Dark Waters (19 page)

‘Yeah, I know what you mean, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy myself,' Emmett said, said bye and hung up.

He got the papers Bill Williams had faxed over to him and got the list of Darby Hunt's relatives. Crossing off Billy and Shorty still left a whole gob of them. Getting out a phone book, he looked up some of the names and discovered one of the Hunts, Josiah, was a preacher man, pastor of the LIOB Baptist Church, not affiliated, according to the yellow pages ad, with the Southern Baptist Church. After talking to their leader, Emmett had a feeling that would be a relief to Southern Baptists everywhere. He called the number and Josiah himself answered. ‘LIOB,' he said.

‘Pastor Hunt?' Emmett asked.

‘You got him,' the man said.

‘This is Emmett Hopkins, head deputy of the Longbranch Sheriff's Department—'

‘You're calling about my ne'er-do-well cousin Darby, I betcha,' he said.

‘Yes, sir,' Emmett said.

‘It all come from his mama's side,' Josiah said. ‘She's Milsted, and them Milsteds are a bad lot. Bad to the bone.'

‘So you think it was all Darby's fault that Billy drove drunk and got himself killed, and Shorty's in prison in California for being stupid?'

Josiah laughed. ‘Well, now, those two
were
bad apples, Deputy, I ain't gonna argue that.'

‘Why I'm calling, Pastor—'

‘Just call me Brother Josiah, Deputy.'

‘Just call me Emmett, Josiah,' Emmett said. ‘So, I thought being a preacher you might be able to tell me about your kin and if any of 'em might want to kill old Darby.'

‘Well, now I heard somebody killed Darby. And I'm figuring it was God's will. But as for this branch of the Hunts, I'm saying probably not. Both Billy's daddy and Shorty's daddy are dead, and Billy's mama, too. Shorty's mama's still with us, but she's a sweet little ol' thing, wouldn't hurt a fly.'

‘What about Vivica?' Emmett asked, thinking of the female cousin Milt had mentioned who was as big as the boys but twice as mean.

‘Oh, now we don't tolerate her kind round here,' Josiah said. ‘Them's that lie down with their own sex and all that, like Jesus said.'

Emmett was pretty sure Jesus never said any such thing, but he wasn't going to argue with this dumbass bigot. ‘So where is she?'

‘Last I heard she had a cattle ranch in Montana, her and some other sinful woman. And they're having babies too. If they lived around here, I'd take those poor children away from her, you can guarantee that!'

‘Anybody else in the family—'

‘Well, now there were four brothers, who begat eight sons. Darby was his daddy's only child, and my daddy had two girls, and three more boys, including me. Both my older brothers died some time ago. Shorty has a brother, but he lives in Arkansas, and Billy had a brother, but he was in the car with Billy when it crashed. He didn't die, but he might as well have. He's been lying in his mama's living room for almost twenty years now, on life-support. I'd pray the God Lord take him home, but I think my aunt would hold on to him so tight either he'd stay here or she'd go to heaven with him.'

‘So that's it?' Emmett asked.

‘Yessir, that's all.'

‘Did you kill Darby?' Emmett asked, a little desperately.

Josiah laughed good-naturedly. ‘Sorry, Deputy. Don't mean to disappoint, but no, I didn't kill ol' Darby.'

‘By the way, Josiah,' Emmett said, ‘what does LIOB stand for?'

‘Literal Interpretation of the Bible, Deputy! Every word of that good book is pure truth and should be accepted as such. And those that don't won't be rising come judgment day!'

Emmett thanked the preacher man and hung up.

Time to call Bill Williams in Tejas County. He hoped to hell Bill had heard about Hunt's murder through the grapevine, because he sure as hell hadn't called him to tell him about it. Emmett, he said to himself, stop thinking about Petal and get serious about this. Okey dokey, he answered himself. Will do.

Dalton sat at his desk in the bullpen and stared at Holly's back. He couldn't keep the smile off his face. She was as cute as a mongrel pup, he thought to himself.

He'd talked to Jamie Smith over at the Longbranch First National, the lady who'd loaned him the money for his car, and she'd cleared him for the amount of the house, less his down payment. Since Dalton lived with his mama, and only paid some of the bills (she didn't ask for rent), he'd been able to sock away a goodly amount. Enough for a down payment and a nice diamond, with some left over to start a college fund for his and Holly's first child.

