Deep Waters

  Newlin shrugged. “Figured there was no point freezin’ my butt off hanging over the campground fence until the show was over. I knew Arlene wouldn’t be coming back from the beach until she was convinced the spaceships weren’t going to arrive.”

  “The people in the other pick-up,” Charity said swiftly.

  Hank looked at her. “What people?”

  “I don’t know who they were, but they were parked just behind Newlin. A young couple. Teenagers, maybe. Or a little older. College age. I didn’t see them, but I heard them. They had the radio on, and the door on one side of the truck was open. Maybe one of them noticed exactly when Newlin left to find Arlene.”

  Hank’s frown was thoughtful. “Don’t suppose you happened to get a license number?”

  “Of course not. I wasn’t thinking about alibis at that time.” Charity tried to remember every detail. “The kids were, uh, doing what you’d expect a young couple of that age to be doing in the front of a pick-up.”

  “Making out?” Newlin asked with honest innocence.

  Charity cleared her throat. “Well, yes.”

  “Color of the truck?” Hank asked.

  “It was midnight, remember? And foggy.” Charity wracked her brain to summon an image of the truck. “It was dark. The truck, I mean. Newlin’s pick-up is a light color, and I spotted it easily. I didn’t even notice the other pick-up until I heard voices and the radio. The cab light inside was off. Maybe Elias will be able to give you more information.”

  Hank nodded. “I’ll ask him when I see him this afternoon.”

  “Wait a second,” Charity said. “I heard the girl call the guy Kevin. Does that help?”

  “Kevin. Dark pick-up. College age.” Hank nodded, straightened, and reached for the phone book. “That’d likely be Kevin Gadson. He’s home from college for the summer, and he’s seeing the Turner girl. His Dad’s got a dark green pick-up.”

  One of the advantages of small towns, Charity thought, as she watched Hank dial the number he found in the book. The local chief of police knew everyone. And he knew their vehicles.

  Ten minutes later, after a short conversation with Kevin Gadson, Hank put down the phone and grinned cheerfully at Newlin. “You’re in the clear, son. Kevin says he and his girlfriend had the radio on. He recalls seeing you in the pick-up several times during the half hour before midnight. You didn’t leave until right after the start of the twelve o’clock news broadcast, which begins at five minutes before the hour. There wouldn’t have been time for you to run clear across the campground and shoot Gwen Pitt.”

  Newlin grinned with relief. “Hey. That’s great.” He turned to Charity. “Thanks. I owe you.”

  Charity exhaled deeply. “I’m glad that’s settled. Let’s go, Newlin.”

  “You bet.” Newlin started toward the door.

  Hank folded his arms across his broad chest. “Going to be a busy day. Got a whole hell of a lot of people to interview.” He caught Charity’s eye. “I’ll see you and Winters later. Say, four-thirty?”

  “We’ll be here,” Charity promised. “But I don’t think there’s much more we’ll be able to tell you. Come on, Newlin. We’ve got a shop to open.”

  When they arrived at Crazy Otis Landing a few minutes later, Arlene came flying out of Bea’s café. She threw herself into Newlin’s arms.

  Radiance, Bea, Yappy, and Ted trailed out to watch the reunion.

  “Newlin, I was so scared.” Arlene raised tearful eyes to search his face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Newlin stroked her hair with an awkward, soothing touch. “Thanks to Charity. She remembered a couple of kids in a truck parked behind my pickup. One of ’em was able to give me an alibi.”

  Arlene turned to Charity. “I don’t know how to thank you, Ms. Truitt. I’ve been a fool about the Voyagers and those spaceships and everything. It’s bad enough knowing all my money is gone, but if Newlin had been arrested for murder on top of that, I don’t know what I would have done.”

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Charity patted her on the shoulder. “Everyone’s got a right to dream.”

  “Well, from now on, I’m keeping my dreams right here on earth.” Arlene squared her shoulders. “And the first thing I’ve got to do is get a job. I don’t have anything left in my bank account.”

