Shooting at Loons (18 page)

“I hope you won’t mention this to anybody. I didn’t want to get hung up down here, maybe have to stay over an extra day to answer dumb questions, so I didn’t give my name when I reported it,” I lied.

“You’re lucky they didn’t take a shot at you. Would you know him if you saw him again?”

I shook my head. “I’m not even sure if it was a man or a woman.”

“What about Mahlon Davis or Mickey Mantle?”

“You know them?”

“Everybody knows them. They’ve never showed up in my courtroom yet. Probably just a matter of time. Although, to give the devil his due, they’re both brilliant woodworkers, even if they are morally retarded. Mickey Mantle did some cabinet work for us last fall. Long as we could keep him sober...”

“Yeah. It wasn’t Mahlon, though, because he was home in bed. But that reminds me. Before I leave this time, I need to speak to somebody in Social Services about his grandson Guthrie. I want to know if Mahlon treats him too rough.”

“That’d be Shelby Spivey. And she probably already has a file started on him if he lives with Mahlon.”

I made a note of the name and number, as Chet glanced at his watch and stood to go to his courtroom.

“What happened to
you
?” I said, noticing how he favored his right leg.

“Pulled a muscle when I jogged up for my paper this morning.” He grinned. “We’re the walking wounded, aren’t we, girl? I’ll be finished by mid-morning, so in case I don’t see you ‘fore you leave—” He gave me a warm hug. “Drive careful and come back real soon, you hear?”

“Thanks, Chet. Say ’bye to Barbara Jean for me. I hope it all works out about the fishery.”

Chet may have been finished by mid-morning, but I wasn’t far behind. When the last judgment had been rendered and the last paper signed, I stopped by the Clerk of Court’s office to thank her for her courtesies and to see if there were any last-minute details I’d missed before I left.

Darlene Leonard laughed as I entered. “Well, speak of the Devil and up she jumps!”

“Somebody been taking my name in vain?” I asked.

She said she’d just hung up from talking to the chief district court judge and he’d spoken to my chief, who said, and I quote: “We’ll bring Harrison Hobart out of retirement to handle Judge Knott’s schedule here next week, so, yes, you can keep her an extra week.”

Just like that. Not “Do you want to?” Not “Would you mind?”

“What’d you do to tick off F Roger Longmire?” asked the pragmatist, who usually kept track of where I stood with my district’s chief judge.

“It must have been that smartass remark you made about his brown shoes last week,” said the preacher. “One of these days you’re gonna learn—”

Before I could work up a good head of steam, Darlene Leonard said, “Judge Longmire sent word for you to get a good rest and enjoy the beach next week. He said you’ve earned it.”

So much for pragmatism and preaching.

With the folders Jay Hadley had given me still uppermost in my mind, I asked, “You knew Andy Bynum, didn’t you?”

“I knew who he was,” she answered, “but I can’t say I really knew him.”

“Someone said he’d been digging through some old deeds and such. Would you have helped him?”

“No, that would have been over at the Register of Deeds,” she said and gave me directions to the office.

There, a helpful young clerk remembered Andy clearly. “Sure, Mr. Bynum was in and out almost every day right up till about a week before he was killed. Wasn’t it just awful? He was such a nice man.”

She had no idea what he was after specifically, “But he started with a piece of property Mrs. Pope had acquired over on Harkers Island last month and pulled most everything he could find on Pope Properties, right back to when she handled the sale of the Ritchie House.”

“Which piece of Harkers Island property?” I asked.

She very nicely pulled out the right deed book on her first try. As I’d suspected, it was the land adjacent to Chet and Barbara Jean’s daughter, formerly owned by one Gilbert Epson. So Andy had known about the sale at least a week before Linville told Barbara Jean.

Interesting, but what was the significance?

“Mr. Bynum wanted photocopies of everything,” said the clerk. “Want me to make you a copy, too?”

I thanked her but declined the offer. No point duplicating what I already had. And it looked like I’d have a nice quiet weekend to finish reading the rest of the stack.