The down payment was big enough that his monthly payments, even with taxes and insurance, would be well within his means. When he first heard the realtor lady say how much the house was, he thought he'd never be able to swing it but, here it was, right here on his desk, in black and white. He could do it. With enough left over from his paycheck for all the rest – like utilities and insurance and his one credit card, and groceries and such. Holly's paycheck could be used just for fun. Until she got pregnant and quit her job, of course.

Hands shaking, Dalton picked up the phone on his desk and called Holly's extension. She was less than a yard away from him, but he thought she'd think this was funny. And he loved making her laugh, even when he didn't mean to.

Holly looked at the readout on the phone, turned to look at Dalton and laughed as she picked up the receiver.

‘How may I help you, Deputy?' she asked in a mock-serious voice.

‘You wanna have dinner tonight? There's something I want to show you.'

‘Sure. What do you want to show me?'

‘It's a surprise,' he said. ‘Where do you want to eat?'

‘How about my place? I'll stop by the grocery store on the way home.'

‘Why don't we do that together, after the surprise,' Dalton said, unable to wipe the smile off his face.

‘Sure,' she said. ‘Why not?'

We had a lot of work to do before the ship docked in Galveston. Jean took her scooter and the boys up to the pool level for them to go swimming, while I stayed in the security area to work out what to do with Chief Heinrich. We sat in his office, coffee mugs in front of both of us, the chief leaning back in his big old leather chair while I tried to get comfortable in a small visitor's chair that at least had arms.

‘Do you think there is a possibility that Clifford Dunne had anything to do with the boy's death?' the chief asked me.

‘I thought he thought the younger kids did it. Did he change his mind?' I asked.

Heinrich shook his head. ‘Not that I'm aware of.'

‘You think we should talk with him?'

Heinrich appeared to think about that for a moment. Then he shrugged his shoulders and sat his chair up closer to the desk. ‘Can't hurt,' he said, then hit a button on his phone and said into it, ‘Clive, find passenger Clifford Dunne for me, please. Bring him to my office.'

‘Yes, sir,' came the disembodied voice of Clive, who had an English accent that went well with his name.

‘What else?' Heinrich said, looking at me. ‘I was serious when I said you had more experience with murder investigations than I have. I've been a ship's security chief for twenty-five years, and in all that time I've never had anything even close to a murder.'

‘What's close to a murder?' I asked.

He thought about that for a moment. ‘Assault, I'd say. Rape or a serious beating. Not on my watch.'

‘Well, I gotta say you've been lucky. Dealing with all these people on vacation, all the booze floating around, all the pretty women in bathing suits.'

‘I'm not saying it hasn't happened,' he said. ‘I am just saying it has not been reported.'

I nodded my head. ‘I hear what you're saying. Lot of women don't want to report it, especially if they drank a little too much and were flirting – they think it's their fault. One thing I've already been teaching my boy is when a girl says no, you stop what you're doing. Girls need to know it's not their fault, but boys need to be taught that no means no.'

‘That's true,' he said.

‘I saw you send some guys out during the meeting. I assume it was to check the Weaver boys' cabin for Dunne's money,' I said.

‘Yes,' Heinrich said. He looked up at the window of his office to see the two men he'd sent come in the door. ‘And I believe we are about to get the answer to that.'

One of the men came in and saluted Heinrich. I thought that was carrying the faux navy stuff a bit far, but what do I know?

‘Chief,' said a swarthy guy with a heavy accent. All I can say is it wasn't Mexican. That accent I recognize. This was different. ‘We searched the cabin and found ten dollars in the boy's wallet, nothing else.'

‘Thank you, Papademetriou,' Heinrich said and Papa-whatever saluted again and backed out of the door.

‘Papa-what?' I said.

‘Papademetriou,' Heinrich said. ‘He is from Athens.'

‘As in Greece?' I said.

‘Yes,' Heinrich said. ‘Now, we know that Josh Weaver did not hide the money in his cabin. Where else would he hide it?'

