Chapter Sixteen
It was three days later when Jamie called me early in the morning sounding quite upset, even a bit hysterical. He had gone down to the pier to go on one of his father’s boats when he had seen it.
“What are you saying, Jamie?”
“Your beautiful sailboat. Completely sunk.”
“How could that be?”
“They were pulling it up. We’ll see. Your grandfather is down here with the police chief.”
“He is?”
He must have received a call from the police and left without telling me.
“I’ll call you as soon as I know anything more.”
I sat back, stunned. My mind was racing with possibilities.
Naturally, my first thought went to Daddy.
Would he do such a thing? How could he do it?
He was already out of the house, too. I got dressed quickly, grabbed a muffin and a coffee for breakfast, and rushed out to go down to the pier.
By the time I got there, the boat had been removed.
I saw Jamie off to the side, talking with other fishermen. He spotted me and hurried over.
“I was just about to call you.”
“I wanted to see what was happening myself. What do you know?”
“Someone cut an oval hole in the bottom of the boat. It had to have been done during the night and had to have been done by someone who went underwater and could work on it. No one knows who might have done it. The police have opened a full investigation. Sorry, Lisa. Could be a very jealous person.”
I nodded. “Birdlane might not be paradise after all,” I said bitterly.
Jamie looked pained but reluctantly agreed.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said, and headed for the office.
On arriving, I saw that everyone was in Grandfather’s office, so I hurried to it. Daddy was sitting off to the right, scowling. It had become his normal expression. Grandfather was behind his desk, and the police chief, Ralph Barber, was in front of the desk reporting.
“Lisa, here, sit,” Grandfather said. “The chief has some things to tell us.”
I slipped into the seat. Daddy sat back with a deep sigh.
“Billy Thomas, who mans the pier, might have dozed off while this was occurring, not that he would necessarily have seen or heard it. What we are sure of is that someone skilled in underwater maintenance or construction attacked the sailboat at about three or four in the morning. He carved out an oval opening, and the boat filled quickly. Because it was tied up, it sank vertically. We’re reviewing any possible suspects on the island.
I have everyone at the department on this. ”
“Think we should bring in someone from Bar Harbor?” Grandfather asked.
“I have put in some inquiries with the state police,” Chief Barber said, “but we might get this solved on our own.”
“Of course.” Grandfather turned to me. “So sorry about this, Lisa.”
“Just one of those jealous Birdies,” Daddy said. “These people have been envious of us for as long as I know.”
“So jealous that they’d hire a professional?” Grandfather said.
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Daddy said.
“Well, we’ll leave it up to the chief,” Grandfather said.
“I’ll get back to you this afternoon and keep you constantly updated,” the chief said.
“Thank you,” Grandfather told him.
He left the office.
“Maybe we’ve wasted enough time on this nonsense,” Daddy said, following him out.
Grandfather sat looking after him for a moment and then turned to me.
“If he had anything to do with this, I’ll personally wring his neck,” he said. “He always needed more discipline, but he knew how to play your grandmother. I know it’s hard, but put this aside for now. We’ll fix things.”
“Okay, Grandfather.”
I rose and went to my office. He was right. There was no point in dwelling on it. I buried myself in paperwork. Later Jamie called, obviously very concerned about me.
“My mother feels very bad for you,” he said. “She’d like you to come to dinner at our house.”
“Oh. Thank her, Jamie, but I won’t be good company. I want to go home and meditate on everything, not just this. Ask her for a rain check.”
“Sure. You think that’s best, to be alone at this time?”
“I have some things to work out, and I can only do it myself. Sometimes your life seems like it’s free flying, but I have to be more like the seabirds and work my way through and around the winds.”
“You are something,” he said, “but you always have been.”
“Have I?”
“Don’t blame yourself for any of this, Lisa.”
“Okay,” I said, not very convincingly. “Thank you, Jamie.”
After work, I did exactly what I had told him I would. I went home and sat by myself at a place near the cliff where my mother and I had had picnics once in a while. I sat staring at the ocean, mesmerized for a while by the rhythmic movement of the water.
How had things changed so quickly for me? I had been in an ecstatic, wonderful place after my operation freed me of a restricted and maybe shortened life. The world had opened up for me. I had never enjoyed colors and sounds, birds and nature, as much. I had truly been reborn.