  Newlin’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t murder Gwendolyn Pitt, but I sure ain’t gonna weep over her grave. She stole a lot of money from a lot of people.”

  “Why don’t you come inside and have a latte, Newlin,” Bea said in a motherly tone. “Then you can go to work.”

  “Thanks.” With one arm around Arlene’s shoulders, Newlin went into the Whispering Waters Café.

  Radiance looked at Charity. “Good thing you remembered seeing those people in the truck. Newlin’s an outsider here in town. And everyone knows how much he detested Gwendolyn Pitt. It would have been real easy for people to assume that he killed her.”

  “You saved that boy a heap of trouble,” Yappy agreed. “Nice going, Charity.”

  Ted chuckled. “Something tells me you’ve got a friend for life in Arlene.”

  Charity hardly heard him. She was looking at the Closed sign in the window of Charms & Virtues. It was well after ten, and there was still no sign of Elias.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Rick Swinton stumbled backward as Elias came through the doorway of the motor home. “Get out of here, Winters. You’ve got no right barging in like this. I’ll have you arrested.”

  “Sit down, Swinton.” Elias closed and locked the door. “You and I are going to have a little talk.”

  “Fuck off.”

  “Sit down.” Elias moved forward.

  “Damn you, if you think you can just—” Rick retreated. The back of his knees hit the edge of the built-in couch. He sat down hard. “You can’t come in here like this.”

  “I just did.” Elias smiled slightly. “Don’t worry, we’ll both be leaving in a few minutes. Right after we talk.”

  “What the hell do you want to talk about?”

  “Let’s start with your private bank account.” Elias pulled a sheet of paper from the inside of his jacket. “The one you’ve been using to siphon off funds from the business account Gwendolyn Pitt set up for the Voyagers’ so-called contributions.”

  A startled expression flashed in Rick’s eyes. It was gone almost instantly, concealed behind a look of aggrieved anger. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I’ll be glad to spell it out.” Elias tossed the paper down onto Rick’s lap. “I used your social security number and a telephone to access the records of both accounts. The pattern is clear. You’ve been channeling funds from the business account into your own personal account on a regular basis. Now, since Gwendolyn Pitt is too much of a businesswoman not to have noticed, I’m betting you covered the transactions with phony receipts and contracts.”

  “You can’t prove a damn thing.”

  “No, but that’s the way embezzlement is usually done. Fairly routine stuff, and you don’t strike me as an original thinker. An audit should be able to piece it all together.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “The good news is that it looks like most of the money Gwendolyn Pitt got from her Voyagers is still around. It’s sitting in your personal account, Swinton.”

  “That’s a he.”

  “No. Among other things, it’s a motive for murder.”

  “Murder.” Rick stared at him, mouth agape. “You can’t pin Gwendolyn’s death on me.”

  “If I go to Tybern with the information I uncovered about your bank account juggling act, he’ll jump to the obvious conclusion. He’ll assume you killed Gwendolyn because she confronted you about the embezzlement and threatened to have you arrested.”

  “That’s not true.” Panic flared in Rick’s face. “Are you crazy? I didn’t kill her. Hell, I didn’t even know she was dead until I came back from the beach with some of the others.
”

  “Going to be a little tough to prove, isn’t it? Everyone knows that, what with the fog and those hooded robes the Voyagers wear, anyone on the beach could have disappeared from the crowd long enough to murder Gwendolyn. But you have a solid motive, and you’re new here in town. That gives you an edge on the competition, Swinton.”

  “I didn’t kill her, I tell you. I can prove it, if it comes to that. Plenty of people saw me on the beach during the half hour before midnight.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Lots of excitement down there on that beach last night. But I’ll leave that to you and Tybern to sort out.” Elias leaned back against the dinette. “In the meantime, you and I are going to work on your image problem.”

  “Now what are you talking about?”

