The Harbor

Thirty

Zoe slipped behind the counter and fixed eggs and home fries with a little onion and green pepper while her sister, humming a sad tune, popped a pan of apple-cinnamon muffins into the oven. The lobstermen had all gone out to pry information out of the police, then hit their boats, late, with plenty to think about as they worked their strings of traps.

Christina hadn't put out a Closed sign, but between the lousy weather and a grenade going off on the docks, customers were few. But Betsy O'Keefe was one of them. She took a table overlooking the harbor. Zoe set the eggs and home fries in front of her and sat down. "You look like you could use a good breakfast, Betsy. Did the festivities this morning wake you up?"

"Oh, I never went to sleep." She smiled weakly, and Zoe could see the strain in her face. "Home fries? Zoe, I haven't had home fries in months and months."

"One of life's great indulgences. Look, they're not those deep-fried things, either. They're proper home fries. I even burned the edges of a few of the potatoes."

"Okay, I give in!" She tried to laugh, but it was a hollow sound and only made her look more drawn. "Where's Agent McGrath?"

"Off with Bruce Young."

Betsy stared out at the harbor. "How long will the police stay?"

"As long as necessary. A while, I would think. It'll take time to gather evidence."

"Two state detectives talked to us a little while ago. Luke and me. We didn't see anything-we were in bed." She stabbed at a few potatoes but seemed to have trouble holding on to her fork. "I can hear the innkeepers and shopkeepers screaming now. A grenade going off can't be good for business. It was a blow to have our first murder in thirty years, and the chief of police no less." Betsy gasped in horror at her own words and dropped her fork. "I'm so sorry, Zoe. I didn't mean to sound cavalier."

"Forget it. I know what you're saying. Goose Har-bor's a fishing village and a tourist town. When either gets threatened, people worry." Zoe slipped a triangle of toast from Betsy's plate. "I'm going to guess you didn't tell the police everything you know."

"Zoe-"

She bit into her toast and looked at Betsy, realized how frightened and uncertain she was. "Tell me. I can help."

"Can you? I don't think so. It's gone too far now."

"How far, Betsy?"

"Luke-he's heading south today without me. We had a dreadful argument yesterday. I thought I'd regained his trust, but-" She picked up her fork again and poked at her potatoes, her eyes lowered. "I was wrong."

"I'm sorry," Zoe said.

"Oh, it's probably for the best. I had a feeling it wasn't a forever kind of relationship." She smiled, dismissing her own feelings, her sense of hurt. "Luke's terrified."

"Because of Kyle?"

She nodded tentatively, as if she shouldn't. "But I can't-I can't tell you-"

Zoe finished her toast, hoping Betsy would want to fill in the silence. She didn't, and finally Zoe said, "Do you believe Kyle killed my father?"

"No!"

"Do you believe Luke did?"

She shook her head. "God, no. Zoe, I'd never have stayed with him if I believed that."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

She didn't answer right away. She grabbed the salt and pepper and shook them on her eggs and home fries, and Zoe could see she was, if possible, even paler. But she wasn't crying. She seemed to be past crying. "Last year," she said, her voice almost inaudible, "not long after your father was killed, Luke discovered that one of his handguns was missing. A.357 Colt Python, I believe. It was in a locked, alarmed cabinet."

"Kyle has the key and the codes?"

"Access to them, at least."

"Anyone else?"

Betsy put a forkful of potatoes in her mouth, but she didn't start chewing. She looked as if she'd spit them out, but finally she chewed, swallowed and wiped her mouth with her napkin. "I don't know. I wasn't involved with Luke then. He has a boat crew. Anyone who knows his habits would be able to calculate when he wasn't going to be around. He has his locks and alarms, but he's not meticulous about security. The lure of Goose Harbor, you know. Safe, pretty, no need to watch your back."

"Teddy Shelton was around then."

She nodded, picking at her eggs. She seemed exhausted, physically and emotionally wrung out. She lowered her voice, as if someone might hear. "Luke sold him a gun."