‘Damned if I know,' I said. ‘Where else could he? Not like he had free reign of the ship—'

Heinrich made a rude sound. ‘Well, he certainly seemed to think he did!'

A buzzer sounded on his desk. He hit the button he'd been talking to Clive on and said, ‘Yes?'

‘Chief? I have Mr Dunne for you,' Clive, or another English accent, said.

‘Send him in,' Heinrich said.

We both stood up when the door opened and a sailor-suited security guard let in Clifford Dunne. He looked a little more respectable today, wearing Bermuda shorts and a Polo shirt. He was also wearing black wingtips with white socks pulled up to his knees. I said respectable, I didn't say good.

‘You find out who robbed me? You got my money?' Dunne said as he entered.

‘Please sit down, Mr Dunne,' Heinrich said, indicating the chair next to me. ‘I'm not sure you met Mr Kovak formally when you were accusing his children of having robbed you.' Dunne made a noise that wasn't pleasant. Heinrich went on: ‘But other than being the father of one of the boys, he is also the sheriff of a county in Oklahoma, taking a vacation with his family.'

‘Well, wooptifuck,' Dunne said. ‘Why'd you have me dragged down here to hear this?'

‘Sheriff Kovak is assisting me with the murder,' the chief said.

That shut Dunne's mouth for almost thirty seconds. Then he said, ‘Murder? What murder?'

‘The boy who actually robbed you was found dead,' Heinrich said.

‘Ha!' Dunne said. ‘Good for him! You find my money?'

‘Not yet, no,' Heinrich said. ‘But the question has arisen regarding the possibility that you may have taken matters into your own hands.'

‘Do what?' Dunne said, looking slightly perplexed. Then, having obviously worked through what Heinrich said, continued, ‘You think I— What the fuck? Are you out of your mind?' he said, jumping up. ‘I'm the victim here! I'm the one who was hit on the head, knocked to the stairs, robbed and left for dead!'

‘I don't think anyone wanted to kill you,' I said. ‘You were moaning pretty good when the younger children found you. And, by the way, saved your ass.'

‘Or were fixing to rob me more if I hadn't stopped them!' Dunne said, turning on me.

‘Sit down, Mr Dunne!' Chief Heinrich said in a very stern voice. Hell, I would have sat down to that voice. So did Dunne. ‘We are not forgetting that you were a victim. But that does beg the question: did you ever meet or see Josh Weaver?'

Dunne was already shaking his head. ‘Who's that? Is that who died? Was he the kid who robbed me? How old was he? Because I remember little hands—'

‘The little hands you remember may have been from when the little kids were trying to help you—' I started, but Dunne interrupted.

‘No! I distinctly remember little hands going in my jacket pocket and pulling out the money!'

‘The boy who died was fourteen, but he did have younger children helping him,' Heinrich said. ‘Those were probably the smaller hands.'

‘How old were those boys?' Dunne asked.

‘Eleven,' Heinrich supplied.

Dunne was shaking his head. ‘No, I've got a ten-year-old girl, and her hands aren't as small as the ones stealing my money. These were tiny hands!' Dunne said.

Heinrich and I looked at each other. The younger Connelly kid – Jacob. He was only seven. Between Josh and Jacob's older brother Trip, the two must have bullied the child into it. I thought I might ask Jean to have a get together with the young boy.

Heinrich stood up. ‘That will be all, Mr Dunne. Thank you so much for coming by.' He moved to the door and opened it. To Clive he said, ‘Please see that Mr Dunne gets back to his cabin.'

Clive said, ‘Yes, sir,' just as Dunne said, ‘Forget it! I don't need a guide!' And stormed out of the security office.

So Emmett drove the twenty-something miles to Tejas County to see Bill Williams in person. He called first to make sure Bill would be there and got there just in time for lunch.

The Tejas County Sheriff's Department had moved out of the small downtown area of Elucid, the county seat of Tejas County, to a new building in what they called ‘the metroplex,' which wasn't much more than a strip mall with the sheriff's office at one end and the county food bank at the other, with a couple of county welfare-type places in between. Emmett noticed that he passed a nice-looking Mexican food place on his way to Bill's shop.

‘You had lunch?' Emmett asked after he and Bill shook hands.