Page 161 of The Bone Code
“Does he still have it?”
“He does. Did.”
“What about back in 2002? That’s the significant time frame.”
“There’s no record of Murray owning a boat back then.”
“Did Claudel check—”
“Everywhere.”
“Your voice tells me that’s not the end of the story.”
“Claudel dropped by the Royal St. Lawrence and found an old-timer who’s very free with the gab. Balsé Piché. Goes by Ballsey. Ballsey, it turns out, allows short-term rental of his watercraft. Has for years.”
“And Ballsey keeps inordinately good records?”
“Am I the most beguiling and—”
“What did Ballsey tell Claudel?”
“Ballsey leased his eighteen-foot Ranger Cherokee to one A. Murray from July 28 through August 4, 2002.”
“Precisely when Melanie and Ella went missing!” Almost a shriek.
“Reel it in, honeybear.”
“Don’t call me that.” Deep breath. “Could Murray have gone by boat from Dorval to where that container showed up in Saint-Anicet?”
“Yes. But it would have been a bitch of a journey, west along the Saint Lawrence River, through the Beauharnois locks, then along the Beauharnois canal for about fifteen miles. The canal has two lift bridges—”
“Pont Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague and Pont Laroque.”
“Very good, captain.”
“I like maps.”
“Past the bridges, he’d have continued west into Lac Saint-François, which is actually just a widening of the river. A trip of about thirty miles in all.”
I’d started to comment when Ryan added, “But he didn’t do that.”
“He didn’t?”
“In 2002, Ballsey belonged to the Valleyfield Yacht Club.”
“That’s on Lac Saint-François, right up the shore from Saint-Anicet. But you canvassed every marina and yacht club in the area back then. Those rental dates would have raised a flag.”
“Ballsey has a cottage on Lac Saint-François. With a dock.”
“Where he kept the Cherokee. Private rental, private records.”
“Voilà.”
“Murray did it, Ryan. He killed Melanie and her daughter.”
“It plays.”
“Like a hymn on Sunday. But why?”
