Orchid Beach (7 page)
“Daisy! Quiet!” she commanded, and the dog put her head on the floor again and was quiet.
“We’ve made an arrest in the chief’s shooting,” Wallace said.
“What? When? Who?”
“Last night we had a call from a citizen who said he’d seen an old van parked near the spot where the shooting took place. One of our patrolmen knew the van. It belonged to two people, a man and a woman, who have been squat
ting on a piece of vacant land between the highway and the river, very near where the chief was shot. He went to the campsite and found these two sitting in front of a fire. The man was cleaning a weapon; it was the chief’s Beretta.”
“Where are they?”
“Bob Hurst is interrogating them now, in room one. There’s a two-way mirror, if you want to watch.”
“Let’s go.” Holly followed Wallace down a corridor and into a small room. Two bedraggled kids in their late teens or early twenties sat at a table in the adjoining room. Bob Hurst sat opposite them, and a policewoman stood in a corner and watched.
“It’s S.O.P. to have a woman present when a woman is being interrogated,” Wallace said.
“I know. How long has the questioning been going on?”
“Since midnight.”
“Has somebody read them their rights?”
“Yes, at the very beginning. They’ve signed off on that.”
“Have they asked for a lawyer?”
“I suppose not, or they’d have one.”
“Okay, let’s listen.”
The voices came through clearly over a small speaker:
“All right, let’s go over this again,” Hurst said.
“I told you what happened,” the young man said.
“Tell me again; I want to be sure I understand. What was your van doing parked beside the road late the night before last?”
“We had been to a movie, and we had a flat, right before we got back to our camp. I changed the tire and drove on home.”
“What time did you have the flat?”
“Between ten-thirty and ten forty-five.”
“And what time did you drive on?”
“It took me fifteen or twenty minutes to change the tire, so I guess between ten forty-five and eleven o’clock.”
“Where did you go to the movies?”
“At the multiplex on the mainland.”
“What movie did you see?”
“
Air Force One
, with Harrison Ford.”
“What time was the movie over?”
“Around ten o’clock, maybe a little after.”
“And why did it take you forty-five minutes to make the fifteen-minute drive back to your camp?”
“We stopped at McDonald’s and got some fries and a Coke. I told you that already.”
“And how did you come to have the Beretta in your possession?” Hurst asked.
“I told you, our dog found it.”
“Your dog has a personal interest in firearms?”
“He didn’t exactly find it. I let him out early the next morning, and he wouldn’t come when I called him. I found him sniffing around the fence that separates the highway from the property where we’re camping. I went to take hold of his collar, and I stepped on the gun.”
“How close to the fence?”
“I don’t know, six or eight feet, maybe.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“What for?”
“The gun didn’t belong to you. Why didn’t you turn it in to us?”
“Look, man, it was a free gun, you know? Finders keepers. I had no idea who it belonged to.”
“You like guns, do you?”
“Well, yeah, I guess so.”
“What other guns do you own?”
“I’ve got a little six-shooter, a thirty-two.”
“And where is it?”
“In the van, maybe.”
Wallace spoke up. “We found the thirty-two Smith and Wesson in the glove compartment of the van; it’s going to the state lab this morning. They don’t have a license for it, and there was a little over a gram of cocaine powder hidden under a seat.”
“Tell me about when you got back to your camp, after changing the tire,” Hurst said.
“We didn’t go straight back to the camp. I drove down A1A and left our flat tire at a filling station to be fixed. The Texaco station.”
“The station was open that late?”
“No, I left the wheel on his doorstep with a note. I went back there yesterday afternoon and picked it up. I know the guy. We buy our gas there.”
“We’re checking out that story right now,” Wallace said.
“And what time did you get back to your camp?”
“Must have been eleven-thirty.”
“They just missed the shooting,” Wallace said. “Very convenient.”
“Look, man,” the suspect said, “I’m tired. I haven’t had any sleep, and I don’t know what this is about. I’m sorry I didn’t turn in the gun, okay? Is it a crime not to turn in a gun you found? What’s going on here?”
“Okay, I’m going to let you get some sleep, and we’ll talk about this later.”
“What’s going on, man? This isn’t about a lost gun, is it? There’s something else going on.”
