Page 25 of Nightshade

“Allows me to see the arrivals of members and their guests,” Crane said.

Rather than sitting in front of Crane’s desk, Stilwell walked to the window and looked down. Behind the club, the pier extended into a wraparound deck with a hinged gangway connecting to a floating dock. There, members could tie up their skiffs when they arrived from their moored yachts. At the moment, a small sailboat and three other skiffs and workboats were tied to cleats on the floating dock. On the north side of the building, the dock was under an extended corrugated steel roof that allowed members covered access to the club’s side door, protection from rain or blistering sun.

“I bet you had a busy weekend here,” Stilwell said.

His eyes were scanning the harbor. He saw the lines of orange mooring balls. The harbor had largely emptied at the end of the weekend.

“Yes, we had a lot of members come out,” Crane said. “It was very busy.”

“So you have a full restaurant and bar in here, right?” Stilwell asked.

“Yes. We serve lunch every day and dinner Thursday to Sunday.”

“What about rooms? Can members stay here or do they have to stay on their boats?”

“We have four rooms available to members and guests on a first-come-first-serve basis. But as you can imagine, our members have substantial vessels, and most elect to stay on them.”

“Yes, I get that.”

Stilwell had a view of the spot where the body had been found thirty feet down.

“You had a clear view of the body recovery on Friday,” he said.

“I did,” Crane said. “Terrible. Have you found out what happened? I heard it was a girl.”

“A woman. They haven’t identified her. But it’s not my case. The theft of your statue is.”

“Well, it’s notmystatue. It’s the club’s.”

Stilwell stepped away from the window and took a seat in front of Crane’s desk.

“Tell me about Leigh-Anne,” he said. “Why’d you fire her?”

“I hate that word,” Crane said. “Fire, terminate—they sound so harsh. But I did let her go. She had become… a problem.”

“How so?”

“We have strict rules about socializing between the staff and the members. She knew the rules but elected to break them. Repeatedly.”

“Repeatedly in what way?”

“She was overly flirtatious with several members and that was brought to my attention. I warned her once about it and then felt the need to act when I continued to get reports of this behavior.”

“What does ‘overly flirtatious’ behavior mean?”

“To use an archaic phrase, she was a gold digger, Sergeant. She attempted several times to lure members to meet her outsidethe club. She was clearly looking for someone to marry or possibly extort.”

“That’s a pretty strong accusation. Did any of these meetings ever happen?”

“I don’t know. I just know the invitations were made and we acted to protect our members.”

“You said her flirtatiousness was brought to your attention. By who?”

“Well, my bar manager, for one, and I have to say, some members complained as well.”

“Who were the members?”

“I’m afraid that’s confidential, Sergeant. And I fail to see how it’s germane to the question of whether Ms. Moss took the jade marlin.”

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