Keeping Mum (A Garden Society Mystery) (15 page)

“I wouldn’t have called him if it weren’t Annie’s dad, Rob. This isn’t a normal situation.”

“Why couldn’t you just tell Jake to call him?”

“Because I know him well enough to know he wouldn’t talk to Jake without some smoothing first.”

“And see, that’s what I hate about it. My girlfriend is smoothing things with some guy.”

“It’s not like that. Not even a little bit. Before this search started, I hadn’t talked to him since July.”

“But you didn’t delete his number either.”

“No. And I’m glad I didn’t. We needed it.”

“And today wasn’t the first time you talked to him about it.”

She could tell he knew. Not that she wanted lies between them, but the fact that she hadn’t told him would be an additional problem.

“Second. But same issue. He’s the only person I know in that gambling circle.”

“Besides Benny.”

It was sort of true. Benny Larsson, who worked as a gardener—assistant to his father—for much of the Roanoke Garden Society was connected to this same group. But Benny had only ever dealt with the small-money crowd as far as Cam could tell. Dylan knew a larger variety. Part of her debated whether to claim she’d tried Benny first, but she respected Rob too much. She tried to explain the different circles to Rob, but he was too annoyed at the moment, so she tried another tactic.

“Rob, I’ve known Senator Schulz since I was in high school. And Annie has been my best friend longer than that. I get that you’re mad I called Dylan, but I called him for the very best reason and I swear to you I won’t call him for any lesser reason. I just had some instinct after those summer murders that I might need a friend in low places at some point in the future, and I’m glad I had the contact. It helped.”

Rob let out a loud sigh. He was nothing if not fair. He knew the truth of what she said, at least that it was important. He might or might not believe the “no other contact” piece, but Cam thought he would get past that if their time in Virginia Beach was either productive or romantic.
Both
would give them the shot of adrenaline needed to change the mood.

There were two clusters of marinas near Virginia Beach—one just south of downtown that was a public hub and a center of tourism, and then a set north of the city that was more resorty—the upper-crust people seemed to frequent the more classy cluster of marinas.

“I think if this is Elle’s boat, she’d be at one of these better ones,” Cam said.

“I wrote the name of the marina down night before last. Look on my phone.”

Cam did so. “I didn’t realize it had the marina.”

“I’m just clever that way. Even had the slot number.”

She pulled up the file and looked, then googled the marina. It was right where she’d guessed, on the channel between Chesapeake Bay and Broad Bay. It was a simple matter to traverse the two large roads between the freeway from Newport News and the cluster of marinas on the channel.

Unfortunately, when they got there and parked, the marina slot was empty.

“Is there a boat parked at Senator Schulz’s house?” Rob asked.

“Not that I saw. I didn’t go in the garage, but I bet Annie did.”

She called Annie to double-check, as it seemed important.

“I didn’t even know they
had
a boat. Dad is more a golf guy.”

“Then this boat has been moved, sold, or otherwise hidden. The good news is I bet that means this is our boat.”

Cam dialed Jake without waiting. She and Rob would be on a wild-goose chase looking for a boat with no location, but if the police were looking for it, that was another matter. She thought it might be found fairly easily. It certainly wasn’t the kind of weather somebody would be out sailing around in.

“You don’t think they have a friend or something they could just borrow a slot from?” Rob asked.

“Yes. But finding that would be a needle in a haystack.”

“Should we just wander the docks looking for the name?”

“Is this one the
Coraline
?” Cam asked.

“Yeah. Sully’s boat was smaller than that picture you had. And I’m pretty sure the article that included the
Coraline
said Virginia Beach,” Rob said.

“So we even know what it looks like. Sure. Let’s get a coffee or something and wander up and down. Maybe we’ll spot it.”

“Do you think this will be even more private than the Newport News dock?”

“The setup is different. This is a more touristy area. The specific docks might be gated, but the bigger docks won’t be.”

“You know about this boating life?” Rob asked.

“Not really. I mean just from visiting Baltimore, or coming here when I was a kid. We did that sometimes for festivals. We were usually down in the public area, though.”

Driving into the parking lot was a little encouraging. They couldn’t get onto the exact docks with most of the nicer boats, but they could walk by close enough to see all of them pretty well, and the private docks could be accessed, if necessary, by climbing a low fence and jumping down a level. It wasn’t what the resort encouraged, but it would be pretty easy if they saw a boat they thought was the
Coraline
. They wandered slowly, Rob using a zoom feature on his camera when necessary to see the name of a couple of boats that looked close to what they were looking for.

They didn’t see the
Coraline
in the marina they were in, but decided to check one just up the river. It was less fancy and more crowded, so Cam doubted it would have the boat they sought, but it was worth looking in case the police took too long. It was just getting to be dusk when Rob pointed something out.

“Far dock. Lights. That means people, right?”

Cam nodded and picked up her pace. She and Rob could walk pretty fast when they were motivated.

“What do you think?” he asked when they got closer. He handed her his camera so she could zoom.

“Looks a lot like the boat we’re looking for, even if we can’t see the name.”

“How far a drop do you think that is?” he asked.

“Five feet, maybe?”

“Thought so.” Without waiting for any other response, he’d climbed the fence and dropped below. “Come on. Quick.”

Cam wasn’t sure why she could walk into a gangster’s lair with Annie but trespassing on a boat dock with Rob made her so nervous, but she swallowed it and swung her leg over, then lowered herself until she reached Rob’s waiting arms. She was too high for him to really hold her and balance, but he helped her drop slowly and land lightly.

