Chapter 18
18
Aaron stared at the body on the shore and wished he had a cup of Belinda’s coffee in his hand. He didn’t need the jolt of caffeine because the corpse was enough of a jolt to his stomach. He needed it for the comfort it always provided. It might have been Bess’s blend of coffee beans, but Belinda’s hand would pass it to him, making him feel like it was her way of saying, “Have a good day.”
Now, staring at the gruesome sight, he wasn’t sure anything would have made this a good day.
“Christ,” Sam cursed under his breath as he stood beside Aaron. “What a way to start the morning.”
The call came from a renter staying south of Baytown in a beachfront house on the bay.
“I have to tell you,” Aaron said, looking at the house behind them. “Finding out whose property we were going to be on made me think someone was playing a joke on us. I mean, how the hell could we end up having to deal with Harry Malroney again?”
Two months ago, Sam and Aaron had to deal with the unpleasant homeowner of a million-dollar beach house when thieves had come in the night and stolen his kayaks, canoes, and even TVs from one of his rental homes. Now, getting another call from the irate man who was already blustering and threatening to call the governor was not who they wanted to deal with.
“I thought the same thing,” Sam said. “But dead bodies in the water washing up on the sand don’t get to choose which homeowner they land on.”
They had both noted and observed the body, ensuring that the tide would not carry it out into the bay again. But until the medical examiner arrived, they were unable to touch anything.
Already taking notes on the man’s clothing, Aaron muttered, “He’s not dressed like a man going out fishing.” A gray suit jacket was worn over a white button-up shirt, along with gray slacks and gray socks, and one lone shoe completed his apparel. The white shirt was stained around the area of a small hole in the chest.
Trying to think of something to talk about besides the corpse resting several feet away, Aaron asked, “How are Hayley and the kids?”
Even though they were starting a murder investigation, Sam’s expression relaxed as he smiled widely. “They’re good. Thank God, we’re all good.”
Sam and Hayley finally recognized and admitted their feelings for each other, and she and the kids moved out to the shore. Last month, he and Sam were tangled in investigations too close to home when the kids discovered two skeletal remains in Sam’s backyard while digging for dinosaur bones. Sam and Hayley had spent weeks making sure the kids were all right while he and Sam searched for the identity of the two victims. One was from over a hundred years ago, and the other from about thirty years ago. Unfortunately, Hayley had been caught up in the discovery of who murdered the second victim.
“I can go my entire life and never have cases like those again,” Sam said, shaking his head.
“Seriously. So when is the wedding?”
Sam grinned again. “Right before Christmas. The kids will have time off, and we’ll take them to Florida with us.”
“A honeymoon with the kids?”
Sam shrugged. “Right now, we want to make sure the kids are there to celebrate with us. Hayley and I will escape for a weekend sometime in the spring.”
Before they had a chance to talk further, Harry Malroney’s voice boomed out over the dune. “Sounds like the medical examiner is here, and he’s giving her an earful,” Aaron said. They turned to see deputies having to hold back the angry homeowner as the medical examiner walked down the private wooden pier to the sandy beach.
“Cora,” Sam and Aaron both greeted simultaneously.
Dr. Cora Wadsworth was now serving as the medical examiner for the two Virginia counties on the Eastern Shore. Aaron wasn’t sure of her age because she looked young, yet her knowledge of murder scenes appeared extensive. She had transferred from a major hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, to the rural Eastern Shore. He figured a story existed, but she kept her conversations strictly professional.
She slipped on her PPE suit, pulling the paper booties over her shoes as she approached. The detectives greeted her as she slipped under the yellow tape the deputies had used to mark off the area around the body.
“From what I understand, the homeowner is the one who found the body?”
“Actually, this is one of his rental houses. The renter discovered the body when he went out for a run this morning. The idiot called the owner before calling 911. Malroney owns several rentals, and his personal residence is about half a mile south of here.” Seeing Cora lift a brow, Aaron continued, “We’ve had to deal with him before.”
She shook her head. “Lucky you.” Sarcasm dripped from the two words.
She began snapping photographs of the area and the body. She didn’t speak much as she worked, then stood and looked at them. “I know you guys are anxious to get started on this. I’ll know more once I get to the autopsy. Obviously shot, but at this point, I don’t know if he was dead before going into the water until I have a chance to take a look at his lungs.”
She signaled for two deputies standing nearby to assist in rolling the body over.
