Glass Eels, Shattered Sea

by Charlene D'Avanzo

  Jack called 911, and responders were at my side in less than ten minutes. By then, Jack had beached the boat and dragged Shu junior’s body onto the sand.

  While the medics worked on Shu, Officer Craig Purdy spoke with me, and his corporal interviewed Jack.

  “Sergeant Purdy,” I said. “Here we are again. You, me, and Jack. When you interviewed me after Nelson Ives was shot, you were up in Ellsworth. It’s a surprise to see you down here.”

  “It’s Lieutenant now, Dr. Tusconi. And I’m stationed here for the time being.”

  “Again, please call me Mara, and congratulations.”

  With a nod toward Shu, Purdy asked, “Who is this man, and what in heaven’s name happened to him? He’s got welts all over his face.”

  “His name is Shu, and he heads up a glass eel trafficking operation. You can contact Lieutenant Dunn in South Carolina. He supervises Operation Broken Glass.”

  “Sure,” Purdy said. “Dunn’s investigation is impressive. But what’s this Shu character doing up in Spruce Harbor?”

  With a shrug, I said, “Um, I killed his father and believe he was after me to settle the score.”

  “So you killed the man’s father? How and when?”

  Looking out to sea, I said, “Last week. He was struck by lightning.”

  “And your role in that was what?” Purdy asked.

  I pointed toward the island where Shu senior’s boat had run aground. “I was sea kayaking out there. He came after me in a speedboat during a thunderstorm. As he approached, I threw the only thing I had—my sea kayak paddle. The paddle’s made of carbon fiber, so it’s not safe to use in a storm like that. Just as Shu caught the paddle, lightning struck it along with the boat and killed him.”

  Quiet for a moment, Purdy turned to look out over the water toward the island. “So that was you. Right before I moved down here, that story was going around the department, but I was too busy packing to pay much attention.” Purdy faced me again. “Let’s see, you believe the guy on the beach here was out to avenge his father’s death. What’s with the welts?”

  “They’re from a Portuguese man o’ war.”

  “He swam into a man o’ war floating in the water?”

  I shook my head. “No. It was stranded on the beach here. I’d just shoveled it into a bucket when Shu’s boat pulled up.”

  His eyes widening, Purdy said, “I think I’m getting the picture, but tell me exactly what happened.”

  57

  Starting with Jack’s phone call, I described everything that had taken place, from my trip to the garage for the bucket and shovel, to Shu jumping into the water.

  Taking notes, Purdy asked, “You say he leapt off his boat into the water?”

  “The man was in terrible pain,” I said.

  Purdy closed his notebook, said, “Excuse me for a moment,” walked down the beach, briefly conferred with the medics, and walked back. Flipping the notebook open again, he said, “I asked about Shu’s condition. The man’s dead, Mara. They believe he died of a heart attack.”

  I looked past Purdy toward the other end of the beach. No longer bent over Shu, the medics were standing. Their gear blocked my view of the dead man’s body with the exception of one of his arms. It was flung out to the side, and on that hand Shu’s spidery fingers reached toward me.

  I recoiled from the corpse as a wave of guilt washed over me.

  Purdy gently put his hand on my shoulder. “Mara, a fatality like this is a dreadful thing to witness even when the victim deserves it. You did absolutely nothing wrong. That man tried to kill you, and you defended yourself. If he died a painful death, he brought it on himself.”

  Purdy went on to explain that he needed to question Jack further at the station, keep him there overnight, and then decide what was going to happen to him.

  “But Jack’s innocent,” I said. “Shu had a gun. He forced Jack to take that boat ride.”

  “I know that,” Purdy agreed. “But Jack’s hardly blameless. After all, he kidnapped you at gunpoint.”

  Realizing that there was nothing I could do for Jack now, I simply nodded.

  “One more thing,” Purdy said. “Is there anyone you can stay with for a few days? With the younger Shu dead you should be safe, but we don’t know. In a day or two we’ll have a better read on the situation.”

  “My godfather, Angelo DeLuca, lives in town. He’d love to have me.”

