“I gotcha covered,” Julia said as she rolled up the doughnut bag and then rose from the chair. We don’t need to take a shower or get fancy or anything. Remember, we’re pretending to be fishing. No smelly perfume, lotion, or anything, it scares the fish and if Frankie catches the scent, he’ll know we’re bluffing. I’ll meet you on the pontoon in say … fifteen minutes. Does that give you enough time to get ready?”
“Plenty,” Rain said as she rose. “Bring the doughnuts, in case we’re on stakeout and get hungry.” She teased.
“Already planned on it.” Julia’s voice trailed behind her.
Her friend was barely out of earshot when Rain heard someone shuffle across the deck as she was just about to step inside the cabin.
“Rain?”
“Lyla, good morning.” Rain secretly wondered what the woman was doing standing on her deck first thing in the morning. “Something I can help you with?”
“I went over to the library but it seems it’s closed?” Lyla put her hands on her hips and waited expectantly with a frown.
“Oh, I see. Yes, I’m sorry but due to the circumstances I’ve been forced to postpone the opening, but we’ll be open to the public just as soon as we can. Are you looking for a beach read? I’m sure I have one laying around the cabin that you could borrow?”
“No. I was actually looking for a book on numismatics. Do you know if you have anything like that on the shelf?”
“Gosh, I don’t know. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it, but I’m not familiar with the term?” Rain smiled.
“Oh, it’s the study of currency. A numismatist is a person who collects coins and currency from other time periods.” Lyla pushed back her shoulders proudly, protruding her ample chest as if showing she had one up on Rain due to her extensive … knowledge.
“Learn something new every day!” Rain chuckled. “I doubt we have anything like that in our little library, though. We mostly shelve works of fiction and a few memoirs and such. I highly doubt we have anything about currency collecting in our meager collection. Sorry I can’t be of more help.” Rain shrugged.
“Oh, that’s okay. Brock sent me on another wild-goose chase. He just said it’s not something he wants to google. He says the government is watching all the time.” Lyla circled her fingers and put her hands in front of her eyes as if she was looking through pretend binoculars. “You know how those advertisements show up on your phone immediately after you google something? Brock absolutely hates that! I can’t half blame him.”
“Yeah, it is weird when that happens, I’ll have to agree with that.” Rain nodded.
“Anyhow, I guess, I’ll be on my way then. Enjoy the day, it looks like it’s going to be a magnificent one!”
“Yeah, you too,” Rain said to Lyla’s back as the woman had already turned from her and rushed away.
Rain stood dumfounded as she couldn’t help but wonder why Brock was looking for a book on money and didn’t want the trace of a google search. Especially when a dead man had been hiding some rare currency of his own inside a refrigerator. Something wasn’t adding up. Or maybe it finally was.
* * *
The wind gusted up soon after the pontoon glided across the placid lake, causing Rain’s dark hair to tangle across her face. She turned the vessel directly against the wind to allow her hair to fly freely again. Julia sat in the front seat of the pontoon with compact binoculars held up to her eyes in search of the Lund. Her friend turned toward the captain’s chair.
“I can’t see a thing; we’re zipping along too fast. The new bumps aren’t allowing me to focus,” Julia shouted, dropping the field glasses to her lap.
“I’ll slow it down once we get over to one of the common fishing areas and we get a visual of other boats out here. Right now, I’m not seeing much either.”
Julia gave the thumbs up.
The lake was eerily desolate, despite perfect fishing weather. Usually, first dawn was peak fishing for most anglers, and different sections of hot spots around Pine Lake brought out a school of fisherman. Yet even at midmorning, the lake was void of them.
“Where is everybody this morning? I’m really shocked I’m not seeing anyone.” Rain’s eyes darted around Pine Lake, but no other boats were within sight. And they were clipping along at a nice pace.
“Oh rats, berries! I just thought of something,” Julia shouted for Rain to hear over the groaning engine and splashing waves.
Rain lowered the throttle so she could hear Julia better. “What’s that?” she cuffed a hand next to her ear to muffle the sound of whipping wind and waited.
