CHAPTER FOUR #3
“I believe the boat goes to Rosa, unless Eddie had a will that left it to me. But I’m sure he didn’t.
Eddie didn’t like talking about wills or death.
He thought it was bad luck.” He drained his coffee and crumpled the paper cup.
“If Eddie didn’t have a will, Rosa will inherit everything.
She could sell the boat, lease it, or let it sit. ”
“Damn, that’s rough, Gil.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I’ll have to talk to her when things have settled down. Hopefully, she’ll be willing to sell the boat to me or at least lease it to me. If not, I’m in real trouble. I… I don’t know any other way to make a living other than fishing, and I’m too damn old to start over.”
“That’s rough luck.” Crabbing permits in Oregon were limited and worth serious money.
If Eddie had held the primary permit, that was potentially worth tens of thousands of dollars.
It might transfer to Rosa or it might revert, depending on how Oregon handled their partnership.
Either way, it didn’t sound like Gil was going to be in good shape.
The truth was Eddie’s death created real financial consequences for Gil. If the partnership was mostly built on Eddie’s boat and Eddie’s permits, Gil could actually come out worse, not better, from Eddie dying. So if Gil had killed Eddie, he’d just cut his own throat. He seemed too smart for that.
I asked him a few more questions about the fishing partnership, the boat, Eddie’s habits.
Gil answered everything with the same sincere, helpful cooperativeness.
Nothing he said was verifiably wrong as far as I knew.
Nothing he said was particularly illuminating either.
But I appreciated he’d come in voluntarily.
When he left, I sat and stared out the window of my office.
I had a little more to work with now, after talking to the Pruitts and Gil.
Nicki was cleared in my mind. She’d lied to protect her husband, which wasn’t great, but as far as I knew, she’d have had no reason to need Eddie dead.
But both Dale or Gil might have. Although Eddie’s death was going to really hurt Gil financially.
At least I now had a timeline of where Dale had been that might prove helpful.
My stomach growled, and I grimaced. I’d been living on station coffee and vending machine granola bars for a few days, and my body was starting to object. It was close to 5:00 p.m., so I decided to eat at a little sandwich shop near the station before heading home.
The Salt Line Sandwich Co. sat wedged between a bait shop and a place that sold sun hats and postcards.
Inside, it smelled like toasted bread and smoked deli meat.
A chalkboard menu hung crooked behind the counter, and the cooler hummed beneath it, stocked with bottled sodas and plastic tubs of potato salad.
The windows were always a little fogged from the grill.
The door was open, and outside you could hear gulls and the low thrum of boat engines drifting in from the docks.
I ordered a turkey club and sat at a table near the window, going over a few case files on my phone while I waited.
At one point, I looked out the window and saw Spencer out on the dock, talking with Ray.
There was a light breeze fluttering his dark hair, and the sun caught glints of red.
My heart thumped a little faster as I watched him.
I’d enjoyed running into him the other night at the Rusty Anchor.
He’d crossed my mind more than once since then.
I couldn’t deny I found him really attractive.
I’d have liked to have spent more time talking to him, but June had been waiting for me at the table.
My thoughts were interrupted when the girl behind the counter brought my sandwich over.
I stopped watching Spencer and instead dug into my food.
It was delicious as usual. Golden-toasted bread stacked with roasted turkey, crisp bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a swipe of mayo.
When I looked up again, Spencer was gone from the pier, and I felt a pang of disappointment.
After eating, and as I climbed into my SUV to head home, I called Bree. I wanted to see where we were with the video footage before I called it a day.
“Hello?” she sounded wary. “I’m sorry I went home at 5:00 p.m., sir, but my boyfriend got tickets to—”
“It’s not a problem that you went home, Bree. That’s not why I’m calling.”
“Oh.” There was obvious relief in her voice.
I pulled out onto Main Street, heading in the direction of my house. “I was wondering where we are on the harbor camera footage?”
“The footage?” She sighed. “I’ve got about forty hours of tape from three cameras.
The one on the fuel dock is aimed at the pumps, so it’s useless for the pier.
The one on the ice house is too far away.
But the bait shop has a camera over its back door that catches part of the main pier.
It’s not great, but it’s something. I’m going through it first thing tomorrow. ”
“Good. I need to know if Dale Pruitt shows up on that footage, and if so, when. And while you’re at it, see if Gil appears anywhere near the harbor that night. He says he was home sick, but I don’t want to take his word for it.”
“No, of course not. I’ll do that tomorrow, boss.”
I smiled. “Now, go enjoy your evening with your boyfriend.”
“I will.” She laughed. “See you tomorrow.”
I hung up and slipped my cell into my windbreaker pocket.
I thought about calling my date, June, from the other night.
We’d gone out three times, and I’d had fun each time, but I felt like maybe something was missing.
To be honest, I’d had more fun talking to Spencer when I ran into him at the Rusty Anchor while I was on a date with June.
I’d been buzzed and oddly excited to see him sitting there at the bar.
I liked men and women and was inconveniently attracted to Spencer.
If he’d been anyone else, I might have tried to get his number. But he wasn’t anyone else.
Back in Portland, I never came out as bisexual.
I’d felt too much pressure not to. But part of my reason for moving to Coral Cove was to try and live life on my terms. I wasn’t going to shy away from dating a guy if I wanted to, but that guy probably shouldn’t be Spencer Cross.
That could be a complicated situation. Even once this case was over, that was a bad combo.
A cop and a reporter often had conflicting agendas.
I blew out a tired breath and turned into the driveway of my little home.
I wasn’t going to bother calling June. I didn’t want to lead her on when I wasn’t really that interested.
It felt wrong to keep sleeping with her when I saw no future.
She’d made it clear she was looking for a husband, and that wasn’t going to be me. Better to nip it in the bud.
As I climbed from the car, I could hear Scout barking from inside the house. I chuckled, heading up the walk to the front door. Looked like the only warm body I’d have in my bed tonight was going to be Scout.