Murder at the Marina

by Ellen Jacobson

  After washing the last of the sticky barbecue sauce off my hands, I turned on my laptop, sat on one of the kitchen stools, and got back to my action plan. First up, I found out more than I’d ever wanted to know about belly button lint. Then I did a search for Cowboy Bob’s Automotive Ranch. I came up with several hits. One was for the car dealership, one was for a consumer affairs site, and the last one was for a dating site.

  I clicked on the dealership site first. The top of the page had a banner that read, “Cowboy Bob’s Automotive Ranch—You Won’t Wrangle a Better Deal Anywhere Else.” Underneath was a picture of a large car lot. When I tried to click on the section labeled “Find Out More,” I got a message that said, “Sorry, but we’re out of business.”

  After hitting that dead end, I debated whether to check out the consumer affairs site or the dating site. Curiosity made me click on the link for Dating Scoundrels. Turns out it wasn’t a dating site. It was a site warning women about scoundrels who’d tried to con women they’d met on matchmaking sites. There were pages and pages of pictures of men, each with a caption underneath detailing his name, occupation, and dating scoundrel crime, such as “married,” “gold digger,” or “cheater.” I scrolled through a few pages until I saw Captain Dan’s face staring at me. Or should I say, Bob Kincaid, owner of Cowboy Bob’s Automotive Ranch and gold digger? And guess who reported him? None other than Penny Chadwick. Bingo.

  Next, I clicked on the consumer affairs site. As I was reading about consumer fraud and protection, Scooter entered the kitchen. He opened the freezer and got out a tub of double-chocolate ice cream. As he walked over to the cupboard where we keep the bowls, he glanced at my laptop. “Consumer affairs? What’s that all about? Are you filing a complaint?”

  “Not exactly. It’s more like I’m investigating a complaint. I found proof that Captain Dan did own a used-car dealership in Texas.” I clicked over to Cowboy Bob’s website and showed it to Scooter. “They went out of business, but the name of the dealership and logo match the car invoice I found in that sailing book Penny loaned me.” I grabbed my purse and pulled out the sales invoice. “See, it’s an exact match.”

  “Okay, they’re the same.” He put two bowls on the counter. “But what does that have to do with Captain Dan?”

  I clicked over to the Dating Scoundrels site and showed him the picture. “See, that’s Captain Dan right there, listed as the owner of Cowboy Bob’s Automotive Ranch.”

  “But that doesn’t say Captain Dan. It says Bob Kincaid.”

  “It’s him. Look closely. You can’t deny they’re exactly alike.”

  “Lots of people look like other people. Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”

  “Or maybe he changed his name because he got into trouble. That’s where the consumer affairs site comes in. There’s gotta be something on here that implicates Captain Dan.”

  Scooter scooped ice cream into the bowls. “Here it is. A report on Cowboy Bob’s Automotive Ranch, owned by Daniel Robert Smith, who goes by the alias of Bob Kincaid.” I tapped my fingers on the counter. “Aha! That’s it. I knew I had seen Captain Dan before. Remember that place we had lunch at in Texas? You know, the one with the Western omelets that was across the street from a used-car lot? It was Cowboy Bob’s Automotive Ranch. There was a huge billboard next to it with his face plastered on it. That’s why he looked so familiar!”

  Scooter handed me a bowl and smiled. “You’re quite the investigative reporter.”

  “No, I’m not,” I said glumly. “I heard from Brian. Lola got the job.”

  Scooter gave me a kiss, and then handed me his bowl of ice cream. “Looks like you might need this one too.” And that’s the secret to a successful relationship—knowing when your partner needs extra chocolate.

  CHAPTER 15

  MR. AND MRS. DIAMOND

  THE NEXT MORNING, SANDY was discharged from the hospital. I popped by her boat to check on her, bringing a box of assorted pastries fresh out of the oven from Penelope’s Sugar Shack. I had my eye on the one pain au chocolat in the box. I knew it was selfish on my part, but I really hoped that Sandy was the kind of hostess who offered a cup of freshly brewed coffee and allowed her guest to have first dibs on the pastries. If she wasn’t, I’d have to create a distraction and snatch it before she did.

