Suspicion At Sea

by Nichols, Amie

  “What do you want?” she snarls harshly as the lit cigarette dangles from her lips. According to our files she is only sixty-three, but seeing her I would guess her twenty years older.

  “Mrs. McGill?” I ask through the screen door.

  “Who wants to know?” her voice is raspy and harsh.

  “I'm Special Agent Marks and this is Special Agent Reed,” I announce as we both hold up our badges. “We would like to talk to you about the disappearance of your boys.” We put our badges away when she opens the door.

  “It's about damn time somebody gets off their asses,” she barks, making her way back in the house as we follow. The smell is atrocious, a mixture of body odor and cigarette smoke. There are newspapers and magazines strewn all over. We stand and watch as she settles herself into a chair in the living room. The ash on her cigarette is long and looks like it could fall off at any second. She takes a large drag before taking it out of her mouth to tap the ash in the ashtray next to her. It is packed full of smoked butts.

  “First off, we want to say how sorry we are for your loss,” Cody speaks up standing next to me, neither of us making a move to sit on the filthy couch.

  “Now you're saying they are dead for sure?” She coughs and the sound of phlegm in her throat makes my stomach turn.

  “Not officially, no,” Cody corrects himself shooting me a look.

  “Do you have any idea what might have happened?” I question.

  “If I knew that, why would you be here?” she bellows.

  “Were you close with your sons, Mrs. McGill?” I ask.

  “What kind of question is that?” she answers elusively.

  “The Sweet Suzy had a crack in the hull. We were just wondering if they mentioned to you how that may have happened?” I can see that beating around the bush is not going to get us anywhere. I decide on the direct approach and see if it gets her guard up.

  “What a stupid name for a boat,” she scoffs. “He named it after his barren wife, stupid girl.” She rolls her eyes.

  “So you didn't know about the crack in the hull?” I redirect my questioning.

  “Suzy Bennett, that's who you should be questioning. She's been all bent out of shape ever since my son wised up and moved on to a real woman.” She avoids my question and tries to take the focus somewhere else. I glance at Cody and he nods at me.

  “Do you have any other sons?” He takes the questioning in another direction. Bill Pelletier is listed as Mary's oldest boy and has Mary's maiden name.

  “Just my oldest, Bill. He's my bastard son, his no good daddy ran out on us when he was just a baby.” She takes a long drag of her cigarette, her words icy cold as she talks of her son.

  “And where is he?” I push for more information.

  “Hell, I don't know. He comes and goes. Sometimes he's gone for weeks. He's always got some stupid scam going on.” She huffs, making her cough so hard I wonder if she is ever going to stop. She does after half a minute, and takes another drag of her cigarette.

  “Did all the brothers get along?” Cody asks, and I turn to him wondering where he is going with this. He avoids my eyes, instead staring at Mary, who is studying Cody now. He hit a nerve with her.

  “Brothers will be brothers, fighting one day and then the best of friends the next,” she finally answers, pulling out another cigarette.

  “There was no bad blood between them at all?” Cody pushes, and I can see Mary is getting annoyed.

  “What are you trying to say, boy?” her raspy voice as high as it can go. “Spit it out, are you trying to say that my son killed his brothers?” She's flustered now.

  “Would he have a reason to want them dead?” Cody acts surprised at her statement.

  “What...no,” she stutters.

  “Did Bill know about the crack in the hull?” I ask when it's obvious she has her guard down.

  “It just happened, how would he know?” She reveals to us that the crack was very recent.

  “Do you know how it happened?” I push, not giving her time to think. It doesn't work, because she looks down taking a breath.

  “I think it is time for you to go.” Her head slowly lifts, giving us a burn-in-hell stare.

  “We still have a few more questions,” Cody answers, not shaken by her death look on her old, wrinkled white face.

  “I'm done answering your questions,” she says matter-of-fact and nods toward the door.

  “Wow, how did you know to question her about the brother?” I ask Cody as soon as we are in the car.

