Last Words

19

The mist rising from the marsh had settled a few feet above ground, but Hal knew as he walked along the edge of the field that by the time he reached the marina, it would be gone, burned off by the hot July sun. Which was fine with him. Hal had no problem with the heat.

For a man in his sixties, he was in fine shape, healthy and strong and no infirmities to speak of beyond the usual. A little arthritis here and a little there. Thinning hair. But for a man his age, he was in remarkable shape.

Still strong as a bull, he liked to say.

He’d retired reluctantly, but knew it was for the best. It was time to pass the office on to someone younger, someone better trained in all the latest law enforcement techniques, someone up on all the newest technology. Someone who could keep the police department in step with all the other changes that were taking place in St. Dennis.

Someone like Gabriel Beck.

Hal whistled as he walked down the stone steps toward the slip where the Shady Lady was tied. Beck had done just fine. And he, Hal, couldn’t congratulate himself enough on having had the foresight to track Beck down and talk him into coming back to St. Dennis and taking the job.

A gull swooped over his head and dove toward the water where some chum had been tossed overboard by a fisherman already on his way back into the marina.

“Calling it a day, John?” Hal called to the skipper who was backing his cruiser into its slip.

“Out since four and not a nibble. God’s way of telling me to get back to work.” The man waved as Hal passed by.

Hal chuckled and continued on down the wooden walk to where his boat was tied. He didn’t really care if the fish were biting or not. Fishing was just euphemism for lazing on the bay on a day off, as far as he was concerned.

The new blue tarp covered the deck and the ropes were taut against the tide. Hal climbed aboard his craft and began to unfastened the tarp. He’d bought it just days earlier at Singer’s and had spent an hour before last night’s meeting fitting it. He’d been pleased to find it fit like a glove, just as Todd had promised.

That boy did know boats.

Hal had removed half of the tarp before he saw the thing on the deck. It took him several long minutes to react.

“Holy Mother of God.” He backed away in horror. “Holy Mother of God…”

The body wrapped mummy-style in plastic was in even worse shape than Holly Sheridan’s had been, but the killer had added a little something extra to make identification easier. He’d placed the victim’s driver’s license inside a plastic sandwich bag along with the tape.

“Considerate bastard.” Beck leaned over the body and studied the photo ID through the layers of plastic wrap. “You think there’s any reason to doubt this is in fact Mindy Kenneher?”

“I think I’d want something conclusive before I turned her over to the family, but the hair’s the right color,” Mia pointed out. “And why would he have Mindy’s driver’s license if he hadn’t had Mindy?”

“Good point.” Beck took his phone from his pocket. “Might as well give Rich Meyer a call, get him over here right away.”

“We need some good crime scene techs, and we need them soon,” Mia noted.

“I’d just as soon put Lisa on it. The fewer hands on this deck, the better,” Beck said as he dialed. “Besides, Lisa’s had a lot of training in lifting prints and she’s damned good at collecting trace. We’re going to be sending anything we find to your lab anyway. The only other option is to call in the state, and I’d rather leave them out of it. If I let Lisa process the scene, there’s no one on board except you, me, Lisa and the ME. That okay with you?”

“It’s fine with me. By the way, I told Lisa she’d make a great federal agent,” Mia told him.

“Don’t get any ideas, she’s worth two of anyone else I have. Council’s already approved her promotion to detective, thank you very much. We just haven’t told her yet. Maybe not as glamorous as being a fed, but she likes her home life.”

Beck stopped pacing when his call was answered. “Yes, this is Gabriel Beck in St. Dennis. I need to speak with Chief Meyer immediately…”

Beck finished his call, then immediately placed another one to his dispatcher.

“ Garland, I need Lisa down here right away. Did you call her like I asked you to?” Beck began to pace again. “Well, try her again. Page her. Call her house. Maybe she stopped home for something and hasn’t checked her messages yet…”

“Is everything all right, Beck?” Mia asked. “You look annoyed.”

“I need Lisa and she hasn’t called in.”

“When I spoke with her early this morning, she said she was going out to that shopping center outside of town, the one that has the gym and the coffee shop. She was going to show around the photos of the three victims, see if anyone recognized one or all of them.”

“Yes, I know where she went and why. She should still be answering her page. Garland said he’s paged her twice without a response.”

He glanced behind him at the showroom beyond the dock. “ Duncan, call up there to Singer’s and ask Todd if he’s spoken with Lisa in the past hour or so. I need her now.”

“Right, Chief.” Duncan nodded and trotted off up the steps.

A crowd began to gather, and Beck spent the next fifteen minutes asking them all to leave. Garland reported back to Beck that Todd Singer was out, showing a boat to a client, but was expected back any time, and that Lisa had not been in the showroom since it opened at nine.

An annoyed Beck sent Duncan back to the station for an evidence kit, then walked over to Mia and said, “ Duncan should be back in a few minutes. We can get started then.”

“I’ll be here.” Mia nodded and wished she was wearing something other than the new short, slim skirt and shirt she’d picked up at Bling the night before. Not exactly what to wear when crawling around a boat looking for evidence.

She opened her bag and searched her wallet for receipt for her purchases, and hoped the shop’s phone number was printed on it. It was, and she dialed the number on her cell phone.

“Vanessa, it’s Mia…yes, thank you, it was fun. I would definitely love to come back. Listen, I…yes, I love the outfit, as a matter of fact, that’s why I’m calling.” Mia explained what had happened, where she was, and what she was going to have to do.

“So I was wondering, if those cute jeans that I was looking at are still there, if I could run down and pick them up, they’re more suitable to what I have to do this morning than what I have on. No, no, I wouldn’t ask you to do that…”

Mia paused, considering Vanessa’s offer to run the clothes over for her.

“On second thought, I would appreciate it enormously, if it isn’t going to put you out too much. It would save time. Thanks, Vanessa. No, I have no preference. Any shirt is fine, the simpler the better. Just a basic T-shirt would be best.”

Mia thanked her again, and dropped the phone back into her skirt pocket.

“Odd time to be clothes shopping,” Beck said.

“I really wasn’t prepared for this. We can’t get onto the boat until we have the equipment, so in the interim, I thought I’d change. Vanessa has offered to run over with a few things I tried on last night but didn’t buy because I didn’t expect to need them. It won’t hold us up. I’d just be more comfortable climbing around on the deck of that boat in something other than a skirt.”

He glanced at her abreviated hemline. “Good call. I’ll meet you on deck when the ME gets here.”

Beck set off after Hal, who was carrying two orange cones across the parking lot to block off the entrance in an effort to keep out the gathering crowd of spectators.

Mia paced along the dock, watching for Vanessa.

“Well, wasn’t someone saying last night that this guy was going to make a bold move soon? I’d say this qualifies.” Susan joined Mia on the dock.

They both turned to watch the Cameron cruiser pull into the lot. Chief Meyer got out of the car, and caught up with Beck. They spoke briefly, then walked toward the boat.

“It was a surprise.” Mia nodded, as the two men passed her silently. “But this isn’t quite what I was expecting.”

“Are you kidding? This is about as ballsy as they come,” Susan insisted. “Ballsy as leaving the other body in Beck’s car. And just as much of a jab at Beck, if you ask me.”

“Because Hal is the former chief of police?”

“That, sure.” Sue nodded. “And because Hal is Beck’s father.”