by J C Fuller
“What is it?” Caleb sounded less than enthused.
“Nothing difficult. Just, when you are out and about tonight, I want you to keep your ears open about Janie Engles. Emphasis on listening. Information in, not information out.”
“What exactly am I listening for?” Caleb perked up, entertained with the idea.
“Anything, really. Who may’ve seen her last? What people thought of her? Who knew her best or who she used to date?”
“Ohhhhh… I get it! See what kind of dirt I can dig up on her? Try to scrape up anything scandalous? Sure. But, why?”
Lane paused before answering. Caleb hadn’t quite grasped what she’d meant.
“Because I asked you to. See you tomorrow, Caleb.”
“See ya!” He gave her a parting smile and locked the door behind him, leaving Lane all alone with the reports and a fresh pot of coffee.
Chapter 10
Smiling at the sound of the golden bell chiming above the door of Hattie’s General, Lane greeted Harry Vickers with a wave as she breezed into the island’s one-stop shop grocery store.
“Morning, Sheriff!” Harry gave the pretty blonde a warm welcome in return as he refilled the pepperoni sticks by the register.
“Morning, Harry!” she said in passing, giving a nod to the old timers sitting at the picnic table stationed in front of the store’s window.
The picnic table, always for sale, had become the island’s prime gossip and coffee circle through the years, typically occupied by at least one or two locals throughout the day. Currently in the possession of the table, were the fore mentioned old timers Dub and Glen. The two bickering back and forth over their coffee. This time apparently about the benefits of an electric chain saw vs. gas chainsaw.
Sitting next to the picnic table was an old empty rocking chair, a small sign hanging on its back stating “Hattie’s Chair” and in smaller print below, “Not for sale.”
Lane made her way over to the refrigerated wall and grabbed a small carton of creamer and a six-pack of Coke. She debated on grabbing an energy drink for Caleb and then decided on two, remembering Kody liked them as well. She’d have Philip bring one back for him after their meeting.
With her hands full, she started to make her way towards the front. Spotting an end cap of Oreo cookies, she snatched up a carton and added it to the pile.
“How’s the morning going so far, Harry?” She carefully laid her items on the small counter.
“Oh, no complaints.”
“Miss Hattie feeling okay today?” Lane looked towards the rocking chair, slightly concerned it was still sitting vacant. Hattie, who would be turning one hundred and three in a month, was normally found rocking in her chair happily chatting with customers in the mornings.
“Doing just fine. Finishing up her cocoa and the last fifteen minutes of the Price is Right before she heads out front.” Harry started to bag up Lane’s groceries.
“And…. how’s the nose feeling?” Lane asked carefully, noticing Harry’s two black eyes were a darker shade of purple than the other night.
Harry had been one of the main participants in the bowling alley brawl and his nose still looked red and swollen.
“Tender. But you should see the other guy.” Harry winced, gently touching the side of his nose.
“I have. By the way, he’s dropping the charges. Now that he’s sobered up.”
“Dropping the charges? He’s the one who started it! I should be the one bringing charges up on him, not him on me!”
“Harry, …you clobbered him over the head with your bowling trophy!”
“And his thick skull bent it!” Harry stuffed the carton of cookies into the bag roughly. “I’ve already told the trophy store to fix it and send him the bill.”
“Please tell me you didn’t.” Lane shook her head, trying to sound disapproving behind her smile.
“Oh, you bet I did!”
“Do me a favor, Harry. Call them back. Be the bigger man. Let it go.”
“Bigger man?” Harry stopped bagging her items. “Sheriff, that’s what started the fight in the first place!” He put his hand to his heart as if wounded. “I’d won the final frame, fair and square. Went over like a good winner should, extended my hand in friendship, and the loser sucker punched me!” He musingly shook his head in disbelief. “All I was trying to do was be a good sport.”
“Witnesses say you’d been running your mouth at him all night, Harry. By the time the game was over, he was as hot as a pistol. Some say you went over to rub his nose in it.”
