Falafel Jones - Max Fried 02 - Payback's a Beach (24 page)

We all followed the officer into the precinct and down the hall to an interview room. Ed and I entered the room and turned to the door when the officer stopped Sheila. He said, “This way please, Ma’am” and escorted her somewhere out of sight. Torres came in and pointed to chairs. Ed and I sat. Fitzpatrick entered the room and leaned in a corner with his arms folded. Torres sat and opened a file. “Fried, wanna tell me how your fingerprint got on the murder weapon?”

Ed asked, “Wait a minute. You just said you’re charging my daughter with this crime. Now, you’re accusing my friend. What’s going on? You finally realize Brenda’s innocent?”

Torres stared at Ed for a quiet moment and then turned to me and repeated his question about my fingerprint.

Ed slammed his open palm on the table. “What’s going on here?”

Torres looked at Ed and then turned to me. “Mr. Fried. Will you please answer my question?”

Ed asked, “How do you know it’s his?”

Torres said, “From his PI license. Now, tell me how it got there.”

Ed said, “Don’t answer that.”

I said, “Wow, I’d answer it if I could. I never picked it up. I only pointed to… geez, I must have touched it when I turned to look at Maddie.” I held out my hand and pointed at Torres. “Like this.” I turned my head to the left and my pointing finger also moved.

Ed said, “How many of my client’s prints did you recover?”

Torres didn’t need to consult his file. “Just the one.”

“An index fingertip?”

“Yes.”

“None of his prints on the other side or anywhere else on the item?”

“It’s not an ‘item’. It’s the murder weapon.”

“Fisher died from drowning. Your item was used in an assault, not a murder.”

“The assault led to Fisher’s death. It’s the murder weapon.”

I held up my hands. “Guys, guys. Listen. You can’t lift an item or a murder weapon with only one fingertip. All you can prove is that I touched it. You can’t prove I lifted or held it because I didn’t do either.”

“That’s right.” Torres said. “That’s exactly what we thought.”

“What? You mean you knew I was innocent?”

Fitzpatrick said, “No, but based on the fact there was only the one print, we suspected you might not be our guy.”

“So why’d you drag me in here to explain?”

Torres said, “It’s not our job to make up reasons to rule out a suspect. It was up to you to explain your print. You did and we’re satisfied. Now that we’ve ruled you out, we have a stronger case against the other guy.”

Ed stood up. “You mean my daughter?”

Torres said, “No.”

I asked, “Who’s the other guy?”

“Floyd.”

Ed said, “You mean Floyd’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon?”

Torres shook his head and rolled his eyes. “So, now it’s a murder weapon? Yes.”

“The unidentifiable print? That was his?”

“Yeah, he wasn’t in the system until we just busted him.”

“Just busted him?”

Torres nodded, “Uniforms who picked up Brenda smelled the weed smoke coming from his apartment. After they delivered Brenda here, they went back and arrested him.”

I said, “You do realize that Maddie admitted to taking the fish net the night Fisher, I mean Captain Mike, died while Floyd claims he didn’t board the boat until the morning?”

“Yup. That’s why he’s our guy. He’s lying. If his prints were on the net, then he had to be on board the night of the murder.”

“Oh, I’ve got to hear this.”

“No, wait here.”

Torres and Fitzpatrick left the room. I waited a moment and then tried the door. It was unlocked so I motioned to Ed and we slipped out into the hall.

The police station had two interview rooms with one observation room in between. Ed and I entered the observation room and Fitzpatrick said, “Hey. Get out. You’re not allowed in here.”

I said, “Come one, Fitz, after the way Torres played me, I deserve a break. I promise we’ll behave and I might even know something that can help.”

Fitzpatrick thought a moment. “I don’t have time to fuss with you guys. If Torres comes in, you just arrived and you’re on your way out. Got it?”

Ed and I did the bobble head thing and then crowded around the observation window.

I could see Floyd sitting in a chair with his arms stretched out across the table. His head rested on his arms but he sat up when the door to his room opened. Torres entered holding a folder and four-foot long, cardboard, evidence box. The original lettering on the box read “Rifle” but someone had drawn a line through the word with a thick black marker.

Torres sat down at the table across from Floyd and stared at him in silence. Then he placed the folder and the box on the table.

After a few minutes of quiet, Floyd said, “What? What’s in the box?”

Torres said, “This is an important moment for you Floyd. I want you to take your time and get it right. First, are you high right now?”

“No.”

Torres held up the folder. “Your statement from last time says you boarded the
Amante
in the morning around sunrise. That correct?”

“Yeah, man.”

“Now, think carefully before you answer. Was that the first time you were ever on that boat?”

“Yeah, never been on it before. Why you asking? Who says they saw me on it before?”

“Nobody says that, Floyd.” Torres opened the box and removed the fish net. Without taking his eyes off Floyd, he placed the empty box on the floor. “When’s the first time you saw this net, Floyd? Was it that morning at sunrise?”

“Uh, yeah, man.”

“You know where we found this net?”

“No, man. On the boat deck near the blood?”

“No. We found it in the possession of the woman who stole it from the
Amante
the night before. Do you understand what that means?”

“I’m not stupid man. It means I was wrong. I didn’t see any net that morning. So, I was confused. So what?”

“I’ll tell you what. We found fingerprints on the handle.”

Floyd sat back in his chair as if trying to withdraw from Torres and what he was saying.

“In fact, we found your fingerprints on the handle, Floyd. The same prints you gave us today. That means you didn’t board the
Amante
for the first time at sunrise, did you? You boarded it the night before. How come?”

