Page 43 of Swan Song

15. Thursday, August 22, 9:15 P.M.

A welcome breeze has cleared some of the smoke from the air; Stu Vick and his team are investigating the fire site. Zara strides over to where the Chief is standing with his daughter, Kacy, and Lamont Oakley.

She offers a hand to Kacy. “I’m Chief Washington,” she says, hitting the word Chief hard for Ed’s benefit. “I’m sorry about your friend. We’re going to find her. Right now we need to ask Lamont some questions.”

“Yeah, of course, okay,” Kacy says. She sinks down onto the low granite wall that encircles the garden. “I’m going to keep calling her.”

Ed takes an intentional breath. Kacy no doubt realizes now that Coco missing is a thing, it is real, they are not watching a movie, this is happening. He once attended a seminar about missing persons and learned that, in some ways, it’s more challenging for people to grapple with loved ones’ disappearances than their deaths. Missing causes one to feel equal parts despondent and hopeful. It nags: What happened? Where is she? The mind craves an answer. Missing is a special hell—and missing at sea feels worse than just missing.

Ed squeezes his daughter’s shoulder. “We’ll just be a minute,” he tells her.

Zara and Ed settle with Lamont on a wooden bench in the middle of a circle of hydrangea bushes, which affords them all a bit of privacy. “Walk us through the evening,” Ed says. “How did Coco seem?”

“Normal?” Lamont says. “She was working, she wore her uniform, she served the welcome cocktails, she served the hors d’oeuvres. I didn’t really pay attention; I was sailing the boat. I normally have two crew members, Javier and Esteban, but it was their abuela’s birthday so they weren’t working. I had no problem handling the boat alone but I needed to give it my full attention.”

“When was the last time you remember seeing Coco?” Zara asks.

“She passed around the champagne right after Leslee and Bull did their vow renewal.”

“Did you know about the vow renewal?”

“I did,” Lamont says. “But it was a surprise for the guests.”

“Coco knew about it?”

“Yes,” Lamont says.

“Can you run through the timeline from there?” Zara asks.

“Bull and Leslee renewed their vows just as the sun was setting,” Lamont says. “Leslee was very particular about the angle of the sun and how they’d look in pictures. They did the vows themselves, without an officiant—they just read some stuff that they’d asked Coco to pull off the internet.”

“Romantic,” Zara says.

“Was Coco present during the renewal of the vows?” the Chief asks.

“Yes.” Lamont pauses. “She was standing next to me in the cockpit.”

“So after the Richardsons renewed their vows…”

“Coco passed around glasses of champagne, we all toasted Bull and Leslee, then Coco collected the glasses.”

“Was Coco drinking at all?”

“No, she never drinks on the job. She never eats either. She’s always conscientious about that.”

No alcohol is good news, Ed thinks. If she didn’t eat or drink then she probably wasn’t drugged either intentionally or accidentally. But they can’t rule it out.

“And then what happened?”

“I turned the boat around and we headed back.”

“When did you hear about the fire?”

Lamont’s eyes, Zara notices, are red from the smoke or from emotion. “Are they out there looking for her now? Is the Coast Guard looking for her right this second?”

“Yes,” Ed says. “Lucy has two boats out and she’s asking for a helicopter from Woods Hole.” He pauses. “They’ll find her.”

Zara doubles down. “Lamont, this is very important. We need to know where Coco was when news of the fire broke. We need to know who the last person to see her was.” Zara pauses and softens her tone. “Was it you?”

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