Clammed Up: A Maine Clambake Mystery Part 16

"He's a deserter, right?" Jamie answered. "He'll have to go back. I imagine there'll be some kind of hearing. He'll go to prison."

I hadn't seen Jean-Jacques in six years and only sporadically for seven years before that, but he was a part of my childhood and my heart ached at the thought of him in prison. I felt terrible for Etienne and Gabrielle. "But he didn't desert troops in the field. He walked away when he was on leave, after he'd already done two tours."

Jamie shrugged. "Maybe there's some kind of leniency in those situations. Who knows?"

Binder finally emerged from the house, followed by a drawn and gray Etienne. We piled into the Whaler for the trip to the harbor. I wanted desperately to talk to Binder, but not in front of Etienne. The poor man was in enough pain. I walked to the helm and stood silently by his side all the way to the harbor, hoping my posture conveyed my support. I doubted any greater demonstration would be welcome.

Etienne dropped us at the town dock and left again without saying a word. I checked my cell phone. Three more calls from Bob Ditzy, and he'd started leaving messages. It was well past six o'clock. No point in calling him at the bank at that hour, so why listen to the messages?

"Can we open tomorrow?" I asked Binder.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "There appears to be a fugitive living on your island. No, you cannot open tomorrow."

"He's not there. You didn't find him. Besides, isn't he a problem for the military?"

"Not if he killed Ray Wilson, he isn't."

Chapter 40.

At the top of the street we split up. Binder and Jamie headed toward the police station, Sonny and I trudged up the hill to Mom's house. Both of us were so down, it was almost impossible to speak. In twenty-four hours, we would be the people who lost the Snowden Family Clambake.

Livvie's minivan was in the driveway. So was another car I didn't recognize-a sporty red BMW with the top down.

Tony Poitras got up from the porch swing when he heard us come up the front steps. "Your mom said I could wait here."

Sonny shook Tony's hand, mumbled something, and went inside.

I was glad he left us to talk privately. "What brings you here?" It had to be something important. He'd driven for twenty-five minutes and then waited who knows how long.

"You ratted me out." His tone was light, teasing, but with an edge. "You told Michaela I wasn't in my room the night Ray . . . that night."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset her. I had no idea she'd get so mad."

He pulled his perfect brows together. "I want to a.s.sure you, what happened that night was totally innocent."

"I'm not the one you need to tell."

"I've already talked to Michaela. Now I'm talking to you."

We sat across from one another in my mother's big wicker chairs. It was that time in the early evening when the wind died and everything was still. I heard the hum of a lawn mower from some far-off yard. Other than that, the town was silent.

"I wasn't feeling great the night of the rehearsal dinner," Tony started. "I don't know if it was prewedding jitters, or too much to eat or what, but I left Crowley's early. Michaela was dancing with her girlfriends and having a great time. I didn't want to be a stick in the mud."

"Was Ray drunk when you left?"

"No. I didn't see him take a drink except for seltzer water. He'd been sober for a year. I wasn't worried about it."

"Did you see Sarah Halsey while you were at Crowley's?"

"So you know about that? The answer is I glimpsed her coming in as I was leaving. I don't think she saw me. Frankly, it just made me even happier I'd decided to leave. I didn't want to see her."

"Why not?"

Tony's jaw tightened. "Because she made a chump out of my friend. She'd lied to him, never told him he had a kid. And when he'd sobered up, she tried to keep his son away from him. Ray had a hundred reasons to get sober, but the only one that worked was knowing he had a son. Wanting to spend time with the boy. He tried to work things out with Sarah for more than a year, but she just stonewalled him. He had just told her he planned to sue for visitation. Now he's dead. His son never even knew him. The whole thing is a terrible waste." Tony pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

Ray threatened to sue Sarah for visitation? Why had she kept that information back, when she'd told me so much? I needed time to think. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Sure. I'll have a beer, if you've got one."

I took a Sea Dog from the fridge and poured an ice water for myself. I'd already done one dumb thing due to drinking in the last twenty-four hours. I needed to be sharp for this conversation.

I handed Tony the beer and sat down. "You were explaining why you didn't sleep in your bed the night before you were supposed to be married. I know the maid of honor called you."

"Michaela was out wandering the streets at 2:00 in the morning, meeting up with a drunk man. Lynn was frantic with worry. So she called me. And I went out to look for Michaela."

"But you didn't find her."

"No. Instead of walking from my hotel to the other side of the harbor, I got in my car. I thought it would be more efficient to drive around looking for Michaela than to do it on foot. I drove for a while, but didn't find either Michaela or Ray. I thought she might be back at the B&B by then, so I pulled up in front and called Lynn on her cell. No Michaela. But Lynn came right outside and got in my car to talk."