“You tell me, Sammy,” Hurst said.
“Tell you
what
?”
Hurst spoke to the policewoman. “Put them in the lockup.” He got up and left the room. A moment later, he walked into the observation room, where Wallace and Holly were. “They did it,” Hurst said. “I know it.”
“What’s the evidence?”
“Possession of the chief’s weapon, tire track matching the cast I took, no alibi for the time, and the thirty-two. It’s time to get the county attorney involved.”
Holly turned to Wallace. “I want somebody to drive the thirty-two to the state lab in Tallahassee, wait while they do the test and phone us with the results. If they’re positive, then we’ll charge them.”
“Right,” Wallace said, then left the room.
“What about the Doherty murder?” Holly asked.
“If the thirty-two ballistics match, I’ll get a confession,” Hurst replied. “Then they’ll cop to Hank’s murder, too.”
“A very neat package,” Holly said. “I hope it holds together.” That was no lie: she wanted this to happen, so she could clear these cases and get them off her mind.
Jane knocked and came into the room. “There’s a Mrs. Warner on the phone for you.”
“I’ll take it in my office.” She turned to Hurst. “Good job. Let’s wrap this up real tight.” She went to her office and picked up the phone. “Mrs. Warner?”
“Yes, Chief. We’re at the airport in Atlanta, and we’re leaving right now for Orchid Beach—my husband has an airplane. I wanted to know where I should go when we get there.”
“What time do you expect to land?”
“About eleven-thirty or twelve.”
“I’ll meet you at the airport and drive you to Hank’s place.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind of you.”
“See you at eleven-thirty.” Holly hung up the phone and sighed. If she could just get through this day, if it went right, then she could relax and start to get a grip on her job.
H
olly stood in front of the little airport terminal building and watched the Bonanza taxi to a halt and kill its engine. When the prop had stopped turning she walked to the airplane and waited while the two people inside unfastened their seat belts and stepped down. She walked up to them and stuck out a hand. “Mr. and Mrs. Warner? I’m Holly Barker, deputy chief of police.”
“Oh, hello,” Mrs. Warner said. “I’m Eleanor, and this is Ed. We’d prefer first names. And thank you so much for meeting us.”
“I’m glad to. Do you have any bags?”
Ed Warner opened a rear door of the airplane and took out two overnight bags. “We’ve booked a motel room locally, so that we can stay until we get this sorted out.”
“This is Daisy, your dad’s dog,” Holly said. Daisy allowed herself to be petted but remained distant, Holly thought. “Let’s get your bags into my car.” She stowed the
bags in the rear of her Grand Cherokee, ushered the Warners into the backseat and put Daisy up front with her.
“Have there been any developments?” Eleanor asked.
“Yes, I’m glad to say. We’ve arrested two people, and we expect to charge them with the shooting of the chief, if the ballistics test on their gun is positive.”
“I’m sorry? The chief?”
“Forgive me, Eleanor, I haven’t brought you fully up to date. Chet Marley, the police chief, was shot shortly before your father was, and your father was shot with the chief’s shotgun, so we reckon that the perpetrators were the same in both cases. Right now, the evidence points to these two latter-day hippies in the chief’s shooting, and when we can prove that, we might get a confession to your dad’s murder, too.”
“And the evidence is conclusive?” Ed asked.
“Not yet, but if the ballistics tests pan out, that will help us a lot.”
“When will you know?”
“Later today, I hope.” She navigated toward the bridge to the barrier island, then crossed it and turned south toward Hank Doherty’s place.
“My father was so alone,” Eleanor said. “We couldn’t get him to move to Atlanta, and I could tell from his letters that he was drinking a lot.”
“The coronor confirmed that in the postmortem examination. Hank’s liver was pretty bad, and the doctor thought he wouldn’t have lived more than a few months in any case. I know that’s no consolation.”
“It sounds as if you knew Daddy,” Eleanor said. “Did you?”
“No, I’ve only been in town for a few days, but Hank
and my father, Hamilton Barker, served together in the army; they were in Vietnam together, so I knew about him. And your dad wasn’t that alone. He and Chet Marley were very close friends, spent a lot of time together. Chet hired me to come down here and be his deputy.”
