Page 42 of Beneath Still Waters

“On a pink keyring. It was a fuzzy pink crown. Bailey knew I would love it because it’s frilly and girly,” her voice hitched. “Sometimes I can’t believe he’s really gone. I know you don’tbelieve me. I’m sure you think all I ever wanted was his money but that’s not true. Bailey was my one true love.”

The word hit Ferd. Love. People could love someone for years and still lose them. Other people only pretended to love at all.

Monica patted her nose. “I don’t even date now. I think part of why I kept after him all this time was because I hoped that if he kept seeing me, he’d remember he loved me.” She turned away and whipped a tissue from the box on the counter. Her sobs loud in the huge, echoing kitchen.

The box was already half empty. How many tears had Monica shed for her ex-husband? “Who has access to your house who might know the key was there?” Ferd asked quietly.

Monica glanced over her shoulder, her cheek dark red. “The only person who comes into my home regularly is Kelly. She cleans here too.”

THIRTY-FOUR

“So, what were your impressions?” Duke turned the key, starting the engine.

Ferd laid her head against the seat. “Her tears seemed real. Her shock that the key wasn’t where she left it wasn’t fake. But did you see the beer can on the counter?”

“The one that matched the can we sent to the lab?” Duke glanced at her with a grin. “I noticed. That brand is only available across the lake. The brewery is there. It’s a microbrewery. If you want any locally, you have to drive to get it. Driving around the lake takes forty-five minutes. Not unheard of, but it’s a lot faster by boat.”

“So, is Monica a drinker, or is the beer from her houseguest that she didn’t want to talk about?” Ferd asked. “I assume you caught that. Carl was a subject we were supposed to leave alone.”

He gripped the wheel but didn’t go yet. “She didn’t want to talk about him, but I got the feeling it was because of how she sees him. A father figure. A protector. No one wants the person they look up to, to be less than perfect.”

Or to go without one.“But is he physically capable of doing the damage that was done to Bailey’s head? Carl has to be aboutseventy-five, and he’s not in the best of shape. He looks like he was here when the mountains were formed.”

Duke snorted. “He’s stronger than you think. Operating that winch in the water isn’t easy. He’s strong. I just never added him to my list because he wasn’t really connected to the situation. He wasn’t a friend of Bailey’s. He wasn’t even in Bailey’s life peripherally, as far as I could tell. The connection with Monica makes me want to question him though. If he’s protective of her and Bailey was about to leave town with his new fiancée, that could be motive.”

Ferd let his ideas roll through her head. “He was odd from the moment I met him, but I just assumed he didn’t like me because I haven’t lived here all my life. You’d be shocked at how often I hit a roadblock with locals because I wasn’t born here.”

“That’s not surprising. Oh, that reminds me. You headed to the bathroom right after she got a little weird about the temperature in her house. What did you find?”

Ferd laughed. “I was that obvious, huh?”

He smirked. “It wasn’t bad, but if she’d been hiding anything, I think she would’ve sent you in the direction of another bathroom, not the one that went right past the thermostat.”

That made her feel even more innocent. “You have a point. What I don’t understand is why it felt like an iceberg in there. It was set to 69, which is super cool but not frigid.”

“Not sure we’ll ever know that. Keeping a house at a temp that isn’t normal for the rest of society isn’t a crime, so I can’t exactly get a warrant to look around. Now, if we were missing a body and I came across a house like that . . .”

“Probable cause.”

Duke finally set the car in motion and drove across town. He squinted into the distance as they pulled into the small marina at the end of Piper’s Ridge. Kevin and Heath stood near the door of Carl’s houseboat, tossing empty beer cases from inside. Carlstood just outside on the dock, screaming, “Get out of my house, you buzzards! You don’t have a warrant!”

Duke pulled to a stop and ejected from the car. “Hey! What’s going on?”

Kevin and Heath stopped and looked at each other. Kevin mouthed to Heath, “Time to jet.” They raced toward a new truck parked nearby.

Ferd drew her weapon and got out of the car, leveling it on the truck as it raced away. There were too many other cars and people around to take the shot.

“What was that about?” she asked, directing her question at Carl as they approached.

Carl slumped forward and grabbed hold of a nearby car. “They showed up out of nowhere, barged right onto my boat asking all sorts of questions about Bailey. I told them I didn’t know anything.” He held his head. “I need to sit down. Dizzy.”

“Did they assault you?” Duke asked.

Carl touched his quickly swelling lip. “When I told them to get out.”

Duke helped him inside his houseboat, and Ferd followed them. The whole place smelled of stale beer, diesel fuel, and something skunky she couldn't identify. Empty cases of the craft beer from across the lake lay beneath his kitchen table, which was bolted to the wall. He led them to a small area with built-in seating.

Carl sat and cradled his head in his hands. “Took me off-guard. I’ve never seen those guys around here before. They usually stick to town. Those idiots have been bothering me for days. I don't know what they think I know.”