“Ahhh…Phil knows how I get when I play.” Harry waved his hand in the air, dismissing the accusation. “I’ve always been real competitive. He knows that.” Harry folded the top of the paper bag nicely, avoiding Lane’s judging stare.
“That’s why he’s dropping the charges.” She tried to catch Harry’s eye and smiled. “You two are best friends. This is a silly way to break up a friendship.”
“It’s not broken,” Harry said, sharply. “It’s just on hold till he fixes my trophy.”
Lane rolled her eyes, taking the bag and starting to leave. She paused in thought.
“Harry, did you know Sue Carter’s nieces?”
“Oh, sure! Everybody did! They were a summer staple around here.” His smile faltered. “I was sure sad to hear about Janie. Hell of a thing.”
Lane nodded her head agreeing and started towards the door with her purchases in hand.
“Saw her on Tuesday. Full of life, pretty smile as always. Just sad.” Harry had turned to walk around the corner of the counter as Lane turned back to face him.
“You said, you saw her Tuesday?”
“Sure did. She visited with Hattie for a few minutes, got a couple of things, and then headed out to the park.” Harry turned towards Lane, standing behind his cash register again.
Lane put the paper bag on the counter and pulled out her leather notepad.
“What did she and Miss Hattie talk about?”
“Oh, just niceties really. Asked how Hattie was feeling. Talked about how hot the weather has been lately. Chatted about Hattie’s upcoming birthday party in a month.”
“So, she was a friendly girl?”
“Both girls were. Everyone kind of looked at them as their little kid sisters. Well, except for the boys their age.”
“What did she end up buying?” Lane had been taking notes and flipped to the next page.
Harry shrugged his shoulders and thought. “Not much. A box of granola bars. A couple big bags of beef jerky. A small bag of nuts. A couple of Gatorades. Normal hiking food.”
Lane nodded her head as she wrote the items down, agreeing with Harry, it was a pretty normal list. “You said, two Gatorades?” she asked, for clarification.
“Yup. Oh, and one of those trail books for the park.” Harry pointed towards a metal tower filled with small booklets and road maps standing by the door. “I thought that was a little odd.”
“Odd? Why say, odd?” She walked over to the metal tower, giving it an idle twirl. She then picked out a book matching the one found on the trail and turned towards Harry, showing it to him, “Was this the one she bought?”
“That’s the one.”
Lane brought the book over to the counter indicating for Harry to ring it up. The other one was in an evidence bag.
“Janie has been all over that mountain. I just didn’t think she needed one.”
“Did you ask her why she bought it?”
“No.” Harry paused for a second, unfolding the top of Lane’s grocery bag to slip the book inside. “If I think about it though, she volunteered she wanted the book because she’d always been with someone who knew the way. Figured she’d better get it since she’d be hiking by herself this time.” Harry shrugged his shoulders, dismissing the thought and the conversation.
Lane closed her notepad and stuck it in her back pocket, once again grabbing the brown paper bag from the counter. She remembered she had something to tell him.
“OH! Phil says he’s got an uncle who will let me rent his place. Looks like I may be out of the upstairs apartment soon.”
Even with two black eyes and a broken nose, Lane couldn’t miss the look of utter relief on Harry’s face.
“His Uncle Chuck’s place?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
Harry chuckled fondly, “Uncle Chuck, crazy coot. Heck of a nice guy though.” Harry laughed again. “You? You’re going to be the one living at Uncle Chuck’s place? That’s great news!” Harry pounded on his counter. “Just great news!” He was suddenly abashed at his own enthusiasm, noticing Lane’s hurt expression. “Not that we haven’t enjoyed having you upstairs, Sheriff. It’s just…we could use the extra money. What with the damage to the store last spring and losing a night cashier for well over a month? And well, Hattie don’t feel right asking for more rent money from YOU. But the hunters? They’ll pay a good deal more if…”
Lane held up her hand, arresting Harry’s explanations.
