Chapter Seventeen
The police chief and a deputy had gone to Grandfather’s home office. We approached. The door was partly opened. Grandfather saw me there and told me to come in. He didn’t say Jamie couldn’t. I took the seat on the left, and Jamie stood beside me.
“The police chief is making a report update concerning your boat,” Grandfather said.
The chief looked at me and nodded. “We were able to confirm that someone had come from Bar Harbor and attacked your boat around two in the morning. This was obviously someone with underwater experience when it comes to these sorts of things. We know everyone on this island who has those skills. So we pursued the theory that this was an outsider. We tracked him to a boat rental at Bar Harbor. He paid with cash and had what we’ve determined was a fake ID.
We believe he left the area immediately, maybe even the state.
Whoever wanted this done was willing to spend considerable money on a professional,” the chief said.
There was a long moment of silence as both Grandfather and I digested the information and then looked at each other, speaking through our eyes. Our unspoken words were chilling.
“It’s not simply someone envious of you,” the police chief told me. “That’s big money spent on jealousy, so we’re kind of dubious of that as the motive. Did you have any arguments with anyone on Birdlane, anyone who would want to hurt you in this indirect but meaningful way?”
“No one I know of,” I said.
Grandfather looked even more disturbed, his eyes narrowing and his lips pressed so firmly against each other that it highlighted some of the wrinkles in his cheeks and deepened the lines in his forehead.
The chief appeared to pick up on our expressions and silence.
“Do you want me to follow up on this, Mr. Baxter?”
“Yes,” Grandfather said. “But let’s keep the information tightly between us.”
“Will do. I think I’ll have something more for you soon.
A friend of mine at the FBI is looking into it, too.
The only thing to be thankful for is that the boat wasn’t sabotaged to cause trouble when you were out on the sea.
This was more of a dramatic statement. Otherwise, we’d be talking about an attempted murder,” he said.
“Murder?” Jamie said aloud.
No one spoke as it all settled in on the three of us.
“Rest assured, we’re on it, Mr. Baxter,” the police chief said.
He rose, and the deputy stood.
“Naturally,” the chief said, “there’s a lot of nervousness at the pier concerning other boat owners. I’ll let it leak out that this is looking like a one-time deliberate act and not something others have to be concerned about.”
“That’s fine, understandable,” Grandfather said.
The chief nodded, and then he and his deputy left.
Grandfather sat back. “This family,” he began, “has taken some serious body blows recently. We need to take deep breaths and give it time. Take a few days off from the company and enjoy the summer on Birdlane. Go to the beach. Our motorboat is always there for you if you want to just ride the coast or go to Bar Harbor. Meanwhile, why not have Jamie to dinner tonight? Anna is making her famous cottage pie. As to your sailboat, I’d be more comfortable with just replacing it. ”
“Oh, Grandfather, that’s…”
“Perfect,” he said before I could say it was too much.
Jamie laughed.
“Okay, Grandpa,” I said. He always felt the affection I had for him when I said “Grandpa” instead of “Grandfather.”
His eyes brightened with his smile, but it was short-lived. He looked down, and I knew what was troubling him, troubling me. We were both refusing to believe in the possibility.
“I’d better get home,” Jamie said, “and change for dinner at the Crest.”
His excitement brought us both, Grandfather and me, some relief.
I walked him out. I could see he was in deep thought and debating if he should say something.
“What is it, Jamie?”
“Am I reading too much between the lines,” Jamie said, “to think your grandfather and maybe you believe your father had something to do with what happened to your boat?”
“I thought you were a country bumpkin,” I said.
“What?”
“Yes, that’s very astute of you to pick up on the possibility. Let’s hope it’s not true.”
Jamie nodded, got into his truck, and said, “See you soon.”
“Bring an appetite,” I said. “Anna goes overboard.”
He laughed and drove off. I went to the cliffs and sat on the grass.
So much had happened since my successful, life-renewing operation.
I couldn’t help wondering if all the negative stuff was really my fault because I had rushed headlong into a normal life.
I had been like someone dying of thirst swallowing buckets of water when I had the opportunity.
Too much too soon? The tempo of it all was far faster than the normal tempo of people living on Birdlane.
Maybe I was becoming someone else too soon.
