Falafel Jones - Max Fried 02 - Payback's a Beach (15 page)

We said goodbye to Gunther, promised to stop by again soon and walked out to the parking lot. Mariel looked at the river and said, “Couldn’t the
Amante
have drifted from one side of the bridge to the other?”

I pointed to the closely built pylons that rose up from the riverbed to support the bridge. “The
Amante
is low enough that it doesn’t need an opening but look at that spacing. It’s unlikely a boat could drift between those narrow bridge supports without hitting one of them. In addition, at that time of day, the tide was running in the opposite direction. The
Amante
was drifting south, away from the bridge.”

I unlocked the car and Mariel sat inside. She nodded. “OK, then if Bucky didn’t kill Fisher, who did?”

“Gunther’s information may clear Bucky, but it also incriminates Maddie. She arrived long enough after Bucky to have boarded Fisher’s boat.”

“You think she did it?”

“I don’t know. I want to look into her but there’s something else I need to do first.”

Mariel gave me her “What?” look.

“Torres checked Fisher’s credit cards and found someone used one to buy gas the day after Fisher died.”

Mariel’s eyebrows went up. “Where?”

“Coronado Gas and Go.”

“That’s on the way home.”

“And our next stop.” I drove down Peninsula Avenue to Third, turned into the gas station, and parked in front of one of the pumps. I was down a half a tank anyway. I swiped my credit card through the slot in the pump and pressed the requisite buttons.

As I filled my car, Buster, the owner, strolled out from inside the office and said, “Max, how you doing?” Then he bent down to look in my car window and waved. “Hi, Mariel.” She tried to roll down her window but it didn’t budge because the car was turned off. She started to open the door but couldn’t without hitting Buster so she laughed, sat back and waved. Buster smiled at her and then asked me. “What is this, the second time this month you’re buying gas?”

“Yeah.”

Buster grinned at me. “Geez. You never drive this thing. You want me to check your tank for a leak?”

Even though we always bought our gas from Buster, we didn’t buy much. I didn’t drive a lot and Mariel drove even less. If we weren’t locals and he didn’t service our cars, Buster probably wouldn’t know who we were. Actually, I think it was the lack of service that cemented our friendship. One day Mariel brought her little Chevy in for a regularly scheduled, three month, three thousand mile service. We dropped her car off in the morning and walked back to the station a few hours later to pick it up.

Mariel asked Buster, “What do we owe you?”

He said, “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Yeah, I didn’t do anything to it.”

“How come?”

“Cause in the last three months, you only drove it eight miles.”

Today, I had a new question for Buster. “You here last Saturday?”

“All day, every day. Why?”

“You remember someone named Drew Fisher buying gas with a credit card?”

“What was she driving?”

“Drew’s a he.”

Buster looked surprised. “Only Drew I ever heard of is that blond actress. What’s her name? A guy named Drew? For real?”

“Yeah, short for Andrew.”

“Hmm, always thought Andy was short for Andrew. So what was he driving?”

“Don’t know.”

“Can’t help you then. People I don’t remember. Cars on the other hand… Why you want to know about this?”

“We have a mutual friend and I heard he was in town.”

Buster nodded, “Sure. If I see him, I’ll let you know.” Buster rapped on the roof of my car, waved to Mariel and sauntered back into his office.

As I drove home, I thought about Maddie. Like Bucky and Drew, she spent time at both the East End and Coronado Yacht Clubs. She knew both men and she arrived in town the same day as Bucky. She also didn’t seem to like Drew, so I wanted to know more about her. I phoned Douglas back at the East End Yacht Club.

“Oh, hello again, Mr. Fried or should I say ‘Commodore’?”

“Fried is fine, thank you.”

“Are you calling about a job opening at the Coronado Yacht Club?”

“No, I’m sorry, Douglas, they don’t have any, but like I promised, I’ll call when they do.”

“Thanks. Hey, I heard that Drew Fisher washed up dead.”

“Yes.”

“Better on your beach than ours.”

I didn’t like the idea of dead bodies on any beach, but didn’t bother to respond to his comment. Instead, I asked, “Do you know an investigator named Snyder?”

“Sure. He’s a local PI who’s been trying to locate Fisher so I gave him your number.”

“How about a woman named Maddie or Madison?”

“Oh yeah, she’s a cougar. We had an incident with her. She took a liking to one of the other member’s youngest son.”

“How young?”

“Well, he was legal but, if she plans to date them any younger, she better make friends with a pregnant woman.”

“What happened?”

“One of the cleaning women accidentally found them in one of the pool cabanas. Poor boy was so embarrassed, he claimed Maddie drugged him.”

“You mean like with flunitrazepam?”

“Gesundheit.”

“No, that’s the generic name for Rohypnol, roofies.”

“I’m no chemist but the kid did say something about being roofied.”

“Was he?”

“Who knows? She’s a good looking woman, but then he’s a good looking kid. He could have his pick of girls his own age.”

“Was there any fallout?”

“Membership committee made her agree to lay off the club’s youngsters, or else.”

“Or else what?”

“She’d forfeit her prepaid membership fees and be blackballed from all the associated yacht clubs.”

“Did she comply?”

“I heard she’s still prowling off-premises but now her club hunting is aimed at the more affluent older men.”

“I thought you told me that the club contract lacked a morals clause.”

“It does, but this kid is the commodore’s son. Different rules for different fools.”

Mariel entered the room just as I was hanging up. “Who was that?”

“The East End Yacht Club. I think we need to know more about Maddie, maybe get a closer look at her boat.”

“Because of what Gunther said about her arriving after Bucky?”

I ticked the reasons off on my fingers. “Yes, we know she passed under the bridge about the time Drew died and she’s chummy with Drew’s victim, Bucky, but there’s more. According to the New York club, she allegedly roofied a young man.”