“There’s a fishing tournament over in Crivitz, and I can almost bet a bunch of guys went down there. It’s a pretty big event they hold on one of the lakes every summer.” Julia frowned. “I’m pretty sure this is the week they’re having it. Maybe that explains why the lake is so lacking in fishing boats this morning?”
“That’s not exactly the news I wanted to hear.” Rain tightened her hands upon the steering wheel and brought her head to rest on it momentarily. When she lifted her head again, she asked, “What now? How are we gonna talk to Frankie and dig for more information about Thornton’s friend, if Frankie’s in Crivitz with the rest of the fisherman?”
“It’s just a guess on my part. Why don’t we take a spin over by Thornton’s rental? If Frankie’s boat is docked at his house, then maybe we’ll get lucky and he didn’t join the tournament this year. If it’s gone, and we can’t find the Lund somewhere on this lake, it would be safe to assume he’s down there with everyone else.”
Rain circled the steering wheel of the pontoon in the direction of Thornton’s rental, and hugged the shoreline. She lowered the throttle to the lowest setting, so that she wouldn’t cause a wake to form behind the boat. In order not to disturb anyone that had the privilege of a good night’s sleep— unlike herself. She also didn’t want to frighten the loons as she navigated around one swimming dangerously close to the boat. The bird dipped its head and then dove deep beneath the water and didn’t pop its head again until far from the pontoon. The wind subsided, and Rain could tell by the warmth upon her shoulders, and the lake returning to a sheet of glass, that they were in for another hot day ahead.
“Back at the cabin, right after you left, Lyla stopped by for a quick visit.” Rain said.
“Oh yeah? What did she want?”
“She was inquiring whether or not we had books in the library regarding currency.”
Julia spun her seat around to face her. “You’re kidding?”
“I’m not. She said Brock sent her over for it.”
“Really. Is that so?”
“Yeah, really. What do you make of it?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest, I’d heard Brock was into coin collecting in his youth, but I didn’t know he still had interest in that stuff. That is interesting.”
“To say the least, the timing is interesting.”
“Sure is.”
“Speaking of interesting, have you thought about what you’re going to say to Frankie? We should probably craft a plan here. You don’t think it’s possible that Frankie actually had something to do with Thornton’s murder, do you? I mean, you’re not still thinking the blood on his boat was Thornton’s, are you? You mentioned something before that he too had a beef with the guy, or something to that affect. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all. He might feel cornered.” A look of concern swept across Julia’s sunburned face.
“Truth is, Jace mentioned that the blood on the boat was indeed fish blood. And yes, Frankie certainly wasn’t a fan of Thornton, but it sounds like my uncle burned quite a few bridges around Lofty Pines, the way Marge put it at the barbeque. It’s a long shot, but we’ll stick to the conversation being about Thornton’s foreign friend. We’ll keep the conversation light and away from any suspicions that might alert Frankie. Believe me, I don’t want to spook the guy either. Maybe Frankie knows where the foreign guy works, though, or what bar he hangs out at. At the very l
east, he might know where we can find him so we can go talk to him. Maybe then I can find out what he was trying to accomplish by breaking into my house!”
“Jace is gonna kill us,” Julia said with a smirk before spinning her chair back to face forward. She raised the compact binoculars to her eyes as soon as Thornton’s rental came into distant view, then gasped.
“Did you find Frankie?”
“No, it’s not Frankie because his Lund isn’t docked there, and I remember what he looks like from Portside—this guy has a smaller build. Someone is snooping around Thornton’s rental.”
Rain looked on as a spectator as Julia kept the binoculars up to her eyes. “Who is it? Can you tell?”
“I don’t know … it’s not the homeowner either; I know Jeremey like the back of my hand.” Julia dropped the binoculars to her lap and spun to face Rain. “Someone is definitely up to no good.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Quick, let me see those.” Rain cut the engine and moved to take the binoculars from Julia’s hands. She then held them up to her own eyes.
