The Mollie McGhie Sailing Mysteries

6. 5 - EMERGENCY CHOCOLATE-1

6 5 - EMERGENCY CHOCOLATE

“Did you just say Captain Dan is dead? Are you sure?” Scooter asked as he stepped toward me, clutching the winch handle in his hand.

“Of course I’m sure,” I said.

“But how do you know?”

“Just trust me on this. You really don’t want me to describe what I saw.” Scooter took a few more cautious steps. I pointed the flashlight down on the floor near the V-berth. “Watch out—you’re going to get blood on your shoes.”

“Blood?” he asked in a shaky voice.

I shined the flashlight directly at Scooter. He just stood there with his mouth open, staring in horror at the floor. “I think that might be blood on the winch handle too,” I said.

He gasped and dropped the handle on the table. He was never very good with blood. Every time Scooter cut his finger, he would close his eyes and scream for me to bandage it up quickly so he didn’t have to see the blood. Don’t even get me started on the time he cut open his forehead and needed stitches.

“Why don’t you go sit down on the couch? I’ll call the police.” I dug my cell phone out of my purse and dialed 911. While I was talking to the dispatcher, I pointed the light at Scooter. He was looking rather pale. I ended the call and sat next to him. “They’ll be here in just a few minutes. In the meantime, we’re supposed to sit tight.”

I pulled a Hershey’s bar out of my purse and broke off a piece. “Here, have some. It’ll make you feel better.” I always keep a supply of chocolate handy for emergencies. Scooter nodded, ate the chocolate, then put his head between his hands. I squeezed his arm and passed him a few more pieces of chocolate.

“It’ll be okay, Scooter. Why don’t I get you something to drink?” I cautiously made my way back to the galley to get a bottle of water. Waving the flashlight from side to side, I hoped I wouldn’t run across any more unpleasant surprises. I stopped in my tracks when the narrow beam of light illuminated a shiny object on the floor. Praying it wasn’t something else covered in blood, I bent down and shined the flashlight directly on it. To my relief, it was just a pink fingernail. I picked it up to examine it more closely.

“Hello, is anyone down there? This is the police,” a loud voice boomed.

“Yes, we’re down here with the body.” I looked at Scooter, worried he might faint at the mention of a body. He stared into space blankly and held out his hand for more chocolate.

“All right, ma’am. We’re coming on board. Step aside.”

It’s not easy to step aside in a boat. I squeezed as far into the galley as I could, while a burly man climbed down the ladder, followed by a petite woman carrying a large black plastic case. The man said briskly, “Sir, ma’am, I’m Chief Dalton and this is Officer Moore. Officer Moore is going to have a look around while I ask you some questions.” He reached up and flicked the overhead light on.

“I thought the lights weren’t working,” Scooter said. I think he had been hoping they still didn’t work. He closed his eyes so he could avoid looking at the blood on the floor and on the winch handle.

Officer Moore stepped into the galley and set the case on the counter. “We noticed your shore power cord had been disconnected, so we plugged it back in.”

Chief Dalton asked us what we knew about Captain Dan and why he was on our boat, our whereabouts prior to discovering the body, and when and why we’d purchased Marjorie Jane. I told him about the break-in earlier and Captain Dan’s theory that it had been high school kids. He scribbled down notes while Officer Moore took photographs.

Once he was done questioning us, he told us to wait on the patio while they examined the boat and removed the body.

* * *

Scooter slumped into a chair and I passed him the rest of the chocolate. While he scraped every last morsel from the wrapper, I looked around the patio, wondering if someone who had been at the barbecue earlier in the night had killed Captain Dan.

A small crowd had gathered, watching the police go back and forth between the parking lot and B Dock. Sandy and Jack stood at the edge of the group. Sandy appeared agitated, pulling on Jack’s arm and whispering something in his ear. Everyone gasped as two officers wheeled a gurney with a body bag on it past them.

Sandy hurried over to us, Jack in tow. “Did you see that?” she asked, pulling up a chair next to mine. “I wonder if Mr. Kennedy had a heart attack. Did you know he’s in his late eighties and still living aboard his boat? He’s been having heart problems for years.”

“No, I don’t think it was Mr. Kennedy,” I said, glancing at Scooter to see how he was holding up. He was searching through my purse, presumably looking for more chocolate. I leaned over to Sandy and whispered, “Captain Dan was murdered on our boat.”

Sandy shrieked, “Captain Dan was murdered? Are you sure?” Everyone on the patio turned and stared at her.

Scooter dumped the contents of my purse on the table and pawed through them. “Where’s the rest of the chocolate?” he muttered.

Sandy tugged Jack’s arm. “Did you hear that? Captain Dan is dead.”

Jack looked at her quietly for a few moments. “It’s not really a great loss, is it?” He walked over to the boardwalk and gazed blankly out at the water.

The color drained from Sandy’s face as she wiped away tears. She probably could use some chocolate too. Clearly, I wasn’t prepared for a chocolate emergency of this magnitude.

Ned and Nancy pushed through the crowd and walked over to us. They looked like they had just woken up. Nancy was wearing a fleece robe cinched tightly over her nightgown. Ned had a matching robe over striped pajamas.

Nancy eyed the police officers milling around the patio. “Is it true that Captain Dan was found murdered on your boat? At this time of night?” she asked, peering over her reading glasses. I had a feeling she thought murders should be scheduled ahead of time at a more convenient hour. The way she was staring at me, I wondered if she was going to make a citizen’s arrest for disturbing the peace, or rather disturbing her peace.