Floyd sat quietly and turned his head to his left. He crossed his arms and then turned his head to the right and gritted his teeth. He took a deep breath and said, “Brenda’s a really sweet girl. The other girls make fun of me sometimes but when I see her in the building or downtown, she always smiles and says, ‘Hello.’ She asks me about the surf conditions. She cares and she’s really pretty. That’s an unusual combination man.”

Torres said, “Yes it is. She’s quite a young woman.”

Floyd looked up at the ceiling and his eyes started to water. “I was getting ready for my moonlight paddle when I saw Brenda at the dock behind the condo. Some guy with a power boat was picking her up.”

“Power boat? Do you mean the
Amante
?”

“Yeah, the
Amante
. They took off and I soon lost sight of them. Then later on my way back home, I saw them again.”

Floyd went quiet and Torres waited him out until he started again.

“The boat was quiet, man. Too quiet, so I paddled over to see what was going on. I still didn’t hear anything so I pulled myself up onto the ladder and peeked. I didn’t see nothing. The cockpit was empty and the cabin door was shut. I was worried that this guy might be taking advantage of Brenda so I climbed on board.”

The tears started streaming down Floyd’s face. Torres reached into a drawer on his side of the table and removed a box of tissues he placed in front of Floyd. Floyd took one and wiped his cheeks. Torres asked, “What happened after you climbed on board?”

This big guy came out of the cabin, man. He was pissed. He was like, “What’re you doing on my boat?” He kinda charged at me so I grabbed the nearest thing I could find to defend myself. When he looked like he was going hit me, I swung that thing at him. I didn’t expect it to be so heavy. I thought it was a hollow aluminum pole. I didn’t mean to… you know.”

“What happened after you hit him? Did he go overboard?”

Floyd nodded. “He just collapsed in a heap and fell backwards over the side.”

“Did you try to save him?”

“Nah, man, that dude must have been over 200 pounds. I couldn’t lift him and I thought he was dead, so I split.”

“Is that when you took Brenda off the boat?”

“No, man. I tried to lift her off the bed but couldn’t. I was too tired from fighting off that big guy. Then I saw another boat getting closer. I got scared and just wanted to get out of there before someone saw me. That part about getting Brenda the next morning’s true.”

“Why did you go back?”

Floyd indicated the fish net. “I thought I better go back and get that and I was worried when Brenda didn’t come home.”

Torres stood. “Stand up and turn around, Floyd. You’re under arrest for the murder of Michael Kramer.”

Inside our observation room, Fitzpatrick said, “Show’s over. Now, shoo before Leon comes in here and sees you.”

We shooed. When Ed and I reached the precinct lobby, I saw Brenda and Sheila sitting close together and watching the door. As soon as they saw us, they both got up and ran to hug Ed. The three of them hugged and murmured softly together. For the first and only time since I met Ed, I saw them briefly as the close family they once were.

The next day, Mariel and I were finally back on the beach. We walked in the surf and I kicked up water so it sprayed our ankles and sometimes our knees. Mariel took my hand and I smiled. We did well. We cleared Brenda of any wrongdoing. Bucky was the proud, new, owner of a charter boat company and Snyder made enough money to cover his expenses for the next six months.

We also made some people unhappy but they brought that on themselves. Maddie sat in jail for drugging Drew’s booze and for stealing his gold plated fish net but more important was the fact that Floyd faced a murder trial for killing Cappy. I felt bad for Maddie and Floyd but not as bad as I did for Cappy. Maddie and Floyd caused their own troubles and I was glad to be free of any further involvement with them.

After a while, Mariel and I came to Bobbi and Jack’s. I put on my Teva sandals and waited for Mariel to put on her flip-flops. We left the hard packed sand near the surf and trudged through the soft sand outside the wooden stairs to the patio bar.

I wasn’t too surprised to see Ed there. After all, this is where we first met. We waved as Mariel and I went to the bar to collect our drinks.

When Mariel and I approached his table, Ed said, “Sheila’s gone.”

I put down my glass and listened. Ed’s on again off again relation with his ex always seemed to tear him up inside. I guess I wanted to be there for him if he needed to vent.

He looked me in the eye. “I said it was time for her to go back to New York.”

After witnessing Ed’s one-sided devotion to Sheila, I was surprised he stood up to her. “You told her that?”

He nodded solemnly.

I stared at him without saying anything. I half expected Ed to express regret about his edict but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “This whole thing with Brenda made me see the light. We all imagined ourselves in her place so that we could try to figure out the best way to help her. When I learned how Sheila saw the situation, I realized something about her I never knew before.”

Mariel put her hand on Ed’s forearm and frowned. I said, “Oh Ed, I’m sorry.”

He said, “I’ve known for years she didn’t trust anyone but I never understood why. Now, I do.” Ed took a pull from his drink. “She doesn’t trust anyone because she knows no one can trust her.”

Another broken Kewpie Doll marked another carnival killing. Fresh from college, I covered the show’s opening for the local paper, when Brenda, the Bearded Lady found the dead body.

She ran at me, grabbed, screamed, and just about knocked me over as I looked up from my camera. A slim umm, girl with a strong grip, we swayed a moment and my tripod teetered.

“He’s dead,” she shrieked. “He’s dead. He’s dead. Deaaaadddd.” She let me go and her hands shook in front of her chest. Her breasts were too large for such a slim woman.

Her left hand fluttered to her neck. “Calm down,” I gripped her arms to hold her still. “Who’s dead?” We stood close and she looked like she had an Adam’s apple.

“This man. I went to… hook up with one of the local boys in the woods, on my break and instead tripped on the dead guy… ” she shuddered, “almost fell on him. Eewww,” then shivered.

“Where is he?”

Brenda pointed into the dark in the direction of an empty field beyond the carnival. “There, near the bottom of that second hill.”