The Kills

34

I waited for hours before I inched myself backward out of my flooded foxhole. I was soaked throughout, chilled and shivering, unable to control my tremors and too stiff to straighten myself completely.

The house was still dark, as was the sky, and there was no smoke coming from the chimney. I stayed as close as I could to the stone wall, as far away as possible from my home, until I reached a clearing and climbed over to the neighboring pasture.

The rain had stopped now and the wind had calmed to a mild breeze. I walked through open fields in the darkness, heading downhill, knowing that before too long I would reach the protected inlet at Quitsa Cove. Small boats were tied up there, and as soon as Gretchen cleared the southern shore, fishermen would be back out to check the damage, no matter what time of night. I didn't want to chance the roadway in case someone should be waiting for me, but the odds were good that I would find a familiar face here on the pond where I had so often moored my own day-sailer. I wasn't a runner, but I could outswim almost anything without fins.

Trees were down all over my path, and limbs dangled from overhead branches. I made my way slowly and carefully around the obstacles, sliding the last few feet as I came to a stop in front of the rickety wooden dock that stretched twenty feet out into the light chop of the water.

Again I waited, sitting and staring at the trail that came in from State Road, my arms encircling my knees, which were drawn against my chest as I tried to warm up. I knew that even in the dark, the shape of my body on the end of the dock against the watery backdrop would be apparent to anyone who approached. I wanted it that way. I was looking for help, not trying to scare whoever arrived.

Another hour went by before a pickup truck rattled down the path. Its headlights caught me straight on, and I got to my feet, waving broadly as the driver brought the car to a stop and stepped out, pointing a flashlight at me.

"You okay?" a man's voice called out as he raised his hand over his brow to peer out at me.

"Yes, I'm fine," I said. "It's Alex Cooper. Kenny-that you?"

"Yes'm. You tied up in here? You got a prob-? Jeez, Alex-you look like you been out in this storm all night."

Kenny Bainter's family had been on the island for six generations. He fished and farmed-swordfish and sheep-and had known me for a very long time.

He turned back to the truck and pulled a blanket out of the cab. I followed behind and let him wrap it around my shoulders while my teeth clacked and chattered against each other.

"You fall in the water or something?" he went on.

"No, no," I said, shaking my head. "Someone-someone broke into my house during the storm. I-uh-I ran down here to get away. I was hoping you could drive me to the Chilmark police."

"Who the hell was it, Alex? Some kids looking to give you a fright? I'll go back there with you and we'll-"

"Let's not do that. It wasn't kids, I promise you." Most of the islanders who knew me as a summer person couldn't connect me to the frontline prosecutorial position that carried with it all the attendant dangers of urban violence. I didn't think Kenny would understand that the intruder had been, in all probability, someone who wanted to kill me.

"Well, let's go get the son of-"

"Can you just drive me over to the station? That's really all I need."

"That and somethin' dry to put on, missy. I can't be driving you there. Storm knocked some power lines down and the Crossroads is all blocked off. Made a mess of it up here. Tell you what. Let me check on a few of the little stinkpots I get paid to baby-sit here, and then we can bail one if it's not dry and I'll zip you across the pond. How's that?"

"You think it's safe to go out?" I said, looking back at the surface of the water.

"Be calm as a bathtub in half an hour. Storm's way out over the Atlantic by now. Get up there in the truck and turn on some heat."

"Let me help you, Kenny," I said lamely as I watched him step into the shallow water wearing hip-waders.

"I seen scarecrows be better help than you, Alex. Go on and dry off."

Several small powerboats were upended on the beach, large gashes cut into their hulls. There were lots of damaged craft, and some that had broken loose completely and were bobbing about farther out in the pond. Barrels and buoys, nets and rope, were all strewn around the ground. But Kenny was right about how gently the waves were now lapping against the rocky shoreline.

When he had finished checking everything, he unwrapped the tarpaulin cover off a small rubber Zodiac that he must have dragged to safety and tethered to a metal post on land before the storm hit. He led it back into the water and lowered the engine over the side.

"C'mon, missy. Have you there in five minutes."

I kept the blanket wrapped around me and stepped onto the dock, lowering myself over the bumpers and sitting on the edge of the little vessel, clinging to the handles on either side of me.

The night sky was still covered with clouds, but as we chugged along into the main body of the pond, I could make out the distinctive red-shingled roof of the old coast guard station, which now housed the local police. I knew they had a generator, and their lights were the only ones in town working, as far as I could see.

Kenny steered the small dinghy alongside the dock at the Homeport restaurant and started to tie her up. I stood and climbed the ladder that reached down to the water as soon as we touched against it. "No need to come," I said. "I owe you, Kenny. I'll make it up to you."

"You don't owe me anything. Just dry that blanket off and get it back to me. It's what keeps my dog warm when he rides around with me all winter."

