Last Day (12 page)

But it was just Pete, sitting in an ugly brown leather recliner that Mathilda would have thrown down the cliff before allowing in her house. He had obviously brought it here, moved it right in. Kate watched him flipping through television channels. The quiet made Kate all the more aware of Conor squeezed so close beside her, their arms pressed together.

“Where’s Nicola?” Conor whispered.

“And the baby?” Kate whispered back.

12

After leaving Cloudlands, Reid drove to the boatyard where
Huntress
had been taken for repairs after sustaining damage on the trip. Nick Waterston had been the friend in charge of the charter, and he was overseeing the work. He had agreed to meet there. Reid wanted to nail down some details of the voyage before he questioned Pete.

The harbor glittered under a cloudless blue sky. There was a good breeze, and sailboats rocked at their moorings. Reid drove around the large shed filled with boats needing work, past a pile of masts and tangled rigging, and parked facing the wharf. He spotted Waterston on the deck of a sleek sailboat tied to the dock. Reid recognized it as
Huntress
.

The afternoon was hot, but Reid pulled on his suit jacket and headed over. Nick unclipped a section of the lifeline encircling the boat’s deck, and Reid stepped aboard. The two men shook hands.

“It’s so terrible,” Nick said. “We cannot get it through our heads. It’s broken my wife’s heart. She’s devastated.”

“Your wife is Scotty?” Reid asked.

Nick nodded. “Yeah. Best friends with Kate and Beth, especially Beth—they were closer in age—since they were kids. Inseparable. I loved Beth too. She was practically family to us.”

“Was Pete also like family?” Reid asked.

“Right,” Nick said, barking out a laugh. “By the way, I told Scotty I was meeting you here, and she’s coming by. I know you want to talk to her as well, and we thought it would be easier.”

“That’s great,” Reid said. “Why did you laugh when I asked if Pete was family?”

“Because he’s a pompous ass, and no one can stand him.”

That got Reid’s attention. “But you went on a weeklong sailing trip with him.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a friend of Lee’s—Lee Ackerley—and he chipped in on the charter. Believe me, if it were up to me . . .”

“Okay,” Reid said. “Why don’t you tell me about the trip?”

“Great weather, incredible breeze. The first night, we cruised around Nantucket. Pete was distracted, though. He kept saying he was worried about Beth—her pregnancy hadn’t been easy. I told him Scotty was there, even though Kate and Lulu—their other friend—were away. My wife would do anything for Beth.”

“How did he act worried?”

“Calling her constantly. Making a big deal about the fact she wasn’t picking up. Totally distracted.”

“Distracted in what way?”

“Yeah. The reason the boat’s here now. Pete took a turn at the wheel, and when he rounded Sankaty Head, he was so busy checking his cell phone he missed the buoy and steered straight over the east end of Davis South Shoal—shallow and dangerous, and every sailor knows it. He dinged the keel, and it’s going to cost a few grand to get fixed.” Nick paused.

“How did the crew react?”

“Pissed off, but you couldn’t help be concerned. The guy was definitely off his game. From then on, it was all, ‘You okay, Pete? You doing all right?’ He loved the attention. It’s like he got what he wanted.”

“You saying you think he was acting worried and distracted on purpose?”

“I have no idea. With Pete it could be anything. He’s got this intellectual superiority, so he thinks the rules are different for him. He’d probably think it was beneath him to look at a chart. He’s a member of Mensa. You know what that is?”

“Tell me.”

“The genius club. For people who have superhigh IQs, to quote Pete. He’ll be very happy to tell you about it.”

“So, take me through more of the trip,” Reid said.

“Well, at one point I had the wheel. Up ahead a whale surfaced and spouted, then another—it was a pod of humpback whales swimming by. Just beautiful. But we wanted to get back to port for dinner, and I was making time. Pete told me to bear off.”

“Bear off? What’s that?”

“It means fall off the wind. Stop going so fast. Pete was on the rail with his camera out, as he had been practically the whole voyage. He said he wanted to get a picture for Beth, that she’s whale-crazy.”

“What’s unusual about that?”

Nick snorted. “Pete never cared about taking a picture for Beth in his life. A photo of whales, fine. But then he wanted us to go in a completely different direction to get a shot of a three-masted schooner. Then a flock of gulls. Then a guy catching stripers. It was like he wanted us to notice how much he wanted to do for Beth.”