“What will you look for?”

“I don’t know, but sometimes you don’t know until you find it. Grab your purse and let’s see what we can see.”

“I don’t think we’d get too far.”

“No?”

“Trust me. You’ll fare better alone.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, oh and one more thing.” She reached out and took my wedding band off my finger. “You’ll definitely find out more without this.”

I drove to the Coronado Yacht Club and wandered the docks looking for Maddie. After a bit, I heard a female voice say, “Where’s your girlfriend?”

I turned to see Maddie in a red bikini standing in a boat. “She’s not here.”

She smiled at me. “That’s a good place for her to be. Care to come aboard?” I hesitated, no longer sure that seeing her alone was a good idea. Maddie said, “Permission’s granted.”

I looked at the name on the boat transom. “
Donna Pericolosa
, is this your friend Donna’s boat?”

Maddie laughed hysterically and then calmed down and said, “Oh, you really don’t know do you?”

“I rarely do. Don’t know what?”

“Donna pericolosa is Italian. It means dangerous woman. This is my boat.” She sat on one of the cockpit benches and patted the seat next to her. “Come, sit.” I climbed onto the boat and took a seat next to her. She rattled the ice cubes in her glass, “Drink?”

“No, thank you. I was just looking for the commodore,” I lied. “He was supposed to meet me at the club.”

“Oh, have you decided to join? We can have a lot of fun.”

I looked around the boat, trying to find anything that might be significant. “Well, I don’t have a boat.”

“Thinking of buying one?”

“Maybe, but I don’t know if I should get a sailboat or a power boat.”

Maddie stood and held out her hand. “Come, let me give you the tour.”

She gestured in a wide sweeping motion with the glass in her hand. “This is the cockpit.” She giggled and took my hand. “Now, let’s go down below decks.” She led me into the cabin. “This is a forty foot Bayliner. Here’s the galley and I have three staterooms. There are also two heads. That’s twice the head, I mean heads you get on some other boats.”

I was certain I stumbled somewhere I shouldn’t be.

Maddie continued. “She’s an older model but still has what she needs to stand out against the younger ones, don’t you think?”

“Um, yes. She’s a beautiful ship. Looks like she has a lot of storage space too.” In my discomfort, I pulled open a cabinet door and there it was. “You, um, fish too?”

Her tone of voice changed slightly. Maybe because I was rude to open her cabinet or maybe she realized what I saw. “Oh, no. That’s too messy. Why?”

I pointed inside the cabinet and turned to face Maddie, “Isn’t this a fish net?”

She made a nice recovery. “Darling, my only fish nets are stockings.” She looked into the cabinet to see what I saw and said, “Oh, that? I’m afraid I get clumsy sometimes and drop things over the side. I can’t tell you how many whiskey bottles that thing has saved.” She closed the cabinet door. “So, would you like to see one or more of the staterooms?”

“Um, Ed’s probably looking for me at the bar. I better go meet him. Thanks for the tour.”

Maddie looked disappointed. “You sure?”

“I’m sorry, Maddie. I’ve got to go but maybe some other time.” I exited the cabin, left the boat, and almost ran for the yacht club bar.

Once I got inside the club building, I opened my cell phone and called Detective Torres. I told him Mattie dined with Bucky the night Drew Fisher died and that I saw a fish net matching Drew’s on her boat.

Torres was skeptical. “So? If she was with Bucky, she’s got an alibi.”

“Yeah, but her alibi places her about ten minutes from the crime scene about twenty minutes after the time of death.”

“Maybe, but a fish net on a boat isn’t exactly unusual.”

“True, except for the fact that she doesn’t fish and has no other fishing gear on board. Plus, it looks like a match to the gaff on Drew Fisher’s boat.”

“Are you just doing this to direct my attention from Brenda McCarthy?”

“No, I’m not. I think Brenda’s innocent and I can’t promise you Maddie killed Fisher but I can tell you, she warrants a closer look.”

“Well, if I don’t check her out, your lawyer pal will probably nail me for it on cross, no matter who we charge. I’ll get a phone warrant.”

I hung up and took a seat at the bar. The bartender came over. “Drink, sir?”

I didn’t think it would help my case if Torres smelled alcohol on my breath. “Club soda with a lime, please.”

He nodded and went to fix my drink. I sat at the bar watching the dock through the picture window. I was afraid Maddie might leave before Torres arrived. The bartender placed my drink on the bar. “Something to eat?”

“No, thanks.” I strained to hear the sound of any boat engines starting and then realized that if she left, there was nothing I could do. I nursed my drink until Torres arrived.

After I was down to melted ice, I heard a voice say, “OK, Fried. Where’s the boat?”

I led Torres out to Maddie’s boat but she wasn’t on deck. Torres rapped on the hull with his knuckles and yelled, “Ahoy!”

I grimaced. “Ahoy? You’re not going to say, ‘me hearties’ are you?”

He straightened up and looked at me, “Yeah, ahoy. What are you supposed to do? Ring a door bell?”

“Beats me.”

“Give me any more grief and I will.”

“It was a figure of speech, not an invitation.”

While we were discussing the situation, Maddie emerged from her cabin. “Boys, what’s going on?” She wore a sheer white cover up that ended mid-thigh. I didn’t see any red cloth underneath and wondered if she had removed her bikini.

“I’m Detective Torres, ma’am. I have a warrant to search your boat.”

Maddie held out her hand.

Torres said, “It’s a phone warrant. The judge authorized it when I called him. My partner is bringing over the paperwork. If you’d like, we can wait here until he arrives or you can give me permission and I’ll start now.”

“What are you looking for?”