The Frumious Bandersnatch

leafed through it. Andy Hardy, sure enough. Gave an address in Connecticut.

“Was the driver’s license issued in Connecticut?” Kling asked.

“Yep.”

“This address match the one on the license?”

“Yep. That’s why I asked to see it.”

Meyer pressed the END button on his cell phone, looked over at the papers Kling had spread on the counter top.

“They’re on the way,” he said.

“Did they leave the van here when they went out on the boat?” Kling asked.

“Unloaded it and left it, yes.”

“Unloaded it?”

“Took a carton from it.”

“What kind of carton?” Meyer asked.

“This cardboard carton. Not very big.” He showed the size with his hands.

“Think the masks might’ve been in it?” Meyer asked.

“You talking to me?” Popeye said.

“My partner.”

“Could be,” Kling said. “Any writing on the carton?”

“Didn’t see any.”

“And you say they left the van here?”

“In the parking lot, yes.”

“Was it gone this morning?”

“Didn’t notice.”

“When you came in, I mean.”

“Didn’t notice,” Popeye said again.

They were trying to pinpoint the exact time the suspects might have dropped off the boat and departed in the van.

“Do renters usually return boats in the middle of the night?” Kling asked.

“No, when their time’s up, usually. The rental period.”

“Are all your rentals for twenty-four hours?”

“No, we sometimes rent for a week. Sometimes longer.”

“But this one was for twenty-four hours.”

“Yes.”

“Evengloam to evengloam,” Meyer said.

“Supposed to be.”

“But Hardy brought it back early.”

“Yes.”

“Anybody here to receive a boat in the middle of the night?”

“We’ve got a night watchman, but he doesn’t check boats in, nothing like that.”

“So they just leave them at the dock, is that it?” Kling said.

“With nobody here to check them in,” Meyer said.

“We don’t have too many people bringing boats back before they’re due,” Popeye said.

“But Andy Hardy did.”

“What’d this guydo, anyway?” Popeye asked.

“Maybe nothing,” Kling said. “Is your watchman here now?”

“Left when I opened up this morning.”

“How do we find him?”

“Let me get you his address,” Popeye said, and went over to a desk under a calendar of a girl wearing a sailor hat and hardly anything else.

“Phone number, too, please,” Meyer said.

THREE DETECTIVESfrom the MCU arrived at Capshaw Boats at twenty to eleven that morning. Meyer and Kling were waiting dockside for them. They hadn’t yet boarded theHurley Girl because they didn’t know how many, if any, rampant prints the perps may have left aboard her, and they didn’t want to mess up anything for the technicians. The chief tech, a Detective/First named Carlie…

“For Charles,” he explained.

…Epworth listened attentively while Kling told him that a Harbor Patrol Unit vessel had stopped two males and a female on the boat right here an hour or so before the abduction last…

“What’sher name again?” Epworth asked. “The vic?”

“Tamar Valparaiso.”

“Never heard of her,” he said. “Is she supposed to be famous or something?”

“Supposed to be,” Meyer said.

“Never heard of her,” Epworth said again.

“Anyway, it was only the two males who boarded theRiver Princess, is the name of the launch she was taken from. So we figure the female stayed behind on the boat here, at the wheel. And maybe she left some latents. On the wheel, is what I’m saying. The two males were wearing gloves, but they were up to no good. So maybe the female was more relaxed and got careless.”

“Okay,” Epworth said.

“Is just a suggestion,” Kling said.

“Wearing gloves when they boarded the launch, you mean, right?”

“Yeah, right, when they did the deed.”

“But maybe they took them off when they were on their way home, is another possibility,” Epworth said.

“Opportunities are running rife,” Meyer said.

“Might turn out to be my lucky day,” Epworth said, grinning. “What’d you say that launch was called?”

“TheRiver Princess. ”

“I think I saw a file on her back at the office.”

“Anybody get anything yet?”

“I don’t know. It was on another desk.”

“Cause this case is getting a lot of play, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“The papers, the media.”

“You gonna need us here?” Kling said.

“Leave me your card. I’ll get back one way or another.”

“We won’t be back in the office for a few hours,” Kling said. “Possible witness we’ve got to see.”

“To what? The snatch?”

“We’ve got a hundred and twelve of them.”

“Bold mother-fuckers, weren’t they?”

“Depends how you define it.”

“I didn’t say ‘brave,’ I said ‘bold.’ ”

“That they were. So when do you think you’ll be done here?”

Epworth looked at his watch.

“One, two o’clock, in there,” he said. “Depends on how clean she is.”

“We should be back home by then.”

“I’ll find you, don’t worry,” Epworth said. “Are the Feds in this yet?”

“Not yet,” Kling said.

“But you said it’s getting a lot of play, right?”

“Right.”

“They’ll come sniffing, you can bet on it,” Epworth said, and opened the gate on theHurley