“It’s true. I found him in the V-berth.”

Nancy frowned and made tsk-tsk sounds. Ned looked woozy. He grabbed onto the back of a chair to steady himself.

Chief Dalton marched toward us, followed by Officer Moore, who was still carrying the black case.

“Mr. and Mrs. Schneider,” Chief Dalton said. He pulled a notebook out of his pocket. It wasn’t a question, but Ned and Nancy nodded while the chief scribbled something down. “A Daniel Robert Smith was found dead aboard a boat named Marjorie Jane.” More nodding. “I understand Mr. Smith was a boat broker at the marina.” Ned and Nancy continued to nod. I was beginning to like Chief Dalton’s effect on Nancy.

The burly man flipped over a page in his notebook. “Is it true that the two of you had an argument with Mr. Smith earlier in the evening?”

Nancy stopped nodding. “Now, just you wait a minute here, mister,” she said, jabbing the chief in his stomach with her long nails. The stout man looked down at her hand. She jabbed him again. “The people you should be talking to are them.” She stopped jabbing his stomach and pointed at us. I pulled back in my chair, worried she might poke me in the eye with her fingernail. “They bought Marjorie Jane from Captain Dan, realized after the fact that they got conned, and then ‘discovered’ his body on their boat.” She used her fingers to make air quotes around the word “discovered,” then jabbed Chief Dalton in the stomach again for emphasis.

Ned seized Nancy by the shoulder and pulled her back. “Hang on there a minute, honey. There’s no need to get worked up. The police chief is just doing his job.” He looked over at the beleaguered man. “Maybe we could continue this inside our office?”

Chief Dalton snapped his notebook shut. “That sounds fine, sir. While we’re at it, we’ll need you to make a list of everyone who was at the marina tonight.”

Ned nodded while Nancy glared at me.

The chief pointed at the marina office. “After the two of you.” Before following them, he looked at us. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to get back onto your boat until sometime tomorrow. Why don’t you head home for the night? We’ll follow up with you in the morning with any additional questions we may have.” Scooter appeared relieved. He didn’t want to get back on a boat covered in blood anytime soon.

Then it hit me. This was our way out. There was no way that Scooter was going to want to keep Marjorie Jane after this. He’d have to agree to sell her to Penny now, although selling a boat that someone had been murdered on might not be so easy. I thought about this while I put everything back in my purse that Scooter had dumped out.

Sandy snagged a pack of tissues off the table before I could put them away. “Do you mind?”

“No, they’re all yours.” She wiped her eyes and then blew her nose. “I just can’t believe he’s dead.”

Jack wandered back to the table. “Come on, Sandy. The police said it’s okay for us to head back to our boat.” He walked down the dock without waiting for her.

Sandy got up and gave me a hug. “Thanks for being so understanding, Mollie.”

I hugged her back. “I’ll come by tomorrow and check to see how you’re doing.” I silently cursed Jack for ignoring Sandy. His wife was falling to pieces and he didn’t seem to care. Then again, he didn’t really seem to care that Captain Dan had been murdered either.

* * *

The next morning, Chief Dalton called and asked us to come to the police station. As we drove down Main Street, I pointed at Penelope’s Sugar Shack. “That’s where I bought the brownies for the potluck yesterday. They were good, weren’t they? Captain Dan had a couple of them. That’s the kind of last supper I’d like to have.”

Scooter gripped the steering wheel tightly while he pulled up in front of the police station. It was painted bright blue and had flower baskets hanging from the windowsills, like the rest of the buildings on Main Street. It almost felt cheerful until I remembered why we were there.

Officer Moore greeted us and ushered us into the chief’s office. After exchanging a few pleasantries, we tried to make ourselves comfortable in the hard wooden chairs in front of his desk. He reached into a cardboard box and pulled out a large plastic bag. He placed it on the desk with a thud. Inside the bag, I saw the winch handle that had killed Captain Dan. It was still covered in blood.

Scooter pushed his chair back. I reached into my purse, grabbed a bag of Peanut M&M’S, and passed them to him.

Chief Dalton looked at Scooter popping M&M’S rapidly into his mouth and raised his right eyebrow. “What can you tell me about this winch handle?” he asked, raising his eyebrow even higher.

I hadn’t really noticed with all the commotion and the dim lighting yesterday, but he had the bushiest eyebrows I had ever seen in my life. They were fascinating in a strange sort of way, conjuring up visions of two dark, fuzzy caterpillars playing tug-of-war on his forehead.

Scooter crumpled up the empty M&M’S bag and tossed it in the trash can. “Is that the winch handle that, um, you know…”

“Killed Captain Dan?”

Scooter shifted in his seat and nodded.

“It is,” Chief Dalton said. “What can you tell me about it?”

“It isn’t ours. I mean, it doesn’t belong to Marjorie Jane.”

“Go on.”

“Well, Marjorie Jane came with two winch handles. I saw them both when I did the original inventory with Captain Dan a few days ago. This isn’t one of them. It’s designed to fit a much larger winch.”

“So you’re saying that you had never seen this before last night.”

“Yes, that’s correct. I mean no, that’s not correct.” Scooter took a deep breath. “What I mean to say is that we did see this handle earlier in the evening. Mollie almost tripped over it. But it wasn’t covered in…” Scooter clenched the sides of the chair.