“Not at all. The other day at Woolsey’s office, the things you knew, the way you spoke and reacted-I don’t know, gut feeling, I suppose. I found myself thinking that you had dated a cop.”
“Well, I hadn’t. Dated, I mean. And it doesn’t matter, anyway.”
“No. And it’s not my business.”
“No, it’s not!” I said with indignation.
He didn’t hide his amusement at that.
42
H.G. GAVE ME PERMISSION TO BORROW A CONFERENCE ROOM FOR A couple of hours. I gathered some colored scrap paper, scissors, and tape together, then left a note for O’Connor and went to work. By the time O’Connor walked into the conference room, I was separating a string of paper dolls. “Good God,” he said, halting in the doorway.
“Come in,” I said, “I’m trying to figure something out.”
“What grade are you in?”
“Very funny. Have a seat. I need to make a dog, a boat, and some cars.”
He started looking over the layout on the table. I’ll admit it looked like a poor imitation of a Playskool village that had met up with a steamroller.
“It’s the first Friday in January 1958,” I said.
I pointed out the locations first. White sheets of paper I had labeled cabin, marina, farm, Linworth mansion, in-laws’ mansion, Katy’s house, Warren’s location, and unknown.
Next, I showed him my blue, golden rod, and lavender paper dolls. The blues ones were labeled Rose, Jack, Katy, Todd, Thelma, and Barrett. A smaller one was labeled Baby-I hadn’t been able to make myself write “Max” on it. I finished the paper dog and put him with Katy.
“Victims in blue?” O’Connor asked.
“Yes-innocent ones, anyway. There are some dead people in these other groups, too.” The goldenrod ones were labeled Gus, Bo, Lew, and Betty. I put question marks on all but one of the lavender dolls. That one was labeled Boss.
“God, do those colors look horrid together,” O’Connor said with a wince.
“You want to be an art critic, we’ll put you in charge of the funny pages.”
“Some days, I think they make more sense than the front page. Are you going to tell me what you’re doing?”
“Wait-I’m almost done.” I cut out eight green rectangles. I labeled six of them Buick, Imperial, Ducanes’ car, Katy’s car, Bel Air, and Sea Dreamer. I put question marks on the seventh and eighth.
I surveyed my handiwork and said, “I’ve been hearing about what went on that weekend, but I haven’t been able to work out the logistics or get an overall picture.”
He frowned, then moved all of the people except the baby, Gus, Boss, Rose, and the question marks to the Linworth mansion. Good. He was going to play.
“Don’t forget their cars,” I said. He moved the Bel Air and both Ducane cars over to the Linworths’ as well.
I put Rose, the baby, and Gus in the Ducane house and parked the Imperial nearby.
“Let’s start with Jack,” I said. “I think his being taken from the party was one of the first things to happen.” I put Jack, Betty, Lew, and Bo in the Bel Air. “We don’t know where they took him for round one of the beating, or how long that went on, but eventually they drove out of town and left him on the farm.”
I drove it along the tabletop, past the marsh and out to the farm, resisting the temptation to make car sounds. “What time did you say he was taken from the party?” I asked.
“No one noted the exact time. Between eleven and midnight.”
“Just before Katy and Todd left the party with Todd’s parents, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay-so probably before Jack is dumped out of the car at the farm, the Ducane party is on its way to the boat.”
“Yes, that sounds right,” O’Connor said. “Except they stopped off at Thelma and Barrett’s mansion first.”
“Yes. Katy and her in-laws were in separate cars,” I said, putting Katy, Todd, and the dog in the paper roadster. “We know they stopped by her in-laws’ mansion, because Katy’s car was found there and Thelma and Barrett’s car was found at the marina.”
I moved Katy’s roadster to the paper marked in-laws’ mansion, and brought Thelma and Barrett’s car there, too.
“Did Katy and Todd ever get any farther than the mansion, though?” O’Connor asked.
“I don’t know. Someone was waiting for them, either at the in-laws’ place or at the marina. The marina is more likely.”
“Why?”
O’Connor agreed that a stranger’s car would look less out of place there, and less likely to draw attention than in the Ducanes’ neighborhood. It would be darker at the marina, even darker in 1958 than it was now.
“So let’s say they all get into the in-laws’ car, and Thelma or Barrett drives.” I left Katy’s roadster at the in- laws’ mansion. I moved all four people, the dog, and the elder Ducanes’ car to the marina. I put a couple of the question-mark figures there, along with the Buick and the Sea Dreamer. I frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just trying to picture the seating arrangement in the Buick. I talked to Lefebvre.” I told him what Lefebvre had said about where the bloodstains were.
He got a distant look in his eyes, as if he was trying to picture the car and occupants. “You don’t really need the bloodstains to see it. A man working alone wouldn’t leave Todd and Katy together in the backseat. They might attack, or try to escape. The killer forced Katy or Todd to drive, and rode in the backseat with the other hostage.”
“And the other man took Thelma and Barrett out to sea?”
“Yes.”
“How did he get back ashore?” I asked. I picked up a piece of paper and started shaping it with the scissors.
“You’re making a second boat?”
“There had to be one, and someone else to operate it while the killer was aboard the Sea Dreamer. They left the Sea Dreamer adrift and returned to shore in the smaller boat.”
“No-too many people. They wouldn’t involve so many.”
“Are you kidding? They used three people to beat up Jack.”
“They had to get him away from a party-the middle of a crowd. They had to make sure he wasn’t going to interfere with their plans for Katy. And he had a reputation for being able to defend himself.”
“I hear you used to finish his fights for him.”
“Not true, especially not when he was younger. He finished plenty on his own. And for that matter, they might have assumed I’d be with him that night.”
“True. Lucky you weren’t.”
“I happen to disagree. If I had been there…but there’s no use wishing it.”
We talked it over, and decided that Lefebvre’s theory made sense-that the original plan had been to keep Jack alive, a plan which had only been altered when Bo Jergenson had left him in the wrong place. There was no other explanation we could think of for moving Jack from the farm to the swamp.
“Back to the Sea Dreamer,” I said. “If you’re right, how does the killer get back to shore?”
“He didn’t need to abandon it far from shore. The storm probably took the Sea Dreamer farther out than he left it. He could have been closer and used a scuba suit.”
“Okay, I like the scuba idea. Less manpower and fewer boats involved.”
We talked about the possibility that all four of the Ducanes and the dog went aboard, and weren’t taken