Zoe tried not to react. "When?"

"In September. I don't know what kind, but I know- it wasn't a legal sale."

"Has Teddy been blackmailing him?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. At least not in as many words."

"But Luke's afraid of him," Zoe said.

Betsy lifted her shoulders. "I don't know that, either. I overheard them talking-Luke didn't sound afraid. He was totally in charge."

"Teddy probably realizes he doesn't have enough leverage on Luke. It'd be a first offense for Luke, but not for Teddy. If Teddy goes to the police, he's cooked, too." She sank against the back of her chair and looked out at the harbor, picturesque even on such a gray day. "But Luke suspects Kyle of stealing the Colt Python, not Teddy? Why?"

"Zoe-Zoe, Luke would just die if it turns out a gun he owned was the weapon in your father's murder. I don't know why Luke collects guns. He's difficult, impossible at times, but he's not violent."

Zoe nodded. "A gun collector isn't necessarily violent, but Luke behaved irresponsibly, even criminally. He sold a firearm to a convicted felon and didn't bother to report the theft of another firearm that he had reason to suspect was used to commit murder."

Betsy took a shallow breath. "It's like collecting guns is his secret passion or something. I don't understand it."

Zoe sat forward, Christina's strong coffee churning in her stomach, and she had to fight the effects of caffeine, lack of sleep and adrenaline. "Luke didn't tell the state detective this morning any of this?"

"He says it can't possibly make any difference."

"Then I'll tell them."

"He'll know it was me! Zoe!"

"Betsy, you knew when you started this story that I'd have to tell the police."

She set down her fork. "You'd never look the other way, would you, Zoe? No matter who it was who'd done wrong. Your father was like that."

"If you mean professionally, you're right. He wouldn't look the other way, and neither would I. That would be unethical, corrupt. On a personal level-" She sighed. "I try to be a forgiving person. I know life isn't black and white."

"Olivia would look the other way. She would see the whole picture, how complicated people are, what their motives are, and decide-" Betsy swallowed visibly. "I wonder if that's why she couldn't come up with the name of the murderer. She knew who it was, or at least guessed, but she'd looked the other way. Maybe she thought it cost your father his life."

"How much of all this does Kyle know?" Zoe asked abruptly. She had no intention of discussing Olivia's last hours with Betsy-not now.

"I have no idea."

"His documentary-what if it's a ruse for him to get more information about my father's death, his father's involvement?"

Betsy considered the question. She seemed calmer, more in control of herself now that she'd told someone her story, or at least most of it. Zoe suspected there was more.

"It's possible," Betsy said. "Sometimes I had the feeling Kyle was trying to satisfy himself that his father wasn't Chief West's killer."

"Did you tell him what Olivia said?"

She shook her head.

"Betsy, are you afraid? If you are, I can make sure you're protected."

"I'm afraid, Zoe, but not in the way you think." She blinked rapidly, but there were still no tears in her eyes. "I want him back. Luke. I can't help it. I've spent my whole life in Goose Harbor. I've worked hard. Two years with your aunt alone. I've never had much of a life."

"I hope you didn't feel unappreciated for what you did for Aunt Olivia. She adored you, relied on you, and we all-Betsy, I've always respected you and what you do."

"Thank you." She picked up her fork again, tried the eggs, chewed as if they had no taste. "I'm being selfish."

"That wasn't what I was thinking."

Betsy stared out at the harbor, the yellow police tape, the police cars. Zoe recognized the lead detective on her father's case. The fire trucks had left. "Luke threatened to charge me with harassment and trespassing if I tried to see him again," Betsy said quietly.

"I'm sorry."

"Me, too." She turned back to her food, a tear sliding down her cheek. "Tell the police, Zoe. You're right. I told you my sad story so you'd tell them."

"They'll want to talk to you."

She nodded. "I'll be here."

