Plum Island

their government life insurance. There is also a will, very simple, again naming each other, parents and siblings and so forth.'

I nodded. 'Good detail work.'

'Right. Okay… nothing interesting on the walls… family photos, reproduction art, diplomas.'

'How about an attorney?'

'On the wall?'

'No, Beth-an attorney… who is their attorney?'

She smiled at me and said, 'You don't like it when people are smart-ass with you, do you? But you-'

'Please continue. Attorney.'

She shrugged and said, 'Yes, we found the name of an attorney in Bloomington, Indiana, so we'll contact him.' She added, 'I spoke to both sets of parents on the phone… This is the part of the job I don't like.'

'Me neither.'

'I talked them out of coming here. I explained that as soon as the medical examiner finished, we'd send the remains to whatever funeral home they wanted. I'll let Max tell them we may need to keep a lot of personal stuff until we, hopefully, wrap it up, go to trial, and all that.' She added, 'It's all so rough, you know, when you have a murder… death is bad enough. Murder is… well, hard on everyone.'

'I know.'

She pulled another sheet of paper toward her and said, 'I made inquiries about the Spirochete with the DEA, Coast Guard, and even Customs. Interesting that they all knew this boat-they pay attention to these Formulas. Anyway, as far as everyone was concerned, the Gordons were clean. The Spirochete was never spotted in the open Atlantic as far as anyone recalls, and there was never any suspicion that the boat was engaged in smuggling; drug running, or any other illegal activity.'

I nodded. 'Okay.' Not quite true, but not worth mentioning right now.

Beth continued, 'For your information, the Formula 303 SR-1 has a draft of thirty-three inches, which will get it into reasonably shallow water. It carries eighty-eight gallons of fuel and has twin 454 cubic inch MerCruiser engines putting out 350 horsepower. It can reach speeds of seventy-five miles per hour. Cost, new, is about ninety-five thousand dollars, but this was a used one and the Gordons bought it for seventy-five thousand.' She looked up from the report and said, 'This is a top-of-the-line craft, much more than the Gordons could afford to buy and maintain, and more than they needed to commute-sort of like buying a Ferrari for a station car.'

I said, 'You've been busy.'

'Yes, I have. What did you think I was doing?'

I ignored the question and said, 'I think we can rule out drug running and all that. As for the Gordons buying a performance boat, it may be that they didn't need the performance on a daily basis, but they wanted the capability, just in case.'

'In case of what?'

'In case they were chased.'

'Who would chase them? And why?'

'I don't know.' I took a cinnamon donut and bit into it. 'Good. Did you make this?'

'Yes. I also made the creme-filled donuts, the eclairs, and the jelly donuts.'

'I'm impressed, but the bag says Nicole's Bakery.'

'You're some detective.'

'Yes, ma'am. What else do you have?'

She moved some papers around and said, 'I got the DA to subpoena the Gordons' phone records for the last two years.'

I sat up. 'Yes?'

'Well, as you'd expect, a lot of calls back home-parents, friends, relatives, and so forth-Indiana for Tom, Illinois for Judy. Lots of calls to Plum Island, service people, restaurants, and on and on. A few calls to the Peconic Historical Society, calls to Margaret Wiley, two to the Maxwell residence, one to Paul Stevens at his Connecticut home, and ten calls to you over the last twelve weeks.'

'That would be about right.'

'It is right. Also, about two or three calls a month to Tobin Vintners in Peconic as well as Fredric Tobin in Southold and Fredric Tobin in Peconic.'

I said, 'The gentleman has a house on the water in Southold and keeps an apartment at the winery, which is in Peconic.'

She looked at me. 'How do you know all that?'

'Because Emma-the president of the Peconic Historical Society, who just left-is a close friend of Mr. Tobin. Also, I was invited to a party at His Lordship's waterfront home tomorrow night. I think you should be there.'

'Why?'

'It's a good opportunity to chat with some locals. Max will probably be there.'

She nodded. 'Okay.'

'You should get the details from Max. I don't actually have a formal invite.'

'Okay.'

'Phone calls.'

She looked down at her sheets of computer printouts and said, 'In May of last year, there were four phone calls from London, England, charged to their phone credit card… one each to Indiana and Illinois, one to the general number on Plum Island, and a forty-two-minute call to Fredric Tobin in Southold.'

'Interesting.'

'What's with Mr. Fredric Tobin?'

'I'm not sure.'

'Tell me the part you're sure of.'

'I think you were giving a report, and I don't want to interrupt.'

'No, it's your turn, John.'

'I'm not playing that game, Beth. You finish, just as if you're briefing a roomful of bosses. Then I'll tell you what I.'ve discovered.'

She thought a moment, clearly not wanting to be bamboozled by John Corey. She asked me, 'Do you have anything?'

'I do. I truly do. Proceed.'

'Okay… where was I?'

'Phone records.'

'Yes. There are twenty-five months' worth here, which is about a thousand calls, and I'm having them computer-analyzed. I did turn up an interesting fact-when the Gordons got here in August two years ago, they first rented a house in Orient, near the ferry, then moved to the Nassau Point house only four months later.'

I asked, 'Was the Orient house on the water?'

'No.'

'There's the answer. Within four months of coming here, they decided they needed a house on the water and a dock and a boat. Why?'

'That,' said Beth, 'is what we're trying to figure out.'

'Right.' I'd already figured it out. It had to do with the Gordons somehow discovering that something on Plum Island needed to be found and dug up. So, way back in the autumn of two years ago, the first part of the plot- getting a house on the water, then a boat-was already in place. I said to Beth, 'Proceed.'

'All right… Plum Island. They're being cute there, and I had to get rough with them.'

'Good for you.'

'I had the entire contents of the Gordons' office transported by ferry to Orient Point, then loaded on a police truck, and transported to the Suffolk County lab.'

'The taxpayers of the county will be happy to hear that.'

'Also, I had their office fingerprinted and vacuumed and had a padlock put on it.'

'My goodness. You're thorough.'

'This is a double homicide, John. How do you handle a double homicide in the city?'

'We call the Department of Sanitation. Please proceed.'