Death at Gills Rock by Patricia Skalka

Author:Patricia Skalka [Skalka, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press

It was nearly noon when Cubiak finished with Agnes. He escorted her back to her cell, where a tray waited. In town, he picked up two turkey sandwiches, chips, and water and drove to Bathard’s. The doctor was in the boat barn. Perched on a board that was balanced between two work horses, his feet dangling off the ground, he pried a stubby strip of dried caulk from the hull of the Parlando and tossed it on the floor with the rest of the droppings from his morning’s labor.

“This is a pleasant surprise. Playing hooky?” Bathard said as Cubiak lowered the volume on Aida.

“It’s a working lunch.” The sheriff held up the white paper bag and circled the boat, peering at the gaps between the curved planks.

Bathard dropped off the scaffolding and rapped on the hull. “Hear that? Sounds hollow. When I’m done, it’ll have the fine timbre of a taut drumhead.” He pulled off his gloves. “You want to go to the house?”

“This is fine.” Cubiak handed a sandwich to his friend. “I don’t have a lot of time.”

“Something wrong?”

“Not necessarily wrong. But complicated.”

They stood at the counter and, as they ate, Cubiak told Bathard what he’d learned about Joe and the three dead friends from the widows and Agnes.

At one point, Bathard put down his lunch, inclined his head, and listened until Cubiak finished.

“Well.” The physician folded his arms to his chest and sighed. “I had no idea. But that was the whole point, wasn’t it? If they hadn’t conformed to societal norms, they’d have been ostracized and condemned. Now they’ll be condemned for a lifetime of deceit.” Bathard looked up. “This certainly casts a different light on their deaths.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t help clarify the circumstances. I still don’t know if Big Guy and the other two were murdered of if they died accidentally.”

“Agnes?”

“She killed Joe, but I believe her when she says she had nothing to do with the other three dying.”

“Assuming they were killed, you still think their deaths are connected with gambling?”

“I can’t rule it out yet. And it’s certainly one way of explaining why their incomes were so over the top.”

“You said Stella attributed their success, at least hers and Jasper’s, to hard work and luck. You have to allow for that possibility.”

“Lots of people work hard.” Cubiak crumpled the empty chip bag and tossed it into the trash.

“But not everyone in this world enjoys good luck.” Bathard brushed an invisible crumb off the counter. “Of course, there may be more to it than good fortune. Why is it, I wonder, that I see Huntsman’s trucks all over the peninsula? There are scores of plumbing firms around, good ones, too. You have to ask yourself why someone at the south end of the county would bypass local businesses and hire someone from forty miles away.”

“Longstanding friendship or even loyalty that stems from their service days might account for some of it. Maybe he charged less than the others.”

“Perhaps. But what about Swenson and Wilkins? They seem to have been fairly adept at empire building as well.

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