Knot on Your Life

by Betty Hechtman

  “You might want to wait until they cool a little,” I said, setting them on racks. I finished with the pound cakes and rustic cherry pies and gave him the go-ahead to try one of the biscuit muffins. I’d changed from using fluted paper cups for the muffins to using squares of parchment paper that rose above the tops of the biscuits and made them look more dramatic. He took a tentative bite and I waited for his appraisal.

  “I might need another to make sure,” he said. I handed him a second and he bit into it. “I like it,” he said finally. “And the wife can’t hassle me about the sugar.”

  He waited while I packed them up and insisted on escorting me as I dropped them off around town. I think it was less about protection than worry that I was going to go to the rocks without him. I’d given him a bag of runts so he could let his wife taste them.

  When we got back to the Blue Door he followed me to my place. When I say followed, it doesn’t really cover it. The streets were deserted, but even so he rode the tail of the yellow Mini Cooper. Did he think I was going to make a run for it?

  I pulled into my driveway and he parked on the street. Even so, he was next to the car door when I got out. “You want to wait here while I get it?” I asked. He thought about it for a moment and I guess he figured there was no way I could give him the slip and agreed. I probably should have told him that I wasn’t trying to check it out without him, but I don’t think he would have believed me anyway.

  As it turned out he was trying to lose me.

  “You can give that to me,” he said when I returned with the spray bottle. “And then point me in the right direction.”

  “No way,” I said. “First, I couldn’t just point you in the right direction, and second, it’s my luminol, so I get to be the one to spray it.”

  He looked gruffer than usual. “Okay, have it your way. I was just thinking of you walking on those rocks. I wouldn’t want you to fall like the victim did.” He didn’t sound convincing. “But as long as you insist on going, I’d appreciate it if you kept this to yourself.”

  I nodded in agreement and we went across the street. Thanks to our sneakers our footsteps did not echo as we went down the driveway to Vista Del Mar. There was a deep silence on the grounds now. The only sound was the rhythm of the waves. The only lights on were in the Lodge and the lobbies of the guest room buildings.

  We slipped across the grounds and took the boardwalk through the dunes. The white sand reflected the moon, illuminating the area well enough that I saw a deer family in silhouette making their way through the brush.

  The breeze felt fresh and cold as it came off the water as we left the grounds and crossed the deserted street. We stopped when we got on the beach. The tide was out now and the sand seemed to go on forever. I led the way to the dark pierlike shape of the piles of rocks as they went out into the water. He offered one last time to do the heavy lifting and once again I refused.

  I turned on the flashlight on my phone, glad it didn’t need a signal to work. Here near the street the rocks were smaller and piled up, but as it went toward the water there were slabs of rock made smooth by the tide coming in and washing over them. I knew that was where Tim had been. I led the way past the area with the smaller boulders and stepped onto one of the slabs.

  I kept my flashlight pointed on the stony surface. Even with the large mounds there were still plenty of crevices. Both the lieutenant and I were careful how we stepped. The crevices also had tide pools and more than once I saw a starfish clinging to the side of the rock in some water.

  What I’d said earlier was kind of a bluff. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I could take him to the spot, more like I thought I could. I went to the approximate area I thought it was and began to look down. Maybe I was holding my breath a little thinking how bad it would be if I couldn’t find the exact spot after all that I’d put the lieutenant through. And then I saw it and let my breath come out in a gush. My bluff had turned out not to be a bluff. I’d realized that I’d dropped my knitting and it made sense that it probably had been when I was kneeling next to Tim.

  “Here we are,” I said. “Pink marks the spot.” The yarn and needles had gotten caught in one of the crevices. I left them for the moment and then oriented myself to the way I’d been facing when I knelt next to Tim.

  I ran my flashlight over the area and noted that it was all smooth mounds of stone except for a jagged small rock.

  I got down on my knees and took out the luminol. My heart rate had kicked up as I sprayed the smooth stone in front of me. I flipped off the flashlight quickly and we both looked at the dark surface as it came alive with bits of a blue glow that made an outline of where Tim’s head had been. I clicked some photos.

