Page 71 of Pirates in Calusa Cove

“What did Fenton have to say?” Keaton stretched out his leg. The stitches already itched.

“That’s an interesting story all by itself.” Dawson rolled the stool the doctor had been using and planted his butt on it. “At first, Fenton denied having anything to do with Mallary. But once he learned Trinity was missing, he owned up to having a little side action with one of her best friends. But he said it didn’t last long.”

“What a slime,” Fletcher said.

“Does he have an alibi for the last few hours?” Keaton asked. “Did you search his house? Did you?—”

“He has an alibi that checks out, and I had no reason to search anything,” Dawson interrupted Keaton. “Fenton doesn’t deny that he’s been in an on-and-off-again relationship with Mallary. He admitted that, for a time, he probably cared about Mallary.”

“I really don’t want to listen to this,” Keaton mumbled.

“It’s important.” Dawson raked his fingers through his hair. “According to Fenton, Mallary had been chasing him for months, and he ignored her advances. But after a fight with Trinity, he ended up in her arms. He said it only happened a couple of times while he was seeing Trinity, and he constantly told Mallary he didn’t want to be with her, but she was relentless and didn’t mind being the other woman.” Dawson ran a hand over his mouth. “Fenton caved a few times and admitted to spending time with Mallary after he and Trinity broke up.”

“I’d have those handcuffs close by next time I’m near that jerk.” Keaton hated men like Fenton, and he’d have no problem punching him in the nose, unprovoked.

“A few things don’t add up to what Fenton told me.” Dawson raised his hand. “I asked the same questions more than once, only I reworded them, and his story changed. He mixed up the timeline regarding his relationship with Mallary. I think he has seen her more than he’s willing to admit.” Dawson glanced at the watch on his wrist. “I also find it quite strange that hewasn’t actually at his home on Marco Island, which I’m shocked that you two didn’t think that it would have been impossible for me to make it back and forth in such a short period of time.”

“Where was he?” Keaton asked.

“A small sleezy hotel about twenty minutes from here,” Dawson said. “He told me it was late last night, and he didn’t want to drive all the way home. Bradley, who’s off today, volunteered to follow him. As of ten minutes ago, he was headed north, toward Marco Island.”

“What is it that you and that cop brain of yours is thinking?” Keaton asked.

Dawson rubbed the back of his neck. “On my way from speaking with Fenton and coming here, I called Ralph’s parents.”

“Why?” Fletcher asked.

“Keaton mentioned that right before he got clocked, Trinity’s kidnappers said, ‘Get the jewels and get the girl.’ We’ve always known they were after the jewels, and I get why they’d take Trinity if they didn’t have the jewels. But I don’t get why they’d want to take both. They don’t need Trinity if they have the jewels.”

Keaton shifted restlessly. Sometimes, when Dawson got in cop mode, he rambled. “But they don’t have them, so Trinity becomes leverage. They can use her to force Monty to pay a ransom,” Keaton said, frustrated.

“You’re missing my point.” Dawson raised his finger. “It’s the words they used. Get both. And not to beat a dead horse, but they don’t need both.”

“Unless they’re getting greedy.” Fletcher arched a brow.

“It’s possible, but my mind has been traveling down this dark, dangerous path for the last twenty minutes. It tells me that Trinity has been a pawn in a deadly game for a while now, and Ralph’s parents might have clinched it for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“None of us knew Mallary very well. She didn’t hang out with us, even when Trinity invited her, so whatever information we got was spoon-fed to us via Trinity.” Dawson held up his hand. “Mallary told Trinity that Ralph was a bad influence on her brother and that Ralph and his friends picked on Jared for years. She said she didn’t understand why Jared was hanging out with Ralph. She also told Trinity all about the marina babe, Valerie. When all this went down last year, I spoke with Ralph’s parents, and they were angry. They didn’t like what people were saying, and they were defensive. They’ve softened a bit, but they are adamant that Jared stole those jewels. That he’d been asking Ralph all sorts of questions about them, like where his parents kept them, and he even asked Ralph to show them to him.”

“Wait. That’s new information,” Fletcher said.

Dawson nodded. “And Valerie—well, it turns out, according to Ralph’s parents—that Mallary paid her to be nice to Jared.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Keaton shook his head.

“I’ve yet to verify that, but I can think of only two reasons Mallary would do that. The first one is being anice older sister who wants her little brother to have friends, but is totally misguided in judgment. The second one is that she was trying to set up a narrative.”

“You’re giving me a headache.” Keaton rubbed his temples. “What kind of narrative are we talking about because all she did was make her brother look guilty.”

“Let’s look at that night logically,” Dawson said. “Whoever else was out there never expected Trinity to be a witness to Jared’s boat sinking. They might not have even known it was Trinity until the next day.”

“That makes sense, especially if Mallary had something to do with it,” Keaton said. “But that means you believe Mallary isn’t missing and that she had something to do with what happened the night Trinity got shot.”

“It’s a working theory.” Dawson rubbed the back of his neck. “A weak one at best. But something stinks when it comes to her and Fenton. I’m not exactly sure what it is. I don’t have all the puzzle pieces, and the ones I do have don’t line up. I called Chloe. She’s about a half hour away.”

“Well, I can’t sit on my ass and do nothing while someone has Trinity doing God only knows what to her.” Keaton shivered.

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