Three Dog Island Read online

  He nodded, swallowing hard as if to gulp back tears.

  “Maybe in a couple weeks we can take a trip down to see her, via Olympia.”

  Suddenly he was back to smiling. I didn’t know if it was the thought of seeing his mother or his grandfather that meant more to him.

  “Jenny, where should I put—?” He motioned toward his things.

  “I’d say keep most of them here at Charlie’s. My hunch is that once you sign up for a team and start playing with Charlie’s band, this will be where you are most of the time. If Charlie has to go out of town, you can always walk over to MacGregor’s. He’ll give you a key because your weights are set up there anyway.”

  “And if they both go out of town?”

  “You can come up to the island. Or I can come down here. Don’t worry, we’ll work it out. Are three bedrooms too many?”

  He shook his head. He was not going to complain under any circumstance. Nor was he going to ask the questions that were on the tip of his tongue—if this was causing us any inconvenience; if he was a burden.

  “Make that four bedrooms. You’ll have Matthew’s dorm room as a back up. To tell you the truth, I have a feeling we’ll be fighting over you.” I was hoping to put his mind at ease.

  “Aye, I think she’s right about that,” Charlie said, coming into the room. “You make yourself at home here, laddie. If you need anything else, you just let me know.”

  Josh looked around the room at the double bed, dresser, desk, television, computer, and posters of jazz musicians, no doubt wondering what more he could possibly need. Come to think of it, I didn’t remember there being a computer or television in this room. And I was relatively certain that Cameron did not have posters of jazz musicians lining his walls when he was a teenager. My brother was infatuated with cars and girls, not jazz.

  “And after you finish your home schooling,” Charlie was saying, “you can attend a local university.”

  Josh grinned. “If I can get in.”

  “Oh, you’ll get in all right, laddie. Between Malcolm and me, we’ll make certain of it.”

  “You and Mac will pull some strings?”

  Charlie gently slapped Josh on the back of the head. Yep, he was definitely part of the McNair family now. “Aye, we’ll pull some strings—yours, to make sure you do your studying.”

  Josh was beaming when I left Charlie’s and walked across the street. MacGregor had convinced me to stay for dinner and to spend the night. No arm twisting was necessary.

  The four of us went to the pub. Charlie and his band, The Covenant Stompers, were playing. Josh joined them for a couple songs that he knew. Watching him up there with my father, I had no doubt that he was where he belonged. I also had no doubt I was correct in thinking we would be fighting over him.

  * * *

  The following morning I reluctantly left MacGregor’s warm and welcoming bed. It was tempting to stay another night, but there were things I needed to take care of on the island, not the least of which was to deliver Jasper’s sculpture to Emilio.

  While Josh still slept, Charlie came out to say good-bye to Rocky and me. “Just got off the phone with the Kirkwood Police Commissioner.”

  “And?”

  “He assured me that they are seeking a lifetime conviction against Mark Simpson. He killed one of their own. They’ll make sure he pays for it. And it looks like you broke open a huge network of corruption, lassie.”

  “We,” I corrected, motioning toward him and MacGregor.

  They both gave me a skeptical look along with full credit.

  “They’ll be investigating several coppers up and down the coast,” Charlie continued.

  “Including Dan Grulen, I assume.”

  “I gave them his name and pointed out the urgency. Just watch your back until they put the lout away. Could take a day or two. It wouldn’t hurt to inform your sheriff friend of what’s going on.”

  “I will, Charlie. Take care of Josh.”

  “Will do, Jenny ”

  “I invited him to come back to the island with me but he turned me down, you know.”

  “Aye, doesn’t want to miss our jam session tonight.”

  I hugged my father. “You’re the best, Charlie McNair. You know that?”

  “Aye, so I’ve been told.” My modest father.

  “Look away, Charlie. “ MacGregor leaned down to kiss me through the open window. “Will you be okay without me?” he asked, smiling mischievously. “I’ll come up tomorrow evening.”

  “I think I can manage for one night. How do you get away so easily anyway?”

