Twice Dead - Catherine Coulter [72]
“Yeah, I’d like to talk to you a moment, Ms. Powell. I believe now that the skeleton that fell out of your basement wall is Melissa Katzen.” He rubbed his forehead. “I didn’t think old Jacob was that vicious. Bashing a young girl in the face—now that isn’t right.”
“Sheriff,” Adam said, coming up behind Becca, “I was thinking about that. You said she was supposed to elope. Any leads on her boyfriend?”
“Nope, nobody remembers her ever dating. Isn’t that weird? Why would she keep it secret? That doesn’t make any sense to me or to my wife, Maude. She thinks that a young girl would be really proud to show off a boyfriend.”
“Maybe the boyfriend didn’t want her to show him off,” Becca said. “Maybe he told her to keep quiet.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know, Sheriff. I wish I did.”
“Rachel Ryan remembers her, said she was really nice, nothing new there. She also said that Melissa didn’t ever dress in sexy clothes. She was surprised when I told her about the Calvin Klein jeans and that skimpy pink top. She couldn’t remember Melissa ever wearing anything suggestive. Maybe you’re right, Ms. Powell. Maybe it was her boyfriend. But you know? I can see a cute young girl waltzing over into Jacob Marley’s yard, him seeing her and getting all het up. Did he smash her?”
Becca said, “Maybe she was off to meet her boyfriend and coming into Jacob Marley’s yard was a shortcut.”
“Ain’t no shortcut to anywhere,” said Sheriff Gaffney. “The back of the Marley property trails off into thick woods and finally stops at the ocean.”
“Maybe,” Sherlock said, “the jeans and top were her cute traveling clothes. Maybe she did intend to elope, maybe she decided at the last minute that she didn’t want to and this boy got mad and killed her.”
Sheriff Gaffney said slowly, “Who are you?”
“Oh, sorry, Sheriff,” Adam said. “Sherlock and Savich here are friends of mine. They stopped in for a while to visit the town.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am. Now, that’s not a bad idea. I guess I’d have to say that for a woman you deduced that real logically, probably better than most other women.”
Savich, who heard that, wondered if Sherlock was going to take a flying leap at the sheriff’s throat.
“Yeah,” Sherlock said thoughtfully, “I’m a lot better than poor Becca here, who can barely find her way to the Food Fort without some guy explaining the poisonous plant streets to her.”
“That was sarcasm,” Sheriff Gaffney said after a moment. “I know that was sarcasm. I’ve never believed women should have smart mouths.”
Before Sherlock could leap on the sheriff, Adam said, “Are there DNA tests being done?”
The sheriff shook his head. “Still trying to track down her father. No luck yet. Mrs. Ella remembers an aunt, lives in Bangor now. Maybe she read about the skeleton and was the one who made the anonymous call. I’ve got to track her down.” Sheriff Gaffney sighed and patted the gun at his wide leather belt that was really cutting into his gut today. “But we can’t count on the skeleton being Melissa, even though I’ve made up my mind that it is, so we’re looking into other things as well.” Sheriff Gaffney leaned his considerable weight back on his heels. “Now, folks, the reason I’m here is to ask about these guys I’ve seen on and off around Riptide. No, don’t lie to me. I know they’re with you, Mr. Savich. Would you like to tell me what’s going on?”
At that moment, the phone in the living room rang.
Tinny, sharp, and too loud, and Becca dropped her coffee cup.
“Becca didn’t get much sleep last night,” Adam said easily, and picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Hello, moron. You found my present?”
“Why, yes, I did. Where are you now?”
“I want to speak to Rebecca.”
“Sorry, she’s not here. It’s just me. What do you want?”
The phone went dead.
“It was a salesman,” Adam said, all smooth and easy. “The guy wanted to sell Becca some venetian blinds.” He shrugged. “What was it you wanted to know, Sheriff?”
The sheriff had not taken his eyes off Savich. “Those guys around town. Who are they, Mr. Savich?”
“You found me out, Sheriff,” Savich said. “Actually, my wife