Alaskan Legal: A Legal Thriller

by Dave Daren

  “Don’t worry about it,” I advised. “She’s long gone.”

  “She?” Diana repeated.

  “Yura,” I confirmed. “Did you see her here on the dock?”

  Diana shook her head as she rubbed her wrist. Her wrist rubbing was similar to my scar tracing, I decided, just a habit she displayed when thinking. I doubted her fall from yesterday had injured her wrist to the point where it still irritated her today.

  “I never saw Yura,” she answered. “I didn’t even know she owned her own boat.”

  “Who owns her own boat?” a voice asked from behind me.

  I knew the confident voice belonged to Tash, and I turned around to find her wearing waterproof overalls with a short-sleeved, black shirt underneath. Once again, she went without a coat. Black, rubber boots were her chosen footwear, and they were surprisingly shiny under the sun. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and the hairstyle did well to draw attention to her glowing face. Despite having been in a fight the day before, she was the epitome of beauty.

  Her hands were stuffed in the pockets of her overalls, and she smirked at the sight of me. She casually strolled toward me and Diana, though her smirk fell away at the sight of the bucket of ice left abandoned on the deck. She glared up at Diana, but rather than expressing malice, her eyes only contained disappointment, like a mother seeing a failing grade on her child’s test.

  “We were talking about Yura,” Diana quickly explained as she shifted her stance so that the bucket was behind her legs.

  Marleen rolled her eyes, but the anger I expected after yesterday’s brawl didn’t appear. Instead, Marleen gave a snort and shook her head.

  “She doesn’t own a boat,” the confident woman said.

  “Does anyone in her family own a boat?” I asked.

  “Her parents,” Tash answered. “And I think her brother.”

  “And would any of them be willing to let her use their boat?” I asked.

  “Not her brother, but definitely her parents,” Tash explained. “Judging from your questions, it sounds like you’re worried Yura is going to make a getaway. Or she already has. You think she killed Vann?”

  Diana’s eyes widened at this, and she stopped rubbing her wrist to grip it instead. She cast her wide eyes on me as she waited for an answer.

  “New information about the case points to her as the killer,” I answered. “But there’s no confirmation.”

  Tash walked past me and Diana to bend down and pick up the bucket of ice behind Diana’s legs. Her toned arms flexed as she brought the handle of the bucket to rest on her shoulders. Tash met the unabashed admiration in Diana’s gaze with a wink, and the pale woman quickly looked elsewhere. The confident fisherwoman chuckled as she turned her attention to me.

  “Yura’s a stupid bitch, not a murderous one,” she told me as she backed away toward the entrance to the hold. “Besides, last time I checked, she was head over heels for Harrison.”

  Before I had the opportunity to respond, she disappeared down below deck. I looked over at Diana whose gaze was directed at her feet as she recovered from her embarrassment. I noticed that this time around color flushed her cheeks, and it immediately dissipated when she realized I was staring at her.

  “I know you don’t know Yura very well, but what’s your opinion?” I asked. “Do you think she would have killed Vann?”

  Diana shrugged before making eye contact with me. She reached up to touch her temple but stopped halfway as if she didn’t want anyone to know that she had another migraine coming on. Instead, she folded her arms across her chest, but that only made her look smaller.

  “Like you said, I don’t know her very well,” she answered. “She seemed close to Harrison, so I would be surprised if she killed him. But it would be nice if it were her. Then this investigation would finally be over.”

  She didn’t seem at all interested in discussing the topic, and I felt the same way. Nothing would be gained from talking to her about Yura if she barely knew the fisherwoman as she claimed. But I could ask her about Morris’ comment from earlier in the day.

  “How goes the preparation for the fishing trip?” I asked.

  “It’s… happening,” the pale woman said as though for the first time she understood this trip was a reality. “We should be ready to go in a couple of hours.”

  “Are you excited?” I asked.

  She gave a timid smile and looked toward the open door to see if Tash was nearby.

  “Kind of,” she answered. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also terrified.”

  “I spoke to your husband this morning,” I said. “He said you were eager to leave town.”

  “Yeah,” the wife sighed, and her timid smile became a small frown. “I just want to be away from the city for a while. I’m hoping by the time I come back, the investigation will be over, and Austin and I can move on with our lives.”

  I nodded at this as I examined her words. This was the first time she had alluded to a life with Morris after the investigation, and I wondered what had prompted the change. Was it our previous conversation? Although I was confident Yura was the culprit, I didn’t want to be sidetracked again. Until she was found and hopefully admitted to murdering Vann, I still had suspects to investigate.

  “Right now he’s trapped in the hospital,” I said. “He won’t be released unless someone is observing him. Don’t you want him out?”

  “Of course,” she answered. “But I can’t stand being in this town for another moment. The way the people stare at me. The way they treat me.”

  Her frown deepened, and this time she chose to press her fingers against her temple.

  “Dealing with that kind of treatment alone must be difficult, but it might be tolerable if he were by your side,” I stated, though I barely believed my own words.

  Morris’ temperamental state was more likely to be the cause of her migraines if he were released rather than some sort of balm for the way the town treated her.

