees up to his chest and his head down. Luke took another pull from his cigarette and let the smoke out slowly.