Holly pulled into Hank Doherty’s driveway and stopped. As they got out of the car a black woman left the house by the front door.
“You must be Mr. and Mrs. Warner,” she said.
“Yes, we are,” Eleanor replied. “Are you Mary White?”
“Yes, ma’am. I took care of your daddy for a long time. He was a good man, and I’m going to miss him.”
“Mary, will you stay with us a little longer? You could show us around the house.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’d be glad to.”
Holly followed the three into the house, which was much more presentable than when she had last seen it. The bloodstains had been scrubbed from the floor and walls. The Warners were taken through each room, and Eleanor packed some family photographs and some other things into boxes with Mary’s help. When they had finished, they went back into Hank’s office.
“Mary,” Eleanor said, “there’s a lot of stuff in this house, and if there’s any of it you want, I’d like you to have it. We don’t plan to take much back to Atlanta, so we’d just have to sell it anyway.”
“Well, thank you,” Mary said. “There’s a lot I could use, and I expect my church could sell the rest at a tag sale they’ve got coming up this weekend.”
“Fine, we’ll pick out what we want, then you can have the rest.” She turned to Holly. “Chief, is there anything here that you could make use of?”
“Thank you, Eleanor, but I live in a trailer, and it’s pretty full.” She looked at the computer on Hank’s desk, a new-looking laptop with a compact printer next to it. “I wonder, would you like to sell the computer? That might fit into my place.”
“Please let me give it to you,” Eleanor said. “We’ve got a houseful of computer stuff, and we won’t have any use for any more.”
“I’d feel more comfortable if you’d let me buy it.”
“All right, I’ll sell it to you for a hundred dollars, not a penny more.”
“Thank you. I’ve got to get back to work. Tell you what, why don’t I loan you my car? I have a police vehicle at my disposal, and you could just leave the Jeep at the airport when you go.”
“That’s very, very kind of you,” Eleanor said. “I think that we can remove what we want from here and put the house on the market right away. I have to make some arrangements for the cremation, but we ought to be able to fly home tomorrow night.”
“Fine, keep it as long as you like.” Holly called the station and asked Jimmy Weathers to come and get her. She helped the Warners pack things until he arrived. “Well, I’ll be getting along,” she said. “Please call me before you go, and let me know if there’s anything I can do for you while you’re here.” She held out Daisy’s leash to Eleanor Warner. To her surprise, her throat was tightening, and she was blinking a lot.
Eleanor shrank from taking the leash. “Oh, no, we can’t take Daisy back to Atlanta. We’ve got four kids from seven to fifteen, two Labrador retrievers and a cat. Another dog wouldn’t work at all. Do you know anyone who’d give her a good home? Perhaps yourself?”
“Eleanor, Daisy seems to be a very special dog. I’m sure she’s quite valuable.”
“I know all about Daisy,” Eleanor said. “Daddy wrote me lots of letters with all sorts of details about her. But he also said that she wasn’t good with kids, and that she was a one-man dog. Looks to me like she’s become a one-woman dog. It would be a great relief to me if someone who likes her would take her.”
Holly didn’t have to think long about that. “If you’ll let me buy her,” she said.
“A hundred dollars, and not a penny more.” Eleanor wrote her address on a slip of paper and gave it to Holly. “You can send me a check for Daisy and the computer at your leisure. I’ll send you a bill of sale.”
Holly felt an enormous sense of relief. Jimmy arrived and put the computer, the printer and the operator’s manuals in the trunk of the police car, and after warm handshakes, Holly drove away, leaving her car with the Warners.
“Are they taking Daisy back to Atlanta with them?” Jimmy asked.
“Nope,” Holly said, scratching Daisy behind the ear. “Daisy’s staying with me. I bought her from them, along with Hank’s computer.”
“That’s great,” Jimmy said. “Nice to know Daisy will be around.”
“It sure is,” Holly said. She hadn’t been so happy for a long time.
When they got back to the station, Jane Grey met Holly, beaming. “The ballistics tests came back,” she said. “A good match. We’ve got the right people.”
“That’s great,” Holly said, feeling vastly relieved. “Did they do the other test I asked for?”
“I canceled it. Didn’t seem to be any reason for it now. Do you want me to reinstate the request?”
