Death of a Hot Chick (13 page)

That was a long speech to take the
place of, “Okay.” I left the cops standing on the dock and went
inside
Snapdragon
. When I’d
avoided them long enough, I went back outside.

I held the copy up so they could see it.
“This is it. Notarized and everything.”

Doug, having allowed his co-cop to be the
bad one, had taken her place. He said, “We’ll take this, but we
will also need the original.”

Was that any way to treat an old neighbor?
“I don't think so. However, since I have several copies, you may
have one.”

“
Are you denying my request for the
original?”

“
Doug, don’t get so official. Just
because you ask for something, which happens to be in a
safe-deposit box anyway, doesn’t mean I have to give it to you. Let
me know when you have something that officially says the police may
take my property.”

“
Legally, she’s right, Yarnell,” the
female cop said. Judging from her upraised eyebrow, I was pretty
sure Doug hadn’t told her we went way back.

“
Was there anything else?” I asked
sweetly with the most insincere smile I could muster.

“
Yes,” Doug said, holding out his
hand. “The copy.”

“
And I’ll have a receipt,
please.”

Behind him, the female cop nodded with a
smile. She was catching on. I hoped she gave Doug hell later. In
the meantime, she whipped out a pad of paper and a pen, scribbled
something, and handed it to Doug who exchanged it for my copy.

I glanced at the paper. All nicely worded, a
receipt for one title copy, signed by Patrolman Ramirez. Hispanic,
then. And, shouldn’t she be patrol woman, or patrol person?

“
May we come aboard to ask a few
questions?” Doug said.

So, they weren’t through. I shrugged. “Sure.
Why not?”

Once inside, we sat opposite each other, me
on one side of the cabin and the cops on the other.

Yarnell glanced at the title, then looked
again. “This title doesn’t exactly give you the boat. You’re a
co-owner.”

“
My lawyer is handling that
aspect.”

“
Lawyered up, huh?” he said with a
chuckle. “Why did Nicole Joline make you a co-owner?”

“
Because she couldn’t pay me for the
supplies I’d purchased to do the work she wanted done. She said, if
she didn’t sell the boat in two months, I would own it. But she
chose to do it this way. Don’t know why. I wasn’t asking for the
boat, just my money. The way I see it, she won’t be able to
sell
Snapdragon
, since she’s
dead.”

“
That’s still your story?” Doug
asked.

“
Which happens to be true, no matter
how rich Nicole was. Hey, don’t you ever run short when there’s no
ATM handy?”

Doug Yarnell ignored me, just like he did
when he was the oldest kid in the neighborhood and I was the
obnoxious, know-it-all brat.

The whole thing was inevitable. I shrugged,
sat back, and said, “Okay. What do you want to know?”

Instead of speaking, he nodded at Ramirez.
She said, “Great boat. I’d love to see it all. Do you mind?”

“
You mean, like search it?” I asked,
feeling vaguely like I was usurping my teenage niece’s vocabulary.
“Don’t you need a search warrant for that?”

“
Oh, nothing like that. I’ve seen
boats around and I always wondered where a person sleeps, eats,
cooks, ah....”

“
Goes to the bathroom and takes a
shower?”

Ramirez’s tan face had turned, not red,
exactly. Perhaps bronze. She nodded.

“
Okay.” Patting the settee cushion
beside me, I said, “Right here is where I sleep. This pulls out
into a single bed. So does the one you’re sitting on. You see the
galley area with sink, stove, refrigerator—which is that door under
the counter. Through the door is the V-berth in the bow. That’s
where the main sleeping quarters are, but the previous owners used
the area to pile junk, which is mostly still there. The head is
partitioned off from that. Fully supplied. Care to
look?”

“
I’d love to,” she said, charging
through the open doorway. I followed her to make sure she didn’t
open any drawers or lockers without a search warrant. From there, I
kept an eye on Doug too. Not that they’d find anything, but one had
to keep ahead of one’s rights.

“
Anchor locker is that little door in
the bow. Engine room is below the sole, floor to you, in the
cabin.”