  “You sound just like him,” she said with a tired chuckle. “He said the same thing this morning on the phone. Both of you don’t understand. You both think the hospital is a jail, and it is. But that’s a good thing. Austin doesn’t realize how many people are currently cursing his name for killing Harrison. They treat me coldly just for being his wife. I don’t even want to imagine what they’d do to him if he was out and about in the town. Have they treated you very well?”

  I had to admit she was right, and I understood now her eagerness to escape to the ocean. Still, I wondered if part of the hostility being directed toward her had something to do with the fact that she wasn’t a very active member of the community. She seemed like an outsider, and this murder investigation wasn’t helping her case.

  “I’m guessing you’re not fond of Officer Ansong’s treatment,” I said.

  “No, not at all,” the pale woman responded with a shudder. “She and Officer Jackson paid me a visit this morning to ask me some questions about a bank statement, and I’ve never felt so assaulted by a pair of eyes before. I thought Austin was exaggerating when he said she was acting like a completely different person.”

  So that was where the duo had been this morning.

  “Did you talk to them?” I asked.

  “Austin told me I shouldn’t, and I wasn’t planning on answering any questions,” she answered. “But then Officer Ansong told me my silence would hurt Austin’s case more than it did to help it, and honestly, I answered her more so out of fear than anything else.”

  I sighed but accepted that her answers didn’t matter. What could she say that wasn’t already implied by the bank statement? If she had invited them inside her house, no doubt the officers had seen the extensive collection of ships in bottles.

  “It was odd, though,” the pale woman continued. “They asked me about Austin’s spending habits, but then they started asking me about his relationship with Ronan.”

  I arched my eyebrows at this and felt my heart drop. The two h
undred dollar deposits had caught their attention after all, but they couldn’t have known what the money signified. And yet, they had been desperate to establish some sort of connection between Morris and Ronan in case the money did prove to be significant. I didn’t like this, and I feared what Diana might have said to them.

  “And what did you tell them?” I asked.

  “Well, I told them the truth,” she said with a shrug. “I explained that Austin likes to spend a lot of money on collecting things, and when they asked about Ronan, I told them Austin isn’t really close to him. They don’t hate each other, but they aren’t best friends, either.”

  “What do you mean they don’t hate each other?” I asked as I pinched the bridge of my nose.

  I didn’t like where this was going.

  “Well, they didn’t,” she corrected. “I’m sure after the net was destroyed, Austin started hating him, but before that, he didn’t. When we first moved here, Austin was the target of a lot of silly pranks, and when he found out Harrison planned them while Ronan was the one who did them, he thought it was funny. He talked about Ronan like he admired him, and he promised he would do bigger and better pranks.”

  She rolled her eyes at the memory.

  “But you made sure to specify that your husband hates Ronan now, right?” I said in a strained voice.

  “I didn’t think I needed to,” Diana said in a small voice, and she flinched when I sighed. “It should be obvious that they hate each other now.”

  “Anything you say and leave unsaid can be used against your husband,” I explained.

  “But what does Ronan have to do with the case?” she asked.

  “There’s evidence to suggest he had a motive for killing Vann,” I explained. “Officer Ansong and Officer Jackson are going to use any clue they can find to connect Austin to the murder if Ronan turns out to be the actual killer.”

  “Oh,” was all she had to say in response as she looked down at the ground.

  Tash returned from below deck at that moment swinging a now empty bucket. She glanced between me and Diana, but rather than comment on the awkwardness between us, she extended the bucket toward Diana. Diana took it from her without hesitation.

  “This time around, fill it halfway,” the confident fisherwoman ordered. “Surely you won’t drop a half-filled bucket.”

  Tash and I watched Diana nod and then hurry around the corner, out of sight. As soon as she was gone, Tash sighed loudly and strolled over until she stood by my side. She narrowed her eyes at me when our eyes met, and a playful smile danced on her lips.

  “What were you two talking about?” she asked as she pressed her shoulder against my arm.

  “The murder investigation,” I answered with a chuckle. “What else?”

  “Speaking of, my favorite bartender told me that you were talking about me with her,” she said. “How’d that conversation go?”

  “Well, I found out through her that your memory is shit,” I said.

  She laughed.

  “Yeah, apparently I partied on the beach,” she said. “I have absolutely no recollection of that, but I’m sure I had a good time. I’m off your list now, right?”

  We stared at each other, and I felt her press the length of her body against my arm. I glanced down at her lips, and that was enough to encourage her to reach up and press her lips against mine. I tilted my head to deepen the kiss, and she brought her arms around my neck. I pulled away when I felt her tongue flick along my bottom lip, and she glared in response.

  “I’m in the middle of work,” I reminded her as I recovered from the electricity coursing through me.

  “Yeah, so am I,” she said as she gestured to the boat around her.

  She lunged forward for another kiss, but I moved out of reach. She groaned and pushed me.

  “You’re no fun at all,” she complained and folded her arms across her chest.

  “I’m plenty of fun when I’m not on a case,” I said.

  “And when will that be?” she asked.

