Page 75 of Death at the Deep Dive

“Bingo.” Jack smiled into Ellery’s eyes, and Ellery smiled back.

It was Tuesday evening, and he had just arrived at Jack’s for dinner. Jack was filling him in on everything that had happened since Monday night’s arrest of James Franklin. Ellery and Jack had barely spoken since James was put into the back of a PICO PD cruiser.

“You okay?” Jack had demanded.

Ellery nodded. It turned out relief left you feeling just as sick and shaky as fear. “I’m okay.”

Jack knew Ellery was okay—and that he was the reason Ellery was okay.

“How did you know I might be in trouble?”

“You’realwaysin trouble.” But he sounded rueful not angry. He kissed Ellery once, lingeringly, rested his hand against the side of Ellery’s face.

“What am I going to do with you?” he’d murmured.

And that was that. Ellery had driven home to Captain’s Seat and spent the rest of the night, Watson curled comfortingly against his back, trying to reassure himself that hadn’t been as close a call as it felt.

Tuesday morning Jack had phoned and asked Ellery to dinner, and here Ellery was.

“So James hasn’t confessed to anything?”

“Not a thing so far. Not even the attempted abduction of you. He said he repeatedly told you it was too warm and he wasn’t feeling very well. He says he just wanted to step outside and chat for a few minutes in the fresh air.”

“At gunpoint?”

“That’s his story, and he’s sticking to it.”

“Does he have any explanation for what happened to Vernon?”

“According to James, his father killed Vernon and buried him in the firepit a few yards behind the old Deep Dive.”

Ellery shuddered. “What was Douglas’s motive supposed to be?”

“Irrational jealousy over Josephine’s friendship.”

“Then why was Tackle trying to blackmail James?”

Jack said dryly, “Because Tackle knew how distressful it would be for Josephine to discover her husband had killed Vernon over their perfectly innocent friendship.”

“He admits Tackle tried to blackmail him, but denies killing him.”

“Yep. He says he was more than happy to pay the money to keep Josephine in blissful ignorance. He insists he had nothing to do with Tackle’s death.”

“What a load of…hogwash.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Well, did he say how Tackle found out that someone in the Franklin family murdered Vernon?”

“Process of elimination. Rocky always knew it had to be one of the Franklins because Vernon had told him he was going to marry Eudora. Which removed any motive on Eudora’s part. Rocky knewhehadn’t killed Vernon, and he knew Barry and Tony hadn’t killed Vernon because of the three of them were together drinking all evening. Tackle might not have realized James was the actual killer. He wouldn’t have cared either, so long as someone came up with the money he needed so desperately.”

Ellery nodded thoughtfully. “Do you think Josephine had any inkling?”

Jack said neutrally, “Supposedly, Josephine had a month-long breakdown after Vernon went missing. I don’t know about you, but that sounds to me like she had some insight into what happened that night.”

“It really is pretty tragic all the way around.”

“I know.” Jack’s gaze was grave. “And if you’re going to continue digging into other people’s tragedies, you’re going to have to learn to disengage. You can’t take everything to heart.”

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