Perhaps this joy had blinded me to the dangers of life.
I couldn’t imagine for the moment anything worse than what I had endured.
Why wouldn’t I want to open myself up completely?
Yes, it had made me vulnerable, but that sense of freedom and being in charge of my own life had been too strong for me to pause out of caution. I had been doing that my whole life.
I was starting to move forward despite the setback.
I had seen another beginning and rushed to claim it.
But I had disregarded my knowledge of how complicated and in some ways twisted my family life was now because of my father.
If anything, we were more alienated than ever. How could I change that trajectory?
What I had feared came the following morning. Daddy had left for work and then come speeding home before Grandfather and I had finished our breakfast. He charged into the house and slapped a newspaper against the wall, jolting the both of us.
“What is it?” Grandfather asked.
“The Bar Harbor Times!”
“What about it?”
He walked toward me.
“This story about this so-called famous artist. A journalist got wind of it and pursued it, found out he impregnated a girl who was seventeen. He left rather than fulfill his obligation to her and the child and, according to the article, was about to be arrested for sex with an underage girl when he returned and married her. Some deal made, probably.”
“So?”
“So the story tells about his work here and,” he said, turning to me, “his relationship with Lisa. Which apparently started before she was eighteen. Expect to be visited by the police,” he added.
Neither Grandfather nor I spoke.
“Why?” I finally asked.
“Why? He’s a sexual predator. They’ll want your testimony. Look what you’ve done to the Baxter name,” he added, slapping the paper down on the table in front of me. “You’re mentioned. You’re eighteen now. They can do that.”
I unfolded the paper and looked at the headline: “Are the Baxters of Birdlane Island the Latest Victims?”
I skimmed the article. It was very specific when it came to Kyle’s relationship to us and especially me. There were witnesses who had seen us out together, and, matching that with the date, it had been before my eighteenth birthday.
There were quotes from Eddie Doyle complaining about Kyle and how much money he had lost because of him.
“This is a big story for them,” Daddy said. “They won’t stop with one. I can just imagine the chatter downtown.”
“Just go to work, Melville. What will be will be.”
“Great philosophy,” Daddy said, glaring at me, and then he turned and marched out.
Grandfather sat back. “Maybe you should stay home today. Let this blow over,” he said.
“Daddy thinks it’s just beginning.”
Grandfather hesitated. I knew what question he was going to ask, and I knew how painful it was for him to ask it. I jumped ahead.
“I had no relations with him before I was eighteen.”
Grandfather nodded.
“Oddly, he was the one who was insistent about that,” I said.
Grandfather thought for a moment. “He was smart, knew he could get into even bigger trouble.”
“I guess I…”
“No, don’t start blaming yourself,” he said sternly. “He was quite a charming man. I had no such suspicions about his past, and I’ve been around a lot longer than you have.”
“It’s not the same, Grandfather,” I said, smiling. “Female experience.”
“You sound like your grandmother. Okay. Let’s wait and deal with whatever we have to,” he said.
Before he left, however, it began. I was informed that two detectives from Bar Harbor had requested an interview with me.
I was shaking but replied that it was fine.
They could come to the Crest. Grandfather wanted his attorney, Mr. Orseck, present.
That made it seem more serious to me. But I couldn’t disagree.
It was all arranged for two o’clock. I sat on pins and needles until then.
The two detectives arrived shortly after Mr. Orseck.
He and I sat in the den and waited for Anna to bring them to us.
There was a man and a woman who quickly introduced themselves as Detective Burton and Detective Williams. Detective Burton was a well-built man at least six two or three.
Detective Williams was rather attractive, I thought, with her perfect nose and soft lips.
She had really sparkling greenish-blue eyes.
She wore a skirt suit, and I thought she wasn’t more than thirty.
“We just have a few questions,” Detective Burton said, “and then Detective Williams would like to ask Lisa some very personal things. She could do that somewhere else if you like. We’d like to respect her privacy, but please understand our mission here.”
“So far, I have no objections,” Mr. Orseck said.
They sat down, and Detective Burton began. It was a review of the facts that were commonly known about Kyle and me. I confirmed it all. I knew this was a lead-in to a more intense set of questions.