“You know, the sheriff’s been talking to us and we told him everything we know and what we saw,” said Andy. “Have you seen him anymore? Is he still getting his case together against that damn Indian kid?”
“We haven’t seen the sheriff for a couple of days,” answered Elaine. “You haven’t seen him again, have you, Jenn?”
“Actually, he called the house last night and stopped over. He seemed confused about some of the details of what we’ve all been telling him.” Jennifer watched as Andy and Elaine looked at each other with a curious expression.
“So, what was he asking about?” Andy asked.
“It didn’t matter, I don’t remember any of it,” Jennifer said.
Andy just nodded his head, staring at her, and then over at Elaine. “Well, the reason I was looking for you two, is we’re having a bonfire down at the beach by North Point tonight. You guys want to come along? The whole gang’s gonna be there.”
Jennifer twisted uncomfortably in her seat. “You know, I’m not feeling much in the party mood, and I’m not sure my family will even let me out of the house.”
“No, no… it’s not like that. No booze, I promise,” Andy said quickly. “You need to get back in the swing of things. Come on, why don’t you come, and you too, Elaine.”
Elaine answered first, “I’ll get her there. She needs to stop moping around.”
He stood up and brushed the sand from his legs and bathing suit. “Great, we’ll get the fire going and meet you out there around 8:00.” He leaned over and kissed Jennifer on the cheek.
She tried to smile. She knew Elaine was right. She needed to get on with things and not let the whole summer slip away like this. “Thanks, Andy. We’ll see you out there tonight.”
The girls watched as he walked away across the beach. Elaine stood up and reached for Jennifer’s hand. “Come on, we need to cool off. I’ll race you to the raft.” She took off running, pulling her friend behind her. The two of them splashed out into the cold water and ran as far as they could before diving under the surface and swimming together out to the dive platform.
Chapter Nine
Sally stood at the center island in her kitchen preparing a salad. Lettuce and tomatoes and other assorted healthy things lay spread across the countertop. She was working on slicing a green pepper with a large knife. The smell of the pepper was strong and she began slicing more rapidly, thinking about how hungry she was. The late evening sun splashed through the tall window over the sink and cast a soft glow across the room. The cell phone rang in her purse sitting behind her on the counter. She wiped her hands on a towel and walked over to answer it.
She could see on the display it was Alex. She accepted the call. “Hi Dear.”
Alex’s voice sounded loud as he tried to speak over the sound of the plane’s engines. “Hi honey. We’re in the air, about a half hour out of LaGuardia. Should be landing in Charlevoix in another forty-five minutes.”
“Who is we?” Sally asked.
“Anna’s come along. We have to keep working on the case. I’m sorry, but there’s just no time to waste.”
“Off course, whatever you think,” she answered, trying to hold back her true feelings about the intrusion of the she-lawyer, as Sally not so affectionately called her.
“Would you mind driving over to pick us up?” Alex asked.
“Megan and I left the Jeep out there for you,” Sally said.
“Oh, that’s right, thanks. Are you at the house?”
Sally tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear and returned to her cutting board. “Yes, I’ll be here. Have you eaten? I’m making up a salad.”
“The pilots had some food for us,” Alex said. “We’ll be fine.”
Sally chopped harder at the green pepper. Oh, I’m sure everything is just fine!
“Sally, are you still there?” Alex asked.
She threw the knife down and grabbed the phone again, walking over to the window to look out at the lake. “I’m here.”
“How’s my beautiful daughter?”
“She’s doing fine.” Sally’s spirits brightened, thinking about her stepdaughter. “Her old boyfriend, Rick, is back for the summer, but he may have a little competition. You remember Will Truegood? His family has been friends of ours for years.”
“Sure, I remember Will. How did that little affair come together?”
“We ran into him downtown the other day after the service for George.” Sally watched out the window as a large sailboat turned to head into the channel to Round Lake.
“Well you tell her I miss her and I’m looking forward to giving you both a big hug when I get up there.” Alex said.
His words made her realize how much she missed him, too. “Be safe, honey, and I’ll see you soon.”
Alex said goodbye and Sally ended the call and walked over to put the phone back in her purse. She knew she was being unreasonable about Anna Bataglia. She was just so damned arrogant and spending way too much time with Alex. Sally didn’t really have anything specific to be jealous about, but memories of infidelity in her first marriage years ago still left her overly sensitive. Alex had never given her any reason to doubt his feelings for her, or his faithfulness to their marriage.
She reached again for the knife and rolled a tomato onto the cutting board. With a hard whack, she sliced the tomato down the middle and the sound echoed out through the empty house.
Sheriff Elam Stone sat in his small office looking at the piles of unattended paperwork continuing to pile up. Food wrappers and an empty paper cup were all that was left of his dinner. He thought about just throwing a match on the entire mess to make it go away. Most everyone had gone home for the evening. The night shift, even in the summer, was sparse after all the recent budget cuts. His phone rang, breaking the silence and it startled him. He reached for the receiver. It was Jacob Henry, the County Coroner.
