Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
Rafe tugged the brim of his hat down to shield his face from the rain and headed around the side of the burned-out building in the gray morning light. An old cabin set back in the woods that was now a smoking pile of ash and rubble. Greasy black smoke hung over it like a pall, heavy and acrid.
The fire crew was finishing their work and gathering up the hoses. He spotted Grey talking with the captain near their rig. “Morning. What’s the story?”
“Looks like a small grow op,” the captain answered.
“Started in a space heater set too close to the wall. The whole structure’s wood.
It went up like a box of matches, even with how wet it’s been lately.
Doesn’t look like anyone’s been living in it.
Grey’ll show you around if you want to take a closer look. ”
“Sure thing.” Grey took him over to the smoking foundation. “This was where the only entrance was. You can see the row of space heaters along the west side. Fire started in the second one from the front.”
Rafe walked over to have a closer look. Everything was charred, the metallic parts of the heaters warped and melted from the heat of the fire. It fascinated him that they could tell exactly where the fire had started.
His expertise was in law enforcement, management, criminal behavior, and he’d become pretty good at reading people.
But he loved all the forensics shit and the ever-evolving science behind it.
Including what Willow’s friend, Bronwyn studied.
Being able to identify and read human bones was so damned cool.
He almost wished another bone would wash up on the beach so he had a good excuse to see her in person again.
The size of the cabin verified this had been a small grow op. “Definitely weed.” Lots of heaters, but no sign of any chemical or scientific equipment that would signal a possible drug lab.
Not alarming in the grand scheme of things—at least if his suspicions about a much larger drug smuggling operation on the island were correct. Weed was legal in Washington State, but to grow it on this scale, a state-issued license was needed.
“Any idea who owns the property?” he asked.
“No clue. Call about the fire came in from a concerned citizen. Maybe someone on one of the neighboring properties. The forest is so dense here, the smoke would only have been visible in the immediate area.”
He nodded. “I’ll have someone check the property records.” Though he didn’t hold out much hope of finding whoever had set up the grow op. A place as isolated as this, that hadn’t been occupied in forever…anyone could have set up shop inside. “You just coming off shift or starting?”
“Finishing. My bed’s calling.”
He nodded. “How’s Maddy doing, do you know? I haven’t talked to your brother since I was up at Willow’s place.”
“She’s okay. Tougher than she looks.”
“Definitely. See you later, man. Get some sleep.” He was anxious to get back to the station. He had a full schedule booked for the day.
On the drive back to town, he got a call from Mae. Only a handful of people outside of work had his personal number. “Morning, Mae. What can I do for you?”
“It could be nothing, but I wanted to mention it to you just in case with everything that’s going on.
You know how quiet it is up here at my place with the dead end street.
Maddy’s at Lachlan’s, but her car is still in the driveway at Willow’s place.
Late yesterday afternoon I saw a car drive past my place and stop for about twenty seconds in front of the cottage.
It was just the driver, and it went past too quick for me to get a full plate, but I got the first three letters, make, model and color. ”
Mae was the unofficial matriarch of Whalebone Cove, and her word carried weight. If she was suspicious of something, he needed to take notice. “That’s great information. I’ll have someone look up the car.”
“Thank you, Rafe. It could be I’m just a paranoid old lady, but it just didn’t sit right with me.”
“You did the right thing.”
“When’s that detective coming over from the mainland?”
“This morning.” Thank God. “I’m headed into the station right now.”
“You’ll be glad for the help.”
That was a hilarious understatement. “You know it.”
“I’m having a dinner here tonight. Willow and Tripp are coming. Are you free?”
He opened his mouth to politely decline because he wanted to read over the Edgerton case file after work.
“Oh, and I think Willow’s friend is still in town. Bronwyn. Of course she’s invited too.”
“What time?” he asked, suddenly keen on accepting the invite.
“Six. Don’t bring anything but yourself.”