"Oh, Tony." According to Fee Snuggs, Lynn hadn't asked Tony to look for Michaela. She'd asked him to come to the B&B. Tony had given Lynn exactly what she wanted.

He put up a hand. "Nothing happened. Well, almost nothing. I was out of my mind with worry. It was the night before my wedding and my wife-to-be was missing. She'd gone off to meet my best friend. Lynn pointed out that maybe Michaela didn't have her priorities straight in terms of the attention and consideration she gave me versus Ray. There was some frustration on my part. Some venting. But that's it. Nothing happened between Lynn and me." He hesitated. "Even though that might have been what Lynn wanted."

"If nothing happened, then why didn't you tell Michaela?"

"Lynn is a sensitive topic where Michaela is concerned. I didn't think she'd want to know that I spent part of the night before our wedding-"

"With an old girlfriend," I finished.

"But I did tell Lieutenant Binder. I've been completely honest with the cops about where I was that night."

"After you left Lynn, where did you go? There was still plenty of time for you to go back to your hotel and get a few hours sleep. But you didn't."

Tony exhaled loudly as if he'd gotten through the worst of what he had to tell. "I sent Lynn back inside before anything could happen between us. I turned my car around in your driveway, right here. I was going to take one more trip around town before I turned in. I was still worried about Michaela. And Ray. I headed down toward the Lighthouse Inn. I thought maybe they'd gone back to his room. Just for a place to talk. But I never made it. That guy who works for you at the clambake and his wife were walking up from the town dock. I almost hit them. She was in a terrible state. Disheveled and raving. Something about her son. I recognized the guy's name as soon as he introduced himself, Etienne Martineau. Ray had been talking to him about a business deal."

Yeah, about buying my family's island. But I didn't say it. I didn't want to get Tony off track. I was amazed to hear that Etienne and Gabrielle had been on the mainland that night. It contradicted everything Etienne had let me believe. He said he would have heard anyone coming onto our island, but he wasn't there.

"Etienne said his wife was having some difficulties, which was obvious. There was a prescription waiting for her at the twenty-four-hour pharmacy up on Route One. He asked me to drive them there. I wanted to say no, I had my own troubles, but anyone could see the poor guy had his hands full. He told me he didn't feel he could leave his wife on the island alone.

"So I loaded them into my car. She sat in front and he squeezed into the back. And that's it. By the time we got up to the pharmacy and I dropped them back at your dock, it was almost three A.M. I called Lynn. She answered on the first ring and said Michaela was back at the B&B sound asleep. I went back to the Bellevue. I was terrified of sleeping through the wake-up call and missing my own wedding, so I only half dozed on my bed."

"You never got under the covers."

"Okay, now I have to know who your sources are." He smiled, trying to get the conversation back to a lighter tone, but I couldn't get there.

I tried to figure out how his story fit and what it meant. "What do you think was in Ray's camp trunk?"

He laughed. "I told you. I'm sure it was for some soph.o.m.oric prank at my wedding. Some best man high jinx. I loved Ray, but he had a highly questionable sense of humor."

"Etienne said Ray came to the island a few weeks ago to scout it out for a prank. Do you think Ray went out to Morrow Island the night of his murder to set up a joke?"

"And what? Ran into some mad man?"

I didn't respond, but that was exactly what I thought. A mad man in the form of Jean-Jacques. But I wasn't going to tell Tony. It was time to tackle the second subject I had to discuss with him. "The prank wasn't the only reason Ray went to Morrow Island the first time." I kept my voice steady. All business.

"True." Tony took a long draw on the beer. "He was looking at Morrow Island for our company."

"Did he like what he saw?"

"He did." Tony's voice was even, too. Professional. "Losing Ray is a huge setback to my business. But I still want your island. I'll give you one point five million dollars for it."

"That's a quarter of the amount Ray mentioned to Etienne!" One and a half million was exactly the amount we owed the bank. Did Tony know that?

"Those were just feelers. Ray and I had never agreed on a specific amount. And now, it seems your business is in distress."

There was no point in denying it. "The business was in distress when Ray talked to Etienne and Sonny, too."

"Yes, but back then, those guys believed you were going to save it. You were their great hope." Tony shifted back into his chair. "But it didn't work out that way. Instead, you structured a deal with the bank that's going to put you out of business before the season's even really started."

He didn't just know the amount we owed the bank, he knew the terms. He knew about the five closed days. He'd been talking to Bob Ditzy. If he didn't get the island from my family, he'd get it from the bank.

My cheeks burned with embarra.s.sment and shame. What Tony said was true. It wasn't my fault there'd been a murder and a fire on Morrow Island. But it was entirely my fault that the bank was in a position to shut us down just a week into the season. What had I been thinking? What a stupid, stupid deal I'd constructed.

