Chapter 19
We went straight to Quincy’s house when we got back to Sinful.
Ida Belle and Gertie filled Quincy in on what had happened at the Swamp Bar, swearing him to secrecy, especially the part about me being there.
He’d looked a bit confused but apparently figured it was something he was better off not asking about.
Besides, he was so happy that he and Petey were back home and all the charges were dropped that he’d probably have forgotten his first name if we requested it.
I found a head shot of Trevor on the state’s website and showed it to Petey. He frowned.
“Man in boat,” he said. “In my boat. I told he was in my boat.”
I looked at Quincy. “Did he tell you someone was in his boat?”
Quincy frowned. “About a month ago, he came home aggravated, but I checked the boat and nothing looked out of order. Maybe the warden was getting his ducks in a row for if he had to throw suspicion?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
I looked at Petey. “Was the man in the boat the man who hurt the alligators?”
Petey shook his head and dropped his gaze to his chest. I asked again, but this time he drew his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and started humming. I tried asking him more questions, but he’d gone to whatever that other place was and we couldn’t get another word out of him.
After Quincy’s we headed to our respective homes, anxious for a hot shower and much-needed rest. Ida Belle and Gertie would have to give Carter statements sometime later, but I imagined he would be wrapped up for a while telling his side of the story to the state.
They weren’t going to be happy with the end to this poaching case.
I took a long, hot shower, changed into shorts and a T-shirt and left off the bra, then headed outside for my hammock with a book and a beer.
I’d earned a little relaxation, and I always thought better outside.
This entire poaching mess had made me question whether or not being a private investigator was a good fit for me.
Sure, I had the physical ability, knew the equipment, and could handle any form of combat and probably come out the winner ninety-nine times out of a hundred, but I was weak on making that leap from clues to who did it.
Since I’d been in Sinful and been getting into police business with Ida Belle and Gertie, there had been too many times I’d thought one thing and the truth had zigzagged the other direction.
I thought my intuition was good, but I’d totally missed Trevor as the poacher.
Granted, I hadn’t liked him either time we’d had contact, but I hadn’t made the leap from douche bag to criminal.
So could I get better? How did Carter figure it all out?
Although Gertie, Ida Belle, and I managed to be in the middle of things, especially at the final showdown scene, so to speak, often Carter was already ahead of us in putting his finger on the bad guy.
Like this time.
Now that I thought about it, was Carter at the bar because he suspected Whiskey, or had he already wondered about Trevor?
Or had Whiskey really called Carter and told him he needed to talk, as he’d claimed?
Then I remembered the comment Carter made about the state suspecting him of poaching and that it wouldn’t be the first time law enforcement was the guilty party.
Maybe I’d let Trevor fly under my radar because of his credentials.
Maybe those same credentials made Carter do exactly the opposite.
Which made being a better investigator a matter of experience and not necessarily innate ability.
I mean, you had to have some ability, clearly, or you wouldn’t last a day.
But would I get better with time? Unfortunately, there was only one way to answer that question, and that was to stick my nose into sheriff’s department business again as soon as I got a chance.
I finally dropped the book to my chest and closed my eyes, too tired to make sense of it all.
It felt as if I’d just dozed off when I heard a boat motor that sounded as though it was right next to me.
I opened one eye and saw that the sun was going down and Carter was pulling up onto the bank in my backyard.
“Wow,” I said. “I had a really long nap.”
“Lucky,” he said as he jumped onshore. “I had a really long afternoon. I don’t suppose you’d take pity on a tired lawman and fix him a sandwich.”
“Are you going to yell at me for being at the Swamp Bar?”
“Depends on how good the sandwich is.”
“I have Gertie’s roast beef and accept that challenge.”
He groaned. Everyone knew Gertie made the best roast beef in Sinful. Even better than Francine’s.
“You’re not fighting fair,” he said.
“That was your idea, not mine.”
We headed for the kitchen and I made him a sandwich. I waited until he’d taken a bite before launching into the questions that had been building in my mind all afternoon.
“Did you already suspect Trevor before you went to the Swamp Bar?” I asked.
“I had my suspicions.”
“Why?”