  I called Angelo, gave him a bare-bones account of what had happened, and said I needed to stay with him for a few days.

  “Your bedroom is always ready, Mara, you know that. Come on over and go to sleep. It’s late, and you can tell me more in the morning.”

  “Thanks, but I’m pretty jazzed up. If you’re not too tired, it would be good to talk.”

  Seated at Angelo’s kitchen table, I swirled what was left of the sweet, warm drink he had prepared for me. “What did you say this was?”

  Leaning back against the oak counter, he said, “Lemon, decaf tea, and honey. Not my type of brew, but it’s supposed to be soothing.”

  “I do feel a lot better than when I walked in the door. So either the tea did the trick, or I’m played out.”

  “It’s after eleven, Mara. After what happened, you must be exhausted.”

  “I’ll go up to bed in a few minutes. It’d be good to chat for a bit.”

  Angelo pulled out the chair across from me, settled into it, and placed both hands on the table. “Lieutenant Purdy cautioned you about feeling culpable. Is that what’s troubling you?”

  I shook my head. “No. As Purdy said, Shu senior and his son were criminals who tried to kill me. It’s about how they died, I think.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It wasn’t from a bullet or a knife blade. Lightning and jellyfish venom are both natural phenomena. I study the ocean and love nature.”

  “Mara, you know only too well that the ocean can kill.”

  “Like Mom and Dad,” I said. “That was the worst thing that could happen, of course, but it was an accident. This is, I don’t know, like using nature as a weapon to kill people.”

  He reached across the table and gently took both my hands in his. “There’s another take on this, Mara. Look at me.”

  I did. Slate-blue in the soft light, Angelo’s eyes held mine.

  “When two evil men tried to hurt you, the natural world wasn’t a weapon. Just the opposite. You used your knowledge about nature to say alive. She protected and was there for you when you most needed her. Tomorrow when I go to church, I’ll light a candle before the statue of Saint Francis of Assisi in gratitude and thanks.”

  I squeezed his hands. “Thanks, that’s lovely. And now it’s time for bed.”

  I got up, kissed Angelo on the cheek, climbed the stairs, snuggled under the covers, and promptly fell into the deepest of sleeps.

  Seated at the kitchen table in the morning, I joked, “Seems like we were just here.”

  Angelo refilled his cup of cappuccino and leaned back against the counter. “After what you went through yesterday, I thought you deserved eggs and brioche for breakfast.”

  “And café au lait,” I said. “What did you call the eggs?”

  “Italian cloud eggs. You drop the yolks onto whipped egg whites, add a dusting of Italian seasoning, and bake it in a cast-iron skillet.”

  “Well, like I’ve said before—with your culinary skills, you’ll make the right woman very happy.”

  Angelo looked to the side and wet his lips. “Actually, there’s something along that line I need to tell you.”

  Confused, I stared at him. Angelo and I didn’t hide anything from each other.

  “Um, it’s about Angelica,” he said. “We’re seeing each other.”

  “Angelica?”

  Beaming, he said, “That’s her name. We met in the Italian bakery over biscotti.”

  As my cheeks grew warm with a flash of jealousy, I drained my cup of café au lait to cover the selfish reaction. Angelo was an
attractive, intelligent man who spent too much time on his own. How could I be anything but delighted by his new romance?

  “That’s funny,” I managed. “Meeting someone over biscotti.”

  He grinned. “It was. We’ve gone out for dinner a few times. I’d like to invite her here, you know, for an evening.”

  I wasn’t quite sure what “for an evening” meant but didn’t ask. Instead, I said, “She’ll love seeing the house and, of course, eating whatever you cook.”

  “I was thinking of lobster capellini with a cream sauce or maybe a pasta puttanesca.”

  “Make the lobster capellini,” I said. “And something light for dessert. Perhaps strawberry gelato?”

  58

  At MOI, I emailed Ted to wish him a good day and ordered forceps for picking tiny animals off seaweed from a scientific supply company—things that didn’t require much brainpower. Next, I called Lieutenant Dunn so we could talk about Shu junior and Jack’s situation, but was told that Dunn was “away on a case.”

