Chapter 31
“Jesus, this just gets better and better,” Barnaby growled as he pulled the Land Rover into one of the last free spots in the Swan Harbor Marina parking lot. “My stepmother might have murdered my real mother and my father covered it up like it was nothing.”
“One step at a time here.” Gabby was already scanning the marina for the boat they’d seen on Facebook.
Nice try, he thought. But things were looking pretty freaking dire.
“She had means. Annabeth was probably one of the few people who could get a weapon onto the floor without getting stopped. Wealthy white women can get away with a lot. She had opportunity, obviously. And she had motivation. She didn’t want her husband’s lover hanging around. ”
“So she killed her? In a hospital, after signing in on the visitor’s log?” Gabby pointed to a slip at the far end of the marina. “That looks like the one.”
“Maybe she knew her billionaire husband would keep her out of trouble.”
“Well, you know Annabeth. Do you think she would have done that?”
He’d been asking himself that same question ever since they hung up with Nancy. “They divorced when I was a baby, so I can’t say that I know Annabeth at all. She didn’t stay very involved in our lives, just visits now and then.”
“Can you call her?”
Radical thought. He tried to imagine how that would go. Haven’t spoken in a while, how are ya? Did you kill my mother? “I’m not sure how far I’d get with that.”
“Sometimes it’s worth it to see how people react, even if they don’t tell you the truth.”
He looked at her in the passenger seat, her metallic sunglasses making her look like a movie star, and wondered if all this drama would make her walk away.
Her parents were solid citizens, respected in their professions, highly accomplished, contributing to the community.
Then there was him, drowning in money and secrets.
“Are you okay?” she asked gently. “I know this is a lot.”
He didn’t want to voice his fear just yet. “I’m fine. How about you? This isn’t necessarily related to your story about Sasha Mackey and her lineage. If you want to skip it and get back to the island I can call a water taxi for you.”
She tilted her head with a teasing smile.
“Trying to get rid of me? Not a chance. Besides, didn’t we just discover that it all could be related?
Jill Garner was there when Sophie died. Keith Garner was Amelia’s student and lived in her house.
Sophie is Tamara’s daughter, and Sasha is related to Tamara.
What if it is all connected? And then there’s another thing… ”
His head was starting to hurt, but he gestured for her to continue. “What’s that?”
“Did you catch Nancy’s reference to blood and vomit?”
Seeing his reaction, she held up a hand. “I know, it’s a leap. Blood and vomit aren’t exactly unusual. But I did note it.”
She made to get out of the truck, but before she could, he snagged her wrist. Cupping a hand around the back of her neck, he drew her close for a long, intimate kiss. “I’m definitely not trying to get rid of you,” he murmured. “I’m glad you’re with me.”
When they drew apart, she was smiling. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
And the world brightened.
He swung out of the Land Rover, while Gabby did the same, her tote bag over her shoulder. As they headed along the float toward the catamaran, Gabby shuddered lightly. “I might never look at sailboats the same way again after what happened in the spring. You know I was held captive on one, right?”
“I wish I’d been on the island then. I could have been a hero.”
“I was my own hero that time, but maybe you’ll get another chance,” she teased.
“I’m not sure if I should hope for that or not.”
They were still laughing about that question when they reached the catamaran’s slip.
The boat was sleek and well-maintained, its twin pontoons cutting through the water like butter.
A wiry man with carrot-red hair streaked with gray was working on the boat’s deck, a small paint can in one hand, a tar-covered brush in the other.
The scent of tar drifted over the railings toward them.
Barnaby had always loved that smell, which reminded him of boat piers and hot summers.
“Angus Telford?” Barnaby called.
The man straightened and froze at the sight of them. “Stop where you are. You have no permission to board. This boat is my castle and I’m standing my ground.”
Okay then. Barnaby and Gabby shared a glance. She tipped her head to indicate he should take the lead.
Barnaby raised his hands in a gesture of acceptance. “We don’t want to come onboard, we just want to ask you some questions. Your catamaran’s a stunner. What is it, a Sunreef Seventy?”
In his experience, boat people loved talking about their boats. But Angus didn’t soften one bit.
