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"Definitely Gus’s room is over here"
She led him down the little hall within the apart inside, she switched on the light The old captain’s bed was just as it had been She’d spent so up his clothes and donating them to the Salvation Ariven the room a once-over, too It was decorated with ships’ la harpoon and other memorabilia from the sea The walls were paneled, very ly He set his suitcase on the floor and said, "I guess you accept that I’itimate now?"
"Yes, I do"
He studied her for a iti at hi that subtle s it
She stepped back into the hallway Tall, dark and very handso
"Okay, thensee you in a few hours," she told him
She turned and walked the few steps down the hall that led to her own bedrooainst the door and realized she was shaking And she knew then that she was impossibly attracted to hi
"Blue, you’re supposed to come e need help!" she whispered aloud "And, Blue, I definitely need so he’d never really neededat the ceiling, going over everything he’d seen and everyone he’d met since he arrived He hadn’t wanted to alaronslayer had been used in some way Either that or the killer was a patron of the tavern
Dirk Most obvious suspect He ran a pirate ship He played a pirate daily
Sullivan? The bartender knew the place like few others
Aldous, Bootsie, Grant, Macy Bootsie was an old man Macy was a woman, which didn’t clear her, but the sexual activity the woed in--rape?--before death had been with a man Still, she could be in on it A facilitator
He wasn’t going to be able to sleep, so he got up and studied Gus’s room It made him wish he’d had the opportunity to know the man He’d evidently loved the river and history and ships His room wasn’t furnished with reproduction pieces; the lainal, probably worth a small fortune
When he opened the old sea chest at the foot of the bed, he saw that it contained neatly folded blankets Wandering around the small space, he discovered that the room didn’t have a closet, just an old oak armoire, but it had been emptied except for a few shirts and a woolen captain’s coat
There was one dresser in the roouessed was Abby as a child with her parents Another was of Abby and, surely, Gus Another was Abby’s college graduation photo She was young and beautiful, and her eyes were filled with the bright light of one anticipating the future
She still had that look about her, but noas tempered by loss The ih the acadeh of the brutality that could exist It hadn’t silenced the resilient, vibrant chord of life within her; she’d seen sorandfather’s death and was deteret to the root of it
And, she knew there was more in the world than as seen by most people Maybe she hadn’t had a lot of experience--but then, you didn’t really need a lot Once you’d experienced the dead appearing before you or speaking to you, you recognized that it was possible
He paused for a h he’d already been prying, hehere that will help us"
The first drawer held neatly folded briefs and nothingthrough Gus’s more personal items
In the second drawer he found T-shirts and two sets of long underwear Savannah, on the river, could get damply cold in winter
Third drawer contained jeans He looked under them
There was a newspaper neatly folded beneath the several layers of jeans Malachi glanced at the date--three months earlier He studied the paper A brief article on the bottoround!
He scanned the article, which was interesting; apparently, years ago, Savannah had teemed with life below the surface
He started to put the jeans back, deciding that, with more time, he’d refer back to the article As he held the jeans, he felt so in one of the pockets
He pulled out a s with a note "Police Found at bottoht person"
Curious, Malachi exaure out what the object was and then a chill see was s charred He had to open the bag and let it spill out before he sahat it was
A finger Presuain It had to ive it to the police But he’d wanted to talk to his granddaughter--so