Book, Line, and Sinker, page 14
Lindsey was reading over her statement and signing it when Riordan’s attorney arrived. He was wearing a Rolex and carrying a Vuitton attaché case, both of which matched his charcoal Brooks Brothers suit. He glanced at Lindsey as he passed the interview room. She noticed he moved with the lithe grace of a shark, or maybe that was her imagination.
She signed her statement and handed it to Emma, who looked it over.
“I’ll have the chief call you if he needs to see you again,” she said.
“Thanks, Emma.”
Lindsey was happy to let the doors of the station close behind her. She glanced out at the pier as she made her way back to the library. She noticed all of Sully’s boats were out, and she felt a little disappointed. She would have liked to have told him about the day but didn’t want to call him to tell him. She wanted to see his face when she told him that Trudi’s killer had been caught.
A part of her couldn’t believe that it was Riordan. To throw away all he had built and the opportunity to find Captain Kidd’s treasure over a map that he hadn’t even authenticated.
She glanced out over the bay, trying to imagine what this cove had looked like during Captain Kidd’s time. Had he really buried treasure here? With so many islands to choose from, it didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility.
Now with the map being logged in as evidence in a murder case, would anyone ever find the treasure or would it remain buried just as it had been left three hundred and thirteen years ago? A strong gust of wind tugged at the hem of her skirt and pulled a thick strand of hair out of the knot she had wound it in. Lindsey took a deep breath of the salty air.
It seemed the oppressive humidity was being swept away. Now that Trudi’s killer had been caught, maybe things could get back to normal, or so she hoped.
* * *
“Something isn’t sitting right with me about this,” Lindsey said to Sully over breakfast. Two days had passed since Riordan had been arrested.
They were eating on the patio outside the Blue Anchor, which overlooked the islands and the bay. A seagull was perched on the railing near Lindsey, and he cocked his head to the side as if to slyly determine whether she was done with her toast and if she might throw some his way.
Ever the sucker, Lindsey ripped off some of her crust and flung it out over the water. With a happy cry, the seagull dove after it, snatching it before it hit the surf.
“What do you mean?” Sully asked. He put aside the paper and took a fortifying sip of his coffee.
“Murder isn’t neat and tidy,” she said.
“No,” he agreed. He watched her as if he had all the time in the world for her to gather her thoughts. She loved that about him. There was that silly L word again. She felt her face grow warm as if Sully could read her thoughts. With a shake of her head, she forced her attention back to the topic.
“Trudi taking Riordan’s map and Riordan killing her,” she said. “It appears neat and tidy but then it isn’t. It’s sort of like when you go visit someone and their front room is immaculate, but then the rest of the doors in their house are shut. You know it’s because those other rooms are a disaster.”
Sully grinned at her.
“What?” she asked.
“I love the way your mind works,” he said.
Lindsey felt trapped in his blue gaze and it was exhilarating like a sailboat catching a strong breeze and flying across the surface of the sea.
“Thanks,” she said. Her voice was rough and she swallowed hard.
“Charlie and the Norrgard brothers have been given permission to return to the island and retrieve their things,” he said. “I’m taking them this morning. Do you want to come out there with us?”
Lindsey was covering the night shift for Jessica and was going into work late. She had the time to go out to the island but she wondered why Sully had invited her.
“Do you think I should?” she asked.
He gave her an understanding look. “You’ve been very preoccupied since Riordan was arrested. Maybe going out there will give you some closure.”
“Maybe,” she agreed.
She wondered if she really wanted to revisit the scene of Trudi’s death. It seemed so gruesome and grisly, and yet it bothered her that there was something too convenient about Riordan being the killer—not that she didn’t think he couldn’t have done it.
She’d seen his temper. There was a ruthlessness within him that made her think he was a perfect treasure hunter because he was very much like a pirate. That being said, she couldn’t reconcile that he would have killed Trudi without getting what he wanted from her first.
“All right, count me in,” she said.
* * *
The Swedish brothers were like having two towers in the back of the water taxi. Lindsey sat between them while Charlie sat up front with Sully. She hadn’t had much of a chance to get to know them over the past few weeks, so she tried to break the ice by asking where they were from in Sweden.
Steig, or maybe it was Stefan, answered for both of them. His deep voice was melodic as he said, “Gothenburg.”
“A port city,” she said.
The other brother smiled and said, “Very good. Most people have only heard of Stockholm.”
“One of your American lovelies actually asked if we had indoor plumbing,” he said.
“No,” Lindsey said, feeling embarrassed on behalf of her country.
The brothers laughed. “We told her we didn’t.”
Lindsey laughed, too. She could see why the two of them had managed to charm every single girl in Briar Creek with their brilliant smiles and terrific humor.
“Your library carries a nice number of Swedish authors,” Stefan, or maybe it was Steig, said. “Mankell, Larsson, Sjöwall and Wahlöö.”
“I’ve always been a fan of Nordic mysteries. The Laughing Policeman was one of the first Swedish books I ever read. I loved it.”
The brother on her right nodded. “It’s a classic.”
They were silent for a moment as the small boat bounced over the waves that would lead them to Ruby Island.