  “Just a hunch I had after I saw a newspaper clipping in the papers we cleaned out of the warehouse,” Cody shares his inside information.

  “What was the clip of?”

  “It was just a random picture of town’s people watching a parade. Suzy and Jade were sitting on the tailgate of a truck and next to them was Bill with his arm around Tammy Coons. Jade wasn't watching the parade, in the picture he was staring at his brother with a pissed off look on his face,” Cody explains.

  “Really?” I exclaim, thinking where Cody was going. “When was the picture taken?”

  “Four years ago, and if Jade stole Tammy from Bill...”

  “I wonder why Justin never said anything.” I think aloud, this is very helpful information. We need to find Bill Pelletier.

  “He wasn't in Bailey Island then, he probably never knew,” Cody says. I turn and smile at the way he defended Justin and Cody just shrugs. “Like I said, he's a good guy.”

  Chapter 58

  Justin

  After a few hours of staring at a computer screen, I am very happy when Ellie and Cody walk in the door. Tommy knows his computer shit, and let's just say that I am bored out of my mind. We can't make head nor tail of the maps. As far as we can tell, they have all been altered. No discernible pattern to them at all.

  “I'm starting to think the maps are a decoy,” I tell Ellie when she stands next to me looking at the maps.

  “What do you know about Bill Pelletier?” She is not interested in the maps at all.

  “I haven't seen him for years.” I glance over at the picture of him on the wall. “I know that he is the black sheep of the family.”

  “Did you know that he and Tammy Coons were a thing a few years ago?”

  “No,” I answer, she seems accusatory. “I didn't keep tabs on him when I was in the service, I barely knew what was going on with my own family.”

  “I wasn't accusing you of something,” she says, defensive at my tone in which I answered her question. I slap her ass, making Tommy look away uncomfortably.

  “You better not be,” I tease, but feel pain in my wrist when I grab her and set her in my lap. She laughs, and we get an eye roll from Denny.

  “You were right about your hunch on Bill Pelletier, Cody. Carl had his two agents watching him since right before the boys went missing. You will be happy to know they were the same two agents who searched Suzy's house, and we now have them. They have been singing like canaries to save their own asses,” Denny reveals, hanging up his phone. It's been stuck to his ear since we arrived this morning.

  “Where is Carl?” Ellie asks in a sort of nonchalant way. So far they aren't telling us where he is.

  “They've also been watching Adrian Lewis, a member of the coast guard who is a long time buddy of Bill. Adrian also just happened to be on the coast guard vessel that found The Sweet Suzy after the mayday call."

  “Mary McGill got all flustered when we brought up Bill,” Cody states.

  “We are going to set up an undercover on Bill, Adrian, and Tammy,” Denny says. “I'm bringing in a few more agents, but I want all of us on this.

  ”Cody and Ellie, I want you on Bill.” I start to object. “Justin you are with me, I need you two to stay focused.” He motions to Ellie on my lap.

  “I'm not leaving Ellie,” I object anyway. “No offense, Cody,” I say before Cody has a chance to say anything.

  “I understand, but with Fausto in custody she is not in danger
anymore,” Denny argues.

  “It's okay, you won't be far away,” Ellie says, pulling my arm up to examine my wrist.

  “It's fine,” I lie to her. It's actually throbbing right now. I will get the bandage off when we get home and see what it looks like.

  “I'll have the agents I'm calling in to find them and tail them, and then we can take it from there. Tommy, I want everything you have on them, including Jake Coons,” Denny deals out orders.

  “I'm going to get this boy to a doctor,” Ellie announces out of the blue, standing to grab her purse.

  “I don't think so,” I object immediately.

  “It is burning hot and I can see the redness going up your arm. It's infected, you need antibiotics. You are going to the doctor,” she commands.

  I look at Tommy who just shrugs, then to Cody who is stifling his laughter.

  “Go, get him better. He's no good to us wounded,” Denny orders, then turns back to his phone to make another call.

