th briar patch

“Can I stay with you in the art shack?”

     They walked through a gap in the rock wall and followed a sort of path through the brambles.

    “Do you think that’s a good idea? To stay with Suspect No. 1? Especially since we set a limit on the relationship? I hope you have an alibi.”

    “What, you don’t?”

     “Nope. How could I, living in the woods alone? I don’t know why I haven’t been remanded into custody yet. Anyway, this is a time you’re supposed to be with family.”

    “You feel more like family than Catherine. And my brother—he always took my mother’s side. I think he’s still angry with Daddy. But oddly enough, he doesn’t mind Catherine. Gets along with her better than I do. She doesn’t like me. He can stay at the hotel.”

      “You should be with someone who loves you right now. And I do love you, if not in a romantic way.”

     “I won’t come on to you, I promise.”

     “My place is so small it would be hard to avoid!”

     “I just don’t want to face her yet.”

    The crime scene was indeed taped off. There was not much to see here, either. Potholes where shovels had removed dirt, whether for bullets or footprints was impossible to determine.

   “I don’t feel anything,” said Kate. “Daddy isn’t here, anywhere.”

   As she walked the perimeter of the crime scene tape, Bobby checked out the sightlines from the copse. Or “viewsheds,” as they were known on Block Island. He could not see the Bakers’ house at all. Nor the spec house Greg was working on. So many empty houses on the island at this time of year. He could just catch a glimpse of the new house with the awful driveway. Just a dormer. For a second he thought he saw movement in the window.

    “What?” said Kate.

    “Do you see anything in that window?”

    “No.” She looked. “Cloud reflections? I’m done. This is just depressing. I don’t know how people on CSI can get anything from looking at a crime scene. I see nothing. Doesn’t tell me anything. I need to help me find out what happened. You have to help me.”

    “Merry and I are trying,” he said.

    “Merideth? The garden club lady?”

    “The President of the Garden Club. You don’t want Nancy Drew. Merry’s smart. And she knows this island. Plus, she has skin in the game. Somebody’s not only out to incriminate me, but draw her in, too.”

    They headed back down the path. Bobby glanced over his shoulder but saw no movement in the dormer.

    He knocked on Merideth’s door and walked in.

    The two sitting inside looked guilty.

    “Would you like some tea?” asked Merideth. She belatedly realized that her tone was a hair too bright. She handed a cup to Kate. “Or something stronger? I have wine. Whiskey. Coffee.”

    “Tea is fine, thanks.”

    “You have any beer, Merry?”

    “I might. Let me check.”

    “I’ll have one too, if you do,” said Bill.

     She brought a beer and a glass for Bill and a bottle of beer for Bobby, who liked to say that beer was already in glass. “Bill has been telling me about his acting career,” she said.

     Bill looked at his hand, apparently both admiring his immaculately shaped nails and deploring the scratches on his knuckles. “I really think I have a shot with this pilot,” he said.

    “What pilot?” asked Kate.

    “I didn’t tell you? It’s one of these Internet-only shows. Amazon. Anyways, I was trying to tell Ms. Winfield here about our dad. But I told her you knew him better.”

    Kate sat still.

    “I think it’s important,” said Merideth. “Otherwise, how can we know what happened to him?”

    Kate looked down at the floor. Looked up. Sighed. “He is a lot like Bobby, really. Smart. Talented. Incredibly strong sense of design and aesthetics. Rough around the edges but not really. A cowboy affect and a Stanford degree.”

    Bill looked at Bobby. “You have a Stanford degree too?”

     And a record, thought Bobby, looking Merideth’s hooked rug. “Yale,” he said.

    “Jeez,” said Bill. “And you’re driving a cab?”

    “It’s a good life,” said Bobby, who had heard this so many times before that he wanted to kick something. “Maybe better than getting manicures and kissing casting directors’ asses.”

    “Sorry. Just surprised.”

    “Also, both are suddenly pissy without warning,” said Kate, breaking the tension.

    They all laughed.