Lindsey had to raise her voice to be heard over the wind. “How long have you two worked for Riordan?”
“What is it now, Stefan, almost five years?” Steig asked. “We signed on when he was just starting up his salvage company. He needed divers and we needed work.”
“Sounds like a good match,” Lindsey said.
“It was until now,” Stefan, who was on her right, said.
Lindsey hesitated then she asked anyway. “Do you think he killed Trudi Hargrave?”
The brothers exchanged a look over her head and Lindsey wondered if she’d gone too far and was no better than the dim-witted girl who’d asked if they had indoor plumbing.
“Honestly?” Stefan asked. “I don’t know.”
“Nor do I,” Steig said.
They both looked away out across the water as if they were shamed by a gross betrayal.
“I’m sorry,” Lindsey said. “That was rude of me to ask and put you on the spot like that.”
“It’s nothing we haven’t asked ourselves,” Steig said. “You just said it out loud.”
Sully cut the engine and the brothers rose to their feet, preparing to leap from the boat onto the rickety dock. Lindsey grabbed a handrail to steady herself as she braced for the boat to stop. Sully slid the boat into place without even a bump.
“Nice,” Charlie said.
Sully gave him a small nod.
Stefan hopped out first and tied off the boat. One by one they clambered out. Sully turned and gave Lindsey a hand out and she was grateful. Now that they were here, she was nervous about returning to the scene of Trudi’s murder. A quick glance at Charlie confirmed that he was feeling the same.
His pasty skin was paler than usual and he was staring up at the rocky slope as if trying to find the will to climb.
“All right, Charlie?” Sully asked.
Charlie gave a stiff nod and began to follow the brothers up the slope.
“You can wait here if you want,” Sully said, giving Lindsey a concerned look.
“No, in for a penny, in for a pound,” she said.
He nodded in understanding and together they made their way up to the excavation site.
As soon as she saw the scaffolding, Lindsey started to have flashbacks. Remembering Trudi’s body coming up out of the ground made her flinch, and Sully took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze of reassurance. Lindsey squeezed back.
The brothers and Charlie were all standing near the hole. Lindsey wondered if they were having a moment of silence because of the tragedy, but no, when she and Sully joined them, Charlie whipped around and looked at Sully with a frown.
“Someone’s been here and they’ve been digging.”
“I’m sure it was just the police during their investigation,” Sully said. “They would have had to examine where her body was found.”
“No.” Steig shook his head. “This isn’t the digging of evidence. It looks as if someone’s been trying to fill the hole.”
“What?” Sully and Lindsey said together as they stepped forward to look down into the pit.
Stefan gestured to where there had been a pile of dirt and rock they had been digging out in the course of their treasure hunt. There was nothing left of it. Charlie found one of the Maglites they had used when lifting Trudi’s body out. Sure enough, the pit was nowhere near as deep as it had been.
“Could Chief Daniels have done this as a safety measure?” Lindsey asked.
“I suppose, but I can’t see him tampering with anything that might have been considered evidence,” Sully said. “By pouring dirt in over where the body was found, well, that could damage the investigation.”
The others were silent and Lindsey knew they were thinking the same thing she was. That someone didn’t want the excavation to continue. Since Riordan was in jail, it wasn’t him. Lindsey didn’t want to think about the person most likely to try to stop their work, but there it was. Milton.
It was a somber group that packed up their belongings and tools. The only thing left behind was the scaffold and the winch because they were too big to fit in the water taxi. They would take a while to disassemble and they would need a bigger boat to get them to shore with.
On the ride back to the pier, Lindsey sat up front with Sully.
“Do you know when the police finished up with the island?” she asked.
“Sometime yesterday,” he said. “Charlie and the brothers were given permission to go back to get their things yesterday evening.”
“So if it wasn’t the police who filled in the pit, then whoever did it had to have done it last night,” she said. “I don’t see Milton going out there in the middle of the night, do you?”
“No, and I don’t see someone doing that just to stop an excavation. It had to be someone who is trying to hide something,” Sully said.
“Like Trudi’s murderer?” she asked.
“Yes.” Sully’s tone was grim.
“Riordan is still in jail,” she said. “That rules him out.”
“Unless he isn’t working alone,” he said.
“They had to know that someone would have noticed,” she said.
“Maybe they don’t care.”
Lindsey turned this over in her mind, but she couldn’t make any sense of it.
Once they had docked, she still had a half hour until she was to be at work. She decided to stop by Milton’s house on her way to the library just to see how he was doing. Okay, yeah, and to see where he was last night.
She knew he had vacated the jail once Riordan had taken up residence, but she hadn’t seen him at the library and she wondered if he was keeping a low profile at home until the furor died down.
She gave Sully a quick hug, but when she would have hurried off, he held her back. He brushed a long curly strand of hair away from her face and his gaze ran over her features as if to reassure himself that there was no harm done from their trip to the island.
“Did it help?” he asked.
“In some ways,” she said. “In others, not so much.”
“You’re going to check on Milton’s alibi, aren’t you?”
Lindsey frowned at him. “Exactly when did you get to know me so well?”
