“I don’t just care about them. I know them. Jerry is not a killer.”
“You have much more experience with this type of thing than I do. And I can’t say I’m sorry about that. But my understanding is that you have found murderers among your friends and neighbors.”
“Yes. I-” Susan glanced back at the computer. “The Hancock Herald is on-line. You looked me up!”
“Yes. You have quite a bit of experience. So perhaps you will understand my next question. Do you believe we are all capable of murder?”
“Perhaps… under the right circumstances… mothers protecting their children… You think Jerry killed Allison!”
“I have, in fact, absolutely no opinion about that. Well, that’s not true. I believe he’s a very nice man and I hope he didn’t kill her. But, no, I can’t be sure he’s innocent. And the police are convinced he’s guilty. Your story about Kathleen’s assault must sound suspicious to them.”
“But-”
“Think about it. Compass Bay is a small resort. I understand the cottages are two-thirds full right now. So say there are close to thirty guests there. And full staff is twenty-seven…”
No wonder everything flowed so smoothly, Susan thought, distracted by the statistics.
“… so you’re telling me that almost sixty people were close by Mrs. Gordon lying on the beach and they did not spy her body. You, on the other hand, just happened to be there and find her.”
“You think I’m lying to you!”
“No, I don’t. But I think Mrs. Gordon loves her husband very much, and she is trying to direct the attention of the police away from him and came up with this fake assault to do so.”
“I can’t believe-” Susan started.
“I am perfectly aware of the fact that you don’t believe that. But, I’m afraid that’s what the police believe and the facts certainly can be read that way. Mrs. Henshaw… Susan… you had better work very hard and very quickly to find the real murderer. Because right now, everything points toward Jerry Gordon as the guilty party.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Susan was still upset when she arrived at Compass Bay. She didn’t bother to smile at Lila, working behind the front desk. She didn’t stop at the gift shop to see if Kathleen had called out. She didn’t even stop to see Kathleen. She stormed into her own cottage. Jed would make her feel better in this crisis as he had done in every crisis during the thirty years of their marriage.
If only he would wake up.
Miserable and impatient, Susan shook her husband awake. It wasn’t an easy task. He muttered and pulled away from her without opening his eyes.
“Jed! Wake up! You’ve been sleeping all afternoon. I need you.”
“Sus-” His right eye opened.
“Jed. We have a real problem. No one believes Kathleen was assaulted.”
“Kathleen… assaulted. Is she okay?” Both eyes were now open, but Susan stopped shaking him. When she found Kathleen on the ground, she had screamed. Everyone had come running. Everyone except for Jed.
“Have you been sleeping all afternoon?” Susan asked.
“I… all afternoon? What time is it?”
“It’s almost six o’clock. You were going to take a nap right after lunch.”
“I guess I did.” He sat up and shook his head. “I haven’t felt like this since I got drunk my freshman year of college.” He looked at his wife. “Did you say six o’clock?”
Susan glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. “Six-oh-three.”
“And Kathleen. You said she was hurt.”
“She was. Jed, you haven’t heard anything all afternoon?”
“I’ve been completely unconscious. Almost like I was drugged or something.”
“I’d bet anything that that’s just what happened to you. You were drugged. At lunchtime. By someone who didn’t want you to find Kathleen.”
Jed looked at his wife. “I don’t get it. I’m still a little woozy. Tell me what’s going on. From the beginning.”
“I went to see Jerry.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Sort of. He kept telling me that Kathleen and June were very much alike. It’s not true, of course. I’ve thought about that so many times since I saw him. Kathleen is almost nothing like June.”
“Of course she isn’t. Go on.”
Susan smiled, glad her husband agreed with her. “Anyway, while I was in town, I went into a bar. I know, it’s not like me, but I was thirsty and that’s not the point. The point is that the bartender had seen Allison and Jerry there together the afternoon before she was killed. They weren’t exactly getting along.”
“Let’s just hope he doesn’t tell this to all his customers.”
“True. Anyway, I came right back here to find Kathleen. I didn’t tell her what Jerry said about June, but I did want to see if she knew Jerry and Allison had been together. But I couldn’t find her anywhere. I was looking down on the beach when I saw her arm sticking out from beneath a kayak. She was unconscious. I screamed. Everyone in the place came. Well, everyone except you. I must have been upset. I should have realized you weren’t there. Did you know that the bride is a doctor?” she asked, changing the subject.
“No, go on. What had happened to Kathleen?”
“Someone hit her over the head. She thinks she was unconscious for quite a while.” Susan looked at her husband, waiting for his response.
“And no one else saw her in all that time?” he asked.
“That’s the problem,” Susan said. “No one did. I didn’t think of that. And neither did Kath. We called the police because we thought that the murderer must have been the one who hit her. Well, I still think that’s possible.”
“But the police don’t agree?”
“Of course not. Apparently everyone thinks Kathleen was just pretending to be hurt-despite the large lump on the back of her head-and no one is going to investigate anything. I went to see Frances Adams.”
“Again? The woman must be getting tired of us!”
“Maybe. But, although I didn’t like what she was saying, she did manage to get me to see what everyone else is thinking.
“Anyway, that’s the story of my day. It’s been horrible. Every time I think I’ve found something that might help Jerry, it has turned out to be just the opposite.”
“Where’s Kathleen now?”
“In her cottage. She’s sleeping, too. You know, I should check on her.”
“Good idea. You do that and I’ll use the bathroom and join you two. It sounds as though we could all use a drink before dinner.”
Susan hurried next door to the Gordons’ cottage, realizing, guiltily, that she should have checked on her friend’s condition before waking up Jed. Not bothering to knock, she opened the door and peeked in.
She need not have worried about disturbing Kathleen. A quick look around the room was all it took to be sure that her friend wasn’t there.
This time, she didn’t scream, although the room was in a shocking state. The bedding was on the floor, dresser drawers emptied onto the bare mattress, and looking through the open door into the bathroom, Susan could see makeup, shampoo, and the like spilled onto the countertop and tile floor.
“Good God!” Jed appeared in the doorway behind her.
“Kathleen’s missing,” Susan said.
“You’re sure she’s not just hiding under all this mess?”
“No. She may be hurt. Doesn’t it look to you as though there was a struggle?”
“It looks to me as though someone was searching for something.” He walked in and picked up a paperback from the floor and replaced it on the nightstand. “You know, this could all have happened after Kathleen left the cottage. She could be sitting on the beach reading a mystery novel or drinking some rum punch.”
“Or unconscious under a kayak,” Susan said. “Okay. Let’s look around. If we find her, fine. But we can’t search the beaches in both directions. If she doesn’t turn up right away, I say we call the police. Or Lila. Or maybe we should call Lila first and then call the police.”