by BJ Bourg
I hadn’t had any dealings with Gabe, but I was a transplant here and had only been in the area for six years. Thus, I still hadn’t met everyone in town.
I turned away from my wife and joined Amy on the boat.
CHAPTER 27
Gabe’s housekeeping habits matched his personal hygiene—they were awful. Empty cans of tuna, beer, and soda littered the floor in the pilot house. A stained sleeping bag was positioned in one corner of the tiny room, and it appeared to be where he slept. A five-gallon bucket in the corner served as the bathroom. A half-eaten hamburger was on the floor amongst a pile of other garbage.
Amy and I pulled on two pairs of latex gloves each and began working through the mess. I went for the sleeping bag and searched through it while Amy began sifting through the mess on the floor. We thoroughly searched the pilot house but didn’t find anything that might connect him to the attacks on the lakes.
“What if the attacks had nothing to do with him?” Amy asked. “What if he stole the gun from someone else?”
I didn’t answer, because I didn’t want to consider that possibility just yet. I moved around to the bow and opened the forward hatch, while Amy went for the wooden cover to the hold.
“Hey, this is locked,” Amy called out from the opposite side of the boat.
“I’ve got bolt cutters in my truck,” I said over my shoulder before leaning forward and trying to see inside the dark hatch. Remembering I was in my personal truck, I added, “I’ve also got a chainsaw if you need it.”
The boat swayed roughly as Amy walked across the deck and jumped to the dock. The movement caused something to fall over inside the hatch below me. I pulled out my cell phone and activated the flashlight on it. Letting the light lead the way, I leaned into the hole and glanced around. I smiled to myself when I saw what had fallen—a yellow oxygen tank. We had him now!
I twisted around and dropped feet-first into the hatch. It was cramped inside the enclosure and it smelled of diesel, but it was nonetheless spotless. I would not have hesitated to eat directly off of the hull floor. I lifted the oxygen tank and examined it. The French words Diable D’eau Noire were painted on the side of the tank. I knew diable meant devil, but I didn’t know what the other words meant. I shrugged and looked around.
Also inside the space, I found a regulator, a mask, fins, a gauge, and a wetsuit. Every piece of gear was clean and in impeccable condition. I nodded as I squatted there.
“At least you understood the importance of maintaining the gear that would keep you alive,” I said aloud. The hull suddenly rocked under me and I knew Amy had boarded the boat again. When I straightened, my upper torso extended out of the hatch. I told Amy what I had found.
“Was it locked?” she asked.
“Nope, it was wide open.”
“Then it can’t be as good as what I’m about to find down in the hold.” She approached the latch and I watched as the muscles in her slender arms rippled as she worked the bolt cutters. With a snap, the lock fell free. She nodded her appreciation. She paused and glanced at me before opening it. “Want to bet that my find is better than yours?”
I shook my head and approached her. “We’re even money now and I’d like to keep it that way.”
She grunted and removed the wooden cover. After tossing it aside, she shined her flashlight into the hold.
“Well, what’s in there?” I asked impatiently.
“Miscellaneous junk that he probably stole.” She climbed through the opening and—after donning latex gloves—began removing plastic bags and placing them on the deck.
I checked the bags and shook my head. Inside, there were pieces of jewelry, loose change, one set of binoculars, fishing tackle, several miscellaneous electronic gadgets, a cell phone or two, and even some women’s panties.
“He’s a little packrat,” she said. “Most of this stuff is useless junk. Sure, he might be able to get a few dollars for some of it at a pawn shop, but none of these items are worth the risk.”
“The gun was a nice find. And if he did find any cash, we might never know it. I’m sure he would’ve spent it all by now.” I shot a thumb toward the pilot house. “Probably on all those empty beer cans we found.”
“Wait a minute.” Something had attracted Amy’s attention. “There’s a cigar box hidden under this bag.”
