by BV Lawson
It was Virginia’s favorite book of poetry. “May I see that?” Drayco asked.
The book fit into the palm of an adult-sized hand and wasn’t very thick. It was well-thumbed, and the golden thread bookmark attached was frayed to the point of nonexistence.
Drayco flipped to the inside cover and read the inscription, “To Virginia, with all my love.” The writing didn’t match the ledger in Beth’s office. That script was rounded, with tight loops and T’s crossed with straight lines. This writing had large loops and capital letters separate from the lower case ones.
“Lucy, how did you come up with the name Virginia for your daughter?”
“It was Beth’s suggestion, and I loved it.”
The theory that had flitted through Drayco’s brain during his revelation at the Opera House now settled in with a painful clarity that made him wince. But it explained everything, the pieces forming a distorted image with jagged edges and uneven surfaces. And that image depicted a greater danger to Virginia Harston than anyone imagined.
He wanted to urge the Harstons to stay at the Crab but was fairly sure they’d turn him down. The sheriff said he’d try to assign a deputy to keep an eye on Virginia when schedules permitted. But his department’s shrinking budget and staff meant the deputies had to be more reactive than proactive. Drayco watched Lucy drive off to pick up her daughter from art class before they headed home. He hoped he was making the right call.
Tuesday 21 July
Despite the full-throttle blast from the Lazy Crab’s air conditioning, the heat had a way of seeping through any available crack in the walls and windows. Drayco’s room was on the second floor and a good ten degrees warmer than the first. After pulling off every stitch of clothing and casting off the sheets, there hadn’t been much left to do except sleep fitfully.
Reece’s call last night hadn’t helped, with no information beyond the fact Efron Thawley wanted to see Drayco again. Thus, the morning found Reece and Drayco driving toward the same abandoned building as before. Thawley let them sleep in this time as it was all of seven o’clock.
“I don’t know, Drayco, I would feel better about this if I came along with you.”
“Thawley said you were to stay behind.”
“Guess he doesn’t love me anymore. I’ll have to send him some flowers and candy. According to his instructions, you’re to get in his car and drive off. To parts unknown, for reasons unknown. I hope he knows where he’s going.”
They pulled in behind the warehouse building and parked. There was no sign yet of Thawley’s gold Lexus, but he was specific about the time. Seven-fifteen on the dot, and it was only ten after.
At exactly a quarter past the hour, a gold car drove toward them looking like a mini-sun rising out of the humid haze. It pulled alongside, and one of its rear doors opened, waiting.
Reece said, “Guess that’s your cue. I’ll be here until you get back. And if you’re not back when I think you should be, I’ll call out the cavalry.”
Drayco entered the Lexus thinking he and Thawley would be alone. He was wrong. Iris Quintier was seated in the back seat next to him, with Efron Thawley playing chauffeur. After Drayco shut the door, Thawley said, “They’ve got the wrong guy.”
Drayco looked not at Thawley, but at Iris. “Judging by your presence, I’m guessing either you’re going to tell me you know who killed Beth or why Barry didn’t. Which shall it be?”
Iris was dressed on the conservative side for her if you counted color. She was wearing a navy blue miniskirt and white shirt that made it clear she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her hair was pulled up in a schoolmarm style, doubtless out of deference to temperatures and not fashion, as she certainly didn’t resemble any teacher.
She picked at the hem of her skirt which she rolled around in her hand. “It wasn’t Barry. He’s innocent.”
When no additional details were forthcoming, he prodded, “Would you like to give me more to go on?”
She dropped the hem and moved her hands to her lap where she picked at imaginary dirt under her neon pink nails. “The night Beth was killed, Caleb said he wouldn’t be home until after midnight. I got bored and decided to drive around. See if I could find something fun to do. A party, people hanging out, whatever. Then my car broke down, and I couldn’t ring Caleb. Too busy screwing somebody out of their money.”
