The Sixth Man

CHAPTER 10

A WALL OF COPS and Feds enveloped Gray’s Lodge. Guests had been interrogated and their rooms searched. And then they’d been told to get other lodgings but not to leave the area. Posing as tourists, Sean and Michelle, by a bit of luck and deduction, happened on the lodge owners, a husband and wife in their sixties, who were visibly upset by what had happened.

“Damndest thing,” said the man, a burly fellow with soft white hair and a tanned face, over a cup of coffee at a gas station within sight of the lodge. He wore a bright red flannel shirt and new jeans.

“The cops just came in and told everyone to clear out?” asked Michelle.

The wife nodded. She was slender, wiry, and looked like she could work her larger husband into the ground. “After they gave them the third degree and searched their underwear drawers. Some of our guests have been coming here for decades, too. They had nothing to do with that man dying.”

“Well, those guests may never come back after this,” said the husband miserably.

“And the dead man, this Bergin guy, he’d just arrived that day?” prompted Sean.

“That’s right,” said the husband.

“But we’d seen him before, of course,” added the woman.

Sean pounced. “So he’d been up here before?”

“Twice before,” said the husband.

“Did you know what for?” asked Michelle.

“Wasn’t for the hunting or fishing,” answered the wife.

“He was a lawyer,” opined the husband.

“Any idea what he was doing up here?” asked Sean.

The husband studied him. “You folks aren’t from around here.”

“No, we just came up yesterday. Staying at Martha’s Inn. Mrs. Burke is really nice.”

Michelle stifled a snort.

“Yeah, she’s a real nice gal,” said the husband in a way that made his wife purse her lips.

“I’ve never been around a murder before,” said Michelle. “Pretty eerie. But I love those true crime shows.”

Sean added, “I wonder why anyone would want to kill a lawyer. He was probably just up here on vacation.”

The wife started to say something, but then looked at her husband questioningly.

He said, “He wasn’t here on vacation. He was Edgar Roy’s lawyer.”

“Edgar Roy?” Sean said blankly.

“Serial killer they got up at Cutter’s Rock. Waiting to be tried. Local paper did a big story on it when they brought him here. They say he’s nuts. I say he’s just playacting so they won’t send him back to Virginia and execute him.”

“My God,” said Michelle. “What’d he do?”

“Murdered a bunch of people and buried them on his farm,” replied the wife, as she shuddered. “He’s not a man. Wild animal, more like it.”

“And this Bergin fellow was his lawyer?” said Sean. “So he had to go to this Cutter’s Rock place and talk to this guy?”

“Well, I guess he had to if he was representing him,” said the husband. He looked at his wife. “And the man’s not been convicted yet.”

“He’s as guilty as sin and everyone knows it,” his wife shot back.

“Well, anyway, I guess it takes all kinds to make a world. Wouldn’t have figured a fellow like Bergin would be a lawyer for the likes of a person like that.”

“So you got to know him?” asked Michelle eagerly. She looked at Sean and feigned naïve excitement about such serious business. “I mean this is so creepy, it’s like a TV show or something.”

The husband nodded. “Yeah, I guess it is. Anyway, the lodge isn’t a large place. Not many guests even when we’re full up. Bergin would come down for breakfast and such. We were close in age. Natural that we would talk about stuff. Interesting fellow.”

Sean said, “And he just told you what he was doing up here? Thought he’d keep that confidential, being a lawyer.”

“Well, not at first and not in so many words. But he asked for directions to Cutter’s Rock one time, and I asked him why he was going up there. And that’s when he told me what he was doing.”

Michelle said excitedly, “Gosh, maybe he was going up to Cutter’s Rock when he was killed?”

“No, don’t think so,” said the husband.

“Because he’d already been there,” said the wife.

“How do you know that?” asked Sean.

The husband answered. “He told me he was heading up there right away. When he checked in he was in a hurry. His flight had been late and he needed to get up to Cutter’s before visiting hours were over. In quite the rush he was.”

“Okay, but maybe he never made it.”

“No, he did. Because he came back here. Had a cup of coffee. I asked him how it went. He said okay, but he didn’t really seem like it had gone okay.”

“What time was that?” asked Sean.

The husband looked at him suspiciously. “What does it matter to you?”

The wife added, “You two ask a lot of questions.”

Before Sean could say anything, Michelle spoke up. “Okay, we should have told you before.” She paused and then said in a low, girlish voice brimming with awe, “We were the ones who found his body.”

The couple looked at her and then Sean. He nodded. “We did,” Sean said quite truthfully.

The words tumbled from Michelle’s mouth. “And it was awful. But exciting at the same time. I mean nothing ever happens to us like that. I’ve never even seen a dead body before. And certainly not one that was murdered.” She shivered. “I absolutely hate guns,” she added with a completely straight face. But then her features lit up. “But it was so exciting. It’s weird, huh?”

The husband said derisively, “Well, it’s excitement I can do without.”

“We found the body around midnight,” prompted Sean. “But he must’ve gotten back from seeing Roy long before that.”

“Oh yeah, about eight. He didn’t have any dinner. Said he wasn’t hungry.”

“Did he talk to you before he left again?”

“No. I didn’t see him leave either. I know he was here around nine. Saw his light on in his room. But I got busy after that.” He looked at his wife. “You didn’t see him either?”

“No. Told the police that too. I was back in the kitchen cleaning up.”

Michelle said, “So it was after nine when he left. But when you talked to him after he got back from Cutter’s Rock, did he mention going out again? Or where he might be going?”

“No. Nothing like that.”

Sean asked, “Did Bergin get any phone calls or packages that day?”

“Phone calls, no. Most people have cells now, of course. And no messages or package at the front desk, nothing like that.”

After asking a few more questions they thanked the couple and left.

Outside, Agent Murdock was waiting for them.

“Playing detective?” he said in a surly tone, nodding toward the couple through the window.

“Just having a cup of coffee. It’s chilly today.”

“Yeah, a cup of coffee with the owners of the lodge where your guy was staying.”

“Another coincidence,” said Michelle.

“Let it be your last one,” replied Murdock.

“Can I have my gun back? I’m feeling kind of naked without it.”

“Ballistics isn’t done yet. I’ll let you know. Could be a while. Paperwork gets backed up. You know how it is.” He stared up at Sean. “I’m hoping I don’t run into you two again. Why don’t you get back to Virginia? Nothing to keep you here.”

“I thought you said we were material witnesses and couldn’t leave the area.”

“I changed my mind. So go!”

“It’s a free country,” said Sean.

“Until it’s not free,” shot back Murdock.

After he left, Michelle headed over to the gas station attendant. “Where’s the closest gun shop?”

“About two miles north of here, right on this road. Place called Fort Maine Guns.”

“Nice assortment of pistols?”

“Oh yeah. You shoot?”

“Only when I have to.”