I watched and waited as she flipped open the box. She whistled and handed it up to me. It was filled with prescription bottles and they were all empty. I turned each bottle over, hoping we could identify the victims by the names on the labels, but we would not be that lucky today. All of the labels had been peeled off.
“Are there any more pill bottles?”
“Nah, that’s it,” she said, and then began handing me more bags of miscellaneous items. Once she’d removed the last of them from the rat’s nest, she took a good look around. “Well, that’s it. The hold is clear.”
I offered my hand and helped her out of it.
“I’ll run his name through the pawn shop database and see if he pawned any other items, but my guess is he was more interested in the pills than anything else.” She indicated the bags on the deck. “It’ll be difficult to track down the victims for much of this stuff, but I’ll try.”
I nodded. We were about to gather up the bags when I heard a vehicle approaching from the north at a high rate of speed. It was being driven way too fast to be some random speeder who was trying to get somewhere. No, this had to be someone from Gabe’s family, and I was sure they were looking for me.
Susan and Melvin were on high alert when Amy and I joined them on the shoulder of the highway. They had heard the vehicle approaching and were thinking the same thing. Melvin had reached an arm into the open window of his truck, and I knew his hand was on his AR-15.
The vehicle was an old pickup and it was now about a quarter of a mile away. It didn’t look like it was slowing.
Melvin pulled his AR-15 from the truck and took up a position on his front bumper. “If they don’t stop,” he warned, “I’m going to saw that truck in half.”
I walked to the center of the road and began waving my arms into the air, trying to summon the truck to slow down. It worked. Brakes ground and the front of the truck dipped sharply as the vehicle slowed drastically. I could hear sirens somewhere in the distance, and figured Mallory and Lou were in pursuit.
The truck continued slowing down and I stepped out of the lane of traffic just in case it didn’t stop in time. When it got to within twenty yards, I saw that Phillip Burke was driving. Even from that distance I could see that his eyes were focused like lasers. He wanted a piece of me—that much was plain to see.
CHAPTER 28
As Phillip Burke continued driving forward, I turned my head slightly so my voice would carry behind me. “I’ve got this, Melvin.”
“His hands had better be empty when he leaves his truck,” was the response I got. “Otherwise, he’ll be seeing his son real soon.”
The truck finally lurched to a stop directly beside me. Phillip was cursing me before he even got his door open, and I knew this was going to get physical.
“You killed my only boy, you piece of shit!” Phillip spat the words as he leapt from his truck, both hands swinging like windmills.
I sidestepped to my left and stuck out my foot, tripping him. He spilled onto his hands and knees, but bounced quickly to his feet. His fists were balled up and he circled me with bad intentions.
“Look, I don’t want to hurt you, Mr. Burke.” I lifted my open hands for two reasons. First, I wanted to indicate that I didn’t want to fight with him. Second, I wanted my hands in position to defend myself if he attacked again. “I know you’re hurting and I’m sorry for what happened out here, but I had no choice.”
“Go to hell!” The words had barely left his mouth when Phillip lunged at me, swinging hard with a right hand.
I instinctively covered the left side of my head with my forearm and shot a swift right uppercut to the man’s ribs. It wa
s a solid shot. I could feel my knuckles bury to the wrist in the man’s flesh. He let out a grunt as the air escaped his lungs. He collapsed to his knees. I stepped forward and caught him before he dove headfirst into the pavement.
“Easy now,” I said, holding him steady. “It’s okay, just relax and breathe.”
Phillip was wheezing as he tried to suck in a mouthful of air. His eyes burned red and although he couldn’t breathe, he reached for my face with his right hand. His fingers were bent like talons and I knew he wanted to rip my face apart.
“You need to settle down,” I said, pushing his hand away. “I’m sorry about your son, but I had no choice. He tried to kill Amy with a gun he stole from a boat on Le Diable Lake. He’s also a suspect in the murders of the people on the lake.”
Phillip’s face was twisted in pain, but his expression suddenly turned to shock. He tried to utter some words, but was unable to do so.