Iris caught herself and laughed nervously. “I called Haffey’s, asked if they could help out. Barry Farland was working late, so they sent him. He’s a good mechanic and fixed the problem lickety-split. I was very grateful.”
“And you decided to be generous with your gratitude,” Drayco said.
She smiled. “And how. He’s cute, in a punk rocker sort of way. I asked him if he could follow me, to make sure the car was still working. Instead of driving home, I led him to Anhinga Overlook. You been there?”
The spot was routinely raided by deputies looking for minors drinking or answering nature’s call in one way or another. It wasn’t high on his list of Cape Unity attractions to visit. “I’ve heard of it.”
“It was a Monday night, so we had the place to ourselves. I invited him into my car to thank him properly. I guess I thanked him for a couple of hours. Looked at my watch when we left the overlook, and it was ten-thirty. Then Barry followed me home, which would have been closer to eleven by the time we parted.”
Drayco pushed aside thought of his own “thanking” of Darcie Squier, to consider Iris’ news. The exact time of Beth’s accident hadn’t been determined. But when the EMTs arrived at the scene at ten, it was plain to them she’d been there for a half hour, minimum. Things were definitely looking up for Barry.
Drayco asked, “Why didn’t you go to the sheriff directly?”
“Are you nuts? If word of this reaches Caleb, he’ll kill both of us. That’s why Barry hasn’t said anything. He’s safer in jail for murder than he would be outside facing Caleb’s wrath.”
“Was this the only tryst between you and Barry?”
She hesitated. “A few more times. I get lonely. I guess Barry’s lonely, too, and we like to comfort each other.”
“What about July Fourth, during the festivities at the park, approximately eight o’clock that night? Were you comforting each other then, too?”
With a sigh, she replied, “All right, if you must know. Yeah, I was with Barry on the Fourth. Caleb, as usual, was out somewhere making a killing.”
She made a face at the double meaning. “As I said, I get lonely. If Caleb doesn’t want to be with me, what am I supposed to do, join a cloister?”
Drayco had seen how her loneliness affected other areas of her life. Like the gin martinis she inhaled the morning he dropped by her house. “Did you make any stops on your way to or from the overlook with Barry? Say, the Fiddler’s Green Tavern?”
“You sound like you were there.” Then she smiled slyly at Drayco. “I wish you had been. Never been in a threesome. But, yeah, we did stop. Caleb puts me on an allowance and watches everything I spend. He told the staff at the Tavern to report to him if I show up. So I sent Barry in to buy the booze instead.”
“Gin?”
“You sure are a detective, aren’t you? Yeah, it was gin.”
“Would you be willing to sign a statement?”
“If you promise it won’t get back to Caleb. You don’t want more murders, do you?”
“No reason to make it public. The sheriff will need to know.”
“If you need to contact me, do it through Efron here, or Maida. It wouldn’t look good to have you or the sheriff call me at home.”
“Deal. Was that all you wanted to discuss?”
“Not unless you got a spare ticket to Aruba and need some company.”
Drayco called to the driver’s seat, “Okay, Thawley, I guess you can consider your good deed done for the day and take me back.”
Iris reached up and pulled her hair down, letting tresses the same faux gold as the car fall around her shoulders. “There was one other t
hing I wanted to say to you.”
“Oh?” Having watched the hair maneuver, followed by a subtle hiking up of her short skirt, Drayco inched closer to the door. Especially since she wasn’t wearing any underwear.
“If you should get a little lonely while you’re here in Cape Unity, you know where to find me. I can show you a good time, and I promise it won’t be from the back seat of a car. If Caleb tries to give you any trouble, I could get him off your case in exchange for a few favors from you.”
She squeezed his thigh as she reached over and kissed him on the cheek. Drayco could barely see Thawley’s sunglass-covered eyes in the rearview mirror, but one side of his mouth twitched, and Drayco could swear the man winked.
53
“It’s a quarter mile down the road on the left, and you can’t miss it because it sure sticks out.”
Drayco asked, “An eyesore?”