“I have to talk to you people at work, but not here. Get off my slip.”
You people? Barnaby exchanged another glance with Gabby. Where was all this hostility coming from? “I’m Barnaby Carmichael. My family is paying for this slip. I can stand on it if I want.”
This time, the Carmichael name-drop didn’t work. “You’re only paying for it because if you don’t, all hell’s gonna break loose. Everyone will know about you.” He pointed the paintbrush at Barnaby. “I got a contract and you better live up to it.”
Standoff.
Barnaby wasn’t sure what approach to take next. He glanced at Gabby.
“Mr. Telford,” she said, as polite and respectful as a person could be. “We’re here because we’re very interested in what you have to say.”
He didn’t even look at her, but kept his focus on Barnaby. “You shouldn’t have brought her. This is my castle. And I know about you. You can’t come on either. Only pure-bloods on my ark.”
A shock ran through him as he realized what was going on here. Pure-bloods? Angus Telford was a racist who didn’t want a Black person near him. He must hide his beliefs at work, because people of every race and ethnicity worked and received treatment at the hospital.
He stepped closer to Gabby, so no daylight separated them.
“I came here to talk, but if you’re going to insult my colleague, I’ll have to take another look at that contract.”
He felt a hard nudge in his side. Gabby’s lips were tight, her jaw set.
She didn’t want him to throw his weight around, he realized.
She wanted answers, just as he did. “We just want to know about what happened in the hospital when he was born. He can release you from your NDA if you’re concerned about that. ”
“What happened was a sin.” He waved at Gabby, though he still wouldn’t look at her. “She was maybe three shades lighter than her. Wouldn’t pass the paper bag test. Now look at you.”
Barnaby’s skin crawled. The paper bag test? What was this, the 1930s?
He reassessed the dude. Someone like him, with such hardened views, would he even respond to threats about his bottom line?
But there was one thing he definitely cared about.
“I don’t care if people know I have some Black in me.
I’m proud of it. Tell the world if you want.
And pay for your own marina bills. I’m sure that will be easy to do once I make some calls to the hospital.
We’re their biggest funder, you know. It’d be a shame if you lost both your job and your boat. ” He gestured to Angus’ pride and joy.
“This boat is my castle,” he screeched. “No one’s taking my boat.”
Barnaby was starting to wonder if Angus was a little “slow,” the way he kept repeating that same phrase. “A castle built on lies and secrets. And murder. If you saw something, you should have gone to the police. Now you’re an accessory to murder.”
“It wasn’t murder! She deserved it! She stole someone else’s husband, that ni—”
“Okay!” Barnaby barked. Maybe Gabby didn’t want him to run interference, but he was not going to stand there and listen to that kind of shit. “We’re done here. I don’t need to hear any more from you.”
“It should have been you, too.” Angus spat those words with pure venom.
“Almost was. I saw her there in her vomit and all that blood, so much blood, like she was stabbed. You were right there next to her, in her arms. I thought, best if I finish the job. Don’t know how she did it, cuz she was half-dead, but she made a sound and folks came running.
I backed away and didn’t touch you. You’re only alive because of me. ”
Barnaby’s throat was so tight he couldn’t get a word out.
“Because of her,” Gabby said softly. “Not you, her.”
Angus shrugged sullenly. “Still owes me. I never said a word and he got to grow up thinking he was God’s gift instead of—”
“Okay.” This time it was Gabby’s turn to cut him. “We get it. Do you know how she was killed? Or who did it?”
He refused to look her way or answer.
“You don’t know anything else, do you?” said Barnaby. “You got your boat and that was the end of it.”
“My boat is my castle.”
They left after that, walking in tense silence. Barnaby’s back prickled with awareness, as if Angus was hurling death glares and secret curses at him.
“Apparently,” Barnaby said once they were halfway across the parking lot and his tension had eased, “His boat is his castle.”
“So I hear.” Their shared laughter landed somewhere between relieved and traumatized. “We did learn something. Sophie was more visibly Black than Tamara or you. Do you think that’s important?”
“I don’t know. I wish he knew more about the murder weapon, whatever it was. Didn’t he say she was stabbed? Or that’s what he thought?”