  “Good show, but it doesn’t prove anything,” the cop said.

  I felt for the small rock and gave it the once-over with the luminol and spots of the blue glow lit up. “I beg to differ,” I said, taking some photos before the blue glow disappeared. I flipped on my flashlight and shone it around the area, pointing out that the small rock was an abnormality. “As if someone brought it here,” I said. “I bet if you take it to the M.E., the shape will match the wound on his head.”

  I heard him let out his breath in exasperation. “Okay, Ms. Feldstein, I see your point.”

  “You really should call me Casey after all we’ve been through,” I said. “I’ll send you the photos. I’m sure you understand what this means.”

  “Yes, Ms.— okay, I’ll call you Casey, and I’ll decide what this means.” He paused a moment. “But don’t think that means you can start calling me Theodore or Teddy. I will always be Lieutenant Borgnine to you.”

  “Okay, it’s Lieutenant Borgnine all the way,” I said with a chuckle almost adding that what I really wanted to call him was Teddy Bear. “If I were you I’d start by finding out who called nine-one-one,” I said, getting back to business.

  “I can take it from here,” he said. “Could you leave your knitting where it is, so I can get the area checked out in the morning?”

  “Anything to help,” I said in a bright voice as I heard him groan.

  Chapter 14

  “Hold on, Feldstein, I think you’re getting ahead of yourself,” Frank said. “I got that you took the local cop to the spot where something happened by way of your cockamamie knitting and you used some luminol to find blood residue—both of which must have driven him nuts—but am I to take that to mean someone died?”

  I’d gotten back to my place so exhausted that I’d fallen asleep still dressed on top of the bed. I was amazed I’d managed to take off my jacket and give Julius a dab of good-night stink fish. I’d awoken Friday morning with a start and a gritty tired feeling in my eyes—well, the tired feeling was pretty much everywhere. My first thought had been to call Frank and tell him about my triumph the night before. I’d forgotten that he had no idea what had led up to it.

  I was holding the landline as I set the ceramic coffee thing on top of a mug. I put in the paper filter and spooned in the coffee grounds. Dane had gifted me with a filter setup so I could brew a single cup of coffee using real grounds. It was a definite step up from the instant I’d depended on and made more sense than brewing a whole pot. As soon as I poured in the hot water and it hit the grounds of the dark roast coffee, the pungent fragrance filled the air.

  “Sorry, I forgot you didn’t know.” I heard Frank clucking his tongue.

  “All this happened since I talked to you yesterday? You certainly lead a busy life.”

  “That was yesterday?” I said in surprise. “It seems like a month ago.” The coffee had completed dripping into the mug and I took a big sip. The smell had knocked the door to my brain open and the liquid went right to my wakeup center. I let out a sigh as I felt more alert. “I better start at the beginning.” I told him about the birthday group again since I figured he probably hadn’t been listening that closely when I’d talked to him the preceding morning. There had to be some kind of drama in what I was telling him to get
his attention. I heard him perk up when I mentioned interfering with the Silicon Valley group’s retreat.

  “Feldstein, you certainly know how to keep things stirred up. So the manager doesn’t know that you’re doing stuff for the retreat that he set up? The same person who you’ve told me doesn’t like you and would love to trash-talk you to the owners so they don’t give you a great deal on the rooms and your business falls apart.” I heard the rattle of a paper sack on his end, and when Frank spoke again it sounded like he had a mouthful of something. “Is this leading up to whoever died?”

  “Yes, you’re right about Kevin St. John and I realize now it was probably a mistake to get involved with that group’s retreat. And it was someone from Kevin’s retreat who died,” I said. I told him about the supposed accident, which led back to where I’d started telling him about my nighttime adventure with Lieutenant Borgnine.