  “I co-teach all my courses. We have a team of lecturers. It’s the only way I can work for the University. They fit their schedule around mine.”

  “They must really want you.” Not that I blamed them.

  “Mmm.” He didn’t disagree. “I work because I want to, McNair. Always have.”

  “You mean you’re independently wealthy?”

  “Precisely.” There was no teasing in his voice.

  Suddenly I realized there were a lot of things I did not know about Malcolm MacGregor. I could only hope that he meant it when he told me I’d have the next several years to discover his flaws . . . and other things.

  Rocky and I were back on Anamcara by early afternoon. When I walked into the gallery there was a sold sign on Jasper’s “Boy under Cloud” sculpture. Army was behind the counter, packaging some of Alice’s jewelry that a patron had purchased.

  “Hey, Jenny.”

  “Hey, Army.” I waited until he was finished and told him I was there to pick up Jasper’s sculpture.

  “He said you’d be coming for it. Did you buy it?”

  “Not exactly. I’m just delivering it to someone.”

  “Who?”

  He’d find out sooner or later. “Emilio Dante.”

  “What? After what they did?” So the news had circulated around the island in the couple days that I was gone. Of course it had. This was Anamcara.

  “That’s Jasper for you. He said that Emilio was the inspiration for it.”

  “Do you think he knew they were the ones all along?” Army asked me.

  “He started to suspect them.”

  Army and I packed up the sculpture and loaded it into the back of my car. Rocky jumped onto the middle seat behind me. He knew the routine.

  “Jasper’s amazing, isn’t he?” Army said, after he’d closed the back of the station wagon.

  “He is.” It was no surprise that he and my Aunt Winnie had been such close friends.

  Emilio was even more shocked by the gift from Jasper than Army and I had been. He kept asking why. I explained that he was the inspiration. Still he asked why. I handed him my spiritual counseling card and told him to call me if he ever wanted to talk.

  “Thank you, Jenny. I’m just glad it’s over, you know?”

  “I did know.” I looked at the house behind him. “Emilio, why do you and your father live like this?”

  “It wasn’t always this way. My mother took care of this place. But after she left, my father was depressed and just let it go.”

  But Jeff and he could have fixed it up, maintained it.

  He looked up at me and I could see him, in that moment, deciding to be honest. “I offered to fix it up, paint, make repairs, but he didn’t want me to. I think he thought if it looked like we were poor, no one would suspect what we were doing.”

  He walked with me to my car. I could feel his desire to say something else almost as though it were tangible. “What is it, Emilio?”

  “I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”

  “I think Jasper’s the one you need to apologize to.”

  “No, I mean, yes, you’re right, but this is for something else.”

  “What?”

  “Trying to break into your house.”

  “What?”

  “It was me and Jeff. I’m really sorry. It was after you were here looking at the glazes and stuff and you said you were stil
l trying to solve Jasper’s case even though he told you not to bother. And you mentioned you were going out of town, so we were gonna break in to see if you had any evidence that you might link to us.”

  I leaned back against the car. “That was you?”

  “Yeah, but we didn’t go in. Your dog started barking and there was that kid there.”

  Josh. “You saw someone inside?”

  “Yeah, so we took off.”

  “But wait a minute. Why would you try to break in to other places?”

  “Other places? We didn’t. Just yours.”

  The wheels were spinning now, at high speed. Just like my car’s wheels would be as soon as I got behind the steering wheel. I decided to do what I do best. I bluffed. “Let me guess. Deputy Dan came up with that idea so it wouldn’t look like it was just my place that was targeted.”

  Emilio raised a single eyebrow. “You know about Dan being in on it?”

  I did now. “Yes,” I answered simply. “What was his part in your scam anyway?”

  “He pretty much just did stuff to keep people from coming over to Aurora Island, especially Sam. And he helped us figure out how to take the models without leaving any evidence, stuff like that. We paid him off the top.”