“Hey Elam, glad I caught you. Just got a call from the lab down in TC. They’ve been looking over that knife your guys found down on the South Arm. It had been underwater quite awhile, but they were able to get some partial prints and trace DNA off the handle and blade. They’re running it through the system, getting some help from the folks down in Lansing.”
“You think there’s enough there to get an ID?” Stone asked.
“They’re not sure.”
“How long you think they’ll need?” the sheriff asked.
He heard his old friend laugh on the other end of the phone. “Damn, seems like all the computer crap they use these days shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, you know, like on CSI on TV.”
Elam Stone laughed with his friend. “So why does it take a week to get anything around here?”
“Good question. I’ll keep after them,” Henry said.
“Alright, talk to you,” Stone said as he hung up the phone. He reached for the paper cup and saw there was only ice left from his drink. He poured a couple of cubes into his mouth and swirled them around with his tongue, thinking about the investigation of George Hansen’s death. A thought came to him and he reached for a phone book on his credenza. Finding the number, he picked up the phone again. The phone rang three times at the other end before he heard an answer.
“Hello?”
“Sally, this is Elam Stone down at the Sheriff’s office. How are you tonight?”
He listened to Sally’s puzzled answer on the other end of the line. “Well, hello Sheriff, what’s happened?”
“I’m not sure Sally, but I’d like to talk to you about George Hansen.”
“About George?”
“Yeah, and you know, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind if I stopped over for a few minutes? I’ve got just a couple of questions you might be able to help me with.”
“No, it’s no trouble,” Sally answered, concern still clear in her response. “But what’s happened?”
“Why don’t I just stop over. You’re sure it’s not a bad time?”
“No, please come right
over. I’m just having a bite to eat, and Alex will be getting into town a bit later.”
“Thanks, Sally,” he said. “I’ll be right there. Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.” He put the receiver back in its cradle and looked for his keys under the food wrappers and files on his desk.
Five minutes later Stone pulled into the driveway of Sally’s yellow house up on Michigan Avenue. The flowers and shrubs all around the house were breaking out in early summer bloom and shadows from the tall oaks lay across the well-kept lawn. He parked his patrol cruiser and went up to the front porch. He knocked on the sidelight windowpane, looking inside. He saw Sally walk around a corner to come to the door. As she opened it, he thought back to her mother, Emily. Elam had known Jonathan and Emily back before their accident. Sally’s mother had worked on a few medical issues for the Sheriff’s Department over the years. He thought about what a damn shame it was that they were gone, and Sally’s daughter, too. He had also heard about the trouble Jonathan and his brother had with the legal system back in the 40’s, but that had been before his time. He knew Jonathan had been cleared of the charges in the murder of George’s sister. It had been the older brother, Luke McKendry, apparently in a drunken rage who had taken the life of Catherine Hansen.
“Hello Elam, come in,” Sally said, holding the door open for him. She led him out to the sun porch and offered him a seat. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
“No, really I’m fine, thanks.” He settled himself in and watched as Sally sat across the small coffee table from him. Reaching for a pad of paper and pen in his shirt pocket, he said, “You sure have a beautiful view up here on the bluff.”
“Yes, it’s wonderful,” she said, “but a little blustery in the winter, though.”
He looked through his random notes on the pad and then up at Sally. “Now I don’t want you to get too upset at what I’m about to tell you. I know how close you were to George.”
Sally leaned forward, “What in the world’s happened?”
“I would appreciate it if you would keep this confidential for the time being,” he said.
“Of course.”
“Well, here’s the thing,” he started. “We have more than a little reason to believe George’s death may not have been health-related or accidental.”
Sally had a confused look spread across her face. “Not accidental?”
“Yeah, you see the coroner’s report shows he didn’t die of natural causes. His lungs were full of lake water.”
“Full of water? But…”
“Sally, George Hansen drowned that day out at the lake. The coroner’s sure of it.”
“But he was found in his fishing boat,” Sally said.
“We think he may have been pulled back into the boat,” Stone said.
“You mean someone found him and just left him in his boat?” Sally had a glass of iced tea in her hands and placed it down on the table.
The sheriff squirmed a bit in his seat to get more comfortable. “Well, we think …”
“You mean you think somebody killed him?” she said.
Stone looked at Sally for a moment and then nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly what it looks like.” He saw her sit back in her chair, shaking her head. She looked out the window at the lake.
“How can that be? Not George. Who would do this?”
“Well, that’s what I thought you might be able to help me with. Do you have any idea who George might have been having some issues with?”
Sally let out an exasperated sigh. “God, I can’t imagine. I swear the man was a saint.”
“I know you haven’t been up here as much in the past few years, but can you think of anyone who would have cause to want George, well…?”
“Sheriff, I’m just so shocked by this whole thing,” Sally said. “I can’t imagine who would want to hurt George. Have you talked to Elizabeth?”
“I’ve been trying to reach her. I guess she’s on her way out to Montana.”
“Yeah, she should be there by now,” Sally said.