  “Whoever said small towns are boring hasn’t hung out with you,” Frank said. “So what happens now?” He didn’t wait for me to answer. “I think I know. The cop is going to keep you out of the loop completely, but you’re going to snoop around anyway. You know, Feldstein, most people wouldn’t bother investigating if they weren’t hired to do it, as in getting paid. It seems to me that with this one maybe you should stay out of it. Take your triumph with the luminol over the cop last night and walk away.”

  I took another sip of the coffee and mulled over what he’d said. “You could be right. Thanks for the advice,” I said.

  “That’s what I’m here for,” he joked. “Let me know what happens.” And with a click he was gone.

  I drained the coffee cup and went to get ready. I’d already planned to skip breakfast. I wasn’t so sure having a lot of food in my stomach would go well with the morning’s plans.

  Even though I grew up in an apartment with a view of Lake Michigan my family weren’t boat people. We were about looking at the water more than being on it. I’d taken the architectural river cruise on the Chicago River and gone to parties held on the excursion boats that left from Navy Pier to cruise along the coast to the north shore. In other words, I’d always been close to land.

  So, when the birthday group requested a whale-watching outing, I’d arranged it and hoped my duties would be merely seeing them off from Vista Del Mar. But Aileen had made it clear I was to accompany them on the whole thing.

  I threw Julius an envious look as he lay curled up on my bed for his morning nap. He didn’t even awaken when I sat down on the bed to pull on my sneakers. I’d exchanged my usual turtlenecks for a V-neck taupe knit top and my favorite jeans that were pale blue from years of washing and wear. I slipped on a lavender cowl from my aunt’s collection of her yarn craft creations. Figuring the wind would make a mess of my hair, I pulled it into a ponytail. There was another reason I wanted it out of the way. My lack of experience on the water left me worrying about getting seasick. I stuck on a baseball cap, grabbed a light-colored fleece jacket and headed to the door.

  Julius never even looked up.

  When I came outside, Deani was just closing the guesthouse door. She smiled when she saw me. “Just giving Fifi her morning walk and some attention,” she said. I nodded as if in agreement, but I knew she was really dropping off the dog after sneaking her into her room overnight. As long as she didn’t get caught, why should I care?

  “Good idea not to take her on the boat,” I said.

  Deani and I walked across the street and down the driveway of Vista Del Mar. I kept expecting her to say something about the previous night, but she was acting like it never happened. I had a sudden thought, remembering how she’d said she had trouble sleeping. Maybe she had taken a sleeping pill. I’d heard that people did weird things when they took certain sleep aids, like drive in their sleep and have no memory of doing it. Could that be what happened to her?

  Madison, Iola and PJ were waiting outside Aileen’s SUV in the parking area near the Lodge.

  “Have you seen Aileen?” Madison said. “She didn’t come to breakfast, and when I knocked on her door she wasn’t in her room.”

  “You all know her better than I do,” I said, “but she seems to have done the disappearing act a lot since you got here. It sounded to me like she wanted some alone time.”

  “I would have thought she had plenty of that since her divorce. But I guess it’s different being away somewhere,” PJ said.

  “Here she comes,” Deani said as Aileen rushed to join the group. Whatever Aileen was doing, it seemed to agree with her. Even with the utilitarian jeans and hoodie, her skin had a glow. Deani still had the car keys from the night before when she’d driven to the drugstore and stopped by the Blue Door. She went to give them to Aileen, but Aileen suggested she drive.

  Deani beeped the doors open and said it was time to load up. I was hoping to ride shotgun, but Aileen opened up a single seat in the third row and gestured for me to get in. With the second row of seats back in place I felt a little claustrophobic but accepted that I was the hired hand and had to take the undesirable seat. The rest of them climbed in and Deani got in the driver’s seat.

  As soon as we were on the road, they all took out their phones, as I’d expected. It gave me some time for my own thoughts and I immediately went to thinking about Tim and his so-called accident. If I was right and someone killed him, the obvious suspects were the other people in his group. That meant there were four people who might have had a motive to get him out of the way. But which one and why?