"Well, tell him I'm grateful for the loan." I blew him a kiss and made a beeline for the station, just a hundred yards away.

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

The clock on the wall behind the officer's head reminded me that it was one-thirty in the morning.

"Chip? It's me. Alex Cooper."

He did a double take. "What hit you?"

"I'll tell you everything as soon as I'm out of this gear. You got any women officers here? Someone who might have some dry civvies in a locker?" I spread my arms to unfold the blanket so he could see the condition of my clothes.

"Just a minute. Wait here." Chip Streeter went up to the second floor and came back a few minutes later with another tan-uniformed officer-a young woman who was shorter and heavier than I. She was carrying a pair of chinos and a plaid flannel shirt, which looked better to me at that moment than the entire spring couture line of Escada.

She led me to a bathroom, apologized for not having clean underwear to give me, but handed me paper toweling and a new toothbrush so I could clean myself up.

When I had finished the job, I went back out to sit at Streeter's desk. I described to him what had happened at the house a few hours earlier, during the storm.

"You sure you weren't imagining things?"

I bit my lip. "My imagination isn't that good. Have you got someone to take me home to check it out?"

"Like Kenny told you, we can't get through up that way by car. When the harbormaster gets on duty in the morning, he'll give us a boat to head on over. All my guys are out on calls on the North Road as it is. Hell of a lot of property damage, and we're checking on some of the seniors to make sure nobody's hurt or got any kind of medical emergency without power. Break-ins are taking a backseat right now. Anyone off-island you want to call?"

I shook my head. "Mind if I stay here till morning?"

"I'll brag about this for a long time to come. Only police officer in Dukes County to have a prosecutor in residence. Wouldn't have it any other way. We've got a couple of cots upstairs if you want to stretch out until daybreak."

I ached to close my eyes and be in a safe place. "Is it too much to ask for milk and cookies?"

Chip smiled at me and led me up to the small locker room. I thanked him and stretched out on the narrow bed, tucking Kenny's dog's blanket around my body.

I tossed fitfully for most of the remaining hours of the night, getting up to brush my teeth and try to give some direction to my hair a little after six-thirty in the morning. Sunlight was streaming in the window and reflecting off the water's bright blue surface. By the time I got downstairs, a fresh pot of coffee was brewing on the hot plate and two other cops had reported in for duty.

I introduced myself and asked for Chip.

"Gone up to your place to look around," one of the guys told me. "Somebody picking up lobster pots from the pond ran him over there. Asked to have you wait here for him."

I sat on a bench in front of the station, sipping my coffee. I could even make out my house on the hilltop across the way. Within the hour, Chip Streeter walked up the driveway, a clipboard swinging in his left hand, and what looked like a pair of my rain boots in the other. I stood to greet him.

"You find anything?"

"Sure looks like Bigfoot was roaming around up there."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to alarm you too much, but you weren't exaggerating the least bit. There's some impressions in front of the house, going off to the right, that must be your feet. Something with a soft bottom, no ridges?"

I stuck out my foot and showed him the plain sole of my suede moccasin. I nodded my head. That was the direction from which I'd left to go down to the cottage.

"But there's a set of footprints-I guess 'bootprints' is a better word-that circles the entire house. Firm and deep in the mud-"

"Did you take pictures? Can you make an impression of-"

"CSI, we ain't, Alex. Maybe the state police can do that kind of stuff. I'll give 'em a call."

"Could I go back over with you? Sometimes there's such a clear imprint that you can make out the brand and size of the footwear."

"Suit yourself. Road crew is out already, trying to clear the debris away. Somebody can drive over with you in an hour or two, if you're willing to hang around. You ought to know that whoever it was tracked inside the house, too. All over, like he was looking for you, or for something you had."

I sat back down on the bench, trying to think about who this could possibly have been.

"Alex, you got any ideas? You'll have to look the place over and tell us whether anything is missing. I checked the usual stuff-TV, CD player-all that's still there. I got no way of knowing about your personal things, cash or jewelry. Thought you might need these to get around, though."

Streeter handed me the boots. I removed the damp moccasins and pulled on the heavier gear.

"I'd like to ride over when you get the chance. I didn't have anything valuable with me." I didn't think my visitor was a petty thief, but there was no point pressing the issue with Streeter.

"Well, hang around and make yourself at home. They got some doughnuts down at the Texaco station. That's about all we got to offer so far today."

"Sounds perfect."

"Ever see those photographs of the thirty-eight storm, the one that washed out half of Menemsha and killed scores of folk all over the area?"

"Yeah."

"Check out the beach parking lot. Doesn't exist anymore. It's covered with mounds of sand, rocks the size of my head, dead fish everywhere. Makes you understand that mean old hurricane and why so many people died back then. Puts your own bad night in perspective."