“
There’s a room below the floor?” she
asked, in shocked amazement.

“
Not really a room, just an opening
that’s usually covered by a floor panel.”

Ramirez pointed to a door. “This?”

“
Hanging locker. Closet.”

With a brief glance at the mess covering the
V-berth she said, “From previous owners, you say.”

“
Must be. Not mine. But I’m working on
it.”

“
Delightfully cozy,” she proclaimed.
“You must spend a lot of time on the boat. Is it your only
home?”

“
Yes.” And, was that what the visit
was all about, to establish that fact?

“
Must be similar to living in a
trailer home. Not like the stationary ones that are permanent
homes, but the kind one vacations in. And, of course, you could do
that as well. I find that interesting.”

“
It’s not all that unusual,” I said,
wondering just what the woman was getting at. “Two or three others
live on their boats in this marina. They happen to be almost as
permanent as a trailer on a concrete block.”

“
I find that interesting as well.
Which category do you fit into? I mean, usually.”

Ramirez definitely had an agenda. “Well,
that’s the tour,” I said. “I imagine Doug is getting tired of
cooling his heels.” I’d lost sight of him. Perhaps he wasn’t
cooling his heels. And, he wasn’t.

Yarnell stood at an open cupboard. I tapped
his shoulder. He turned and said, “Looking for a glass. May I have
a drink of water?”

“
Sure. Help yourself.” I didn’t offer
him the water from my Brita pitcher. One thing I liked was good
tasting water.

Perhaps he did too. “You through with your
tour, Ramirez?” he asked. When she nodded, he turned back to me and
said, “I won't bother with any water right now.”

“
Thanks so much for showing me your
boat,” Ramirez said as they left. “So cozy.”

“
So cozy,”
and
what else? I could not, for the life of me, figure out what they
wanted to find. He hadn’t asked any questions. Had they actually
accomplished what they intended?

As soon as the patrol car pulled away from
the marina, I grabbed my remaining title copies and my billfold. I
locked the door on my way out. I didn’t call Kaye. I had to stop
depending on my sister to bail me out. This was something I had to
do myself. The Courthouse had to be open.

Chapter 10

Fifteen dollars for a temporary water
craft registration wasn’t too bad. The killer would be state taxes
on the entire value of the boat. I definitely had to sell
Snapdragon
before my thirty days of
ownership were up.

I’d nearly reached my dock when I heard
Lizzie screech, “She ain’t here. You can’t do that.” I broke into a
run. Besides Lizzie, Wes and two other men were on my boat.

“
Hey, what’s going on here?” I
yelled.

“
They got the paper,” Wes yelled
back.

“
The paper?” They also had the new
dinghy up on the finger pier with the air hissing out. “Who are you
and what are you doing on my boat?”

One of the two men turned to me with a bored
expression. “Like he said, I’ve got the paper. The check bounced
for this Avon, so we’re taking it back, since the lady who bought
it is dead and she’s not about to make her check good.”

“
You gonna let him do that?” Lizzie
demanded.

“
I.... You can’t take....”
But...Nicole paid with a bad check?

“
Then pay me $3,042.98,” the guy said
and dropped his end of the dinghy.

I didn’t have three hundred dollars, much
less three thousand. “Take it.” I scowled at Lizzie, at Wes, at the
two men and charged over to my door. I fumbled with the combination
and finally got it right. I went inside and slammed the door,
which, unfortunately, bounced back instead of making a truly
satisfying bang.

“
Truly sorry about
that.”

Just exactly what I didn’t need. “Nicole?
Where are you?” I didn’t see her. I didn’t want to see her. Did she
know her check wouldn’t clear when she wrote it? “Go away,” I
muttered.

“
You haven’t found my
killer yet, but despite the loss of one small dinghy, you do still
have this boat.”

Why couldn’t I see her? Was she really here,
or just in my head? Now she was blackmailing me, pure and
simple.

“
One can’t transfer funds
unless you are among the living. Remember, I’m depending on
you.”