  Of course. He would take money anywhere he could get it, especially off the top. It was all beginning to make sense. Why he so willingly had gone with me to Aurora that day I found Josh. He knew I wouldn’t give up on the idea and it was better that he escort me instead of risking Sam’s doing it. And why he’d failed to mention it to Sam, and why he had forgotten to mention the island break-ins. Because there weren’t any. And, of course, it explained why he’d tried so hard to convince Sam that Jasper was senile and that no art theft had been committed.

  “Jenny, there’s something else.”

  Despite having caught up on my sleep, I wasn’t sure I could handle any more in one day. “What is it?”

  “I’ve written to my mother.”

  This I could handle. “You know where she is?”

  He nodded, that look of guilt resurfacing. “I’ve always known. I just wouldn’t talk to her or open her letters.”

  “Oh.” Suddenly it became clear. “Because you thought she’d had an affair.”

  “Yes. But now I know the truth. I sent her a letter explaining.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be very relieved to hear from you.”

  “I hope she can forgive my father.”

  I looked him directly in the eye. “Can you?”

  He shrugged. He didn’t answer quickly. “It might take a while.”

  I was glad he and Dawn would be reuniting. Family was important. Spending time with family was important. I thought about my daughter who was on the other side of the country. It would be a while until she came home for Thanksgiving. Another month. It seemed like forever. Maybe I’d call her tonight. It was time to tell her about MacGregor. Or maybe I’d wait until she came home. She would be a tougher sell than Matthew was. She was a harsher critic of her mother. And she was closer to their father than her brother was.

  Turning back onto the main road, I realized I no longer had that initial feeling of dread when my thoughts drifted to Seattle and my ex-husband. I had MacGregor to thank for that. I realized something else. In a month’s time I had gone from having two very special men in my life—my father and my son—to having five men in my life.

  “Don’t worry, I included you in the count,” I told Rocky, looking at him and his wagging tail in my rear view mirror. The thought of moving back to Seattle was suddenly very appealing, but I knew there was a reason I had moved to the island in the first place. I had to trust that, just as I had to trust Winnie’s wisdom that I was living on the island for a reason. She had never let me down in the past.

  There was one more stop I needed to make on the way home. Some places you look forward to arriving. Other places you look forward to leaving. Today this one fell into the second category. But, I reminded myself, when I was leaving the sheriff’s office this time, it meant it really would be over.

  They both greeted me with a smile. I returned it—to Sam.

  “What can we do for you?” Sam asked.

  I reminded myself that he knew nothing about this, any of this. I needed to tip him off to what was coming so he would not be caught completely off guard. After all, both men had guns hanging off their hips. I had my own weapon. I’d brought Rocky inside with me. He growled, as if on cue.

  “Jenny, control that damn dog of yours!” Dan yelled when Rocky’s growl was clearly meant for him. Odd, I thought, since both men were standing. And here Charlie was impressed with my keen intuition. Mine didn’t hold a candle to Rocky’s.

  Once I’d caught Sam’s attention, I gave him a look and a nod. He cocked his head to the side in question. I nodded again, only this time patting my hip and staring at his gun that rested against his. “Your suspicions were well warranted, Sam.”

  “What suspicions?” Dan asked, sitting down at his desk to get Rocky to back off. It didn’t work this time. I wondered if somewhere in his childhood, Rocky had been a detective’s dog.

  I turned and faced the man head-on. “His suspicions about you, Dan.”

  He was standing again, despite Rocky’s more determined growl. “What the hell is this about?”

  “You. And why you were so determined to get a job on one of the islands. About your being part owner of some land on Waterloo Island, land where you and your corrupt cop buddies are stashing stolen goods and drugs.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sam pulling his gun out of its holster.

  “You know about—You know—How—?” Dan stumbled over his words.

  “We know about the Waterloo operation.” The operation that had indeed proved to be his defeat. “If you need confirmation before locking him up, Sam, call the Kirkwood Police Department. Just outside of Portland.”