“You want me to steer the boat?” Julia asked, jumping up from the seat, and stumbling past her. A sudden gust of wind picked up, and the waves overtook the pontoon, causing them to bobble idly in the water like a giant fishing bobber with a robust fish taking it down.
“Yeah, would you?” Rain reached to steady herself by grabbing hold of the back of one of the front pedestal seats and dropping the binoculars to her side. She waited until the boat stabilized, before plopping into the seat and raising the binoculars to her eyes again.
“See anything?” Julia asked.
Rain glanced over her shoulder to the captain’s chair where Julia now stood and had taken over the controls. “I can’t get a good read. I think it’s a male, from the build alone. But he has his back turned to me. The guy doesn’t look familiar, at least from the back. How many men do you know with mousy brown hair?”
“Uh-uh. Maybe like half the male population,” Julia said with a chuckle.
“You’ve got that right.”
“Bummer, I was hoping you’d be able to see who it was.”
“Well, you definitely know a lot more about Lakers than I remember. You want to dock the boat and maybe we can check it out further? I’d like to take a closer look and see what this guy is up to,” Rain suggested.
“Pretty brazen, breaking into a house first thing in the morning, don’t you think? Why wouldn’t he break in at night, after dark? Like the rest of the hooligans. You really think it’s safe to confront the guy?”
“I’m not saying we should confront him.” Rain looked through the binoculars, then turned to Julia again, and whispered. “He moved to the side of the house by a basement egress window. He just flipped the hood up on his sweatshirt to hide his face. And it looks like he has a pocketknife, and he’s preparing to cut out a screen! Julia! We’ve gotta stop him somehow! Or at least find out what he’s up to.”
“I don’t know if it’s such a good idea for us to get any closer. What if it’s the same guy that tried to break into your house last night! Is he wearing the same sweatshirt?”
Rain couldn’t tell.
“And what if he stabs us with that knife!” Julia hissed. “I’d better call Jace. Where’s your phone?”
Rain cringed sheepishly. “I didn’t bring it.” She held up one hand in defense, “I thought if we were pretend fishing … I wouldn’t need it. I didn’t see a use for it, until now. You?”
“Ahh, no. I didn’t bring mine either. I guess we don’t make the best amateur sleuths after all. What were we thinking not bringing our cell phones?” Julia said under her breath, through gritted teeth. She then threw up her hands in exasperation.
Rain rose the binoculars up again to watch the intruder, and then her arms shook in disbelief and excitement, “He got in! He got in! He’s inside the house! What are we gonna do now? We have to find out what he’s doing in there! What if he’s removing substantial evidence!”
“He’s probably burglarizing people’s uninhabited houses around Pine Lake, like yours for example. Maybe he overheard somewhere, at a local pub or something, that a few rentals were still vacant. Maybe he thought he could score big on a few of those with no one around!” Julia suggested.
“Really?” Rain’s tone went flat. “And I suppose he returns missing keys to outhouses too? Is that part of his MO? Should we call him the master key burglar?” She rolled her eyes and smiled. “I don’t think so.”
“Ahh, I guess you’ve got a point there.” Julia twirled her hair between her fingers until a tight ringlet formed. “You really think this is the same guy who tried to break into your cabin last night?” Julia shifted the pontoon in order to back the boat up in reverse so they could continue to remain hidden behind the headland that jutted out into the water. The small peninsula gave them just enough room to maintain surveillance.
“What other conclusion would you make? Isn’t it Jace who says he doesn’t believe in coincidences? Plus, he just put the hood up on his sweatshirt. I can’t say definitively if it’s the same sweatshirt but that’s beside the point. We gotta go over there and find out what the heck he’s doing inside of Thornton’s rental, otherwise we’ll never get to the bottom of this.”
“Excuse me?” Julia blinked rapidly. “You wanna do whaaaat?”
“What other choice do we have? We certainly can’t see anything from here with all of these trees blocking our way.” The boat continued to drift toward shore, causing the rental to fully disappear behind the headland of trees. “Here.” Rain stood, and steadily guided her way back toward the controls. “Let me take over.”