“Duck!” he said.

The two of them ducked behind a large boat and just sat for a while, then they worked their way around and ducked again so they were hidden from most of the shore by a behemoth of a boat.

“Okay, we get close enough to see the name. If it’s not it, we leave again like nothing happened. If it is, do you want to go on?”

“We have to. Annie’s dad might be there.”

“But whoever is holding him might be armed,” he said.

“That’s true. I guess we need to figure out a way to find out who’s on board.”

“You act like you’re in trouble—get on another boat, scream for help. I’ll go on.”

“So the big thug can come out and find out I’m not really in trouble?” Cam said.

“You’re right. Switch that.”

“I don’t want them coming after you either.”

“Can you think of another plan?”

“Not really.” They moved closer and confirmed it was indeed the
Coraline
.

With that, they looked for a suitable boat that Rob could pretend he was trying to man—to call for help from. It wasn’t hard. There was a boat two boats over tall enough that if he stood high, he could see onto the
Coraline
’s deck.

Rob made his way to the boat, looked to either side, and began to climb onto it while Cam made her way quietly down the dock, past the
Coraline
and near a boat moored to the last bit of dock at the end. She gave Rob a final thumbs-up before ducking behind the boat. Then Rob began to call for help.

“Anybody know anything about boats? Could somebody give me a hand? Hello? Anybody?” He repeated himself several times, shouting for assistance, and finally Cam saw a head pop up from the lower deck of the
Coraline
. She watched him climb the stairs; he had silver hair and looked familiar.

Cam stood, unable to help herself, and dashed out from her hiding spot.

“Senator Schulz?”

He turned, surprised. “Cam? What are you doing here?”

Cam saw Rob frown and climb down from the boat he’d been on.

“Are you safe?”

“Well, yes. I seem to be.”

“Annie is worried sick.”

“Mike didn’t call her? He said he would.”

“Mike?”

“Oh, it’s a long story. Funny, actually. Elle’s brother nabbed me to force us to talk through our problems, but I didn’t know what it was about. I escaped, but then was caught again and he explained. He said he’d call Annie and let her know I was safe.”

“He didn’t get to it, apparently. He’s dead,” Rob said.

Elle, who must have followed her husband up from below deck, screamed.

“Dead? No! What happened?”

“Somebody found him at his boat in Newport News and killed him. Neither Cam nor I saw, so we don’t know how.”

Senator Schulz turned to console his sobbing wife.

“Why don’t you two come on board and tell us what you know?” he asked.

Cam thought he could provide some answers himself, so she was happy to have a conversation as soon as Annie knew her dad was okay. She called her friend.

“Annie, your dad is here—he’s in Virginia Beach on Elle’s boat. They’re just talking here—they were supposed to work on their relationship, and Mike was supposed to call you to tell you he was okay.”

“But didn’t get the chance,” Annie finished.

“Exactly.”

“Let me talk to him.”

Cam handed her phone to Senator Schulz. She could hear Annie lecturing him from five feet away and she felt a little embarrassed, but she understood. If her dad had worried her like that and he’d actually been fine, she would have been angry, too. She caught, from what the senator said, that prior to Elle getting there, Mike hadn’t been comfortable calling Annie, as he wasn’t sure if Annie might send rescue right away, and if Elle wasn’t there yet, the whole plan would be undermined. Mike had promised him, though, that he would call and let people know. He just hadn’t gotten the chance. Cam doubted Annie liked that much, but at least it answered one of her own questions.

• • •

• • •

T
he cabin of the sailboat was nice and warm. A generator of some sort must have been running, and it felt quite cozy. A bottle of wine sat on the table with two glasses. Elle sank to the bench of the little table, but Cam forgave her the lack of hospitality. Learning her brother had been killed must have been shocking.

At the same time, Cam felt pretty sure Elle had masterminded this kidnapping thing, so she was fairly annoyed.

“Elle, how long ago did you plan this?”

“I didn’t . . . oh. You mean the kidnapping?”

“Yes.”

“It was Mikey’s idea. I just had to make Alden listen.”

Mikey
. That had to be the brother version, as opposed to the angry “Sully.”

“Alden had seen me behaving secretively. He was convinced I was having an affair. Really, I was just trying to help Mikey with some trouble he was having. Alden doesn’t . . . well . . . Mikey always got into a lot of trouble and Alden felt it was his own making. I was sneaking because I didn’t think Alden would approve of me helping my brother. But then he thought something far worse. I just had to get the chance to explain—have Mikey help me explain. So Mikey found out about the fund-raiser and put some of his associates into action. He was at the party and could communicate when Alden was off alone so they could get him. He had a couple of friends turn off the security cameras at the club, then Mikey called Alden. He told him I was home—that I needed to talk and I would be brief—and to meet him at the golf course. I knew it would take a lot more than that, of course, but Alden didn’t know I knew. So when he came out to the golf course to meet me, they grabbed him.”

“Why do something so extreme, though? And the cameras. You know those could have helped solve the murder.”

“Murder?” Senator Schulz asked. He apparently still hadn’t been given the whole story.

Elle patted him on the arm. “Len handled it, honey—they knew you were already gone so were not involved and that you were doing something important.” She turned back to Cam. “We hardly knew there was going to be a murder . . .”

“I’m curious about something,” Rob said. “Why is your maiden name different from your brothers’ last name?”

Elle actually gave a weak laugh. “My mother expressing her latent feminism, I suppose. She was done having children at two, and Daddy really wanted a daughter. She said she’d only have another if the baby could carry her name instead of his.”