  He talks to Ellie not me, and I'm not sure when I started taking orders from Denny O'Brien, but the look on Ellie's face right now tells me that I am taking orders from her.

  “Justin, seriously! You know it's getting infected, why are you being so stubborn?” She shames me with a you-are-being-a-stubborn-ass look.

  “Fine.” I give in, get up, and follow her out the door.

  Chapter 59

  Ellie

  “So what did the doctor say?” Cody chuckles the next day, when we walk in and Justin is wearing a temporary cast to keep him from moving his wrist. It was infected, and after a strong antibiotic shot the doctor insisted on the cast so it can heal. That was not an easy thing to convince him of. I knew Justin was tenacious, but god, he really does not like doctors.

  “That it was infected just like I said.” Justin grabs the nape of my neck, giving it a squeeze. He was insatiable last night. The doctor told him it was fine to have sex, and that the blood pumping though his body would be good. He didn't seem too upset with the good doctor after that.

  I'm surprised I can walk at all this morning. His little payback, I guess, for making him go to the doctor even though I was right. Not that I minded our night of hot, hot, sex.

  “Okay, Tommy, tell us what we need to know.” Denny walks in from the adjoining room.

  “Bill Pelletier, oldest son to Mary McGill. His last known address is on Orr's Island, but our agents tell us that they have tracked him to Tammy's house. That he has been there since last night,” Tommy reads from his computer.

  “That should make it easy, two in one. Ellie and Cody, you go and watch them. I will put another car on standby in case one leaves without the other.”

  “Adrian Lewis grew up on Orr's Island and has worked for the Coast Guard for fifteen years. He is currently at work aboard US Coast Guard vessel 3256 at the moment.” Tommy half smiles knowing that that last piece of information is useless to us.

  “You two go.” He motions to me and Cody. “Justin and I will figure out where to go from here.”

  “I'll send the coordinates to your phone, princess,” Tommy tells us, getting a peeved look from Justin that makes us both laugh. I stand on my tip toes and give Justin a kiss on the cheek.

  “Hey,” he grabs my hip as I turn away. “Be safe and don't do anything stupid,” he whispers in my ear, giving me a hug and a kiss on the lips before he lets me go.

  Sitting in front of Tammy Coons’ small house, I have my elbow resting on the car door as I stare at the tiny dwelling that is in need of a paint job, and my mind starts to wander.

  “Fuck, Cody, my parents were murdered because I was Chico Alverez's ‘type’,” I bellow, breaking the silence of the car.

  “I know, doll, I'm so sorry. There is so much that I missed, I've been wracking my brain the past couple days trying to think of how he played us all and if I missed something.” Cody reaches over, squeezing my shoulder.

  “I trusted that man, I looked up to him.”

  “He will get his justice, I know that doesn't make it any easier,” Cody tries to comfort me.

  “All for what? Gold? When I find that gold I'm going to take one of the bars and beat him with it,” I babble, trying not to cry.

  “That is something I would pay to see,” Cody says and I can tell he is trying to stifle a laugh.

  “Hey,” I scold.

  “I'm sorry, but it would be kind of funny to watch.” He turns to me with a smile, but his eyes are soft.

  “Better to laugh than cry, that's what my dad always said. I would look like a mental patient.” I laugh, picturing the sight of it.

  “What do we have here?” Cody grabs my attention by pointing toward the house. Tammy and Bill emerge from the house and get in a beat up truck.

  “Here we go,” I say when Cody starts the car and starts following the truck at a distance. The other car that is down the block pulls out behind us. Not to make it obvious, they turn and drive parallel to us on the next block. The truck takes a couple odd turns, which puts us on alert. It's like they know we are here.

  “Turn here,” I tell Cody.

  “Do you think we've been spotted?”

  “Sure seems like they are trying to lose us, or spot us.” When you make odd turns and a car still follows you, that is when you know you are being tailed. It doesn't help that in the small island town there isn't much traffic.