“We’ll get in touch with her, but I know you and George were real close. I just thought something might come to mind.”
They both turned as they heard the garage door going up.
Alex pulled into the driveway with Anna sitting beside him in the Jeep.
He saw the sheriff’s cruiser parked in front of the house. “What in hell is the sheriff doing here?” he said with alarm in his voice.
“God, I can’t imagine they’re trying to serve another warrant for you up here,” the lawyer said.
“A warrant? No, I just wonder if everything’s okay with Sally and Megan.” He touched the garage door opener and pulled in quickly. He left Anna behind and went through the door into the house. “Sally!”
“We’re on the porch, Alex,” he heard her call from the back of the house. He kept on down the hallway and saw Sally sitting across the table from an older man in a sheriff’s uniform. They both stood up.
“Honey, is everything alright?” Alex asked.
They came together, and Alex hugged her tight, smelling the fresh scent of shampoo in her hair. She looked up and kissed him. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.
“What’s going on?”
“Alex, this is Sheriff Stone.”
The sheriff came over and shook Alex’s hand and then looked past him as Anna Bataglia came into the room.
Alex turned, “Oh, Anna, you know Sally.”
“Hello Sally, it’s nice to see you again,” she said, coming over to shake her hand.
Sally returned the greeting. “Anna, this is Sheriff Stone from our County Sheriff’s office here in Charlevoix. He has some very troubling news about our friend, George Hansen, who passed away a few days ago.”
“What’s going on?” Alex asked.
“Elam was just explaining they have evidence George may have been murdered,” Sally said with sadness in her voice.
“What!” said Alex.
“Why don’t we all sit down,” the sheriff suggested, and they all pulled up chairs around the table. He explained the evidence they were gathering and again asked if they had any idea who may have wanted George Hansen dead.
“I just can’t believe this,” said Alex. He reached over and put his hand on Sally’s knee. He looked at his wife and saw the tears welling up in her eyes.
“We’re checking with his law office to see what cases he’s been working on,” the sheriff said. “They’ve told us he was pretty much full-time retired and just stopped by the office a few hours each week to check in with his partners. They’re looking through his files to see if there’s anything that would seem suspicious.”
“I hadn’t spoken with George in weeks, actually,” said Sally. “It was such a surprise when Elizabeth called us in New York last week to let us know George was gone.”
Sally leaned her head over on Alex’s shoulder and he put his arm around her.
“Sheriff Stone,” Anna said in a stern lawyer-like tone, “I think maybe you should give Alex and Sally a little time to think about this. I’m sure they’ll call if they have any ideas that might help you.”
Everyone looked over at her in surprise and there was a stunned silence for a moment.
Alex scratched his forehead, trying to think through what could have possibly happened. “Yes, Sheriff, we will certainly think about any possible circumstances, but we haven’t been in close contact with George in the past months. You’re surely checking with others around town?”
“Of course,” he answered. “Let me ask one more thing, if you don’t mind. Do either of you recall anything George may have said in a conversation when you saw him last, or on the phone about anything he was working on, or that was bothering him?”
Alex looked over at Sally again. She just shook her head no.
Megan walked down the beach below Park Street with her old summer flame, Rick Brandtley. They were holding hands and their bare feet splashed in the waves breaking along the s
horeline. The wind had calmed through the early evening and Lake Michigan lay flat and a shiny gray in the glare from the sun out towards the horizon. Loose stones were pushed up by the waves along the beach, washed in a thousand soft shining colors near the water, the rest a dull dusty gray up higher on the beach. A small fishing boat trolled slowly out towards the far point. Several people up ahead were letting their dogs run, leashes hanging limp in their hands.
Megan was thinking about how happy she should be that summer was finally here. School was over and she was in Charlevoix, back on the EmmaLee, and back with the boy she had been dreaming about all winter. She looked up at Rick walking beside her, sizing up the lines of his face and the style of his hair, feeling the warmth of his hand in hers. She remembered cold nights back in February where moments like this were all she could think about.
So why wasn’t she floating above the sand, blissfully enjoying every moment of this long-anticipated reunion? She felt Rick reach his arm around her waist to pull her closer and they continued walking along the water’s edge. Memories of last summer started coming back to her. Their first kiss out on the beach at a bonfire; the first time he had asked her out on a date, just the two of them. It had been a wonderful night exploring the quaint streets of Harbor Springs up along the north shore of Little Traverse Bay. By the end of the summer they had become practically inseparable. Her father and Sally had been tolerant, but clearly concerned about how much time she had been spending with just one boy. They both seemed to get along well with Rick and he was always on his best behavior around them.
It seemed she was always thinking about him that first summer; always having him somewhere in the back of her mind through the long school year; longing to see him over the Christmas holidays. And now, here they were together again and all she could seem to think about was why didn’t it feel as special as it did last year? Had they really changed all that much over the past months? If anything, Rick had grown more attractive, his body filling out and his face already tan and more mature with a soft brown stubble.
The Summer Town Page 9