On the other hand, it had opened me up to good possibilities, and I was working well with Grandfather and the business. I was still as enthusiastic about my art. I wouldn’t let Kyle destroy that ambition.
As the sun waned, the color of the ocean turned a darker purple.
The breakers, in contrast, looked whiter.
The ocean was truly unpredictable, but that made it more mesmerizing.
How could I ever even think of living somewhere else?
Other places were just places to visit, temporary memories.
Where you lived, where you grew up, was too deeply a part of you.
Jamie has nothing to fear, I thought, then smiled to myself and headed back to the house.
I was getting myself ready for dinner when I heard the shouting. Anna came to my doorway, looking very concerned.
“They’re at it again,” she said. “Only I’m worried about your grandfather. His lips are trembling and he is gasping with anger.”
I hurried out and to his home office. Daddy was just inside, raging.
“Can you imagine how embarrassin’ it was for me to have the police come to our offices and question me about that damn boat? You sent them there. I know you did.”
“They’re following up on all possibilities,” Grandfather said.
“Why am I a possibility? How deranged are you? You know nothin’ about me.”
“I know you can be very deceptive, Melville. You were like that as a child. You had no trouble deceiving your mother, but you had and will always have trouble deceiving me.”
“Stop!” I commanded, coming into the room. “You’re making him sick.”
“I’m makin’ him sick? You see this face?” he said, pointing to himself. “Every wrinkle and every gray hair has his initials on it.”
He stormed out.
Grandfather closed his eyes and sat back. I could see him aging right before me, his lips sagging.
“Grandfather?”
“I’m all right,” he said. “I’ll just take a short rest before dinner.”
He rose slowly. I hurried to help him. He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder.
“I’m fine,” he said.
A man with his pride wouldn’t accept old age, I thought. I could only love him more for it.
“Did you send the police to question Daddy?”
“I might have dropped a suggestion or two. He can be vindictive, my Melville. He’ll calm down.”
“But do you think he did it?”
“Let’s let it go, Lisa. There is enough to overcome as it is.”
“Okay, Grandpa,” I said.
He went to his room, and I returned to mine to get dressed. Anna had told Daddy Jamie was coming, and he told her he had a dinner meeting. It was the way it would always be, I thought.
At dinner, Grandfather was more subdued than usual.
Jamie tried to get him to talk again about his early fisherman days, but he simply smiled and ate.
We looked at each other. Jamie knew how worried I was.
Grandfather looked like he was struggling to finish his meal.
I nodded at Anna, and she suggested that Grandfather get an early night’s rest. He didn’t resist.
We watched him walk off with Anna at his side.
“Let’s go for some frozen custard at the pier,” I said.
“Sure.”
“We’ll take my car. You drive,” I told him.
As we headed down the hill, I could see the look of simple pleasure on his face and thought about the difference between him and Kyle, who had acted as if he belonged in this car and expected nothing less.
“Beautiful,” Jamie said. “I never really rode in something as smooth and sweet.”
“I’m glad you enjoy it.”
“Smooth and sweet. Just like you.”
“Jamie Fuller. Are you flirting with me?”
Even in the shadows, I could see him blush.
I laughed and then thought about Jamie and Kyle. Jamie was all innocence and sincerity. What woman wouldn’t want that? But there was a part of people that enjoyed the excitement of surprise. Someone mysterious might seem more attractive. Every day was different.
But different didn’t automatically mean good or even fun.
Deception was almost a requirement for a relationship like that.
A man or a woman could exaggerate, distort, and even lie about what he or she had done in their lives.
You had to be so much more doubtful, controlling your urge to believe it all because it was exciting and made you feel more like being in your own movie.
When I had been with Kyle, I had even imagined music in the background.
Who was more to blame, him for his dishonesty or me for being so gullible, so eager to believe him and turn him into a romantic hero?
My mother used to say things like “Buyer beware,” clearly saying you had to consider yourself at least partially to blame.
I had been trapped, held prisoner by my body.
Freed of it and all restrictions, I longed for a world without cynicism.
I was eager to fly, but, like Icarus in the Greek myth, I had steered myself too close to the sun.
My wings had melted, and a dark, disappointing, even shocking reality had burst around me and in a real sense sent me back to hovering in my imprisoned world.