  Just as I was about to start racking my brain I thought about what Frank had said about letting this one go. I knew he was only thinking of my own good. I’d already stepped into the danger zone with Kevin St. John when I’d helped out his retreaters. Maybe it wasn’t the danger zone yet, but if he found out, it would be the danger zone for sure. It would be even worse if he found out I thought one of his group was a killer. Maybe I should take Frank’s advice and sit this one out, just let Lieutenant Borgnine do whatever he was going to do and stay out of the investigation. I let out a breath thinking I could just put it out of my mind and concentrate on everything else I had going on for the weekend. It sounded like a plan.

  “I can’t believe it,” Madison said, looking up from her phone. “My daughter said my mother-in-law took them shopping and she’s bought them the skimpy dresses I wouldn’t let them buy.” Madison held the phone up for them all to see. Well, except me. I couldn’t see much of anything from the squished seat in the back row. She took the phone back and then let out a shriek. “She let them get tattoos. My eldest said it was funny that her grandmother was so much more with it than I am.” She passed around the phone again and I assumed there was a photo of her daughters’ new adornments. “I’m going to kill my husband when I get home. He’s just asleep at the wheel while his mother wreaks havoc.”

  She touched her pink hair. “I was going to wash out the color before I went home. So I wouldn’t embarrass them. But maybe I’ll just keep it.”

  Aileen put her phone away. “It’s better to talk to real people than to email or text.” It seemed to have come out of nowhere. It served a purpose, though, by changing the subject.

  “You never said where you went this morning,” Madison said, leaning toward the front seat.

  Aileen laughed. “Really? You’re asking me to account for my time? I’m not one of your teenage daughters.” We’d left Cadbury behind and were in Monterey, taking the route than ran close to the water. It was a big tourist area and the street was lined with motels and bed-and-breakfasts in interesting old houses. “If you have to know—instead of breakfast I went for a walk on the beach.”

  My ears perked up. Lieutenant Borgnine had said he was going to send a crew to check out the rocks first thing in the morning. “Where’d you walk? Were you near the rocky area?” I called out from the far backseat.

  “Yeah, that’s where I was,” she said, nodding.

  “Did you see anything interesting?” I asked.

  “Just sand and water and
of course rocks,” she answered, and then looked out the window with a contented sigh.

  Okay, something was off here. There would have been a police car and probably a van. People would have been on the rocks. In other words, too much activity for a walker not to notice. So either he’d just been trying to pacify me with his supposed plans or Aileen wasn’t telling the truth about where she’d been. I reminded myself that I was going to stay out of the lieutenant’s investigation, so whatever he had or hadn’t done was not my concern. Ditto for whether Aileen had been telling the truth. It was none of my business. Besides, I had other things to worry about—like the upcoming boat trip.

  • • •

  The boats left from the tip of Fisherman’s Wharf and I directed Deani to a parking lot near there. The wharf was a tourist heaven with fudge shops, T-shirt shops and lots of places that sold raw and cooked fish, no doubt caught on one of the many fishing boats moored in the water nearby.

  The sky was overcast and a chilly breeze blew off the water. I put on a brave face and led the group through the throngs of tourists. There was a brief stay in the boat lounge and the signing of waivers, which didn’t make me feel any better. None of the boats I’d taken on Lake Michigan required the signing of anything. And then it was time to board.

  You can do this, I told myself. With all the different things I’d done, spending a few hours on a small boat out in the middle of unbelievably deep water surrounded by huge animals couldn’t be all that bad, could it?

  I led the way onto the boat. There was a tiny snack bar and a little seating inside. There were two bathrooms on the outside and places to sit and stand. The motor made a grinding sound and we moved away from the dock. At first it went slow and we made our way around the other docks, and after we passed a buoy the boat picked up speed. I watched the panoramic view of the shore and the harbor get smaller and smaller as we went farther and farther into the open water. I did my best not to think about the map I’d seen of the mountains and deep canyon hidden under the water below us. The boat rocked and rolled over the rises and falls of the water. I was glad for the gunmetal sky, as even the thought of having the sun beat down on me made me feel queasy. The shore kept receding until it disappeared. Ahead there was just open water.