Page 52 of Nightshade

“I married a woman who doesn’t like to sail… or do other things,” Colbrink said. “And that’s all I will say about that.”

Stilwell was willing to let it go for the moment. But he would come back to it.

“I understand,” he said. “What about your crew?”

“It’s basically a crew of one. My guy can bring others if needed.”

“Does he live near the marina?”

“No, he lives on the island—Two Harbors. He doesn’t stay on the boat. He comes over from the isthmus when I need him.”

“Who is that? If he’s in Two Harbors, I might know him.”

“Duncan Forbes.”

The name didn’t resonate with Stilwell.

“So he came with you to bring the boat back here after the weekend?”

“He did. Monday morning.”

“Did you have the boat cleaned after you brought it back?”

“Duncan did that, yes.”

“He do a good job?”

“I haven’t been back to see the boat, but, yes, he usually does. He’s been working for me for almost seven years. I don’t keep anyone that long if they’re not doing the job.”

“Then I think any sort of forensic evidence will be gone or compromised. So let’s just check the bag and anchor and go from there. I’ll get you back as quickly as possible.”

“Thank you.”

TheEmerald Seawas backed into a slip at the end of a pier closest to the rock-lined inlet that led to the bay. As he got his first up-close look, Stilwell could tell it was a wood-hulled antique.

“How old is it?” he asked.

“It’s a 1960 Mayflower I had shipped in pieces from Wisconsin and then restored,” Colbrink said. “Took almost four years from start to finish. It’s a duplicate of my father’s boat, which went down in a storm.”

There were boarding stairs on the dock. Colbrink climbed aboard first, and Stilwell followed. Colbrink opened the hatch in the helm and carefully descended a set of steep stairs into the dark interior of the boat.

“Let me get some lights going,” he said.

He disappeared from Stilwell’s sight, and a few seconds later, lights came on inside the cabin and then from the top of both masts, illuminating the entire deck of the vessel. Colbrink climbed back up out of the cabin.

“Everything you’re interested in is up on deck,” he said. “Let’s check the sails first.”

He moved to the bow of the boat, where he unlocked and slipped back a hatch that was on rails on the forward deck.

“We keep extra mainsails here, along with the jib and the chute.”

“The ‘shoot’?”

“Chute, like inparachute. The spinnaker is what it’s really called. It looks like a parachute when it fills up with air.”

“Got it.”

Stilwell stepped over and looked down into the storage compartment. There were two white drawstring bags along with one red and one black one. Colbrink pointed into the space.

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