“No exit wound on the back,” Aaron noted, staring down at the jacket.
“That means I can fish the bullet out of him.” Cora nodded but continued to take pictures in silence. Finally, she stood and looked around the area. “Okay,” she called out, and the EMTs walked over with the body bag. “I’ll get him to the hospital morgue and begin the autopsy this afternoon. As soon as I know anything, I’ll give you a call.”
Once the body bag was carried to the pier, Cora walked behind the stretcher, and Aaron and Sam followed. Looking up, Aaron sighed. “Oh God. Harry’s waiting. Can’t the deputies keep him the fuck away?”
Sam looked over at Aaron and lifted a brow.
“Yeah, right,” Aaron muttered.
“I want to know what’s going on!” Harry demanded. He was still sporting the poor dye job of solid black hair that did little to hide the thin hair on top styled in an unflattering comb-over. With a hawkish nose, thin face, and wiry body, his weasel appearance was as unwelcoming as the first time they’d encountered him.
“Mr. Malroney, the investigation has just begun?—”
“Well, I’m losing money as we speak. The tenant who discovered the body is packing up to leave and says they want a refund. Of course, I’m not going to give him one. It’s not my fault a dead body washed up on the beach. Dolphin or human, I don’t care. He’s not getting a refund!”
Aaron and Sam shared a look. “We need to speak to the tenant. Until we understand more about what happened, they can’t leave.”
“Fine. Then you can explain why he won’t get a refund!”
“The money situation between you and your renter is not our concern. But if you’ll lead the way to the house, we can talk to him now.”
They followed the still grumbling man to the house. “He’s in there. You can deal with him yourself. I’ve had enough of him to last me the whole month!” Harry stomped around the path toward the front.
Aaron and Sam entered through the back sliding glass door into a two-story room with expansive windows facing the bay. Once inside, Aaron turned and looked outside the windows. From the first-floor vantage point, he was unable to see the beach where the man’s body had been found. Turning around, he looked up to see a second-floor loft that would’ve had a view.
A man was walking down the stairs toward them. Tall and lanky, he had neatly styled hair and wore a long-sleeved polo shirt and khaki slacks. His expression was tight as he approached the detectives. Before Aaron had a chance to introduce themselves, the man spoke. “I’m Jon Matherson. No ‘h.’”
Aaron blinked. “I’m sorry… no ‘h’?”
“It’s just Jon with no ‘h.’ J.O.N.” He huffed. “I assumed you would want to know how to spell my name correctly.”
Sam’s jaw tightened, and Aaron forced his eyes not to roll. “Thank you. I’m Detective Bergstrom, and this is Detective Shackley. Could you please describe your movements this morning?”
“I always wake before my wife. I dressed warmly so I could take my dog for a walk on the beach.”
Aaron shot a look toward Sam, seeing his brow lower.
“Mr. Matherson, we didn’t see any paw prints on the beach in the area. There were just shoe prints.”
“Well, that’s because my dog wasn’t walking.”
Now Aaron’s brow furrowed. “But you just said you were taking your dog for a walk on the beach.”
“That’s right. I was walking and carrying my dog.”
“You were carrying your dog?” Sam pressed.
Jon threw his hands out to the side, snapping his fingers. A small, yippie dog came flying down the stairs, and Aaron's brows lifted to his forehead. He’d never spent time around a toy dog and had no idea what breed it was. The little dog raced around Jon’s feet, and he bent and scooped it up, holding it lovingly in his hands.
He looked up at the deputies and said, “Hercules gets very chilly. Even though he had his sweater on, I didn’t want his paws to get cold. And sand is horrible to get out of fur.”
Aaron hid his surprise but felt like he’d stepped into an alternate reality. He stared at the tiny dog that fit easily in the man’s hands, hardly looking like the Greek god Hercules. But at least that explained why there were no dog prints on the beach.
“The body isn’t far from where the pier steps go down to the beach, yet you didn’t see it right away?”
“I headed to the north.” Jon shrugged. “I was looking down, talking to Hercules. It wasn’t until we walked for about fifteen minutes that I set him down and let him do his business. Then I picked him back up, and we headed back. I was almost to the steps when I glanced over and saw a large object on the shoreline to the south. I hardly expected to find a body when taking a morning walk, detective.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Sam said. “Yet you called the rental owner first instead of 911?”