“Where on earth are you gonna park this thing?” Julia asked skeptically as she moved away from the captain’s chair. “We can’t park at Frankie’s pier, and it’s a little hard to hide a large pontoon. It’s like trying to hide an elephant at the zoo.”
“How about we anchor over there and wade in.” Rain pointed out a shallow spot that would be tucked in and hidden from view from Thornton’s rental. “We’ll carry our shoes.”
Rain hoped the obscure spot would enable them to inconspicuously sneak onto shore without being caught. She maneuvered the boat to the neighboring location, then cut the engine to glide the rest of the way toward shore. Without a moment to waste, Rain moved to the front of the boat and carefully dropped anchor so as not to make a huge splashing noise. She guided the rope slowly through her hands until the anchor finally hit the bottom, then she gave a hard tug to make certain it was secure.
“Come on, hurry!” Rain summoned. She moved over to drop the ladder into the water and then held the top of the ladder to keep it stable while Julia descended into the lake.
Julia winced when her body hit the water. She gritted her teeth and danced up and down in thigh deep water while she waited. “The water’s colder than a freezie pop!” She shook her hands frantically in the air as if it somehow helped control the urge to shriek.
Rain scrambled to join Julia in the lake. She, too, felt a rush of cold when her bare feet touched the sandy bottom. In an attempt not to scream out from the shock of icy water, she covered her mouth and then bit down on her bent index finger. So much for wanting a cleansing dip in the lake. That wouldn’t happen anytime soon. The instant numbness of her legs made the walk difficult. Each step forward felt like wading through molten concrete. She looked over at Julia who was pushing closer to shore with one flip-flop dangling in each hand.
“Oh no!” Rain whispered.
Julia turned to question her. “It’s too cold out here, eh? Did I mention the ice just came out of the lake in early May?” She shook her head. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. What are we thinking?”
“No, it’s not that. I forgot my shoes!” Rain looked back over her shoulder at the anchored boat, which had drifted away from them, and then decided to forge on ahead despite her lack of footwear. She carefully sidestepped a pile of zebra mussels, and a crayfish scrambled
past her foot.
“Ouch! Rats!” Julia winced. “Owie!”
“What’d ya hit? Zebra mussel or crayfish?”
“I’m not sure, but I definitely stepped on something sharp,” Julia hopped on one foot causing a rippling effect around her. She limped to shore and dropped onto the thick grass upon arrival. After she’d flipped her foot over for confirmation, and wiggled her toes for a few moments she said, “No blood no foul. I think I’ll live.”
Rain joined Julia on the shoreline, folded over, and rubbed at her calves vigorously in order to get the blood pumping again. “I forgot how long it takes for the lakes to warm up in the Northwoods. I don’t think it’ll be swimmable up here until late July!” She bounced up and down on her toes until she felt capable of walking again and blew out a few quick panting breaths, as if preparing for a marathon.
The two had landed on a neighboring rugged property that lacked any built structure. The vacant uncleared land held a small For Sale by Owner sign nailed to a nearby tree, close to the shore. Along with a No Trespassing sign on another. Rain hoped, for her sake, Julia didn’t catch wind of the no trespassing one.
Rain then noticed the eagle’s nest overhead and realized someone with vast wings had already taken up residence on the property. She’d heard that cardinals were the birds that often coincided with a loved one’s death. She wondered instead if Max had chosen an eagle, since she’d seen so many eagles of late.
“Ready?” Julia asked, interrupting her reverie.
Rain nodded and then followed Julia toward the thick trees that blocked the two properties. After leaving the grassland, and crossing a dirt path, she looked to the pine-needled ground and sulked.
Noticing Rain’s dilemma, Julia called her over with her hands and then crouched forward, waiting. “Come over here! Hop on my back.”
“Seriously? You want to carry me piggyback?” Rain asked incredulously, tossing her head back with a slight laugh. “You must be joking; I think we’re a little old for that.”
Murder at the Lakeside Library Page 22