It was only a short walk from police headquarters, past the closed shops and fish stores, to the gas dock at the marina adjacent to the state beach and jetty. I was stunned by the amount of destruction that Gretchen had visited on this strip of land. This was the road I had driven down the night before last, and now it was clear that water had breached the beachfront and swamped the pavement, making it unrecognizable as the same ground.

I stepped in sandpiles that came up to the tops of my knee-high boots, bypassing crabs and shellfish that had been crushed by the waves. The Unicorn and Quitsa Strider, massive steel commercial-fishing boats, had weathered the storm just fine. But the old shacks that bordered the waterfront had thrown off shingles and shutters, pieces of wooden board sticking out from the sand all along the way that I walked.

The lone outpost at the end of the road was a small gray building just beyond the harbormaster. On the land side, the gas pumps that fueled our cars were half-covered with what had once been Menemsha's beach. The other side was known as Squid Row, where boats gassed up before heading back out to sea, through the Bight, onto the corner at Devil's Bridge, where Vineyard Sound met the Atlantic Ocean. On a given morning, the old-timers filled the benches there, trading yarns and fish tales, while cabin cruisers vied for space at the dock with working boats that trolled the waters for blues and stripers.

Cassie, the sixteen-year-old girl who usually pumped my gas, held open the door for me when she saw me coming in. "Hey, Alex, wasn't that awesome last night?"

"Guess so. Hope you were home with your folks."

"Yep. Drove down here this morning but had to leave the car at the top of the hill and walk down 'cause of the sand and all. Picked up some stuff from Humphrey's," she said, lifting the lid on a box of pastries and baked goods. "Got a little generator, too, so we have some coffee brewed. Help yourself."

She turned away and walked to the door that opened onto the dock, pushing it and sticking her head out for a look at something. "Hey, Ozzie," she called out to one of the ancient mariners seated with their backs against the shop, "let me know when that big one pulls in. I don't want to miss her."

"She's next. Get yourself out here," came the reply.

"Wanna see a beauty?" she asked me. "Fancy yacht out here waiting to fill up."

I poured myself a cup of coffee and grabbed three sugared doughnut holes before stepping out onto the dock and saying hello to several of the regulars who had parked themselves at the water's edge for a bird's-eye view of the day's events. It was certain that there would be no traffic on the land side for the foreseeable future.

By the time I stepped out onto Squid Row, the gleaming black-hulled vessel had maneuvered its way into the harbor and turned around so that its rear end was against the dock, ready to start refueling.

The gold letters shined brightly as the sun glanced off them. Pirate was the name of the boat, and its home port was Nantucket. Graham Hoyt's yacht.

I closed my eyes and thought of last night's prowler. Could it possibly have been Graham Hoyt? How could I have forgotten that he was the one who first talked to me about coming to the Vineyard because of the storm?

The first mate and steward, dressed in crisp white sweatshirts with the yacht's name and outline emblazoned on the chest, were tying up along the pier. Cassie was asking them if they needed help and trying to make herself useful.

I started to make small talk with them, too, anxious to find out where they-and their skipper-had spent the previous evening. "She's a beauty. Hope you didn't have anyone on board during that blow last night."

"Had her all safe and sound, thanks, in the lee. No harm done."

"She'd hardly fit here in Menemsha," I said, aware that the marinas in Edgartown and Vineyard Haven would have had no problem docking a boat this size.

"No, no. Over in Nantucket," the mate shot back. "That's her home."

"You guys actually sit it out on the water in this?"

"Captain's orders," he said, looking over at the steward and laughing.

"Must have been rough."

"They don't make enough Dramamine to get you through one of these. And we were damn well sheltered."

Cassie was filling the fuel tanks and surveying the length of the yacht with great admiration.

I laughed, too. "Bet the owner doesn't hang out in the storm with you."

"Are you kidding? He wouldn't leave this baby for a minute. Rode the whole thing through with us. Only his wife got a pass to stay onshore."

"Is that you, Alexandra? I would never have recognized you."

I was startled by the sound of Hoyt's voice. Squinting and shielding my eyes from the sun, I raised my head and saw him in the cockpit on the flying bridge, one flight above the crew.

"I was just trying to call you," he said, waving the cell phone in his hand. "Thought sevenA.M. was a respectable time to wake you up. We're heading for the city and needed to gas up. Don't know when the airport will reopen but thought you might want to hitch back with us."

"Way to go, Alex," Cassie said. "Totally cool."

"No thanks, Graham. Cell phones don't work in Menemsha." This sleepy little village was a black hole in the world of cell communications. "There's no tower."

"No tower, no power," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "How about the ride home?"

"Thanks. I may stay on the island for a while," I said, lying to him. I wasn't about to spend another night in the house until the broken glass was replaced and the locks and alarm system were changed. But that didn't mean I was ready to set out on the high seas with Graham Hoyt.