“
Nicole, if you can read my thoughts,
why can’t you tell me....” But she was gone. How did I know that? I
had absolutely no idea. But I did know that some days were the
absolute pits.

I ignored the men outside taking the
dinghy. I ignored the silence that followed when they left. I
ignored the possibility that Lizzie might want to talk. I sat and
scowled, trying to calm down. I had to get
Snapdragon
ready to sell. Why was I so
upset?

And why was someone banging on my door?

“
Hey, anybody home?”

I looked through the window, then
reluctantly, opened my door. The man standing on the finger pier
beside my boat was one I’d never seen before. Except for his age,
and his height, he fit Lizzie’s description. Taller and a bit
older, but he had the brown hair and worn out jeans. And, like Wes
said, that description fit half of the men in Smith Harbor.

I didn’t feel friendly. “You’re a tourist
admiring the scenery?”

“
Looks like you could use some help
here,” he said. “I notice you’ve got buckets and stuff around. I’m
a carpenter by trade and if you need any inside repairs or
alterations, I’m your man. Reasonable prices, satisfaction
guaranteed.”

“
You don’t want to be here,” I
muttered. Okay, so it wasn’t his fault he’d happened into my worst
day. “Sorry. I’m still in the clearing-up phase,” I added. “I won’t
be ready for any carpentry for a long time.”

“
Miss, guess I’ll have to call you
Miss since you didn’t give me your name. I swear, it’s probably as
lovely as you are. I can just see you’re eager to get out on the
bay. Can’t be waiting around in dry dock, so to speak. Summer will
be over before you know it.”

I shook my head and stepped back.

“
Chester Foltz, at your service,” he
said, glancing both fore and aft. “You won’t find a better deal. My
prices are reasonable. Or, maybe someone else owns this excellent
boat?” His eyes flickered from over my head down to water
level.

He definitely had those shifty eyes Lizzie
mentioned. “Chester Foltz?” He’d made a big mistake, giving me his
name. “So, you’re around here a lot? Fixing boats?”

“
I sure am,” Chester said. “Maybe I
could come in. Look around and give you a price. You know, if you
change your mind.”

“
No,” I said with a lot more force
than I’d intended. The guy was spooky. “So, how come you didn’t
fix
Snapdragon
when you owned
the boat?” I asked.

He blinked a couple of times. Started
to turn away, but didn’t. “You know
,
that was a while ago. That other woman, that
Nicky or whatever. She did it. Damn boat was fine when she got it.
Can’t blame me.”

“
Yeah, those few days must have been a
bear. Gelcoat wax dried out, stainless steel turned to rust. Forget
it, mister.” I turned. He grabbed my shoulder. I pulled away. “Just
leave.”

He moved his hand and stepped back, and
tried a different tactic. “You don’t understand. That bitch, she
knew she couldn’t take my boat. And you don’t have any right to it.
I’m trying to be nice here. Just let me inside and look
around.’

I stepped back and reached for my door.
“No.”

“
Lady, I’ll get the police back. You
already got trouble with them, and when I tell them what I know,
they’ll yank you outa here so fast it’ll make your god-damn head
spin.”

“
Nice try. This boat is officially
registered in my name. The police have seen the title. And if
anyone vandalizes the boat again, the cops will know who to come
looking for.” I stepped inside, closed and locked the door. And
leaned against it, breathing hard. When I finally looked outside,
Chester Foltz was gone. When would he come back?

He had to be the ragged, shifty-eyed guy
Lizzie saw twice. She must have been a bit off on the age and
height.

~
~

I plopped my study guide on the table, tore
open a Nutri-Grain cereal bar, and reached for a pencil. I ate and
checked off pointers. Not much that I didn’t remember from years
ago. Rules of the road covered the first session. I scanned the
next five lessons. Turned the page and read the chapter for
tonight. My morning had ruined any chance of a job at Bayside. I’d
spent the afternoon waxing and cleaning. At least I could prepare
for my captain’s class.