I commandeered an unoccupied phone and left a message on Aunt Zell’s machine as to why I wouldn’t be home that weekend. I’ve had my own set of rooms in Aunt Zell and Uncle Ash’s house since Mother died; and although I come and go freely, I do try to let her know my general plans. It tickles me that a childless, un-employed woman nearing seventy is so actively in her world that she needs an answering machine.

Next I called Social Services and got through to the Shelby Spivey Chet had mentioned. She sighed when I told her who I was and why I was calling.

“I know it probably seems bad to you, Judge Knott, but we
are
monitoring that situation. I did the initial field investigation on that child myself, and if it’ll make you feel any better, I do believe that his grandfather really loves him. Most of the time, he’s patient. He’s teaching him how to fish and build boats, the boy does attend school and all his physical needs are being met.”

She sighed again in my ear. “There doesn’t seem to be any systematic violence, but according to the neighbors, Mr. Davis does lose it about three or four times a year and then he hauls off and smacks whoever’s closest that can’t hit back. The trouble is, the child’s old enough now to testify, but he won’t. And neither will his grandmother, so our hands are pretty much tied. Unless you’d be willing to attest that you’ve witnessed incidents of abuse yourself?”

I had to admit that I hadn’t. All I had were suspicions.

We agreed that it was a hell of way to protect our young.

“They keep making the stretch size of net mesh bigger and bigger to save the little game fish,” she said unexpectedly. “Wish they’d take another look at the size of
our
mesh.”

I tell you, wife, it did me good
To sing that hymn once more;
I felt like some wrecked mariner
Who gets a glimpse of shore.
I almost want to lay aside
This weather-beaten form,
And anchor in the blessed port,
Forever from the storm.

—John H. Yates

As long as I was taking care of business with the deeds office and Social Services, I stopped by the Sheriff’s Department and asked for Detective Smith. I wanted to tell him about Andy Bynum’s files, but I wasn’t any luckier there. The clerk on duty said she reckoned he ought to be back by two, though she wasn’t real sure, which left me at loose ends.

When I drove in that morning, large ragged patches of blue had begun to show through. Now, as I retrieved my car from beneath the courthouse live oaks at a little before one, the gray clouds had all turned white and they sailed clean and fresh against pure cerulean.

Ignoring the promises I’d made to my wounded face at dawn, I gingerly smoothed another layer of makeup over the scratches, dug a pair of oversized Jackie O. sunglasses out of my glove compartment, and drove down to Front Street. Might as well take F. Roger Longmire’s relayed blessing and enjoy Beaufort. There was a whole complex of shops right on the water that I hadn’t visited this trip, so I parked there and went inside.

From the luscious aroma that met me at the entrance, I could tell that the Fudge Factory was still doing business, but I resisted. At least, I resisted till I’d finished browsing in the Rocking Chair Book Store, where I picked up Glenn Lawson’s book on how the Army Corps of Engineers cooperates with business and agri-industries to despoil our wetlands (I wanted to see some facts and figures on the broader environmental issues), an ecological field guide to seacoast biota, and—in case the weekend dragged—a paperback mystery. Then, savoring a tiny square of still-warm fudge, I strolled along the boardwalk. At one point, I thought I saw Chet Winberry out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked back, whoever it was must have stepped into one of the shops.

Oddly enough, I did see someone I recognized. Zeke Myers, the stocky man who’d been so furious with Linville Pope about the boat she sold him, was leaning with his back against the railing and a dour expression on his face.

Pennants snapped in the wind, the smell of fried fish mingled with salt water, and knots of vacationers lingered along the walk to compare boats. I wasn’t sure if I was glad or disappointed when I realized that the
Rainmaker
was no longer among the gleaming craft tied up there. Part of me was miffed that Lev hadn’t called again, hadn’t turned up in my courtroom to apologize, hadn’t tried to move the moon and stars to lure me to his bed again before he left—not that it would have done him any good, of course.

(
“Oh yeah?”
)

The other part... well, the other part was academic, I told myself, since by now the Rainmaker was probably somewhere on a canal in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp.

The parking lot was nearly full as I threaded my way around cars to stick the books in my trunk. A gentle tap of a horn made me look around.

“Hey, Deborah!” It was Linville Pope in a black convertible that I instantly coveted, sleek and sporty, with butterscotch leather interior. For me, I was probably looking at a whole year’s salary. For Linville, probably one commission on a sale.

