I call Mac.
“I hear your Marine Patrol is coming here.”
“In a while,” I say. “Where are you?”
“I’m with my car. Do you need me to stay?”
Now I’m getting pissed. “Is there anyone else up there with you?” Besides my brand-spanking-new reserve deputy, I don’t add.
“Roger that,” he says, and the phone goes dead.
Jerk.
“I looked around the rocks, ma’am, but it might take a couple more guys to do a thorough search,” Deputy Davis tells me. “I saw a couple of soft drink and beer cans and put down flags to mark them.”
I don’t have to ask if he has crime scene flags in his backpack. He probably has a full forensic kit in there. I didn’t think of bringing anything. I didn’t even want to bring Ronnie of the blue power suit with me.
Five
Captain Marvel and one of his crew show up. They anchor the Integrity outside the cove and make their way to the shore in a bright yellow Saturn inflatable boat with a five-horsepower motor. The captain eases the inflatable near the rocks at the east end of the beach while his crewman jumps out and ties it off.
Captain Martin comes ashore last. He checks to see that the boat is tied up securely before heading in my direction. If this were a movie, there would be golden sunlight behind him. He’s wearing faded cargo pants, but his boots look as expensive as my car. He doesn’t say anything to me. Just looks the scene over. He smiles, and I can see why Ronnie is hung up on him. He has a square jaw, piercing cobalt-blue eyes, perfect white teeth, and wavy blond hair cut stylishly. The cargo pants are tight on his triathlon-built frame. I expect him to pose with a hand on his hip, his cape billowing out behind him. I unconsciously smooth my hair.
He nods toward the other deputy, who is wearing an almost identical getup. He’s the same size and build as Captain Marvel except he has long, curly brown hair.
The captain introduces us: “Deputy Floyd, Detective Megan Carpenter.”
“Floyd.”
“Detective.”
At least he didn’t call me “ma’am.”
Floyd digs into his backpack and pulls out full-body waders. They cover his legs and chest with straps going over his shoulders. He takes out a camera—not as nice as the one Deputy Davis has—and begins wading out to photograph the body from the water, then wades forward until he is only a few feet from it.
“Floyd brought a scuba outfit,” Captain Martin says. “He’ll check around out in the water while Crime Scene is working the beach.”
“That will be good.”
I call Mac again. “Has my crime scene guy arrived yet?”
“Yes,” he snaps. “I’ve been trying to call you, but your secretary wouldn’t give me your number.”
“Hold on,” I say, and ask the captain, “Can you go to the boat ramp and pick my guy up?” He nods and goes back to the inflatable.
“The coroner just got here,” Mac says.
“Captain Martin is going to meet them at the bottom of the boat ramp. Can you give the phone to Deputy Marsh?”
Ronnie gets on the line. “Deputy Copsey and the coroner are here, Megan.”
I hear the barely contained excitement in her words. “Captain Martin is coming to the boat ramp to pick up everyone. Are you finished taking the statement from Boyd?”
“Yes. Should I come with them?”
I ignore her question. “Did you let Boyd leave?”
“He let me search his car. I took pictures of the inside, the outside, the tires, and the plates. I got the information from his driver’s license and his address at the school. He wanted to leave. Said he had to get back to school, and if he wasn’t under arrest—”
“Okay, I get it. I would have you come with Crime Scene, but you’d have to do it barefoot.”
“They always have an extra pair of rubber boots on the boat.”
“Hang on.” I turn and raise my voice so Deputy Floyd can hear. “Does the captain have an extra pair of rubber boots on the inflatable?” He gives me the thumbs-up. I turn away again and say to Ronnie, “You can come, but you’re probably going to ruin your nice outfit.”
“It’s an old one.”
She says that like it’s disposable.
“What’s your cell phone number?” I realize I never asked that. She tells me. I don’t have to write it down. I’ll program it into my phone later. “Can you put Larsen on the phone? The coroner.”
Larsen gets on the phone. His voice never ceases to amaze me. He’s well past sixty, with longish white hair, a six-inch white beard, and laugh lines at the corners of his eyes—all topped off with a merry tone in his voice. He’s taller than me, which isn’t surprising, and thinner as well.
“I’m coming down, Megan,” Larsen says. “I haven’t been rock climbing in years. An adventure is in the making.”
“You don’t want to come that way.” I say this nicely. He can be grumpy if I try to tell him what to do. “I’ve sent a boat to pick you and Crime Scene up at the boat ramp.”
“Oh. Okay.” He sounds disappointed. He can be pigheaded too, but I can’t let him get hurt. Sheriff Gray would disapprove, and Larsen is the only one with authority to order the autopsy.
“I fell on the way down,” I say.
Not a lie.
“You would have to be lowered down in a sling,” I go on. I know he won’t go for that. He stays quiet.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I don’t do boats,” he says. “I get sick. Don’t repeat that to anyone.”
“We’ll bring the body to you, then.” It will be a while. He’ll have time to go home, have lunch, watch television or take a nap, then come back. Jeez. I really don’t like being in charge. I almost always work alone. This is why.
“How am I supposed to examine the scene from here?”
Good question. I want to tell him I can have him airlifted in, but I don’t want to get that sarcastic. He’s a good guy. I can count on him to give an honest off-the-record opinion.
I hear Ronnie start to chatter in the background.
“I can use FaceTime on my phone. I can hold the phone where the coroner can view the scene and the body.”
“Is that okay with you?” I ask him.
“If I can get a cell phone that has that Face-do-hickey on it.”
“Put Ronnie on.” I hear him asking in the background if she is Ronnie. Then she comes on the phone again. “Ronnie, give your phone to the coroner.”
It’s not long before Captain Marvel is back with Deputy Copsey and blue power suit girl, who is becoming my appendage. She is smiling and chatting everyone up, especially Captain Marvel, who is favoring her with his strong profile in tight pants. I reluctantly admit he’s a good-looking man.
Deputy Copsey is the first off the inflatable and helps Ronnie onto the shore. She’s wearing bright orange rubber boots at least four sizes too big. Captain Marvel hands off several plastic cases of gear to Copsey, then jumps off himself.
My phone rings. It’s Larsen wanting to know what’s going on.