“I had no idea what the protocol would be out here. It’s hardly a metropolitan area, and I wasn’t sure what I should do. So Hercules and I came into the house, met my wife, who was just coming downstairs. I told her to go ahead and prepare breakfast, that I needed to make a call to Mr. Malroney. He wasn’t happy, as you can imagine. Still, he told me to dial 911 to report what I found.” He shivered visibly, saying, “You can imagine how shocking it all was. I really wasn’t thinking straight.”
“So… you found a dead body and came back into the house, and told your wife to fix breakfast, then called the landlord?”
Jon blinked, his brow lowering. “Yes. What else should I have done? There was nothing she could do to help the man on the beach, so she might as well go ahead and let us have breakfast before we leave.”
“About that, sir. We’ll have to ask you to stay until we’ve completed our initial investigation,” Sam said.
“You can’t be serious? We certainly had nothing to do with it! And now, with the police crawling all over the beach, we can’t even enjoy our view. We booked this place for a month and have only stayed here three nights!”
“You’re here for a month?” Aaron asked.
“We needed a getaway. My wife has a very delicate disposition.”
Aaron held the man’s gaze, then nodded slowly. “Be that as it may, you’re not allowed to leave at this time.” Not giving Jon a chance to continue complaining, he asked, “Did you see or hear anything in the past three days, either in the area or down on the beach?“
“Absolutely not. My wife takes a sleeping pill, and I have always been a sound sleeper.”
“We’d like to speak to your wife. Please ask her to join us,” Aaron continued.
“This has been all very upsetting. She’s resting.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed as he growled, “Did she go down to the beach and see the body?”
“Of course not!”
“Then I fail to see what exactly has been so upsetting that she can’t come to speak to us now.”
Jon looked as though he wanted to argue but turned and walked back up the stairs. The sound of murmuring from above was heard, and he returned with a tall, thin woman whose hair and makeup were meticulously fixed. The dog was now in her arms, and she descended the stairs in a regal manner.
Aaron looked at Sam, then said quietly, “While you talk to her, I want to go to the landing above to see their view.”
Jon’s disdain was evident as Aaron gave him a simple explanation, and he headed up the stairs. Hearing Jon’s wife give unhelpful answers to Sam’s questions, Aaron padded across the thick carpet and looked out the second-story windows toward the beach. From this vantage point, the body would’ve been visible. Of course, he had no idea what time it washed up on shore, but slipping his phone from his pocket, he snapped several pictures out the window. A few kayaks and a row boat were close to the dunes, and he rolled his eyes, remembering their previous dealings with Harry Malroney and his stolen kayaks.
Looking around the loft, he noted the furnishings on the long landing, including several decorative tables and a comfortable chair next to a bookcase. As his gaze slid over the area outside the bedrooms, he noticed a pair of binoculars resting on one of the small tables and a telescope next to the chair.
He scrubbed his hand over his face and descended the staircase. “I’d like to ask both of you if you’ve used the telescope or the binoculars on the landing since you’ve been here?”
She blinked, her eyelashes fluttering. “I certainly haven’t. I take no pleasure in staring out into the distance at ugly cargo carriers in the bay. We take walks, look for shells, and make sure Hercules and Aphrodite get fresh air from the deck.”
At this, it was his turn to blink as he realized the dog she held in her hands was different from the one in Jon’s hand, although they appeared similar.
Sam nodded. “Thank you. We’ll be in contact when you will be able to leave the area. The deputies will finish canvassing the area later today, and you can resume your beach walks.”
“You expect us to walk our dogs out there where a body was?”
“I didn’t think they got their paws in the sand,” Aaron asked.
“They don’t. But they can smell things, can’t they?” Jon huffed.
Sam and Aaron shared another look and then walked to the front door, where they reencountered Harry, his glare still firmly on his face. He continued to complain, but they soon moved past him and out to Aaron’s SUV.
Once inside, they sat, neither speaking for a moment. Finally, Aaron turned to look at his partner. “Are people getting weirder, or is it my imagination?”
Sam heaved a great sigh. “Fuck, I don’t know. You’re talking to a man who recently had two skeletons discovered on his property. I sometimes wonder if I ever know what the fuck is going on.”
“Maybe we should have interviewed Hercules and Aphrodite. They would have made more sense,” Aaron said.
They shared a look, then both began to chuckle. Aaron drove to the next driveway to start questioning the neighbors, even more desperate for a cup of Belinda’s coffee.