Teddy didn't like the looks of the kid. A scared shitless golden boy. "Are you going to puke? Do it out the window. I don't want you stinking up the car."

Kyle Castellane's big brown eyes widened. "Don't shoot me."

"Jesus Christ, relax, will you? The gun's to keep you in line. I won't shoot you unless you do something stupid. If you're smart, you'll be fine. Okay? Just do what I say."

"You have grenades."

"Mostly flash-bangs. They're mainly for show. The frag grenades are the ones that do the real damage."

The kid was close to hyperventilating. "I should have stayed in my apartment and called the police. I never should have run after you-"

"Water over the dam, pal. Stop thinking about it. You thought your old man was a killer."

"I didn't!"

"I wouldn't want to admit it, either."

When Kyle came flying out of the café and tried to stop a moving BMW, Teddy had considered running the kid over. The show on the docks was intended to put the fear of God into Luke Castellane and make him reconsider the bonus. Now he had Luke's kid. Funny how things worked out.

You have the plan. Things happen.You revise the plan.

Luke had already called. Teddy was worried about the police tracing his cell phone signal, but decided they hadn't gotten that far yet-the phone was in Luke's name. Luke had loaned it to him when he hired him last week. He wanted Teddy to drive to the Olivia West Nature Preserve and await further instructions-like he was still the one in charge, never mind Teddy had his kid. At least Luke's voice had sounded more strangled than usual.

The lousy weather was keeping the leaf-peepers away, and it was still very early. A month ago, Teddy would have been burrowed in his lumpy bed at Bruce's cottage.

He pulled into the gravel lot. No one, not even any staff, was around yet. But he didn't like it-there was only that one dirt road in and out of the place.

"If the cops bother us, you're going to tell them we're cool, right?" Teddy fingered the grip of his Llama. A damn fine gun, except it was unregistered and as a convicted felon, he wasn't supposed to have guns. "I picked you up on the docks this morning. You wanted to interview me for your documentary. We heard the flash-bang go off and decided the harbor was under attack and got the hell out of there. Didn't see anything."

Kyle stopped hyperventilating long enough to give Teddy a sour look. The kid's face looked like hell, the bruises all blue and yellow and purple now, very ugly. "Why would I want to interview you? So you could tell me how you killed Patrick West and Olivia West?"

"Nobody killed Olivia West. She died of old age. She was a hundred and one, for Christ's sake. You tell that shit to the cops, you'll find out how fast a bullet travels two feet right into your stupid head. Actually," he added, as a point of interest, "I should aim for center mass. Bigger target. Still deadly."

"I've got my own money," Kyle said. "I can pay you."

"Not as much as your daddy can."

And as if on cue, Teddy's cell phone rang.

"I'll bring your bonus in cash," Luke said, still in that weird, strangled voice. "Meet me on the beach where Patrick West was killed."

"What're you doing, bringing the Zodiac?" It was a small, fast, maneuverable boat that Luke had aboard his yacht for short excursions-Luke had never used it that Teddy knew. "In this weather?"

"I'll be there."

Teddy looked around. He still didn't like the location. "Let me pick out the place-"

"No. You'll get caught. Do as I say."

"All right. Deal. And just in case you want to play games, say hi to your boy."

Teddy shoved the phone at the kid, who didn't cooperate. "Dad-Dad, he's a fuck. Don't do it. He's got guns."

"Asshole," Teddy said, and put the phone back to his ear. "Nice to know the kid cares, isn't it, Luke? The FBI loves kidnapping cases, but I'd leave McGrath out of this deal. I see one cop-state, local or fed, current, ex or on vacation-and your boy's dead."

This time it was Teddy's turn to hang up.

First, money. Then Stick Monroe. Get it all done in one day.

He glanced at the kid. "Probably should have put your shoes on before you ran out. Come on, we've got to take a little hike in the rain."

"Don't hurt my dad. I know he's an asshole, but he-"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get moving. It's payday."