Page 11 of Nightshade

“Copy that.”

Corum disconnected without another word. Stilwell wished he had not brought up his grievances with Ahearn and Sampedro. He put the thought aside and stepped out of his office. Mercy Chapa was now at her desk in the substation. She was in her early fifties,with gray hair she didn’t bother dyeing. It fit with her role as the unofficial mother hen of the substation. She handled all duties not related to direct law enforcement.

“Mercy, can you get Lampley up on the radio and tell him to meet me at the skiff dock?”

“Sure. I think he just drove Kermit up to the golf course.”

“Well, tell him to get over to the dock. I’ll meet him there.”

“Right away, Sergeant.”

Stilwell pulled a fresh radio out of the charger station on the wall next to Mercy’s desk.

“Have there been any missing person reports that I wasn’t told about?” he asked. “Any at all?”

“No,” Mercy said. “You get all the reports.”

“Right. Do you happen to know of anybody in town who has long dark hair with a purple streak? You know, like a purple dye?”

“Um, no. Is there really a body out there in the water?”

“There is. But I don’t want you talking to anybody about it.”

“I don’t tell anybody about work. Is it a girl?”

“A female, yes, I’m pretty sure. You haven’t heard about anybody not showing up for work or school or anything like that? Maybe somebody who supposedly went to overtown but didn’t come back on schedule?”

Mercy was third generation on the island and Stilwell had learned early in his assignment to the Catalina sub that she had vast connections in the community.

“No, nothing.”

“Okay. Well, let me know if you hear anything.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll be out at the harbor waiting for the homicide team.”

5

THE RECOVERY TEAMhad come by boat and brought a coroner’s investigator with them. The divers were in the water by the time the sheriff’s helicopter flew in from the mainland, circled the harbor, and put down next to the Casino. Stilwell sent Lampley to pick up Ahearn and Sampedro, electing to spend as little time with them as possible.

It was late in the day and the harbor was now almost at capacity with vessels of various sizes moored side by side along three lines of buoys. Tash Dano had managed to keep the fourth line of balls open. She had called Stilwell and told him she was keeping the final boats with reservations out in the bay until he gave the all-clear. He told her that the investigation would move on from the harbor by dusk.

Stilwell was surprised to see only Ahearn walking down the pier with Lampley to the skiff dock gangway. Sampedro had apparently stayed behind on the mainland. Ahearn turned and started plodding down the gangway. He was in a suit and tie and therefore drew the attention of many of the tourists on the pier.

The tide was running out of the harbor now and the water level had dropped four feet since that morning. The gangway andskiff dock floated freely with the tide, and the four-foot drop put the gangway at a sharp downward angle. Ahearn was a large white man with wide shoulders and a thick neck supporting a round head. He picked up dangerous momentum as he came down. Stilwell stepped back, not wanting to get in the way.

The gangway had ribbed rubber matting to guard against slippage, but the deck of the skiff dock had recently been replaced with fiberboard and was slick with moisture from the lapping of harbor waters. The moment Ahearn’s hard-soled dress shoes hit the deck, he went into a full skid. His feet shot out from under him, his arms pinwheeled, and he landed on his back. His silky suit greased his slide across the six feet of remaining deck, and he went into the water between two Zodiac inflatables.

“Shit!” Lampley yelled as he came down the gangway behind him.

Stilwell moved quickly to the edge of the deck, ready to rescue Ahearn, but he popped up between the two boats, immediately reacting to the cold Pacific water.

“Motherfuck!”

Stilwell leaned down and offered his hand and Lampley did the same, but Ahearn was too angry and embarrassed to accept help. He slapped their hands away.

“Get the fuck away!”

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