Page 15 of Death at the Deep Dive

For a moment, Ellery thought the Millennium Bug was a virus contracted by Ginny, but then he recalled it had to do with everyone fearing the entire computer systems of the world would go haywire when the clocks clicked 00 on January 1.

“Is Rocky still with us?”

“Yes. Rocky lives just a few houses down from Vera. Unfortunately, there are owls in the attic.”

“Huh?”

“Rocky’s…” She tapped her temple with her index finger.

“Forgetful?”

“Let’s say, interviewing him might prove an exercise in frustration.”

“Interviewingeveryoneproves an exercise in frustration,” Ellery informed her. “Everybody lies. Everybody withholds information. Everyone gets times and dates wrong.”

“Witness testimony is extremely unreliable. It’s up to the detective to sort the wheat from the chaff.”

Ellery restrained himself. “Did Rocky and Ginny have any kids?”

“Oh yes. One.” Nora’s eyes gleamed. “Tackle Shandy.”

Ellery straightened, staring at her. “The same Tackle Shandy who broke in here searching for that collection bag? And broke into Captain’s Seat and ransacked the place?”

“Another point to consider. Rocky now lives with Tackle and his wife, June.” Nora looked thoughtful. “I wonder why Vera doesn’t consider Rocky a suspect?”

Kingston interjected, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but we don’t actually have proof it was Tackle who got in through the attic, do we?”

Nora waved this off. “We know it was Tackle.”

“It was Tackle,” Ellery agreed. “I mean, we can’t prove it in a court of law, but I know it was Tackle. He practically admitted it to me back when he was working for Odette Wallace. Did Rocky and Ginny have any other kids?”

“No,” Nora said.

“So we can add Tackle to our list.”

Kingston cleared his throat. Ellery glanced at him. “No. You’re right. Tackle is too young to have had anything to do with Vernon’s disappearance. And we have no idea of how many people knew what was in that collection bag. We don’t even know for sure the collection bag belonged to Vernon.”

“Come now,” Nora said. “Did Vera say the collection bag belonged to Vernon?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then the bag belonged to Vernon.”

“Are you saying Vera wouldn’t lie?”

“No,” Nora conceded. “Vera would lie her head off if it suited her purposes.”

“According to Vera, the bag originally belonged to Virgil Shandy. Which means Kingston’s right. There’s a possibility another member of the Shandy family was using the bag.”

“Virgil Shandy was Vera and Vernon’s father. He died in, I believe, 1957. I think we can assume that bag belonged to Vernon. Or,possibly, Vera.”

Ellery said, “Vera stays on my list of suspects.”

“Although…if Vera’s our culprit, it seems unlikely she’d initiate an investigation into a crime she committed.” Kingston’s tone was regretful.

“Maybe it’s as you suggested. Now that the doubloons have come to light, she knows an investigation into Vernon’s disappearance is inevitable.”

Was it inevitable, though? Jack hadn’t seemed overly interested in the possibility that Vernon Shandy had met with foul play. Granted, Jack had enough real-time crimes and misdoings to keep him busy.

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