“Well, there’s that. Plus, it’s the only thing around, about a hundred yards over the county line.”
Barry had his hand out the window, letting it sail in the wind like an airplane. He looked very much the kid again as if the past forty-eight hours had never happened. It didn’t matter he was still technically a suspect or that Iris’s confession might come back to haunt him if Caleb found out. Barry was free, it was summer, and he was happy.
The sheriff still had doubts. But he grudgingly released Barry after Drayco’s new information gave Barry alibis for Beth’s murder and the first attack on Virginia. As a reward, Drayco was taking Barry on a hunting expedition.
Barry asked, “What do you hope to find at this place, Drayco?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe nothing. But it would be the right distance.”
“You mean, from there to the spot where Beth had her accident?”
“Yep, Arnold too.”
“Wasn’t this checked before?”
“The sheriff made some calls to see if Beth was here. Her accident was on a Monday, and the bar is closed on Mondays. So it wasn’t pursued.”
Barry was right, the building did stick out like a sore thumb. Or a bleeding thumb might be more like it. It was a festering wound of a building, decaying, definitely unhygienic-looking, and painted entirely in red. The owners gave up trying to coax any life out of the joint, because the sign on the front said simply, “Bar.”
He pulled behind, into the empty parking lot, and stepped out onto the cracked concrete
Barry hopped out and looked from the bar to Drayco’s Starfire. “Your car sure adds an air of class to the place.”
“She does, at that.” Drayco trained his eyes glued to the ground. He began a visual search in a grid pattern, starting from the building outward.
“So what do we look for?”
“Anything unusual. If we can get past all the weeds.” Drayco stepped around several patches. The weeds were winning their war with the parking lot. He mused aloud, “I wonder if they have to mow the pavement?”
The building was a couple of car lengths from the road and surrounded by faded yellow lines doing a bad imitation of parking spaces. When they first arrived, Drayco noted the sight lines from the edge of the road to the bar. If you were driving past the place at night, it would impossible to see anything behind it.
After his initial grid search turned up nothing, Drayco walked to the end of the lot, with Barry trailing. They poked around in the tall grass that bordered the property, finding empty beer cans, glass shards, and rat carcasses.
Barry was intrepid, hiking through the grass and glass and kicking the dry earth with the toe of his shoe. Drayco kept an eye on him while searching through the opposite side of the boundary. He headed after Barry when he dropped from view, but Barry soon popped up, waving what looked like a white flag.
Drawing closer, Drayco saw it was a napkin Barry brought in his pocket he’d wrapped around something green. “This is the same brand I bought for Iris.”
The green object was an empty glass bottle that once held gin, enough for twelve normal-sized mixed drinks. Barry said, “I guess somebody threw it way out there. It landed in the middle of some pampas grass. Looks new.”
“It could have been anyone, but it’s suggestive. We can get prints.”
Drayco took his handkerchief to wrap around it and avoid contaminating it. They headed to the car but continued to inspect the area as they went. Drayco asked, “How long would it take to drain the brake fluid from the master cylinder lines and then fray the accelerator cables? If you were in a hurry.”
Barry grinned. “You mean not charging by the hour? I could do it in thirty minutes, depending upon the make and model. And if I had the right tools.”
“So, while someone in a car over here is forcing someone to get drunk on gin, say roughly seven shots in an hour, a good mechanic could have tampered with another car nearby.”
“I see what you’re saying. Then the drunk victim gets in the car and starts cruising down the road, but the throttle gets stuck. The car keeps speeding up, the brakes don’t work, and they crash.”
“If you point the car in that direction, within a mile you come to that infamous S-curve.”
Barry leaned against the car, frowning. “You think that’s what happened?”
“It fits the facts. But is it the most likely scenario? I’d need more proof.”
Barry slouched down against the car. Then he exploded like a shaken soda bottle. “If it’s true, I hope they fry the son of a bitch who did it.”
Drayco saw an object reflecting the rays of the bright sun. He stooped to examine it and picked it up in his hand.