Susan, Amy, and Melvin were standing over us now and I could hear boots approaching. I looked up to see Mallory and Lou sprinting toward us. Beyond them, I could see that the front fender on the driver’s side of her cruiser was dragging the ground.
I glanced at Phillip’s truck and saw red paint smeared across the front bumper. There wasn’t as much as a dent on the steel, but it was clear he had crashed into Mallory’s cruiser.
Mallory skidded to a stop right in front of Phillip and she glared down at him. “You’re going to jail for attempted murder of a police officer,” she said sternly. “You’ll be locked up for a long time, you hear me?”
Phillip only stared down at the pavement.
“You’re lucky you didn’t end up dead like your son,” Lou said, his eyes flashing. “What in the hell is wrong with you, man?”
Phillip didn’t respond to either of them, and I knew he was still considering what I’d told him. The information seemed to disturb him greatly and had stopped him in his tracks. Although he had regained his wind, he no longer wanted to fight me.
I pulled him to his feet and turned him around. I would not have arrested him for his attack on me, but he would never get away with crashing his vehicle into a police car that was occupied—and I didn’t care how distraught he was.
“Put your hands behind your back,” I said. “You’re under arrest for attempted first degree murder.”
He didn’t even argue or struggle. After I’d ratcheted my cuffs on his wrists, he asked if he could talk to me before being taken away.
I turned him around to face me. “Go ahead. Say what you need to say and then you’re going with these detectives.”
“Did you say that Gabe killed those kids on the lake?”
“He’s a suspect in their murders.”
He looked completely confused. “But I thought an alligator or something pulled them under?”
“There’s no evidence that any kind of animal drowned these kids.”
“Then it has to be an accident.”
“No, they were definitely attacked.”
“But…but why would you suspect Gabe? How on earth could he have possibly drowned anyone?”
I explained how we’d learned that Gabe had been scuba diving in Le Diable Lake and stealing from people.
“That’s a lie! Every time something goes missing around here they’re quick to accuse Gabe, only to find out later that they were wrong.”
“Well, in this case, it seems they were correct. The gun with which he attempted to murder Detective Cooke was stolen from a boat on Le Diable Lake at the beginning of the month.” I shot a thumb toward Gabe’s vessel. “And I found scuba gear in the forward hatch of his boat.”
“But he doesn’t have any scuba gear,” Phillip insisted. “He can’t afford to eat, much less buy scuba gear. I have to bring him food and water every week.”
“I can show you the gear. The oxygen tank has the name Diable D’eau Noire stenciled on the side of it.” I knew I’d probably butchered the name, but Phillip’s shoulders fell heavily.
“Does that mean something to you?” I asked.
“It means Black Water Devil—it’s the name of my diving boat.”
“You have a diving boat?”
“I’ve actually got two of them. I do diving tours out in the Gulf.”
“Did you notice the gear missing?” I asked. “He’s even got fins, a wetsuit, a mask, and other stuff.”
“No. I’ve got enough gear to outfit a dozen divers. I’d never notice one set missing.”
“Did Gabe ever dive for you?”
“Back when he was sober, which was about ten years ago, he’d take some tourists and even locals out on the water. He was the best I had until he injured his back in a motorcycle accident.” Phillip frowned. “Those damn pain pills ruined his life.”
“Yeah, they’ve ruined lots of lives.” I was thoughtful for a moment, and then asked, “What motive do you think he’d have for murdering those people on the lake?”
“None at all.” He shook his head from side to side. “I don’t even believe he did this. Gabe doesn’t think like the rest of us. Sure, he may be hooked on drugs and he’s a little simple-minded nowadays, but he would never plot to kill anyone. He doesn’t have a reason. He’s not built that way. He’s a good-hearted person and wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
I winced inwardly when he spoke about Gabe in the present tense. While he was aware that his son was dead, it would take some time for reality to really sink in and for him to realize his son was never coming home again.