  When no other manageable tasks came to mind, I powered down my computer, locked my office door, and took the back stairs down to the chemistry floor.

  Harvey’s office door was ajar. I stepped in and said, “Knock, knock.”

  She looked at me over her reading glasses. “I was just about to give you a call. Are you okay?”

  I pulled a chair by the bookshelf closer to her desk and sat down. “No secrets between Angelo and Connor, eh?”

  “Especially when a Portuguese man o’ war is the weapon,” she said. “I don’t mean to make light of this, Mara. It’s absolutely chilling that these criminals have come after you. I assume you’ll stay at Angelo’s for a few more days?”

  “Probably, but he’s got a girlfriend now, and I don’t want to, you know, get in the way.”

  “Angelo has a girlfriend?”

  “Angelica.”

  “Angelo and Angelica,” she said. “Cute.”

  “So Connor didn’t tell you about this?” I asked.

  “Nope. Maybe it’s a guy thing. You know, Angelo wants to keep this to himself until he’s sure it’s working out.”

  I shrugged. “Don’t have a clue. This is brand-new territory for me.”

  Leaning closer, she said, “You’ve had a difficult time of it. What can I do?”

  “Actually, just talking like this helps. But dinner with you and Connor would be better.”

  “Of course we’d love to have you, and let’s do it tonight. Any requests?”

  “Whatever you want to make,” I said. “Um, except lobster capellini.”

  Back in my office, I tried calling Dunn again. When someone at Operation Broken Glass put me on hold, I pressed “speaker” on the office phone. Then I woke my computer, found the Sargasso Sea data sets, and set out to list the little animals living on the seaweed according to their abundance. Not for the first time, the Sargassum fish’s name Histrio histrio struck me as funny. I was reciting “Histrio histrio, where art thou?” when Dunn’s booming voice interrupted me.

  “What was that you said, Mara? Something about history?”

  Powering down my computer, I called out, “Hold it a second, Lieutenant,” reached over for the handset, and said, “That’s better. I had you on speaker phone.”

  “I heard about what happened yesterday,” he said. “It’s appalling you had that encounter with Shu, but it sounds like you took care of the situation handily.”

  “It was luck, actually. I’d just shoveled the jellyfish into a bucket when Shu arrived at my beach. When he pulled out his gun and told me to get into the boat, I acted on instinct.”

  “Speaking of guns,” Dunn said, “have you considered purchasing one?”

  “My parents weren’t gun owners. I’ve never even held a gun.”

  “Well, give it some thought. Some shooting ranges and gun shops offer courses, but you could ask your local police for suggestions. In any case, you dispatched two notorious animal traffickers on your own. That’s a remarkable achievement.”

  “So, Lieutenant, can I assume I’m safe now? This harassment is over?”

  “As you can imagine, we can’t guarantee anything in law enforcement, Mara. What I can tell you is that the two leaders of this trafficking operation are dead, and nobody has stepped forward to take their place. We’ve been working hard to dismantle this particular group of criminals. With Shu and his son gone, they’ve scattered to who knows where. My guess is that you are the last thing these guys are worrying about.”

  “Well, that’s a relief,” I said. “Before I hang up, can you give me an update on Jack?”

  “We’re still holding Jack, Mara. That’s all I can tell you right now.”

  I hung up, walked over to the window, and looked out across the harbor. I guessed that Nelson had hoped his son would be a fisherman like he was. But that dream was gone now or at the very least postponed. It was so very sad.

  I had just stepped onto Harvey’s front porch when Connor opened the door. “Mara, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

  Once inside, I kissed him on the cheek and handed him a bottle of sauvignon blanc. “Smells awfully good in here, Connor.”

  “Harvey’s making lamb tagine with cumin, ginger, cilantro, olives, and whatnot. Go on into the living room. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Chatting with you over a little wine would be lovely.”

  Connor placed my glass on the coffee table and settled into his easy chair next to the couch. “Sorry to hear about your latest adventure, Mara. Let’s hope that’s the end of this terrible business.”

  “Lieutenant Dunn thinks so, but it’ll be a while before I stop looking over my shoulder.”

