A Spirited Gift

“Yep. You never know what people will do when they get desperate. I think Tim said they ran him over to the county jail this morning. Lucky thing for us that our Duck Police are on the ball!”

Chapter 24

I couldn’t get in the garage to take out Gramps’s old car and drive to Manteo. A tree had fallen from the neighbor’s yard, blocking the door. With so much going on, I hadn’t even noticed.

We rarely used the old garage, or the car for that matter. We usually walked or took the golf cart. Everything was close by in town, and the car was only for trips farther afield.

Like a trip to the county jail to bail out my father. I knew he wouldn’t have anyone else to come for him, and he’d done nothing wrong. If it had been anyone else mistakenly locked up, I would’ve called a police car to go and get him.

But I couldn’t do that in this case without a good explanation. I knew I couldn’t ask Gramps for help, and I didn’t want to involve Tim or any other friend for the same reason.

Kevin might be the one person I could turn to who wouldn’t go crazy when I told him about Danny. I hoped I could convince him not to tell Gramps yet. I knew he wouldn’t like keeping the secret but maybe just this one time.

I walked down to the Blue Whale—rehearsing what I’d planned to say like I was preparing to make a speech to the town council. I knew Kevin wouldn’t be happy that I’d been seeing my father and hadn’t said anything to him.

But other people I’d known all my life would be even more upset. All of them felt like they had a God-given right to know everything.

Two Duck police cars and three Dare County Sheriff cars were parked in the circle drive at the Blue Whale. At least twenty other cars—presumably belonging to the attendees of the botched mayor’s conference who’d returned at Chief Michaels’s insistence—surrounded them.

I noticed that the ruins of the crushed mermaid fountain were gone. I wondered what Kevin would choose to replace it. The mermaid fountain had been there since the Blue Whale first opened in the early 1900s. The museum had a picture on display of old Bunk Whitley standing in front by the fountain the day the inn opened.

Inside the inn, chaos reigned. I cringed at what Kevin must be going through and wasn’t sure I should ask him to drive me to Manteo after all. The unhappy, sometimes angry guests seemed to be complaining loudly from every corner of every room.

“Dae!” Barker Whiteside greeted me from the bar. “Come sit down! You look like I feel.”

I sat beside him on the bar stool. Marissa was getting drinks, finding pens and paper for guests to write on and doing whatever else was asked of her. She was clearly put out at having to do so much. “Can I get you something, Dae?” she asked.

“No, thanks. I came by to see if I could help you and Kevin get through this. I’m sorry it’s making so much extra work for you.”

She smiled though she still looked stressed. “I’m not complaining. At least I got to go home last night and check on my grandfather and the house. They were both fine. I think Grandpa slept through everything.”

“I’m glad. Just tell me what I can do to help.”

“Let me finish up here and we’ll take a look around. You’re a blessing, Dae.”

“What are you writing?” I asked Barker when Marissa turned to get Cokes for two other visitors. Everyone in the bar area seemed to be intently writing something on Blue Whale stationery.

“The police asked us to write down exactly where we were and what we were doing when Sandi was killed.” He put down his pen and took a sip of whatever he was drinking. “I can’t believe someone had the nerve to kill her while all of us were right here. What kind of cojones did that take?”

“I agree. And what can everyone say now but that they were stuffed in the lobby during the worst of the storm and didn’t really see anything?”

“Mayor?” Chief Michaels tapped me on the shoulder. “Could I have a word with you?”

We went down the hallway to the kitchen where Kevin was working with two assistants, making lunch for the group. He glanced at the chief in a questioning way and smiled at me. I made a mental note to approach the town council for money to cover this investigation. Despite what Gramps had said, there had to be a fair settlement for all this expense. It wasn’t Kevin’s fault that Sandi was killed here and the police chose to invite all the guests back again. I didn’t think he should feel responsible for what happened.

“What was going on in there just now?” Chief Michaels asked me when we reached a side corner of the large kitchen, away from the cooking area.

I thought back. “I was talking to Mayor Whiteside.”

“And what were you saying? If I hadn’t been walking by and heard you, every guest that was here would use the alibi you just gave Barker! You’re undermining the investigation. I know you want us to find who killed Mayor Foxx.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing.”