“I’m not sure when I’ll wrap up tonight, but I’ll keep you posted. Thanks, Mae, hope to see you later.”
He made the turn onto the main highway that led south back to the coast where Whalebone Cove nestled on the hillside leading down to the harbor, thinking about Bronwyn. And Mae.
Garrett Edgerton had murdered her grandson Carson in cold blood here on the island in a homophobic attack a few years back, stabbing him multiple times and leaving him to bleed out on a back street in town. He’d been arrested, charged, found guilty at his trial, and sentenced to prison.
Through a travesty of the justice system, for some damned reason he’d been paroled.
Then the asshole had come straight back to Skelly to rub it in the locals’ faces.
Soon after that, he’d disappeared. No one had seen or heard from him since April, and now his mother was pushing Rafe hard to have his missing person case reopened.
Rafe and his incoming detective had to decide quickly if they now had the time and resources to focus on the investigation or not. The last known sighting of Edgerton was by passengers on a ferry from Skelly to the mainland.
Rafe arrived in town with time to walk down to Seas the Day Café and grab a latte. On his way back, he spotted Earl coming down the sidewalk toward the station. “I guess it’s that time, huh?” he called out. Their weekly Monday morning briefing.
“Yup.” Earl held the door for him, raindrops glistening on the brim of his Marine Corps ballcap and neatly trimmed beard. “After you.”
Rafe greeted his staff on the way through to his office at the back of the building. Earl closed the door behind them and sat in the chair in front of Rafe’s desk. “This won’t take long today,” the older man said. “Not much to report. I was over on the mainland for a couple days on the weekend.”
Rafe stared at him in surprise. Earl never went to the mainland. He considered himself Skeleton Island’s guardian and took that self-imposed responsibility seriously. “Good for you, Earl. Hope you had some fun over there.”
“Not really, no. I’m glad to be back.”
“Ah.” Okay, moving on. “What’ve you got for me?”
He pulled out his notebook that contained his daily log. “I first noticed a few small boats leaving from a private dock between here and Cedar Point a couple weeks ago. Didn’t think much of it at first, but I made a note of it in my log anyway.”
Rafe took a look at the notes when Earl turned the notebook toward him. Bullet points. Marked with various colored highlighters. Pink signified the most important parts.
“They sail out around the point and come back in within an hour or so. Two guys. Always two guys, and they always carry backpacks. It seems to happen around dawn and right around sunset. I wouldn’t have mentioned it except the pattern is consistent enough to stand out, and it’s the exact same route of the boat that got into trouble and our SAR team responded to. ”
The one where Rafe had subsequently arrested the two survivors with a shit ton of cash.
“It looks to me like they’re meeting up with someone out of sight around the point. There’s nothing up that way. No access road to the shore, no one to see or report anything.”
“Except you.” Just Earl up there keeping watch with his high-powered binos and night vision optical devices. Legend.
“I wasn’t here to verify over the weekend, but it happened again this morning.”
“That’s great work, Earl.” The men he’d arrested after the SAR team had pulled them from the sinking vessel had been waiting for “friends” to come to their rescue.
A speed boat had appeared a few minutes later, coming from the direction Earl had just described, only to take off once it saw the SAR boat already on scene.
That would make anyone’s spidey senses tingle.
Earl nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on it for you.”
“Thanks, Earl. I’d appreciate that.” He knew how thinly the department was stretched. Concerned, dedicated locals like Earl and Mae who loved and cared about the island and its citizens were what gave this place its special magic.
“You got it, Sheriff. That’s all for today.
” He took his notebook and rose, tugged at the waistband of his jeans, his black polo shirt tucked in neatly.
You could take the man out of the Corps, but you could never take the Marine out of him.
“I’ll be in touch if I find anything more.
” He saw himself out and left Rafe’s door partially open as usual.
Rafe dove straight into his inbox and organized things in order of priority. At a knock on the door, he looked up. “Come in.” He smiled when Bronwyn stepped in, trying to ignore the way his pulse jumped.