  “It’ll be over sooner if you help me,” I answered. “You said before that Yura wouldn’t kill Vann because she loves him. According to Ronan, she lost interest in Vann at some point.”

  “Let’s see,” she began. “A very attractive woman stands before you with the full intent of sleeping with you, and instead of responding to her advances, you bring up the one person she currently hates. You clearly don’t want me, and I wish you would just admit that.”

  I laughed and shook my head.

  “It’s not a matter of want,” I explained. “I’ve been sidetracked once. I don’t want to be again, especially by something that has nothing to do with the case. The sooner this case is over with, the sooner I can show you just how fun I am.”

  “Fine,” she sighed with a roll of her eyes. “Yura, Yura, Yura. Ronan said she lost interest in Harrison?”

  I nodded.

  “That doesn’t sound right,” she said. “She was head over heels for him all throughout middle and high school. That was the main reason she followed me around all the time. Harrison and I were good friends, and she not only wanted to be around him, but she also wanted to know what it was about me that had him so enamored. She hated me when I told her to stop following me around, and then I’m sure that hatred grew when Harrison and I started dating. When Harrison and I broke up, she was back by his side with these big smitten eyes, and then a few years later, the eyes went away.”

  “Then that would have been the time when she lost interest,” I guessed.

  “No,” Tash protested with a shake of her head. “It wasn’t a loss in interest. There were two possible outcomes. Either she and Harrison were dating, or she’d finally grown up. Went from smitten eyes to loving ones. Do you understand what I mean?”

  “Her feelings for Vann had matured,” I answered.

  “Right, exactly!” the fisherwoman yelled as she pointed at me. “Even if they weren’t dating, she’d known him long enough as a woman to understand what parts of him she loved and what parts she tolerated. She wasn’t obsessed anymore. I don’t expect Ronan to be able to see that.”

  “Do you expect the rest of the town to be able to?” I asked.

  Maybe Yura had underestimated the public’s perceptiveness, but if that was the case, then why had no one approached her and Vann about marriage? Had they respected their privacy and decided it was a topic to be brought up only when the couple finally went public? Or had Yura lied about the treatment of relationships in this city?

  “Not at all,” Tash answered. “Only reason why I noticed that change in her is because I have eyes, and I know how to use them well, and because I’ve known Yura for a long time. A lot of people in this town meet one criterion and not the other, like Ronan. Not that I blame them. Why would you pay special attention to other people when you have your own life to worry about?”

  “Then why do you?” I asked.

  “One, it’s fun, and two, I don’t have issues in my life I need to worry about,” she said. “I have a job I love, my basic needs are always met, and I’m not entangled in awkward relationships with other people. My current aspiration is to become a captain of my own boat and crew, and I’m on course to doing that. Life’s good.”

  “Then there’s no reason whatsoever Yura would have for killing Vann?” I asked.

  Tash walked in a circle as she thought, kicked her leg in the air, and then came to a stop.

  “Jealousy?” she guessed. “I don’t know whether they were dating or if it was still a one-sided love from her. If they weren’t dating, and Harrison told her he had found someone else, or she discovered he was seeing someone else, I could see her killing him. She’s been in love with him for a long time, so that would be a difficult pill for her to swallow. The same for if they were dating. If he cheated on her, she’d kill him instantly.”

  “What about a breakup?” I asked.

  Tash considered the question for a moment.

  “Maybe,” she finally an
swered. “But honestly, I don’t see it. I think all Yura wanted was Harrison’s love and attention only on her, and if it was being split elsewhere, she’d go ballistic. But if he wanted to stop giving her his love entirely, then I think she’d be satisfied knowing it had been all hers for a while.”

  I pulled my journal from my pocket and added the information Tash had shared. I labeled it as her personal view of Yura since I knew better than to record it as proven fact, though I didn’t doubt the confident woman’s perceptiveness.

  “If Harrison were to mention he still had feelings for you, would that be enough to push Yura to murder?” I asked as I finished writing.

  I snapped my head up from my journal at the sound of laughter, and I watched Tash lean her head back and laugh toward the sky.

  “I think that would make anyone commit murder,” she replied when she’d recovered well enough to speak. “It would never happen, though. Harrison didn’t still have feelings for me, and even if he did, he would never admit it. His ego was too big. That’s the reason why I dumped him. Harrison and I were still friends after we broke up, but the fact that I was the one who ended our relationship and not the other way around was a sore subject for him. Not that he would have ever admitted that.”

  “Final question about Yura,” I said. “If she was on the run, where do you think she’d go?”

  “I have no idea,” she answered with a shrug. “My guess is Anchorage first and then a flight to elsewhere. Her final destination would probably be somewhere cold like Alaska. Maybe Greenland? She’s not a big fan of change in her life. Another reason why I don’t think she’d kill Vann.”

  “Thanks for the insigyht,” I said as I added the remaining details to my journal, and she nodded in response. “What about Diana? Any thoughts on her?”

  “I don’t see Diana often, and I haven’t known her as long as I’ve known Yura,” the fisherwoman admitted. “When I do see her, though, I can easily determine two things. She either wants me or wants to be like me, and I’m not sure which. I don’t think she knows, either.”

  She chuckled at this.