Deadly Gift (17 page)

Morrissey shrugged. “I expect you’re right and it’s talc, but I’m not sure where we go from there.” He hesitated for a second, then sighed. “We still don’t have a body. Let’s face it, we all assume that Eddie Ray is dead, but without a body, we can’t be sure. And, I’ll admit, I don’t think your idea of a diver killing him and swimming away is a long shot anymore. But we’ve done the rounds of the dive shops and came up empty. But plenty of people have their own setups, so…”

“Thanks.” Zach rose.

Morrissey leaned back. “You know, people are usually killed for a reason. Sure, you have your psychos, your random killers. But a thought-out murder—and this was well thought out—is committed for a reason. If we can find the reason, maybe we can figure out who did it.”

“I know.”

“Any ideas?”

“I’m working on it,” Zach assured him.

“Keep in touch. I’ll do the same,” Morrissey said, standing and shaking his hand.

Once he was back in the car, Zach headed for the charter office.

He noted again how different the day was from the night before, with the wind still nonexistent.

Cal and Marni were both in. Cal was on the phone, making arrangements with a cleaning service, and Marni was going over the books.

“Slow day?” Zach asked. It was so beautiful out that he was surprised no one had stopped in to book a last-minute sail. There were certainly plenty of tourists around. A lot of retirees, in particular, came in December to see the Christmas decorations.

“Yes, and a good thing,” she said. “If it were summer, we’d have to be hiring extra help, on top of the seasonal employees we always hire. So far, Cal has been able to handle everything we’ve booked.” She sighed. “But the holiday flotilla is coming up—we always show off our fleet then. And then there’s New Year’s…. I guess I’m going to have to talk to Sean soon about hiring on another couple of captains. I don’t know what else we can do.”

“I can take one of the boats out for the holiday flotilla,” Zach offered. “That’s just a few days before Christmas, right?”

“The Sunday before,” she agreed.

“Maybe Sean will be up to snuff by then.”

“Maybe. So what brings you in today?” she asked him.

“Eddie’s computer.”

“Oh?” She arched a brow. “Well, it’s over there. Help yourself.”

“Thanks.” He didn’t mention that he already knew where it was.

Zach sat at Eddie’s desk, booted up his computer and went back ten days. As he accessed areas that the casual user might not, he realized that Marni had moved to stand behind him and look over his shoulder.

“How did you do that?” she asked.

“What?”

“Go back so far. I can only pull up the most recent sites I’ve visited.”

“It’s not all that tricky, really. A computer—even the worst computer—has an amazing amount of info saved in its memory, and this is a nice setup, so it’s got even more.”

“Yeah. Eddie insisted he had to have
this
computer. I don’t get it, myself. The Internet is the Internet, you know? We have a great business site, though. Eddie did it. Do you believe that? The old guy is the one who figures it all out,” Marni said affectionately. She was smiling, but her smile faded as she realized that she was speaking in the present tense about someone who was probably dead.

She didn’t walk away, though.

“Hey, you got any coffee?” Zach asked her.

“Sure,” she said, and went to pour him a cup.

He thought of the facts he had so far. Eddie had gone out with a man who called himself John Alden. The man had paid cash. The boat had been found by Cow Cay. There was talc on the boat, and talc on Cow Cay. And then he added the facts he couldn’t prove but believed all the same. Someone had killed Eddie, used diving equipment to reach the island and disappeared from there. And that someone had killed Eddie for a reason.

Then he moved on to the more questionable suppositions. Someone might be trying to kill Sean. If so, who? Amanda, his wife, who stood to gain? Logical, maybe. She was young and beautiful; Sean was old and rich. A likely scenario. Maybe too likely. Why did people kill? Passion, envy, greed.

Eddie had been accessing all the information he could on Rhode Island and the American Revolution. He had gone to sites that featured maps and charts of the area. He had studied battles and commanders and the congress. He had looked up Nigel Bridgewater, the local hero who had been hanged for treason, on a number of different sites, sites that focused specifically on Bridgewater and sites where he was only mentioned. He had done a lot of cross-referencing.

But hadn’t written any notes or conclusions on his computer. At least, none that Zach had found so far.

Zach went to Eddie’s calendar. There were notations about work-related events, and then a notation followed by several exclamation points on Christmas Day.

Sean will get the gift and then he’ll know!!!!

He exited the calendar and turned around. Marni was behind him, smiling, carrying his coffee. “Black?” she asked him.

“Black is fine,” he said. “Thank you.”

As he accepted the coffee, she sighed. “Poor Eddie.”

“We can still hope,” he said.

“Of course. We’re all hoping, but…Eddie wouldn’t just go away without telling someone. I know he wouldn’t.”

“Thanks for this,” he said, lifting the cup to her.

“Sure.”

She went back to her own desk. The door opened, and a group of young men came in, hoping they could charter a boat for a sail around the bay. Cal, who was off the phone by then, went over to speak to them.

Zach closed down Eddie’s computer. He was pretty sure he had discovered what he could from it, which really wasn’t much. He needed to get into Eddie’s house, and he needed to talk to Sean.

Passion, envy, greed. People were killed because they knew too much. They were killed because others envied what they had.

What was it that Eddie knew, or had, that had brought about his death?

Did it have to do with Sean, as well?

If they were both dead, did the business fall to Cal and Marni?

No. Kat and Amanda would inherit what wasn’t bequeathed to others, including Sean’s share of the business. None of it made any sense. Cal didn’t really stand to gain anything.

Amanda might do well by becoming a widow. She wouldn’t have access to all of Sean’s fortune, because of Kat, but she would be better off than she had been going into the marriage.