  Elias smiled. “We’re going to prove to the Voyagers and everyone else in town what a nice, honest guy you are. We’ll show them how bad you feel about the fact that the spaceships didn’t arrive last night. You’re going to do what you know Gwendolyn Pitt would have wanted to do in such sad circumstances.”

  “And just what would that be, you sonofabitch?”

  “We’re going down to the bank to set up a trustee account. With the bank serving as trustee, of course. Then you’ll call your bank in Seattle and arrange to have all of the funds in your personal account wired into the new account.”

  Rick’s face reddened furiously. “Like hell, I will.”

  “A representative of the First National Bank of Whispering Waters Cove will disperse the funds to the Voyagers. Being the competent, thorough, hardworking employee of the company that you are, I’m sure you’ve got a list of everyone’s contributions.”

  “Goddamn you.” Rick leaped to his feet and launched himself at Elias.

  Elias stepped aside. Rick hit the dinette table and sprawled across it in an ungainly heap.

  “Let me put it this way, Swinton. If you don’t decide to play the good guy, I’m going to call Tybern. He’ll take it from there. He shouldn’t have too much trouble figuring out how to put a hold on those funds in your Seattle account while he arranges for the audit. After all, he’s conducting a murder investigation. One way or another, you’re going to lose that money. Might as well make the process work in your favor.”

  “Bastard.” Rich heaved himself slowly off the table. His eyes narrowed viciously.

  “My way, you come out of this looking like you tried to do the right thing. Your way, you look like a murder suspect. Take your pick.”

  Rick slammed the laminate tabletop again and again with his fist. “Bastard, bastard, bastard. You’ll pay for this. I swear it. Nobody screws Rick Swinton and gets away with it.”

  “Let’s go. It’s ten o’clock. The bank is open.”

  Elias had just allowed Crazy Otis to step off his shoulder and onto the perch behind the counter when Charity rushed through the front door of Charms & Virtues.

  “It’s after noon.” She raced toward him, skirts flying. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick.”

  “Heh, heh, heh,” Otis said.

  Charity ignored the parrot. “I was beginning to think something dreadful had happened to you.”

  “Such as?” Elias hit a key on the ancient cash register. The drawer shot open with a satisfying clang.

  “How was I to know?” Charity reached the counter. She was breathless. “It could have been any number of things. There’s a murderer on the loose, or have you forgotten?”

  “No.” Elias took a moment to savor the sight of her. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were bright with concern. Concern for him, he thought with a stab of wonder. “I’m surprised you even missed me. I hear you’ve been busy saving Newlin from the gallows.”

  “All I did was find an alibi for him.” Her brows drew together. “How did you know about that?”

  “I saw Ted and Radiance on my way down the pier. They told me what you’d been up to this morning.”

  “Is that right?” She heaved a deep sigh. “Well, a woman’s work is never done. I’ve been working on your alibi ever since I got Newlin out of Tybern’s clutches.”

  “Mine?”

  “Don’t you think that it’s going to be a little difficult to explain to Chief Tybern that you were busy searching Rick Swinton’s motor home at approximately the same time that Gwendolyn was getting murdered? B and E is not exactly a great alibi.”

  Elias smiled slowly. “Got a better one for me?”

  “I’ve been thinking about it.” She glanced over her shoulder, apparently making certain that no one had entered the shop. Then she leaned closer to Elias and lowered her voice. “We can tell Tybern that we just decided to take a stroll while we waited to see what happened on the beach.”

  “A stroll?”

  “Right.”

  “In the fog?”

  “Right.”

  “You don’t think that sounds a little weird?”

  She scowled. “Dozens of people were out of their cars, milling around.”

  “Most of those who were out of their cars were hanging around the fence, watching the action on the beach.”

  Charity threw up her hands. “Who’s to say some of them weren’t taking a casual stroll in the fog?”

  He was beginning to enjoy himself. “What about the woman we saw coming out of Swinton’s motor home. Do we mention her?”

  Charity nibbled on her lower lip. “Damn. That’s a tricky one.”