“What did he wear on the trip?”

“Jeans. Long-sleeved shirt. And it was hotter than fuck.”

Reid nodded. It was what he’d hoped to hear.

“Did you ever see him with his shirt off, or a T-shirt—anything like that?” Reid asked.

“Nope. And to each his own, but all night in the cabin he kept complaining that he needed to sleep next to the fan; he was dying of the heat. Typical Pete—stealing all the oxygen from any situation.”

“Got any pictures of the trip?”

“No, and Detective Miano asked that as soon as we docked up in Menemsha. Last thing I want is to have my cell phone out when I’m on vacation.”

“I get that,” Reid said.

“You know, I couldn’t blame Beth for not picking up when he called,” Nick said. “Pretty much everyone knew about the gallery assistant. Nicola. You’ve heard about her?”

“Yes. Was it serious?”

“Pete never talked to me about it.”

At the sound of tires crunching on gravel, Reid glanced toward the parking area. A blue Volvo wagon pulled in next to his sedan, and a blonde woman wearing a pink sundress stepped out. She was carrying an old-fashioned picnic basket covered with a checked cloth.

“Hello, hello,” she called. She wore flip-flops encrusted with blue jewellike crystals, and when she stepped aboard, she handed Nick the basket and kissed him.

“Detective Reid, this is my wife, Scotty,” Nick said.

“I am so happy to meet you,” Scotty said, shaking his hand, then holding it with both of hers. Her big eyes instantly dampened with tears. “You have to solve this, tell us who killed our Beth.”

“Yes, Mrs. Waterston.”

“Call me Scotty,” she said.

He nodded. “We were just talking about Nicola,” he said.

“Lovely Nicola,” she said, grimacing.

“Do you know her?”

“We all do. She was the sweet little gallery assistant. Beth hired her! Well, and Kate too. We thought she was just darling, and so smart, and so helpful. Till she helped herself to Pete.”

“Was Pete intending to leave Beth for her?”

“At one point, yes,” Scotty said. “Beth was devastated. But after she got pregnant, it seemed that Pete really wanted to fix the marriage, make things better.”

“And Beth, did she want to fix it too?”

Scotty paused. A blush spread up from her neck, and her eyes filled again. “She wanted to, but it was hard. She’d been so hurt by what he did. How could she trust him after that? Trust between a couple is everything.” Her eyes darted to her husband, and Reid wondered if there had been adultery in the Waterston marriage too.

“How did Pete take her reluctance?”

“He didn’t like it, of course. Pete is the kind of person who thinks he can control everyone. He has this Svengali-like personality. Very controlling, bends you to his will. At first, for years, Beth went along with it. She just wanted to make him happy. But after he got together with Nicola and their son was born—she saw the light. She got much more assertive, and that did not thrill Pete, to put it mildly.”

“How do you mean?”

“Oh, he got very sarcastic. All passive-aggressive, saying she was turning into her grandmother. Mathilda was extremely independent, did not believe in needing a man for anything.”

“Was Pete ever violent toward Beth?” Reid asked.

Scotty narrowed her lips and looked away. She started to speak, then shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know. I have my suspicions, but Beth never said for sure.”

“What were your suspicions?”

She shook her head hard, thinned her lips, and looked away. “If only I had stayed with her.”

“When?” Reid asked.

“Well, that morning. I popped by very early—she called me. She was upset about something with Pete, and I headed over to just be with her. She was out in the yard. There was a flat of impatiens—she always felt better when she could work in the garden. I helped her do some planting before the sun got up too high. She was affected by the heat.”

“The day we left?” Nick asked.

“Yes, darling. You didn’t notice I was gone?” she asked with a teasing tsk, tsk.

“Guess it was when I was out for my run?”

“Yes,” she said. Then, to Reid with an edge to her voice, “He runs every day. It’s how he keeps his boyish figure.”

“So, you helped her plant. What did she want to talk to you about?” Reid asked.

“She was upset about Nicola. Pete was on the phone with her.”

“That morning?”

“Yes. He always tried to hide it from Beth, but she could hear him talking in the study. Just so thoughtless—cruel, really. Beth pregnant and him about to leave, and he spends what should have been time together with his wife on the phone with his mistress instead.”

“Did they fight?”

