Chapter 16
"Ican't believe you let that son-of-a-bitch walk!" Matt said when we caught up with him.
He stood in the doorway of his home on Seagrass Park. It was a modest one-story with a well-manicured lawn and a few palm trees standing guard. The yard was surrounded by a chain-link fence. This was a far cry from Palm Haven.
I told him, "The County and DCF did a full investigation.”
"He's a freak show!” Matt continued. “Dustin doesn't deserve to breathe free air. Hell, the son-of-a-bitch doesn't deserve to breathe at all.”
"Maybe you wanted to make sure he didn't.”
Matt's brow wrinkled. "What do you mean?”
"I mean, maybe you were mad enough to go up to the mall and shoot the bunny.”
"Oh, yeah. I heard about that.”
I stared at him for a moment.
"Dustin got fired. Why the hell would I go to the mall and shoot the guy who took his place?”
JD and I exchanged a look.
Matt continued. "I tell you one thing… I see that son-of-a-bitch, I'm going to give him a beatdown. I don't care if you throw me in jail.”
"You know a woman named Evelyn Ellington?"
His lips tightened, and he shook his head. "No. Can't say that I do."
"You own a gun?”
"I'm going to decline to answer that question."
"Why is that?”
"Because it's none of your damn business. That's why.” He paused, then exhaled with frustration. "Look, I didn’t go up to the mall and shoot that guy, thinking he was Dustin. You’re barking up the wrong tree. Now, if Dustin turns up dead. Sure, come to my house and harass me.”
"The official DCF report states your daughter gave inconsistent accounts of the incident."
The muscles in his jaw flexed, and he glared at me. "She’s six. The event was traumatic.” His eyes darted between the two of us. "You don't think I'm making this shit up, do you?"
"The investigation is closed," I said after a long beat. “Doesn’t matter what I think.”
Matt frowned at me. "I still think Dustin needs to be locked up. He's a danger.”
It wasn’t up to me.
I thanked him for his time, then JD and I hustled down the walkway, back to the Porsche.
"What do you think about that guy?” JD asked.
"I don’t know. He’s obviously pretty hot about the incident, but he knew Dustin wasn't working, or so he claims. Where’s the motive? And what’s the connection to Evelyn?”
JD shrugged.
He started the car, and we drove across the island to find Luther Pratt. According to the records, he lived on a houseboat in the Mangrove Bay Marina.
I texted Isabella and asked her to look into his cellular history.
Jack pulled into the lot and found a place to park. We hopped out and strolled the dock, looking for the Versailles.
It was no palace.
The dingy houseboat had seen better days.
Isabella texted me back with some interesting information.
We stepped onto the aft deck and banged on the hatch.
“Luther,” I shouted. “ Coconut County Sheriff’s Department. Open up.”
Footsteps shuffled toward the stern, and Luther pulled open the hatch a moment later. His curious eyes flicked between the two of us as I flashed my badge.
Luther was a goofy fellow in his mid-30s with shaggy dark hair, blue eyes, and a boyish face. He looked harmless, like an awkward kid. But sometimes the harmless ones are the most dangerous.
He had the same body type as the shooter.
"What do you want?" Luther asked.
"Nothing to be alarmed about," I said. "We just need to ask you a few questions.”
"What about?" he said, shifting his weight, his nervous eyes darting between the two of us.
"Can you tell me the last time you were at the mall?"
Luther shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s been a few days.“
"Like yesterday?"
"No. I wasn't at the mall yesterday."
"Where were you?”
"I was here.”
"All day?”
"For most of it, I think. I went out in the afternoon to get something to eat, and I had a beer at the Salty Dawg, then I came back here. Why?" he asked in the most innocent voice he could muster.
Luther had an innocent quality.
“Can you tell me about the altercation you got into with the Easter Bunny at the mall?"
"I didn't get into an altercation with the Easter Bunny."
"I've seen the security footage.”
Luther frowned. "That's not the Easter Bunny. That’s the devil,” he said with fire in his eyes and conviction in his voice.
"The devil?"
Luther gave an emphatic nod, his crazy eyes still unflinching.
"Is that why you went up to the mall and killed him?” I just threw it out there to see if it would stick.
Luther's brow wrinkled with confusion. "I didn't kill anyone.”
"Well, the Easter Bunny is dead. His name is Cody Griggs."
A confused expression tensed Luther's face. He shook his head. "No. That's not possible.”
"Why not?"
"Because I still hear the voices," he said, looking into my eyes with a grave expression.
It was spooky.
Isabella had tracked his phone. She told me it was at the houseboat at the time of the incident. It didn’t prove anything. But if he did kill Cody, Luther was smart enough to leave his mobile device at home. She told me a few other things, too.
"I take it you don't watch the news," I said.
Luther shook his head. "I don't own a TV. The devil broadcasts across all frequencies. It will corrupt your mind.”
There was a lot of junk on TV, that was certain. Watch too much of it, and it might rot your brain.
"You know a woman named Evelyn Ellington?”
Luther shook his head.
“Are you sure?”
He hesitated. “Yeah.”
“That’s not exactly true, is it?”
His brow wrinkled, and his nervous eyes flicked between the two of us. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve made a few calls to her phone. And your device shows up near her apartment at odd hours.”
Luther swallowed hard.
“Are you stalking her?”
“No. I wouldn’t do something like that?”
“No, of course not. You’d just kill her.”
“What!?”
“Was she the devil too?”
He hung his head. “No. I thought she was an angel.”
I shared a look with JD.
“Where’d you meet her?”
He hesitated. “We never really met. I saw her at a coffee shop. I thought she was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.
” He was totally smitten. “I followed her home. I went to that coffee shop every day at the same time, hoping to see her again. I figured out her name. They write it on the cup and call it out. It wasn’t hard to find her last name.
I looked her up on the socials, then found her number. ”
“You stalked her.”
“No. I… I just… I wanted to get to know her. I was just waiting for the right time. I kept calling her to introduce myself and ask her out, but I always chickened out when she answered.” He hung his head again in shame and disappointment.
"You own a gun?"
Luther shook his head again.
"You mind if we take a look around your boat?”