Page 4 of Bait and Switch
“Have you called the sheriff already?” asked Elton.
“No, of course he hasn’t called the Sheriff’s Office.” Lundin scoffed. “I bet if I hadn’t shown up when I did, Karne would have dumped the body into the bay.”
Gabe did not look at Lundin. He refused to allow himself to glance the ranger’s way. He hadn’ttrulyconsidered getting rid of the body. He knew as well as Lundin or Elton that if Gabe had dropped the body into the bay, the tide would probably just have brought Peter back in eight or so hours. Especially with his luck. And even though they hadn’t been friends by the end, Peter did not deserve that.
“Well, one of us is going to have to call them.” Elton crossed his arms and raised his bushy eyebrows.
Instinctively, Gabe stuck his hands in his coat pockets, but he didn’t find the cold plastic of his cellphone. “My phone is in the galley. And I don’t know the nonemergency number.” He glanced over to where what had been Peter lay. “This doesn’t seem like an emergency to me. Does it to you two?”
With a shake of his head and an expression that clearly projectedDo I have to do everything around here?, Lundin dug his phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen.
While the call connected, Elton moved to the edge of the dock to peer at the deck and Peter’s body. “Huh.” He shook his head. “Weird.”
“What?” Before Elton could answer, they heard the burr of the connection on Lundin’s line and then the tinny sound of someone saying, “Althea Mortine, Twana County Sheriff’s Office, how may I direct your call?”
“Althea, Casey Lundin here. We have a situation at the marina.” He glared at Gabe, as if it were his fault a dead body had appeared on theShangri-La.
It probably was. He hated to think so, but he was the only person on Heartstone with a connection to Peter. Peter had even stopped by to see him at the marina. But Gabe had been elsewhere, learning new facts about himself that he’d been avoiding thinking about over the past week. He’d spent so much time not thinking about his life, it was a shock he hadn’t declared himself brain-dead.
“There’s a dead person on one of the boats down here,” Lundin said.
The announcement was followed by indistinguishable chatter.
“One second.” Lundin put his hand over the mic and eyed Gabriel. “Do we know the victim’s name?”
“Peter Vale,” Gabe provided, albeit reluctantly.
It wasn’t as if TCSO investigators wouldn’t be able to figure out his name on their own. All they had to do was check Peter’s ID. Assuming he had any on him and it was the right one. Distantly, Gabe knew he should be more upset, but Peter showing up dead was just the last thing in several long weeks of What the Fuck Now.
“Right,” said Lundin to the person on the phone. “We’re not going anywhere. Yep, me, Elton, and Gabriel Karne.” Morechatter. “Yeah, he’s the new owner ofThe Golden Ticket.Thanks, bye.” He tucked his phone away again. “They’re on their way.”
Great. Another damn Monday making itself known in the most unpleasant way possible.
TWO
Casey
Monday noon-ish
Before the TwanaCounty deputies arrived, Casey hustled to the end of the dock and tucked Bowie away onThe Barbaraand made sure there was a chew toy to keep him entertained. He grabbed his parka too. The air temperature seemed to be dropping instead of rising and who knew how long they’d be standing around.
Gently accepting the toy, Bowie also shot Casey a Look. The squeaky part of the toy would be excised before the afternoon was up. Possibly before Casey made it back down to the scene.
The murder scene.
Had Peter Vale been killed at the marina or somewhere else and dumped on theShangri-La? There was no blood that Casey had been able to see, although the man’s neck was obviously broken.
Bowie huffed and plopped down on his bed, the toy gripped between his jaws.
“Yeah, I’m buying you off. Behave yourself.”
A dead body was bad enough, they didn’t need Bowie tripping up the responding deputies. Or doing his best to herd them around the dock, although it might add a little amusement to this dreary and deadly Monday.
Fingers crossed that at least one of the deputies would be Bree Eagan. Of all the TCSO deputies, she was the one he trusted the most to do her job. The rest had been under Rizzi’s thumb for too long or were just too wet behind the ears. They’d either guzzled the punch and never looked back or generally walked around looking like they’d been caught in headlights.
One last “Be good” and Casey departed.
Out on the pier again, he jogged back over to where Elton and Charming Fucker were waiting. It wasn’t raining yet. But looking up at the swirling clouds, Casey predicted that would change soon. Maybe there’d even be snow. In the distance, the sound of sirens reached his ears.