  When I got to Sandy’s boat, I realized that in the state she was in, she probably wouldn’t have noticed or cared if I took the pain au chocolat. She was sitting in the cockpit staring into space. I waved the pastries in front of her. No response. Even the smell of chocolate wafting from the box wasn’t enough to get her attention.

  She finally noticed me and motioned for me to join her. She looked at the box. “Is that for me?” I nodded. “That’s sweet of you, but I just don’t have an appetite. I couldn’t eat a thing.”

  “How about a cup of coffee, then? I could make you one,” I offered.

  “Sure, that’d be nice,” she said with a vacant stare. I placed the box next to her and went down below to put the kettle on. After the water came to a boil, I poured it over the grounds in the French press and set it aside to brew for a few minutes.

  “Sandy, do you want cream or sugar in your coffee?” She mumbled some sort of reply. I couldn’t make out what she said. I stuck my head up into the cockpit and repeated the question. That’s when I noticed that she was covered in little flaky pieces of pastry.

  She wiped away some chocolate from the side of her mouth and said, “Just cream, please. I think I already ate enough sugar in this pain au chocolat. It was delicious!”

  Lesson learned—never leave a box of pastries unattended, even if the other person claims they don’t have an appetite. I passed Sandy a cup of coffee and then quickly plucked out a blueberry muffin before Sandy laid waste to that too. “What did the doctor say?” I asked in between bites of muffin.

  “She said I was fine to go home,” Sandy said. “When I explained that I lived on a sailboat, she was surprised, but it’s my home, you know. I love living on the water and being able to take my floating house with me wherever I go. I really hated being in the hospital. It’s good to be back in familiar surroundings.”

  “Are you still going to sell the boat and move into the condo?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Sandy said. Her eyes welled up with tears. “I’ll have to talk to our lawyer and accountant first and get a handle on exactly how much money Jack wasted away. When we first got married, he seemed like such a go-getter. I thought for sure he’d be a successful businessman, but everything he touched turned sour.” She reached into the box and grabbed a blackberry Danish.

  “Look at me,” she said, tearing bits off the Danish angrily. “I’ve got nothing to show for our life together. I should have divorced Jack when I had the chance. If I had, then things would have been different. I could have started over with someone else.” She dried her eyes with one of the napkins that Penelope had provided. “Would you mind making me another cup of coffee, dear?” she asked as she held out her empty mug.

  I nabbed a glazed donut on my way to the galley. It was tasty, just not as tasty as a pain au chocolat.

  “While you’re down there, can you get the bottle of pills out of my purse for me?” Sandy asked as she burst into tears. “The doctor gave me some antidepressant tablets. I should probably take one.”

  I was surprised by her comments about Jack. I knew they’d had troubles, but I didn’t realize how bitter Sandy had been about her marriage. It made me realize how lucky I was to have Scooter.

  While the coffee brewed, I spotted Sandy’s purse on the table and opened it. It was amazing how much stuff she managed to cram in there. I pulled out an eyeglass case, her wallet, a packet of tissues, a hairbrush, a makeup bag, a romance novel, and chewing gum. Finally, at the very bottom, I found a bottle of pills from the hospital pharmacy.

  After plunging the coffee, I poured a glass of water and handed Sandy the bottle along with it. “Thanks. I don’t think I’m supposed to take these on a
n empty stomach. Good thing you brought those pastries,” she said. “It was really thoughtful of you.”

  “So what did you think about Ned’s arrest?” I asked. “Do you really think he could have killed both Captain Dan and Jack?”

  “It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?” Sandy said. “We’ve known them for years. Jack and Ned used to race sailboats together. But I guess you never really know someone, do you?”

  “But if Jack and Ned were such good friends, why would Ned have killed him?”