“Must have been during all those months that I was pining for you to notice me,” he said.
Lindsey saw the honesty and the humor in his gaze, and she wondered what she had done to deserve such a good man. Sheer force of will made her pull her gaze away.
“What we found out there is worrisome. Be careful,” he said. He kissed the top of her head and added, “Call me.”
“I will on both counts,” she agreed. She left the pier, trying to remember if she had ever known a man like Mike Sullivan before, a man who accepted her for exactly who she was and seemed to like her anyway.
* * *
Milton lived in the oldest house in Briar Creek. It sat on the bay just past the center of town. Lindsey was pleased to see that there wasn’t a gaggle of admirers parked out on his lawn. Now that he’d been freed from jail, it appeared they had given up their protest on his behalf. Thank goodness. She didn’t want to have a smack down just to ask him a few questions.
She knocked on his door, and after a moment, it swung wide and there was Milton in his usual track suit. He looked tired but otherwise fine.
“Lindsey,” he said. “This is a surprise.”
“Sorry to intrude without calling first,” she said.
“Not at all,” he said. “Come in.”
“Actually, I can’t stay as I have to get to work, but Milton, I need to ask you a question,” she said.
“It sounds serious,” he said.
He stroked his silver goatee and then crossed his arms over his chest as if bracing himself for a blow or an insult of some sort. Lindsey thought about not saying anything but reasoned that if it wasn’t her asking, it would be Chief Daniels. She might as well prepare him for what was coming.
“I went out to the island with Charlie and the brothers to gather their things.”
Milton uncrossed his arms and gave her a sympathetic look. “That had to be hard. I’m sorry, Lindsey. I hope it doesn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it anyway. Although Trudi and I had our differences, I certainly wished her no harm.”
“Oh, Milton, I know that,” Lindsey said. “You’re the most peaceful person I know, but—”
“Buts are never good,” Milton said with a raised eyebrow.
Lindsey laughed in surprise but then grew serious.
“Milton, someone was out on the island last night, and it looks like they were tampering with the excavation site.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. He looked bewildered. Lindsey knew Milton was too much of a straight shooter to feign surprise.
“I mean someone is filling in the site, and I think it’s either to hide evidence or to stop the excavation,” she said.
“Well, the crime scene investigators are done, aren’t they?” he asked.
“Yes, so the hiding of evidence seems unlikely,” she said.
“Which means it’s someone who wants to stop the excavation, which means you’re thinking of me,” Milton said. His electric green eyes dimmed with hurt. Lindsey instantly felt regret. How could she accuse an eighty-two-year-old man of sneaking out onto an island in the middle of the night and tampering with an excavation site? She was an idiot.
“I’m sorry, Milton. Of course, the idea that you had anything to do with it is simply ridiculous.” Impulsively, she hugged him.
Surprised, he patted her back awkwardly. Then he laughed. When Lindsey pulled back, she was relieved to see the sparkle back in his eyes.
“I know you had nothing to do with it,” she said. “But maybe you know someone who might have?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, you do have a pretty rabid fan base,” she said.
To her surprise, Milton’s face flushed bright red and he cleared his throat.
“Maybe if you put the word out to your groupies . . .”
He sighed but she ignored him.
“It’s a network,” she said. “Let’s use it.”
“I’ll do my best,” he said. “But I can’t make any promises. Usually the most I get out of my ‘groupies’ is a hot dish.”
Lindsey gave him a wide-eyed look and he chuckled.
“I meant a casserole.”
“Oh,” Lindsey said with a snort.
Milton stroked his goatee. “There are a few, however . . .” His voice trailed off and Lindsey knew he was thinking of his more zealous admirers.
“Thanks, Milton,” she said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find out it was just a big misunderstanding.”
“Maybe,” he said.
But Lindsey could tell that neither of them believed it.
* * *
When Lindsey closed the library that night and walked around the building to the bike rack, she found Sully standing beside his truck, waiting for her.
“Is there any news?” she asked when he enfolded her in a hug.
“No. Riordan denied any knowledge of anyone being on the island while he’s been in jail,” Sully said.
“Do you believe him?”
“Given that he can’t even scratch an itch without an officer seeing him right now, yeah, I believe him,” Sully said.
“Is he still claiming that he’s innocent of murder?” she asked.
“Yep,” Sully said. “He says the last time he saw Trudi, she was alive.”
Lindsey stepped back to study his face. The sun was just beginning to set, and the reddish hue that lit the sky brought out the red in Sully’s mahogany curls. She wondered if he found this whole situation as perplexing as she did.
“What if she was alive?” Lindsey asked. “What if there is someone out there who wants the treasure hunting stopped so badly that they’re risking exposure by filling in the excavation site?”
“But why?”
“To hide the evidence that they are the real murderer?” she asked.
“Do you really think Riordan is innocent and that someone else killed Trudi?”
“I don’t know, but someone else was on that island last night. Maybe when Riordan left to get the first aid kit, the real murderer demanded the map from Trudi. When she refused to give it up, they threw her into the well,” Lindsey said. “Maybe Riordan was telling the truth.”