  “It gets trickier. If we mention her and where we saw her, then we admit we were hanging around that section of the campground. Gwendolyn’s motor home wasn’t far from Swinton’s.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t mention her. After all, we have no idea who she was. Could have been anyone.”

  “Lie to Chief Tybern? Charity, I’m shocked.”

  “This isn’t a joke, Elias. Gwendolyn Pitt was murdered last night, and you and I were engaged in what most people would call an illegal activity at the time.”

  “What’s this ‘we’ stuff? I was the only one inside that motor home.”

  “I was the lookout, remember? I’m just as involved in this as you are. We’re in this together.”

  He smiled slowly. “I’m touched.”

  “I’m glad you find this amusing. I certainly don’t.”

  “You know what your problem is, Charity?”

  She eyed him with deep suspicion. “What?”

  “You don’t realize that the truth is most visible in a still pond.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning that we answer any question Chief Tybern asks with the truth.”

  “But, Elias—”

  “Relax. Tybern isn’t going to throw either of us in jail.” Elias paused. “But for the sake of discussion, let’s say he tossed me into the slammer. Would you come and visit me?”

  “Are you kidding?” She gave him a sugary smile. “I’d bake you a cake with a file in it.”

  “I’m flattered.”

  “Don’t be. I’d do whatever it takes to get you out because I know I’d be stuck with Crazy Otis until you were free.”

  Otis snorted.

  Elias met Charity’s eyes. “There is just one thing we should get clear before the interview with Tybern this afternoon.”

  “Yes?”

  “Let me do the talking when we get to the part about the B and E stuff.”

  She looked uneasy. “Think you can come up with a good story?”

  “If I can’t, I’ll let you step in and save me.”

  10

  The sea tastes as salty as blood. Life depends on both.

  —“On the Way of Water,” from the journal of Hayden Stone

  Hank Tybern glanced at his notes through a pair of reading glasses that rode low on his nose. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You went to Rick Swinton’s motor home shortly after eleven. Saw an unidentified woman leaving—” He broke off and looked at Elias across the desk. “You’re sure you don’t know who it was?”

  Charity held her breath.
Thus far Elias had done all the talking. She had to admit that the interview had gone very smoothly. As smooth as the surface of an untroubled pond.

  “Positive,” Elias said. “The hood of her jacket was pulled up to cover her head. The only reason we could tell that it was a woman was because of the way she moved. Although the fact that she was coming from Swinton’s trailer was also a strong hint.”

  Hank grimaced. “Yeah, I’ve heard the rumors about his womanizing. Okay, so you checked inside the motor home to see if Swinton was there, and then you went back to where the cars were parked on the bluff to find Newlin. You heard the screams and took off with the others to see what had happened. Joined the crowd in front of Gwendolyn Pitt’s motor home, went inside, and saw the body. That about it?”

  “That’s it,” Elias said easily. “Charity and I were together the entire time.”

  “Fine. It doesn’t help me out a lot, but that’s not your problem.” Hank’s wooden chair squeaked as he settled back into it. “Anything else about the murder scene, itself, that you noticed which you think might be helpful?”

  Elias reflected briefly. “I think I told you everything. Swinton was there ahead of me. He was crouched on the floor near the body. The Voyagers who had accompanied him were standing outside together with some other people. That empty tape player in the drawer was the only thing that caught my eye.”

  Startled, Charity broke her silence. “What empty tape player?”

  It was Tybern who answered. “Found it in a half-open drawer. Doesn’t mean much because there was no tape in it. Apparently Gwendolyn Pitt routinely recorded her business meetings. We found a box of tapes, but I doubt if they’ll be of much use.”

  Charity frowned. “I suppose it would have been too much to hope that she had taped her own murder.”

  “Afraid so.” Tybern smiled wryly. “No one ever makes things easy for the people who have to clean up the mess. Well, that’s my job. To clean it up. Meanwhile, now that we’ve taken care of the formalities, I’d like to say thanks on behalf of a lot of people, Winters.”