"I bet you won't say no to a hot breakfast. How about you, young lady? Want a tour?"

Cassie had stepped out of her boots and climbed on board without hesitating for a moment. From over my shoulder I heard one of the guys on the bench urging me to follow her. "What are you waitin' for, honey? Don't see one of these big guys pull into town every day. You afraid they's got Bluebeard hiding belowdeck or what?"

I forced a smile and kicked off my boots, winking at the grizzled old-timers. "If they pull out with Cassie and me on board, tell Chip to get the navy after them, okay?"

The men laughed but I wasn't entirely kidding.

Hoyt extended his hand to help me off the ladder, then turned to the steward. "Why don't you tell the chef to set a table on the aft deck for three? Some scrambled eggs and bacon, a fresh pot of coffee, and some juice."

The knots in my stomach were turning somersaults. Perhaps it was because I had not really eaten yesterday, but also because I worried about where Graham Hoyt had been during the storm. What if his crew were covering for him? They had no reason to be setting up a false alibi, I reassured myself. They couldn't possibly have thought that the bedraggled woman in the oversized flannel shirt and the Capri-length chinos was trying to cross-examine them.

"So this is my little folly, Alex. Let me show you two around."

I followed Hoyt and Cassie through the entrance into the yacht's main salon. The entire room was paneled in teakwood, with thick green leather sofas and wool sisal carpeting. Crystal wine goblets hung upside down over the wide bar, notched in place so they wouldn't fly off and break in the fiercest of storms.

"Come see the staterooms," he said, leading us down the aft staircase. The master had a queen-sized bed and full bathroom, and the two smaller rooms were just as exquisitely appointed, in the softest shade of sea foam.

"How big is she?" Cassie asked.

"Ninety-eight feet. A Palmer Johnson. Cruises at twelve and a half knots, holds five thousand gallons of fuel."

Cassie was more interested in the specs than I was, but the thought of the upkeep was overwhelming. It had to cost more than a million dollars a year to keep this toy afloat, with its crew of four and all that went with it.

Back on deck, I leaned over to check whether I could see how far below water the boat's bottom went. "What does she draw?"

"Six feet. We just make it in here."

I noticed a small motorboat tied up alongside us. A twenty-foot Boston Whaler. For most people, that would have been more than enough of a vessel.

I looked at the gold lettering on the rear of the Pirate 's tender: Rebecca.

I turned to Hoyt. "Daphne du Maurier?"

"You mean Rebecca? Is that what I named her for? You really see murder in everything, don't you, Alex?" Hoyt shook his finger at me.

"Happens to be one of my favorite novels."

"Yes, but my wife would never go out on the water with me, if that was the inspiration for her name. James Gordon Bennett-the first commodore of the yacht club-that's what his boat was called. She's named in his honor."

The steward came back to whisper to Hoyt that our breakfast was about to be served.

"Is there another phone line? Other than the cell, I mean."

"Certainly. We've got satellite phones on board. Todd, will you show Ms. Cooper to the cockpit?"

I wanted to talk to Mike Chapman. I wanted him to know I was on Hoyt's yacht, and confirm his whereabouts last night. This might be the only working phone I would be near all day.

I reached voice mail at his apartment and on his cell. I dialed Mercer Wallace. The captain was working on his route chart right next to me, so I explained where I was without telling the story of the previous night.

"When are you coming back to the city?" Mercer asked.

"Uh-I'm still not quite sure." I wanted to tell him as soon as the airport was open and I could find some way to get to it, but I couldn't trust the captain not to repeat that to Hoyt.

"You alone there on the Titanic?"

"No, no, no. Got one of my local friends here with me, and we're getting right off after breakfast. We won't even leave the dock."

"Well, hurry home, Alex. I'm trying to make progress. Seems that it most likely was Mrs. Gatts's brother-in-law who followed you down to the church last week. His supervisor says he signed out of court at fiveP.M, just up the street from you. Left the building in his uniform, without changing, which is not his usual pattern. Chief said he seemed in a hurry to go somewhere." That explained the navy blue pants. "And he called in sick the next day-just didn't come to work."

"Anybody keeping an eye on him?"

"They read him the riot act. If we can prove something, they'll suspend him."

"All circumstantial, but it's a start. Anything else before I lose you?"

"Yes, ma'am. Found out yesterday that Tiffany Gatts has some other family ties that might interest you," Mercer said.

"Like who?"

"Seems her boyfriend Kevin had good reason to know about Queenie Ransome and her collection of coins. Tiffany's cousin is the one who let the cat out of the bag, about valuables being in Queenie's apartment."

"I give up, Mercer. Who's her cousin?"

"Spike Logan. Know who I mean? The Harvard guy who lives up on the Vineyard."

I took another breath and thought about the intruder who had frightened me out of my home, into the wind and rain. Spike Logan lived up here. Where the hell was he during last night's storm?