  “Tommy,” I call into the hotel. “Can you track Tammy's cell phone?”

  “Sure can, princess, just a second and I will have it to your phone,” he answers proudly.

  We stay out of sight of the truck, but know exactly where it is as it moves toward the edge of town. When it comes to a stop we move in and see the truck parked at a small dock. There are smaller speed boat type boats at this dock. When we spot the truck it is empty, and we arrive just in time to see a small boat with Tammy and Bill speeding away.

  “Fuck, the signal is still stopped, she doesn't have her cell phone.” I stare at the GPS on my phone that is not moving as they get further away. I get out of the car and run to the dock. There are about ten boats bobbing in the water. I hop on the first one I can, and see that the keys are in it.

  “What are you doing?” Cody catches up to me, staring at me standing in some random boat.

  “Do you know how to drive one of these things?” I yell over the wind, the controls on the boat looking foreign to me.

  “Ellie, back-up is on the way. We are not stealing a boat.”

  “Not stealing, borrowing, and they will be long gone if we wait,” I argue and he knows I'm right. He jumps in the boat, starts it up, and backs out. I start looking around in different compartments until I find what I am looking for. I grab the binoculars from under the seat compartment and search the water in the direction they went.

  “There,” I point north-west when I spot the boat. The ocean is rough in the tiny boat, making us go up and down with each wave. It's hard for me to keep an eye on them as we are tossed about.

  “What's the plan here?” Cody shouts, holding on tight to the steering wheel.

  “They are going there,” I shout back, pointing to a small island that has just come into view. I see them pull up to a sandy beach on the island and pull out an anchor. We get closer and can see almost with the naked eye as they go into a wooded area off the small beach.

  “What are you doing?” I turn to Cody as he slows the boat down bringing it to a stop.

  “We know where they are, we wait for backup,” Cody states firmly, taking out his phone.

  “Why, it's just the two of them?” I contest his over cautiousness. “Come on, you don't think we could take them if it came down to it?” I know exactly how to get Cody to do something and that is to question his abilities.

  “Ellie, please,” he warns, knowing exactly what I'm doing.

  “What are you afraid of?” I challenge, getting more anxious as time is passing and we are losing them.

  “A strong, tall, ex-Navy SEAL who would kill me for eve
n thinking about letting you do this.”

  “This is my job, Justin is not going to stop me from doing my job, now let's go.” I'm angry now and Cody knows it. “They'll be here soon and they can catch up,” I push, hoping that this will convince him.

  Chapter 60

  Justin

  Denny ordered Cody to wait for back-up, but the last communication we received was that they were stopped off at a small island waiting for us. When we arrive there are two boats beached in the sand and no one in sight.

  “I'm going to kill Cody,” I grumble. Why in the hell did they not wait for us? Denny, me, and four other agents head into the wooded area off the beach following foot prints as far as they go. The ground under the trees is covered in leaves and we can't make out tracks.

  “Damn it!” Denny is just as pissed, we lost their cell phone signals about forty-five minutes ago. Both of them disappeared at the same time.

  “Let's split up, Justin, you're with me,” Denny orders, and instructs the other agents to split into pairs and which way to go. We start walking at a fast pace through the timber.

  I'm silently fuming as we trudge through the heavily wooded area.

  “Denny, we found something.” We hear a voice come out of the walkie talkie and run to the location they give us.

  “Holy fuck,” Denny exclaims when we arrive at a cave that is on the side of a rocky cliff. The smell hits us first, and causes me to cover my nose and mouth with the collar of my shirt. Agent Nelson is standing outside the cave with a flash light in hand. We follow him into the entrance of the cave.

  “Jesus Christ.” I cough as we see the three rotting bodies of the McGill brothers. The smell is so bad in the small cave we turn around and leave. The first thing I notice is how packed down the ground is. There is also small wheel imprints that are indented so deep that it would appear it was hauling something very heavy.