“Had you heard the rumors about Gabe stealing from people on the lake?”
“I heard talk in Spearmonger’s. Natalie told me people were talking, but I blew it off. Like I said earlier, Gabe’s the first person they accuse when something goes missing.”
“Well, as I said earlier, this time they were right. Gabe was in possession of a gun that was stolen from a boat that was on the lake.”
He lowered his head and scowled. “I can’t argue with that one, I guess.”
“We’re done here.” I gave Mallory a nod. “I’ll come see you at the jail if I get any more information about Gabe’s involvement in this case.”
“Please don’t stop looking.” Phillip’s eyes were desperate. “Don’t pin this on my boy.”
I only pursed my lips as Mallory and Lou led Phillip away. I heard Mallory chastising him about the damage to her car as they strode off.
“I can stay with Phillip’s vehicle until the tow truck arrives,” Melvin offered. “I’ve got nothing else going on.”
“I’ll wait with him,” Susan said. “After all, he’s my ride back to town.”
CHAPTER 29
It was a little after four in the afternoon when Amy walked into my office. She had spent the last hour researching pawn shop databases in her office. She tossed a large stack of printed logs on my desk.
“I must’ve searched a thousand records, but his name didn’t come up once.” She sat in the chair opposite me and threw her boots up on my desk. “What’ve you been up to?”
“I’ve been on the phone since we got back. I spoke with Camille’s dad, Frank’s dad, and Chrissy’s mom in order to get some background information on our victims, but there’s no known connection between Frank and the two girls.” I sighed heavily. “I don’t understand the motives behind these killings. Why on earth would Gabe attack these people without provocation?”
Amy was thoughtful. “What if there was provocation?”
“What do you mean?”
“Camille was swimming in the water while everyone was partying on the land, right?”
“She was alone at first, yeah, but then a bunch of other people jumped in the lake.”
“What if she saw Gabe stealing from one of the boats while she was in the water? What if he knew she saw him?” Amy must’ve impressed herself, because she dropped her boots to the floor and leaned forward. “What if he thought she was about to alert the others to his presence, so he pulled her under to silence her?”
I mulled
over the idea. It was the best one I’d heard so far, but I still had my doubts.
“What about Frank? He didn’t see anything. He was pulled off the back of his kayak while paddling around.”
“We know he was pulled off the back of his kayak, but we don’t know what he saw. Remember, Nelly was facing forward. She had no clue what he saw.”
Her theory was starting to grow legs and she knew it.
“And Chrissy must’ve seen him on the shore,” I added, “which is why he dragged her into the water.”
“Yep.” She nodded confidently. “There’s your motive. He killed them to shut them up.”
I locked my computer and stood to my feet. “Now we just need to find evidence to prove that’s what happened.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?” Amy followed me out the door and down the hallway toward the dispatcher’s station.
“We keep digging.” I nodded at Lindsey as we passed her desk. I spoke over my shoulder. “I don’t want to close this case until we’re sure of everything.”
That seemed to please her. “So, where’re we heading now?”
“The evidence room. I want to look at Gabe’s phone.”
Once I reached the lockers, I removed the cell phone Mallory had recovered from the road. I sat at the desk in the evidence room and began examining the phone. It was a pay-as-you-go phone and it had a physical touch pad, rather than a touch screen. I fumbled with the buttons for about a minute before Amy cleared her throat.
“Would you like me to try?” she asked, holding out a hand.
“Please.” I handed it to her and stood so she could use the desk. “I hate new gadgets. I’ve barely learned how to use my own phone.”
She hummed as her thumbs danced across the pad. “Let’s see, he’s got twenty-three missed calls, some of them coming after he was dead. I guess it’s understandable he didn’t answer, considering he was a bit preoccupied.”
I leaned over Amy’s shoulder and looked down at the call log. Three different numbers appeared on the call log, but only one number appeared after his death and during the several days prior. That number was easy to remember and seemed eerie, given the location of the murders. It was 555-0666.
