We looked at each other a minute without speaking. He seemed uncomfortable with the silence, and showed it by making small talk. “You’re making quite a name for yourself as a cook.”
“I won’t lie, I enjoy it.”
“You don’t look like a cook, though.”
“No?”
“Is it stressful looking after that old place?”
“Why do you ask?”
He smiled. “Couple of folks saw your car parked on A1A a few times, thought they might have seen you lying on the sand dunes.”
“Is that illegal?”
“Closer to the beach it is. But not where you go, as far as I know.”
I nodded.
“It’s dangerous, is what it is,” he said.
“How so?”
“Lot of fire ants in that area, as I guess you know. It’s right near the spot where that young man nearly died from fire ant bites.”
“You know anything about him?” I said.
“He’s not from around here, is all I know. That, and the fact he got roasted in your fire pit.”
“I heard he’s going to be okay,” I said.
“I heard the same thing.”
“Mayor Bradford—”
“Please,” he said. “If we’re finally getting to it, you might as well call me Carl.”
“Okay then, Carl.”
He shifted in his chair. “What can I do for you, Donovan?”
“You can tell me about Libby Vail.”
He didn’t flinch. I know because I was watching to see if he would. Instead, he smiled and said, “Well, I don’t know much more than what you’re likely to have heard. Libby was a Liberal Arts major at Penn State,” he said. “Her roommate told the police that Libby had planned to come here to research her roots.”
“She thought she was descended from pirates.”
“Gentleman Jack Hawley,” he said.
I nodded. “You folks have a monthly celebration in Libby’s honor. People come from all over the world.”
“They do,” he said.
“It’s good for business.”
“As it turns out, it is. But that’s not the only reason we celebrate Libby’s life. We do it to keep her memory alive. The whole town has sort of adopted her.”
“I guess most young people want to leave small towns like St. Alban’s,” I said. “But Libby wanted to come here.”
“Well, I don’t imagine she was planning to settle down here or anything.”
“I didn’t get to see the Pirate Parade yesterday,” I said, “but I saw the pictures in the paper this morning.”
“Sorry you missed it,” he said. “It’s quite an event.”
“I was particularly interested in the picture of the pirate ship float,” I said.
“What about it?”
“That’s Hawley’s ship, right?”
He rubbed his face with his right hand and yawned. “Sorry,” he said. “Long weekend, too much grog.”
He winked.
I nodded.
“Yeah, they’ve had that float forever,” he said. “It’s supposed to be
“In the news photo, on the bridge of the boat, there’s a pretty young woman standing next to the pirate.”
Mayor Bradford raised an eyebrow. “She’s quite a looker,” he said. Then he added, “But so is your Rachel.”
“I’m quite happy with Rachel,” I said. “What I was wondering about is the significance of the girl on the pirate ship. From what I’ve read about pirates, they didn’t often allow women on board their ships.”
For the first time since I’d entered his office, Mayor Bradford’s face registered concern. He bit the top corner of his lip. “I don’t believe there’s any historical significance to it,” he said. “I think they’re just using the float as an