“If she was stabbed, I doubt Annabeth did it.”
“Why not?” He was still stuck on the visuals Angus had evoked. That pool of blood, Sophie’s eyes. He might never get those images out of his head.
“It actually takes a lot of strength to knife someone. Not to sound morbid, but I’ve researched it for another story for the podcast. You have to know where to aim the knife for it to be immediately effective, which this killer would have wanted, given that people were coming in and out all the time.
The way Angus described it, it took a superhuman effort for her to make a sound.
That was probably because of where the knife struck.
I think it’s more likely to be someone familiar with anatomy. ”
“So someone who worked at the hospital.”
“Maybe. They would also have an easier time getting a knife through the door than a visitor would have.”
Some of what she said made sense, but not all of it. “Wouldn’t a medical professional know easier ways to kill her than stabbing her with a knife?”
“Maybe they were making a point.”
“What point?”
Gabby touched his arm. “This is going to sound harsh, but I think they wanted to…obliterate her. They wanted her to know what was happening. It was personal.”
“Racist, like Angus?”
“I don’t know. I really wish we could talk to Jill Garner, that obstetrics nurse.”
That would be hard to do, since she’d died in a plane crash. “Got a Ouija board we can work with?”
She smiled ruefully. “Now that would be a great podcast, if I could do that. I wonder…”
“What?”
“Amelia bought the house from the Garners. Heather remembered that they stayed in her guesthouse until Keith finished high school. Maybe there’s something in the guesthouse that will shed some light.”
“Another journal, like that old one you found?”
“You never know. We should go back out to Sea Smoke and poke around. It’s not the crime scene, so the police shouldn’t mind.”
He nodded as he clicked the fob to unlock the Land Rover. “I can try to talk to my father too. Maybe I’ll catch him in a lucid but confessional mood. If he helped in the coverup, he must know some of what happened. Or he could have already lost those particular brain cells.”
“It’s a plan.” She gave a weary smile. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’ll be happy to get back to Sea Smoke. That Angus…” She shivered. “Gave me the heebie-jeebies.”
“Same.” He gave her a cautious glance, pausing before they got into the Land Rover. “I know it’s not exactly the same, but that’s the first time I’ve ever been treated as ‘less than’ because of my genetic background.”
“Yeah? How’d that feel?”
“It didn’t feel good. I’m still processing. I’m sorry if I tried to ride to your rescue there. Is that what bothered you?”
“You know something? It did at first, because I can handle that kind of thing on my own. But then I saw just how nasty he was, and how he was treating you almost as bad as me, and then I didn’t care so much anymore.
When it comes to that kind of person, I’ll take all the support and good energy I can get. ”
He smiled, relieved that he hadn’t inadvertently, and with the best of intentions, screwed things up. “You got it. Whenever and wherever you want it.”
“Oh baby, I like the sound of that” she teased, just as her phone rang. “It’s Heather.”
They both slid onto the Land Rover’s leather seats as Gabby answered her phone. Immediately her glance swiveled to Barnaby. “They let Tamara out of jail,” she told him. “Heather went to check on her and she was already gone.”
“Is she back home?”
“Probably, but that’s not even the weird part.
They insisted she post some enormous amount of money as bail.
She said she could get it, but it would take a little time.
They let her go home in the meantime. I guess that means she’s out on probationary bail?
If she can’t get the funds, she’ll go back to jail. ”
“I’ll get it for her,” he said instantly. “I’ll call right away.”
“No, they said it couldn’t be Carmichael money because of all the pending charges. So strange. Have you ever heard of anything like that?”
He didn’t have a lot of familiarity with bail, but it sounded sketchy to him.
“Hell no. Who said that?”
Gabby put her phone on speaker and repeated the question.
“Tamara said Detective Hooper told her that,” said Heather.
Barnaby frowned, since he much preferred the other detective, the smart and sardonic Detective Chen. “What about Chen? Where’s she?”
“Apparently she hasn’t been around. She came down with some bug and hasn’t left the inn since you guys went into town.”
“And Luke? Is he onboard with that?”
“Honestly, they’ve been keeping Luke completely out of the loop. How quickly can you get back here? I don’t know what’s going on and I’m worried.”