“I understand, Harry. And to be honest, I need more room. I think this will work out best for everybody. Phil said he’d show me the place this week. In fact, he’s probably at my office right now waiting on me. I better get going.” Lane regarded Harry carefully. “Should I tell Phil you say hi?”
“No.” Harry frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. “But you can tell him he owes me thirty bucks.”
Chapter 11
“Sorry, I’m late. I was getting a few things before work,” Lane apologized to Philip, who was leaning up against the front door of the sheriff’s office waiting on her. “I was hoping Caleb had beat me here.”
“Haven’t seen hide nor hair of him.” Philip grabbed the grocery bag from Lane, freeing her hands to unlock the door.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Lane mumbled to herself, swinging the door open.
“How’s Harry’s nose looking?” Philip asked, walking in behind her and placing the grocery bag down on Caleb’s empty desk.
“Large, swollen, and still broken,” Lane said over her shoulder, before flipping on the lights and making her way over to the little coffee station.
“He still sore at me?”
“He says you owe him thirty bucks for the trophy.”
“Thirty bucks!”
“Yup, thirty.”
“For that lousy piece of plastic junk?” Philip shook his head musingly, “Did you tell him I dropped the charges?”
“Sure did. Didn’t seem to help.” Lane busied herself pouring fresh water into the Keurig’s tank. “I think it’s his pride that’s hurt more than anything. You really should apologize.”
“Me, apologize? He’s the one who hit me over the head with his dumb trophy!” Philip absently rubbed the back of his head.
“After you punched him!” Lane couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Well, that was because he was popping off his mouth.”
“You still shouldn’t have hit him, Phil.” Lane leveled him with a disciplinary frown. “And you both shouldn’t have had so much to drink.”
“Neither of us was driving,” Philip deflected, instead of agreeing. He looked inside the grocery bag, pulling out a carton of creamer. He smiled up at her, her back facing him now as she fiddled with the coffee machine. Lane knew he didn’t drink his coffee black.
“Suit yourself. He’s only your best friend in the world.” Lane looked over her shoulder at Philip, who was emptying out the rest of the grocery bag.
“One of those energy drinks is for Kody, by the way. And don’t eat the cookies,” Lane directed, removing the filled coffee mug, placing an empty one in its place.
“Thanks. Just what the kid needs. More energy. He’s already bouncing off the walls half the time as is.” Philip put the tall energy drinks to the side and pulled out the small trail booklet, holding it up to look at it.
“That’s the same one Janie had, right?” Lane brought the filled coffee mugs over and indicated with her shoulder for Philip to follow her into the glass-paned office.
“Same one.” Philip quickly flipped through the pages, using his thumb to bend the book back, causing the little pages to flip rapidly.
“Harry seemed surprised she bought it.”
“I was surprised she had it!” Philip agreed, grabbing the creamer and other coffee supplements, following her into the office.
“Apparently, Janie told Harry she wanted it since she’d be climbing up The Mole Hill all by herself. Who did she normally go climbing with?” Lane blew on her coffee, while punching in her log-in passcode one handed into the computer.
“Usual suspects?” Philip poured creamer generously into his hot beverage, followed by four sugar packets, “That would be Gabe Garent, Lucas Wilson, Kevin Givens, and Brent Allister.”
“All boys?”
“She was a tomboy.”
“She didn’t have female friends?”
“Sure, she did. There was her sister and Amy…Jerry’s daughter. And Angie Bennett, Kevin’s girlfriend.” Philip gave his coffee a good stir with a plastic stir stick. “Wait. You know Angie, she was out there with her horses helping in the search.”
“I do. So, four boys and four girls? Were they all paired up or just a group of friends?” Lane had pulled her notepad out, busily writing down the names.
“That’s tough to say. When they were younger, I would have said a group of friends. After the teen years, I think things started to change.” Philip tapped his stir stick on the rim of his mug before chucking it into the trash can. “Might want to ask Sue about their dynamic. I only saw them when they were in the park and they all looked pretty friendly.”