“Did you find something?” Barry asked.
“Perhaps.” Drayco stood up and put the golden cigar band in his pocket. It was formed into the shape of a bird.
###
Freaky shook Drayco’s hand so hard, Drayco was afraid one of them would pull a muscle. “Can’t thank you enough. Best dollar I ever spent.”
Barry raised his eyebrows. “Dollar?”
Drayco hurried to change the subject. “Shoggoth knows who’s the real master can opener in his life.” The cat weaved in and around Barry’s legs, rubbing continuously and purring so loudly it could be heard across the room.
Freaky said, “The critters missed him. Barry, why don’t you go take care of that little monster while I talk to Mr. Drayco here.”
He motioned for Drayco to take the seat of honor, in this case, the armchair nearest the window air conditioner unit. “So Drayco, does this mean you pegged who killed Beth? Since you got Barry free, I figured you must know.”
Drayco had promised both Iris and Barry their trysts would remain a secret, even to Barry’s father. “I do have a strong candidate, but I can’t discuss it.”
“As long as you nail the right fellow for this, I’m okay with that.”
“Mr. Farland, I know your relationship with Beth was complicated. But I need to know the real reason she was sending you checks. You’ve given us several conflicting stories.”
Farland heaved a big sigh. “After I used that pipe bomb on Arnold, he didn’t file charges. Guess it was guilt. But he wanted something in return. He was up to his eyeballs in debt and threatened by the thugs he owed money to. My little stunt was the least of his worries, it turns out. As partial payback, he came to me wanting money. So he could get these guys off his back. I gave him everything I could, including a lot of my savings. Beth found out and was furious. By then, she was trying to make good on other debts Arnold owed. So she could only pay me in installments, she said.”
“Why didn’t you mention this earlier? Why the various stories?”
“To protect Beth. And her reputation. The people Arnold got involved with weren’t angels. You don’t cross ’em. Best to say as little about them or your dealings with them as possible.”
“I’ve had a few discussions with the chief devil recently, so I see your point.”
“I’m just glad Barry’s a good kid and keeps his nose clean. Wouldn’t want him falling in with that
lot.”
“I second that.”
Drayco turned his head to let the cool air blow across his face. The hot sun outside the bar left him on the wilted side. “I hope you can help me figure out something Beth said before she died. I’ve checked the most logical options but struck out.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
“She had something she wanted to give Virginia. Her words were cryptic. She said to look for it in the back. But the back of what? Do you have any ideas?”
Freaky rubbed his jaw slowly. “Well, since you’ve checked the obvious places, I guess you’re looking for the unusual. When I was a boy, the country folk didn’t have city sewer and water lines. Just wells and septic. Many folks had cisterns on their property to help collect and store rainwater. They often referred to those as ‘the back.’ I can’t imagine Beth storing anything valuable in a cistern. It’d get ruined.”
Considering the muck Drayco and Nelia found in Beth’s cistern, Freaky was probably right. But with a little forethought, there were ways around that. Time to dig up some dirt.
54
The afternoon sun streaming through the windows added welcome color to Beth’s white house. Bands of light crept up the wall in layers, illuminating her former possessions like stark exhibits in a museum. The duo stood in Beth’s office, examining the bookshelves.
Nelia said, “You still think the key is a book? Or inside a book?”
“I do. We’ve looked at these shelves before, but didn’t take the time to check through each book. Think you’re up to it?”
“You mean divide and conquer?”
“Not to be sexist, but I figured I’d volunteer for muck duty and let you stay dry.”
“Making mud pies was one of my favorite things to do as a small girl.”
“Then you’re a better cook than I am. Wish me luck and hope I don’t fall in.”
It was hard to guess how deep the cistern was, depending upon how thick the brackish layer at the bottom turned out to be. Drayco estimated if he were able to stand on that layer of watery muck, the stone walls would be taller than his six-four frame. The wooden lid to the cistern had a hook where a rope and bucket were attached at one time, but they were long gone.