He raised one eyebrow. “I assume you and the Troublesome Twosome thought Whiskey was the guilty party and you were there to get the dirt on him and save Petey?”
Since that’s exactly what we were doing, and we had failed miserably, his summation made me a little testy.
“So what if we were?” I asked. “Defense attorneys hire people to find alternative theories to help get their clients off. So if there was a better suspect…”
“Petey doesn’t have an attorney.”
“Quincy hired us.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Money exchanged hands?”
“Not exactly. It was more of an exchange of words.”
He sighed. “I won’t bother with the whole you could have been killed, why were you in the middle of my investigation, because I’m too tired to bang my head against that brick wall again.
I will say I’m glad for the video and audio.
When I presented them to the state, they walked quietly out the door.
That wouldn’t have happened if it had just been my word and Whiskey’s. He’s not exactly credible.”
“What about Buck?”
“More credible than Whiskey, but the defense would have argued that he got confused after being shot and got it all wrong.”
“Then he’s going to be all right?”
Carter nodded. “The bullet missed everything major. He lost a good amount of blood and won’t be shrimping anytime soon, but he should have a full recovery.”
“That’s good. I wasn’t on the video, was I?”
“No, the camera was facing the swamp after it hit Trevor, and Gertie cut off the audio before you came out of the bar.”
Relief coursed through me. One less thing to worry about. “So again, why did you think it was Trevor?”
“I didn’t think it was him, for certain. I just didn’t think things were lining up right. The anonymous phone call, Petey being set up, Trevor still hanging around after his big arrest… I’ve been around the guy at law enforcement conferences. He was a gambler and a blowhole.”
I frowned. “What do those have to do with poaching?”
“First of all, he didn’t leave immediately after the arrest so he could start bragging to his coworkers at the main office.
That would have been his usual MO. Why hang around here?
Since that seemed a little odd and I knew about the gambling, I made some calls and found out that Trevor owed some not-so-nice people a good amount of money. ”
“That’s it? You made the leap to poacher from that?”
“No. I made the leap from inconsistent behavior to needing money, and from that, I thought it warranted looking into. I was checking out Whiskey as well. His recent barbecue alligator plates had raised suspicion, but I hadn’t figured on Trevor strong-arming Whiskey into selling his illegal goods.”
“You thought Whiskey was poaching the alligator he was selling, like we did.”
“That’s the most logical train of thought, but Whiskey wouldn’t have bothered with small gators, and even though he’ll probably never be one of Sinful’s upstanding citizens, I couldn’t see him trying to pin it on Petey.”
“Did Whiskey really call you like he told Buck?”
Carter nodded. “He wouldn’t tell me anything over the phone so I figured I’d head over there and see what was up.
I was coming up the channel near the highway when I saw Trevor’s car turn off on the road to the Swamp Bar.
Since there’s nothing else down that road, I figured there was only one place he was going so I cut my engine down the channel and paddled up, hoping I could get evidence on one or both of them. ”
“You still thought Whiskey could be involved?”
“I had no reason not to. I knew something had spooked him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t in the thick of it. So it could have been a partner meeting, or given what happened at the bar last night, I figured Trevor might be setting up his next fall guy.”
“I wonder why Trevor tried to frame Petey first? I mean, clearly he was going to switch his plan to Whiskey based on the skin Buck found in his boat, but why not do that from the beginning?”
“I don’t think Trevor was trying to frame Petey.
I think he was using Petey’s boat to do the poaching.
He couldn’t exactly run around in the state’s boat, but they use the same launch where Petey’s boat is kept.
He probably saw that it never moved, ran the tags, and asked around.
When I checked the boat, it was clear that it had been recently moved in and out of the slot several times.
The grass around the wheels was starting to brown from the tires rolling over it. ”
“Quincy said Petey told him someone was in his boat, but when he checked it, everything seemed fine.”
“And it probably was. Trevor was probably taking everything out of the boat when he used it. Maybe after a while he got lazy or complacent, or maybe since he was getting ready to cut and run, he figured if anyone noticed the stuff, they’d assume it was Petey’s.”
“Do you think there was ever an anonymous phone call? Or was Trevor just setting up his exit?”