  Sandy hesitated and then said, “Well, now that he’s dead, I guess there’s no harm in telling you. Besides, the police are already aware. You know Jack’s business selling marine goods? Well, turns out that he was selling stolen goods. He knew some guys who would break into boats that were unoccupied, steal things, and then give them to Jack to fence. Jack would then sell them to unsuspecting people and get a cut of the profit.”

  “How long had this been going on?” I asked, keeping to myself what I already knew about Jack’s illegal activities.

  “I can’t be sure. Jack started his marine equipment business four years ago after he lost his job. He pretended he hadn’t been fired and told everyone he had taken early retirement. At first, he had high hopes for his new business, and I did too. I thought it was going to be the answer to our financial problems. We both were so excited about it initially. But after the first year, it was apparent that he wasn’t making much money. We squeaked by for another year, then things picked up and he began bringing home more money. Not enough to let us keep both the boat and our condo, but enough that we could get by. I think that was when he’d started fencing stolen goods.”

  “Did you realize that right away?” I asked.

  “No, it took me a while to even be suspicious, but I finally found proof. You know how I do the bookkeeping for Jack?” I nodded while I listened to my stomach make very unladylike noises. Perhaps two pastries on top of the big rib dinner I had had the night before was a bad combo.

  “Well, at first the bookkeeping was straightforward.” She took a sip of coffee. “He’d give me receipts from people who he’d bought equipment from. I think I told you before how I’d enter them into a spreadsheet, then enter sales invoices when he sold something. All was good and well but then things changed. He’d just tell me what amounts to enter. He said that he had misplaced the receipts and invoices, but he knew what all the transactions were.”

  “But wouldn’t that get him in trouble with the IRS if he were ever audited?”

  “That’s exactly what I said, but he told me to mind my own business. That’s when things got really bad between us. It was really hard because, to be honest, I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with. I still wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew something wasn’t right.”

  “That must have been so hard not to have anyone to confide in.”

  “Well, there was one person I could talk to, for a while at least.” She twisted her wedding ring nervously. “Then I found out...”

  “What did you find out?” I prompted.

  “Nothing important,” Sandy said. “Anyway, it turns out he couldn’t be trusted either.”

  “When did you know something was wrong?”

  “A couple of days ago. Jack’s cell phone rang and I picked it up. A guy was on the line, but he didn’t even wait to see if it was Jack who had answered the phone. He started screaming that if Jack didn’t come up with the money he owed, he was going to make sure the police got wind of what he was up to and that he’d take the fall for everything. I ended up confronting Jack about it that night, and he didn’t deny it. I kept quiet about it, but once he was killed, I told the police what I knew.”

  “I still don’t understand how Ned was involved.”

  “I’m not sure. All I can think of is that it had to do with the previous owners of Marjorie Jane. They blamed Captain Dan for what had happened with them.”

  “Okay, maybe Ned might have had a motive to kill Captain Dan, but Jack?”

  “Ned’s always been a straight shooter. He probably threatened to turn Jack in, there was a struggle, and Ned accidentally killed Jack.”

  I thought about this while I finished my coffee. “So you don’t think it was murder, just accidental homicide?”

  “I hope that’s the case, for Nancy’s sake,” she said. “Oh, no, look who’s coming.” Sandy pointed at Penny, who waved while making her way down the dock. She was closely followed by Mrs. Moto, who meowed loudly when she reached the boat. “She’s got some nerve, showing her face,” Sandy whispered.

  “Hi there,” Penny said as she scooped the Japanese bobtail up and put her on the deck. “I thought I’d check in and see how you’re doing, Sandy.”

  Sandy gave her a brittle smile. “I’m just fine, Penny. I see you found my cat. I was looking for her everywhere this morning. She must have sneaked off the boat when I wasn’t watching.”

  Penny scratched behind her ears. “She’s such a lovely cat. I bet she missed you while you were in the hospital.”

  Sandy reached out her hand. “Here, Mrs. Moto, come say hello to mama.” The cat stared at her, then jumped in my lap and purred. Sandy looked crestfallen.

  “Penny, we were just talking about Ned’s arrest,” I said. “It seems hard to believe he could have been responsible for Jack’s death. What do you think?”