She slowed to a crawl. “You are not by any miracle leaving, are you?”

“Sorry,” I said, slamming closed the trunk lid of my suddenly dowdy-looking car.

“Listen, if you are going to be around later, why not stop by my house for a quiet drink? Say five-ish?”

Without hesitating, I said, “Thanks, I’d love to.” I didn’t know what her ulterior motive was for asking, but I figured it might give me clues to whether Barbara Jean’s accusations had validity and whether Linville was the one I chased last night.

Cars had begun to pile up behind her, so Linville gave me a wave and kept moving.

The
Rainmaker’s
departure meant I no longer had to avoid the waterfront, and the deck at the Ritchie House looked so inviting with its pink umbrellas and white chairs and tables that I decided to have a late lunch there.

The main lunch crowd had departed, but half the tables were still filled with boat loungers who lingered over coffee or early drinks.

They are a class unto themselves, these rootless wanderers who have cut their ties to land and live year-round on the water, moving like schools of restless fish up and down the Intracoastal Waterway. Sit in any waterfront restaurant or lounge and you’ll see them drifting south in the fall, heading north in the spring. From huge sailing yachts to modest houseboats, they idle in on the changing tides, seldom straying further than a short stroll from the docks. The men in turtlenecks and gold-trimmed captain’s hats, the women suntanned and vivid in silk scarves and tailored slacks, like calls to like. They pull several tables together in saltwater camaraderie and speak of “the Vineyard,” Saint Croix, Hilton Head. Often they’re not quite sure whether they’re in North or South Carolina. The towns, the bars, the marinas must blend together over the years.

They remind me of migratory birds and I was bemused by their chatter and pleased when the waiter seated me near the railing where I could watch their coming and going. As I peered around the edge of the menu, I was startled to see Mrs. Docksider, Lev’s partner’s wife, heading across the deck toward me.

Did this mean that the
Rainmaker
was only out cruising around the sound?

“Judge Knott.” She was very thin and conveyed such porcelain fragility that I was surprised by her deep voice and strong Boston accent. “I’m Catherine Llewellyn, Lev Schuster’s partner.”

Automatically, I took the hand she offered. “Partner?” It wasn’t the first time I deserved a swift kick for making the same assumptions a lot of men do.

She looked puzzled. “Lev didn’t tell you one of his partners was traveling with him?”

“For some reason, I thought he meant your husband. Sorry. If it’s about my judgment Tuesday—?”

“No, no,” she assured me. “You had no other option under the circumstances, but my sister was so sure she could convince a judge that I couldn’t talk her out of agreeing to testify.”

Either I’ve got to start working on my poker face or she’s extraordinarily intuitive because even though I was wearing three layers of makeup and dark glasses, Catherine Llewellyn caught my skepticism.

“Claire only needs the puppet when there are strangers, Judge Knott.” She glanced at my table and saw that it was set for only one person. “You’re lunching alone?”

“Yes.”

“Would it be an awful imposition if I joined you?” Her husky voice was urgent.

Curious, I gestured toward the opposite chair. “Please do.”

When the waiter returned, I ordered black bean soup and half a club sandwich; Mrs. Llewellyn opted for the crab-stuffed tomato plate.

The breeze off Taylors Creek was warm and barely ballooned the pink canvas umbrella above us, but she drew a wisp of red silk from her pocket and tied it so her hair wouldn’t blow. As we waited to be served, she spoke of the charms of Beaufort, the beauty of the Carolina coast, the friendliness of the people, the four-star comforts of the Ritchie House and the pleasures of a rare vacation. Then she asked me to call her Catherine and kept tagging so many Judge Knotts onto every sentence that I finally surrendered just as our food arrived.

“Please. Call me Deborah.”

“Deborah.” She turned my name in her mind and smiled appreciatively. “How very apt. Did your parents expect you to be a judge from birth?”

“Hardly.” Not with a father who had only grudgingly agreed to help pay for law school and who had been quite negative about my decision to run for district judge.

She had been covertly studying me ever since we sat down, yet it was as if she didn’t see my cuts and scratches because she was looking even deeper. “Deborah, may we speak frankly?”