But Amanda had nothing to gain by murdering Eddie.

There had to be something else. Something he was missing.

He kept returning to Eddie’s research. And Sean’s. Over the years, they had both gone on and on about Nigel Bridgewater.

He waved to Marni and Cal as they made arrangements to take the men sailing around the bay and headed out, telling him to lock up when he left.

And then his thoughts went back to the Revolutionary War and the missing patriot treasure.

Bridey had come down with something. Clara fussed and made tea, toast and soup. Sean’s primary care doctor actually made a point of coming out to see her, and he prescribed an antibiotic. Bridey decried the attention being given to her, but she seemed to like it, as well.

Kat plumped up her pillows and sat with her, reading. Caer popped in to see her, too, then went downstairs for lunch, since Amanda had joined her husband in the dining room. Amanda was completely charming not only to Sean but to her, then left for a pedicure. Zach returned to the house in time to enjoy some of the cod, peas and parsley potatoes Clara had prepared for the meal.

With Zach there, Caer excused herself to sit with Bridey. When Caer arrived, Kat went down to spend some time with her father, and Caer realized that she and Kat had somehow formed a silent team.

One of them was always watching out for Sean.

They were both determined that Sean had to be protected—Caer because she was open to the possibility of danger and Kat because she was certain Amanda was nothing short of evil personified.

Bridey had her eyes closed when Caer sat down at her side and took her hand. She remembered how Bridey had accosted her that first night in the kitchen. She had convinced Bridey that she was there only to protect Sean, but she knew Bridey was still suspicious of her, just as Zach was, even though neither one of them could have said what was behind the feeling.

“You know, there are all manner of stories out and about,” Bridey said, and Caer realized that the old woman had opened her eyes and was looking at her.

“It’s said, you know, that a banshee can be granted human form. That she can know again what it was like when she was flesh and blood, if she is sent to watch over one who is not intended to die.”

“That must be nice for them,” Caer said lightly.

Bridey was smiling. “They feel as they once felt. For in taking on human form, they are once again cursed with human emotion.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Caer asked.

“No, not entirely. But sometimes it hurts to feel,” Bridey said softly. “Of course, some emotions are genuinely ugly.”

“Well, life is good and bad, isn’t it? And we need the ugly to be able to see the beautiful, do we not?” Caer said.

Bridey squeezed her hand. “Are you here for me?” she asked.

“What do you mean? I’m sitting here with you. Or do you mean,
did I come from Ireland to be with you?
I came with Sean, remember?”

Bridey’s smiled deepened. “Child, I haven’t gone daft. I mean, are you here for me?”

“I…”

Bridey stared hard at Caer, then shifted her gaze to a point over her shoulder. Caer turned quickly and saw that Zach had come into the room.

To her surprise, she felt vulnerable. Whatever he had overheard, she doubted it would mean anything to him. What bothered her was that she kept hearing Bridey’s words about emotion and how it could hurt.

And in fact it
did
hurt.

She had been fascinated by him from the start. And as she had come to know more about him, she only liked him more and more. His eyes, the way his hair fell across his forehead, the color and texture of it. She liked the movement in his face when he flashed a grin, and she loved the tone of his voice. His walk. The kindness and affection that touched his features whenever he looked at Bridey. His respect for others, his patience. His intelligence and sense of responsibility. The fact that he was clearly a man who would do anything for the people who mattered to him.

She was attracted to him. She wanted to touch. To feel.

To know all the vitality and heat that were part of him, to hear him speak words of passion to her as he moved against her in the dark.

“What’s this I hear? You can’t get sick before Christmas, Bridey,” he said, coming over to the bed and planting a kiss on her forehead. “We have to get you over this thing right away.”

Bridey laughed, but her laugh became a cough. “Here, take a sip of water,” Caer said, quickly rising to help Bridey with the water. Zach was next to her. Touching her. It was as if she could feel his heartbeat. He breathed, and she breathed in time with him.

She set the water down when Bridey had finished, and quickly backed away.

“I’m all right,” Bridey assured them both.

Zach looked at Caer with concern, voicing a silent question.

“The doctor has been in, and she’s taking an antibiotic,” Caer said.

Zach nodded.

Bridey waved a hand dismissively. “Get out of here, both of you. I’m going to take a wee nap now.”

“A nap, and don’t forget your medicine,” Zach said.

She waved him off. He stood in the doorway and watched as Caer moved back over to the bed, drawing the covers up. As she leaned down, Bridey whispered to her, “Eddie is dead. I know he is. I saw him. Did you come because of Eddie?”

“Bridey, I swear, I know nothing about Eddie,” Caer said, hoping Zach couldn’t hear them. She touched Bridey’s cheek and smiled reassuringly.

Bridey caught her hand and squeezed it. “You’re a sweet child,” she said simply. “Now, go. Get out of here, so I can rest.”

Caer joined Zach in the hallway. He was frowning. “When did this all happen?” he asked, as she closed the door.

“I think she just woke up this morning with sniffles and that cough. The doctor saw her when he came to check on Sean, so she’s in good hands.”

He nodded. “Good. Thanks.”

She stared up at him, uncomfortable. She wanted to step away, or step closer, forget time and place and all convention, and cup her hand around his face, feel his flesh beneath her fingertips. Wanted to step closer and press herself against him, rise on her toes and touch her lips to his. She saw it, felt it so clearly, that a flush rose to her cheeks.

She stepped back.

“Hey, want to come with me?” he asked her.

“Um…where?”

“Eddie’s house.”

“Oh? I, uh, I shouldn’t. I should keep an eye on Sean.”