  “Know what you mean,” he said. “Along that line, have you thought about taking a gun safety course and buying a firearm?”

  I shrugged. “Dunn asked me that this afternoon. The closest I’ve been to a gun is inside Harvey’s truck. I don’t know a muzzle from a scope.”

  He wet his lips, I guessed, to mask a smile. “Shotguns like the one she uses for hunting have muzzles and scopes, and handguns don’t. The NRA offers gun training courses, but I’d stop in the Spruce Harbor police department and ask them.”

  “I’ll have to think about it,” I said. “Guns have never been part of my world, so having one is kind of a big deal for me.”

  “I’m here if you need help, Mara. You know that. Um, on a completely different topic, Harvey tells me that Angelo has a girlfriend?”

  I took a sip of wine and slid the glass back onto the coffee table. “Her name is Angelica. That’s pretty much all I know about her, except that she buys Italian pastries.”

  “That old fox,” Connor said. “Last week, he wondered why I was catching stripers when he wasn’t. Turned out he was using twenty-pound test line. Good lord, everyone knows stripers can see line that heavy. Now I know why he had his head in the clouds.”

  I was laughing when Harvey walked in to say that dinner was on the table.

  “It’s good to see you so jolly,” she said.

  Standing, I patted Connor on the shoulder. “As you know, this character is a practiced comic.”

  59

  Connor finished his piece of blueberry pie and turned to Harvey. “Pie made with Maine blueberries. Nothing better.” Looking at me across the table, he asked, “So how is Ted doing?”

  “Great. Nobody could be more enthusiastic about using gliders for marine research.”

  Connor leaned back in his chair. “Gliders? Give me the two sentence explanation.”

  “Okay. Ocean gliders are basically autonomous little robots. A scientist can program the glider to measure things like salinity and temperature up and down through the water column.”

  Raising his eyebrows, Connor said, “Whoa, that’s James Bond stuff.”

  “Not really,” I said. “Some oceanographers use them routinely. If we had one on the Sargasso Sea cruise, we could’ve gotten more data with less eff
ort.”

  Harvey circled the table collecting dirty plates. “Mara, you sound pretty enthusiastic about this glider technology. Maybe you should go down to Woods Hole, learn how to use them, and be with Ted at the same time.”

  I shrugged. “Ted would like me to join the glider research group. I told him I’d think about it.”

  “What’s there to think about?” Connor asked.

  “Students, for one thing. I’m chairing Alise’s PhD thesis, and another grad student wants to work with me in the fall.”

  “Woods Hole isn’t Australia,” Harvey said. “It’s only a half-day drive.”

  Two hours later, I was lying on my bed reading my latest mystery when Ted phoned.

  “Sorry I’m calling so late,” he said. “After the talk at WHOI tonight, a group of us went over to the Fishmonger for beers.”

  “Is that the place next to the drawbridge where you can look out on the water?”

  “That’s the one,” he said. “In your text message you said you were back home? I take it Dunn is good with that?”

  “I talked to him this afternoon. With Shu and his son dead, the Operation Broken Glass folks believe Shu’s eel trafficking operation is defunct. Besides that, Angelo has a girlfriend, and I wanted to, you know, give him some privacy.”

  “A girlfriend?”

  “Yup. Angelica. I haven’t met her yet.”

  “Huh. That’s a big deal for you and for Angelo. I only left a couple of days ago, and a lot’s happened. Are you all right?”

  “Ted, that’s sweet. I just had dinner with Harvey and Connor, and it felt, you know, normal. Except Connor wants me to think about buying a handgun and taking lessons. Dunn suggested the same thing. I’m of two minds about it.”

  “I don’t know much about guns, Mara, but more and more women are getting them. Connor and Dunn are pretty savvy guys, so it’s worth thinking about.”

  “Connor was interested in the gliders, so I explained how you use them,” I said. “Then he suggested I join your research group.”

  “Swear I didn’t prompt him,” Ted said. “But seriously, this is a terrific group of oceanographers. You’d have a blast, have a free place to stay, and we could eat at the Fishmonger anytime you like.”