  “That won’t be necessary, Jenny.” He came up beside me and motioned to Dan with his gun. “Move out from behind the desk. And very slowly unbuckle your holster. Surrender your weapon and your badge immediately.” Once the deputy was following orders, Sam asked, his eyes and gun still firmly directed at Dan, “What is this Waterloo operation, Jenny?”

  I explained it as briefly as I could. There was anger festering beneath the surface and I needed to let it out. “And we know about your involvement with Angelo Dante’s scam.”

  “How the hell—?” He set his gun and holster on the desk as Sam was motioning for him to do. Then he tore off his badge and threw it down so hard it bounced off the desk and onto the floor.

  “That’s why you tried to convince me there were other break-in attempts in my neighborhood, to cover up Emilio’s and Jeff’s attempted break-in at my cottage. But there were no other break-ins, were there? That’s why you never told Sam about any. But then the boys told you they didn’t actually go inside the cottage. They told you my dog was there and that they’d seen a boy. That’s how you found Josh Mitchell. That’s how Mark Simpson found him. You told him he was at my cottage.” The anger was rising along with the volume of my voice. “Do you have any idea what would have happened if Josh hadn’t seen the boys? If I hadn’t gotten him off the island in time? That bastard would have killed him! He would have murdered a sixteen-year-old boy!” A sixteen-year-old boy who had in one month worked his way into my family and into my heart. “The minute you told Mark Simpson where he was, you wrote a death sentence for an innocent kid!”

  “That’s not true! I didn’t know it was him for sure. I just mentioned there was a kid there. We didn’t know it was him. I was gonna try to take a picture of him but he disappeared. Besides, Simpson just wanted to bring him home to his family!”

  “The hell he did! He would have killed him! Just like he killed his partner!”

  “What are you talking about? He didn’t kill Bob! He tried to save him!”

  I released the toxic air that had filled my lungs. So he didn’t know what he was dealing with. Mark
and Al had not trusted him with that bit of information. And he didn’t know enough to suspect the truth. He was naïve. I’d give him that much. But that didn’t let him off the hook, at least not with me.

  I didn’t know how long it would take me to get past my anger at Dan Grulen. I had enough directed at Mark Simpson and Al Wallace, but the vibration of my anger toward Dan was more intense. I could only think of one reason. I had trusted him. We, the inhabitants of an island community, had trusted him to protect us. He had betrayed us all.

  Judging from the scowl on Sam’s face and the frown lines running across his forehead, he felt the same way. He too was hurting. Betrayal was a deep wound.

  Sam read Dan his rights and motioned him toward the cell in the back. I wondered how long it would take Seth Williams to find all this out and print it in the Anamcara Herald, or Myrtle Ormsby next door at the post office or Sadie Applebaum at the DMV. Either of them was as fast at spreading news as the newspaper was.

  Ah, it was good to be back on my wee island. Just a bit lonely, I thought as I headed home, happy to have my dog with me.

  Chapter 27

  It was not surprising that I woke up in a good mood. It was over—all of it. I could breathe easily for the first time in a long while . . . And when MacGregor finished with his class, he would drive up to Anamcara and catch the ferry to the islands. It would only be for one night, but I would not complain.

  After my morning walk and meditation, I dusted and vacuumed and scrubbed the cottage that was long overdue for a good cleaning. It was cool and crisp out and I opened the windows as I worked to allow fresh air and a new start to flow into the cottage.

  When MacGregor called, I was in town shopping.

  “Where are you?”

  “On the Anamcara ferry.”

  “You’re getting as bad as Charlie! No notice whatsoever! I’m at the local market, picking up food for dinner.”

  “I’ve a better idea. I’ll meet you at Pen and Mickey’s pub.” He remembered my friends’ names. I was still hunting for one of those flaws he promised me.

  Twenty minutes later we were sitting at a table in the Flower of Scotland. I had chosen a table by the fire for two reasons. I was caught in a rain shower between the market and my car. And fires are very romantic. MacGregor was sipping his Belhaven that Pen had brought him. I had introduced him to Pen and Mickey and anyone else who happened to be in the vicinity.