“I don’t know about that day,” Scotty said, “but I assume so. Beth wasn’t happy, that’s for sure.”

“What happened after you gardened?”

“She got tired and wanted to go inside. And, I suppose, have it out with Pete. I hurried home to see Nick off. And I was there when Pete and Lee showed up an hour later—to pick Nick up.”

“But you went back to Beth’s? I heard about you finding the UPS note.”

“I did,” Scotty said. “Around eleven, I brought blueberry muffins to cheer her up. Beth had been so down, about Pete’s affair, and even the baby . . .”

“Tyler?” Reid asked.

“No, Matthew. She felt so sad because of the situation with his father.”

“Because she was planning to leave Pete?” Reid asked.

Scotty nodded. “Her family was destroyed. He opened the door to real hell when he started seeing Nicola.”

Reid nodded. “I’d like to go back to a question I raised a few minutes ago. When I asked if Pete was ever violent toward Beth, I felt you wanting to say something. Can you tell me?”

Scotty thinned her lips tighter this time. She looked away, and for a moment Reid thought she was going to change the subject again, to avoid answering. Instead she sighed and stared him straight in the eye.

“One time she had bruises on her upper arms,” she said, “as if someone had shaken her. Another time she met me for coffee, and she was wearing makeup—and that just wasn’t Beth. She’d use lipstick, eyeliner if she was going out at night, but she was one of those old-school New England fresh-faced women who’d probably never even touched foundation before that day. I asked her what she was trying to cover up.” Scotty lowered her eyes and stayed silent for a few seconds.

“And what did she say?” Reid asked.

“Her exact words were, ‘Some things just have to stay a mystery,’” Scotty said, her voice husky. She wiped tears from her cheeks. “She couldn’t even bring herself to tell me. She protected him, kept it to herself. But I knew he’d hit her.”

“You never told me that,” Nick said.

“Girl talk, sweetheart,” Scotty said. “We keep each other’s secrets.” She took the red-and-white checkered napkin off the picnic basket and pulled out a bottle of white wine.

“Isn’t it a little early?” Nick asked.

“The sun’s over the yardarm somewhere,” Scotty said. “My best friend was murdered. I think I can be forgiven for having a libation. Detective Reid?” She held out a glass toward him.

“That’s okay,” he said.

“Hey, Detective,” Nick said. “Lee’s the one you should really talk to. He’s probably closer to Pete than anyone.”

“He’s on my list,” Reid said. In fact, he was meeting him next.

“He’s a real nice guy,” Nick said. “He builds these amazing musical instruments.”

Reid nodded. He knew that from the initial background he and Miano had done on the sailing companions.

“Works of art,” Scotty said, taking a big drink of wine. Nick glared at her.

“He might have been the last one, besides Pete, to see Beth alive,” Scotty said.

“When?”

“The day we left to go sailing,” Nick said. “Lee picked him up. Then they came to our house to get me. Pete gave Beth a call from our kitchen, right, Scotty?”

“Uh-huh,” she said, having more wine.

“We were right there. We heard him talking to her. I don’t like the guy, but that’s why I know he couldn’t have done it,” Nick said. “He was with us. He talked to Beth right there in our house, while we were all standing around. I heard him say he loved her. Then we drove to the boat, and he was never out of our sight after that.”

“Never, not once?”

“No. And once we sailed away, we never hit the mainland. Out to Nantucket, that was always our plan. He couldn’t have gotten back here, killed Beth, and snuck onto the boat without us knowing.”

There were flights off the islands and back again, Reid thought. It could be done. Or maybe the friends were protecting him, the way Beth had for so long. But the steam was going out of his theory: unless everyone was lying, Pete had not had the chance to be alone with Beth after Leland had picked him up.

“Is there anyone you can think of who might have wanted to hurt Beth?” he asked.

“No,” Nick said. “She was a sweetheart. Everyone who knew her loved her.”

“A stranger,” Scotty said, her voice thick. “Someone who broke in. It had to be. No one we know would do something like that.” She paused. “And in that way.”

“In what way?” Reid asked. Had news about the sexual element leaked out? Had Kate told her?

Scotty turned pale and started to cry. “Just so heartless. She was pregnant! Oh God, Matthew!”

Nick put his arm around her shoulder.

“Are you searching for him?” Scotty asked, sobbing. “I mean, God forbid he does it again.”