"It's not my island to sell," I said unnecessarily. Tony had done his homework well. I was sure he knew my mother owned Morrow Island.

"I'm confident your mother will do whatever you advise. You're the financial whiz in the family. The offer's firm. You have until midnight tomorrow to decide. Then the offer goes away and I move on."

My dreams of being the hero and saving the business were in tatters. My brief fantasy of selling the island for six million dollars and having money for Page, Livvie, and Mom was gone, too. But the money Tony was offering was enough to pay off all the debt and save my mother's house. If we sold off the Jacquie II and some smaller a.s.sets, it would provide a comfortable life for my mother. I had to tell my family about Tony's offer.

Chapter 41.

Dinner was quiet again that night. Mom, Livvie, Sonny, and I had a lot to discuss, but not in front of Page, and not while eating.

After we finished, I cleared the table while Livvie washed the dishes. I came up behind her at the sink and gave her a hug. "We need to talk."

"I know. Sonny told me we're closed again tomorrow. That's the fifth day."

While I'd stayed on the porch with Tony Poitras, Sonny had rushed in and told Livvie all his troubles. I longed for that. For someone to tell my troubles to who would always be on my side. For months now, that person had been Chris. I missed him in a way I felt physically.

"Jamie kissed me last night."

"Julia!" Livvie turned from the sink and put her soapy arms around my neck. "That's wonderful. It's what we've been hoping for."

"We?"

"Sonny and me, silly. And Mom. And Page. He's perfect. And he's loved you all his life."

He has? "But I like Chris," I whispered.

Livvie turned back to the sink. "Chris comes with baggage," she said barely audibly above the rush of water. "Besides, you've been having lunch with him all these months. Don't you think if something were going to happen, it would have by now?"

Livvie gave Page a piece of leftover rhubarb coffee cake and parked her in front of the television. Then she and I joined Mom and Sonny on the front porch.

Mom looked up and saw the three of us looking serious. She put a hand to her chest and said, "Oh, no. What is it?"

I sat on the wicker ottoman at her knee, so I could look directly at her. Livvie and Sonny stood behind me. I realized as I proceeded through the story, talking first about the five closed days and the probability the bank would call the loan, that we'd made a mistake trying to shield my mother from the recent issues with the business. She was doing her best to keep up, but the effect of the murder and the fire was a lot to take in.

"But how can it be over before the season's even begun?" she asked.

Red-faced, I explained about the business plan and the structure of our agreement with the bank.

"So the island and the business aren't gone yet?"

"Technically, no." I hadn't even told them about the messages on my phone from Bob Ditzy. I noticed Mom focused on losing Morrow Island and the Snowden Family Clambake. She hadn't said a word about her own house.

"What could save us?"

"If we're closed tomorrow, which we're certain to be, the bank will undoubtedly call the loan. I suppose if someone were arrested for the murder and the fire, then we'd be in a better position with the bank, because we could guarantee when we'd reopen. I've tried to explain to Bob Ditzy that if our revenues are higher than the plan I've given him, we can survive a few more closed days and still pay what we've agreed by the end of the summer. I'm not sure he's heard me, and all this day-to-day uncertainty-not knowing when we'll open again-isn't helping."

"So we can still save it, if someone's arrested tomorrow?"

"Oh, Mom." Tears sprang to my eyes. I couldn't stand the hopeful tone in her voice. If I lost control and started crying, I thought we all would. I swallowed hard and continued. "I just had a conversation with Tony Poitras. He's offered to buy the island for one and a half million dollars." Behind me, I heard Sonny's sharp intake of breath. The last figure he'd heard-from me-was six million.

"We're not selling Morrow Island," my mother said.

"Mom, I think you have to consider this deal. It would pay off our debt and save this house. After we sold the Jacquie II, you'd have some income to live on. It's an opening offer. Maybe we can do better. And maybe we can't. Tony knows if he waits, he can buy it from the bank. The alternative is that you're penniless. No house. No income from the business or any other source. Just Social Security. That's it. You haven't set foot on Morrow Island since Dad got sick. I'm not sure how much you'll miss the island, but I know you'll miss this house."

Mom gave her head a little shake. "I don't understand. Wasn't Tony the groom at that wedding for your friend?"

I could see her working hard to take all it in.

Livvie moved to the chair next to her and took her hand. "He is, Mom. But he also develops resorts on private islands."

"I think you'd better tell me everything."

I told her everything I knew about the night before the wedding and what had happened since. Livvie listened quietly while I explained that Ray Wilson was Tyler Halsey's father and, at least according to Tony, Ray had told Sarah he planned to sue for visitation. Sarah was Livvie's friend, but it appeared she hadn't known any of it.