  Sandy turned and scowled at me. She grabbed the coffee cups. “I better go wash these out.”

  After Sandy was down below, Penny whispered to me, “How’s she actually holding up?”

  “Okay, I think.”

  “She doesn’t really think Ned killed Jack, does she?”

  “Well, she thinks it could have been an accident,” I said. I decided not to share what Sandy had told me about Jack’s shady business.

  “Well, if that’s the case, why would they have arrested Ned?” Penny asked.

  “That’s a good question. Unless the police got it wrong. In a small town like this, they probably don’t have to deal with murders very often. Maybe they made a mistake.”

  “I can’t imagine Chief Dalton admitting the police made a mistake, can you?” Penny asked. “Although, going up against Nancy—that took guts on his part. She’s a pretty tough lady.”

  “I don’t know. This may be too much, even for her. I should go check on her later,” I said.

  “I’m sure she’d appreciate that. I’ve gotta skedaddle. I’m helping a young couple check out a couple of boats for sale. Say good-bye to Sandy for me.”

  Sandy popped her head out of the companionway. “Is she gone?”

  “She just left. I should probably get going too,” I said.

  “Oh, no, you don’t have to leave. It’s nice having the company. It’s just Penny I don’t want to talk to.”

  “Why’s that?” I debated whether or not to mention the picture I’d found of Penny and Captain Dan the night before. “I thought everyone got along with Penny.”

  “I used to think she was all right, but then I found out something about her that changed my mind.” When I gave her a questioning look, she shook her head and said, “Never mind. I don’t want to spread gossip. Just suffice to say that she isn’t somebody you should trust.”

  I was starting to get a bad feeling about my sailing lesson. But then again, Sandy might be overreacting. After all, her husband had just been killed, and that had to have been a shock, no matter what difficulties they were having. Plus, the alien abduction experience wouldn’t be helping matters either.

  “What do you mean, you wouldn’t trust her? Is she dangerous?”

  “She’s definitely the backstabbing type.” Sandy thought about this for a few minutes. “Backstabbers can become dangerous when they don’t get what they want.”

  “But is she the type to bash your head in with a winch handle?” I asked.

  “Poor Dan,” Sandy said, evading the question. “What a horrible way to go.” She put her hand on the side of her head. “I think I’m getting a
nother one of my headaches.”

  “Why don’t you go lie down? I need to get going anyway and find a PFD, whatever that is.”

  “I think I will. Come on, Mrs. Moto, want to go take a nap with mama?” The calico stared at Sandy, then jumped off the boat and ran down the dock.

  ALTHOUGH I’M SURE I earned plenty of good-calorie karma from sharing the box of pastries with Sandy, I figured it couldn’t hurt to go for a walk on the beach to burn off any residual calories that hadn’t gotten the message about my good deeds. I kicked off my flip-flops and scrunched my toes in the sand. As I walked along the water, I saw Mr. and Mrs. Diamond wading. I sat on a piece of driftwood and watched them splash each other playfully. Mrs. Diamond’s pendant glistened as the sun’s rays bounced off it. They walked toward me hand in hand, giggling at some private joke.

  “Sorry, were you sitting here?” I asked when I noticed a straw bag with water bottles, sunglasses, and towels propped up against the driftwood.

  Mrs. Diamond picked up the towels, handed one to Mr. Diamond, and wrapped the other around her waist. “Not at all, there’s plenty of room for everyone,” she said, sitting next to me. “I’ve seen you around before, haven’t I?”

  “Yep, at the marina office.” I decided not to mention that I had originally seen them at Chez Poisson. I really wasn’t in the mood to hear about their romantic dinner or tell them about my less-than-romantic dinner that night.

  “That’s right,” she said. “Isn’t the water great? So refreshing on a hot day like today.”

  “I’ve had so much going on that I haven’t really had a chance to go swimming lately.” I watched the waves crashing on the beach. “Although I do get a little nervous swimming in the ocean. I’m not a very strong swimmer.”