Page 15 of Bait and Switch
Another quarter of a mile and the ingress leading to Gordon MacDonald’s property appeared out of the mist. The driveway looked a bit sad and lonely in the gray drizzle, and a strand of yellow tape had blown all the way to the road, where it caught on some Oregon grape. Casey wondered if Calvin Perkins had beenfound yet. As far as Casey knew, he hadn’t been seen since before his brother Dwayne was discovered on Gordon’s land with a bullet hole in his head.
“No news about Perkins?” Greta asked, seeming to read Casey’s thoughts. She was often very good at knowing what he was thinking.
“Nope.” He grunted as the truck’s tires thudded in and out of another massive dip in the road. “Have you heard anything?”
“No time to tap into the rumor mill yet, we only got back Friday.” Greta stared out the passenger window. “The Snowcap Estates folks know this road is impossible, right? They’ll have to have a year-round work crew on call. Or convince the county to pave the whole thing.”
“Maybe that’s what’s taking them so long,” Casey said.
“Maybe.” But she didn’t sound convinced.
Slowing to a crawl, Casey muscled the truck around a hairpin turn that eventually connected to the service road they were aiming for. Then, with skill and a little bit of luck, they would find the work crew and Rowan somewhere along the next stretch of road.
“Where the hell is Perkins?” Greta said, returning to the subject of the missing brother. “I’d expect him to be rampaging around trying to get revenge for Dwayne. I cannot believe all this happened while Abby and I were on vacation.”
“Yeah. Definitely eventful while you were out of town. Do you think Calvin could’ve killed his own brother?”
“I mean, in a meth-fueled rage maybe? Together they were idiots, but they were inseparable. I think that most likely they finally fucked with the wrong person.”
That’s what Casey thought as well, but the question of Calvin Perkins’s whereabouts nagged at him. It had been well over a week now. Had he been killed as well? Injured? The Calvin Perkins Casey had known most of his life was not the kind ofperson to sit around and wait for justice to prevail—or wait to dole out his version of justice, at least.
“So.” Greta drew out the single word casually, in a way that had Casey’s mental antennae twitching wildly. “What’s the skinny on this new dockmate of yours? You’re not the only bachelor at the marina any longer.”
Casey groaned inwardly and clutched the truck’s steering wheel. He’d skimmed over the details of Gabriel Karne’s arrival, but somehow she’d homed in on exactly what he was trying to avoid. Or rather,who. And she’d waited until Casey was trapped behind the wheel of the truck before bringing him up. Diabolical.
“I doubt he’ll be a neighbor for long.” He hoped that sounded offhand and dismissive. “I don’t think he’s long-term liveaboard material.”
The truth was, for someone who didn’t check the standardhot-blooded-male-must-have-sexboxes, Casey had spent an awful lot of time thinking about Charming since his arrival on Heartstone. He’d given himself several sternly worded lectures, but his brain had ignored every one of them, instead bombarding Casey with out-of-the-ordinary thoughts and yes, also images. Charming Fucker was the very last person on earth Casey expected, or wanted, to pique his interest.
“Why wouldn’t he be? And don’t be shy, share all the details.”
Dammit, he’d either sounded too dismissive or not offhand enough when he’d mentioned Charming Fucker. Greta had always been the Sherlock Holmes of figuring out what Casey didn’t want to talk about, and he didn’t want to talk about Gabriel Karne. The man infuriated him, and that was that. He wasn’t at all intriguing with a sensitive side to him that Casey sensed he’d kept hidden most of his life. Nope. And now Casey was mad at himself for thinking like this at all, much less about Gabriel Karne.
“Well?” she prompted.
Casey had to bite his tongue to keep from responding withThat’s deep. Karne had used those exact words yesterday, and they still weren’t funny. Or charming. They were damn irritating.
“Let’s see.” Casey skipped past the part where he’d discovered Karne trespassing at the park and given him a ticket. “From what I know, his mother recently passed, and she left himThe Golden Ticket.”
“Huh. Because everyone needs a creaky old sailboat in their life.”
Casey repressed a snort. Karne andThe Golden Ticketdeserved each other.
“Do you think he was responsible for the body found at the marina yesterday? I doubt it since you haven’t said anything.”
Of course, Greta had already heard about Peter Vale. Casey was shocked she hadn’t called him yesterday to get the scoop. She’d probably intended to do it at the office today, but he’d bet being trapped in a vehicle was even better from her perspective.
“No. He says not, and I tend to believe him. But he did know the guy.”
Quickly, Casey filled Greta in on the discovery and their theory about how Vale had gotten there.
“That’s nuts! Who would break into the marina and leave a body? Was he killed there, do you think?”
“My security feed doesn’t show anyone coming or going, so whoever it was must have come by water while Karne was in Westfort. It’s possible he could have arrived alive, but I’d say from the condition of the body that the victim was already dead when he was dumped.”
“That forensics course you took to satisfy continuing ed credits is paying off.”
“Very funny. Are you Watson, then?” He shook his head in mock disgust. “But I would say there had to be two otherpeople involved. How else would a person carry a body, a literal deadweight, and lift it from one boat to another? Unless they were very strong.”