“Tell me about Danie’s drowning.” Lane had her pen ready, hovering over her notepad.
Philip wondered why she didn’t type everything into the computer instead of taking it down by shorthand. But then again, he knew she studied her notes at the end of each day and probably fell asleep analyzing everything to death.
Philip took a hasty sip of his coffee, nodding as he swallowed.
“It was last year, around the end of August. The group had gone camping together, staking close to the coast by the water and pebbled beach. I’d spoken with them earlier in the day and was still in the area when Kevin Givens tore up in his pickup truck. I followed him back to Shallow Point and—”
“Shallow Point?” Lane looked up and grabbed the little booklet, flipping towards the end where there was a map of the whole island.
“It’s a nice view point, lots of pointy rocks at the bottom. Some people like to jump or dive from it, as there’s a sliver of a spot where there are no rocks. We’ve got “No Diving, No Swimming” signs posted, as most people aren’t that lucky. Kids ignore them most of the time.”
Lane put the book down, frowning. “It’s not roped or fenced off?”
Philip shook his head no. “Would ruin the view.” Lane could tell by the tone of his voice he didn’t agree with the logic.
“What happened next?”
“Well, I followed Kevin to the shallows and found the group of young people gathered around Danie. Gabe was preforming CPR. By the time I got there, there was nothing else to be done. Tore the kid up pretty good. He’d been attending UW’s medical school. Ended up taking this year off and has been working for Doctor Hadley instead. I hope he’ll be ready to return next quarter and finish up his degree. Doctor Hadley is retiring here soon and Gabe’s got a good chance of taking over his practice.”
“How did everyone else react?” Lane asked, more interested in the past than the present.
“Like they would with any accident.” Philip put his coffee mug down and sat back in his seat. “Shock, sadness, tears.”
“So, had she jumped from the point? Anybody see her dive off?”
“No, apparently no one had been around to actually see her get in the water.”
“Where was the rest of the group then?”
“Janie had gone off with Lucas to help put up a tent. Brent said he was
wondering around looking for wood for a bonfire they’d planned that night. Kevin and Amy had decided to grab some lunch and were making sandwiches for everybody. Gabe said he was in his tent, trying to take a nap.”
“What about Angie?”
“I don’t remember her being there.” Philip shook his head, trying to recall. “Pretty sure I didn’t see her.”
“So, Danie decided to jump off Shallow Point with warning signs posted all over and all of her friends doing something else?” Lane tilted her head back, starring up at the ceiling. “Not very smart.”
“Actually, the coroner didn’t think she took a dive. With how she was dressed and the condition of her injuries. Well, he thought she might have been leaning over the edge too far, lost her balance, and fell in, landing on the jagged rocks below.”
“What was she wearing?” Lane sat up, her full attention on Philip.
“Shorts, bikini top, flip flops.”
“You said she had injuries? I thought she drowned?”
“She did, but she got bunged up pretty good by the rocks below. Cracked her head open.”
“The back of the skull? Front of the skull?” Lane’s head turned at the sound of the front door opening. Deputy Pickens had sauntered in. “You’re late!” she called out, and then muttered under her breath, “Like usual.”
Caleb waved her off, apparently nursing a hangover.
Philip, curious to how late Caleb was, glanced at his own watch.
“Speaking of being late. I gotta run.”
“But we’re not done!” She stood up with him, slightly peeved.
“Here.” Philip dug out his cell phone from his front pocket and handed it over. “Download the pictures and then pick me up before noon at the ranger station.”
“But I’m heading over to the mainland at noon to meet the coroner,” Lane complained, tossing the phone onto her desk. Philip, already half-way to the door, swiped one of the cans off of Caleb’s desk to his protest.
“I know. That’s why you’re picking me up before noon, so we can make the ferry on time, and after we see the coroner, you can take me to lunch.” He gave her a playful smile and a parting wave.
