A Finder's Fee (29 page)

“How was I supposed to know she thought she’d killed the boy wonder? He was clearly still alive when I got back. He was a little woozy though. It was easy to put him in Mad Dog’s car and drive the rollback to Duck. They were doing work on the beach where the park went in later. As soon as I saw the backhoe, I knew what I needed to do.”

“I’m sorry, Chief.”

He drew a deep, ragged breath and looked at me. “I’ve known you all your life, Dae. I have great respect for Horace.”

I knew where that was leading.
“Don’t go out this way.”

“I can’t take the blame for this. What would my wife say? People would hate me, like they did Mad Dog.”

Stay calm. Take deep breaths.
My heart was still pounding.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I wish it could have been someone else that found out.”

I
knew I couldn’t fight off Chief Peabody. I didn’t have a
weapon. He was much stronger than me. For all the talk of holding a key between your fingers and going for the eyes, I didn’t have a key, or even a can of hairspray that I could set on fire with my Zippo. All of these were ideas from a self-defense course I once took.

I wasn’t even wearing heels that I could use against him.

I imagined my headstone would say something like,
Here Lies Dae O’Donnell. She asked too many questions and one of the answers killed her.

I thought about Maggie. She was screaming inside of me. We both knew if I died, she’d die along with me. Her bones would never get their proper burial. And all of my treasures at Missing Pieces would be auctioned off. Gramps would take care of Treasure, but I wouldn’t be there. And Kevin . . .

All of these things went through my head as I looked at him. I saw his hand on the gun that he carried. I knew he was thinking the same thing.

Yet, deep inside, I believed Walt Peabody was a decent man, despite having once killed Lightning Joe. That was in a fit of jealous rage. For forty years, he’d upheld the law. He didn’t want to kill me.

“We should go. Gramps will be expecting me.” It was mundane, but it was all I could think of.

“I know.” He shook his head, his eyes tearing. “I know I’ve been harsh with you, Dae. It’s been for your own good. I know you’ve done fine things for Duck.”

This was getting closer to a farewell speech. I didn’t want to know how it ended.

“Please let me go. You’re a good man. Do the right thing.”

“I can’t.” He sniffled and drew his gun. “I just can’t.”

I could feel something welling up within me. I didn’t know what it was. It felt like a storm, strong and powerful. It swelled and burst with a ferocity I didn’t know could come from a person.

It didn’t come from a living person, I realized. Maggie wasn’t willing to see what came of this moment either.

“I’ve had enough!” Maggie burst forward like a beacon of light on a cloudy day. “You shall not take this woman’s life! Look at me, human man. Face me, if you can!”

Her spirit grew, larger than me, swirling and growing dark like a thundercloud. There were jagged edges and bursts of lightning. Her face was terrible, transformed from the face I saw in the mirror to something from a horror movie. She reached out for Chief Peabody with clawlike hands.

Chief Peabody screamed and threw down his gun. “No! Stop! Get away from me!”

“Think you can save yourself?” Maggie growled. “There is no escape from my wrath!”

The strange voice was convincing. It sounded like it came from a deep empty space, echoing across the yard.

“No!” He ran to the abandoned house and locked the door. He yelled for me to stay away from him.

Maggie changed back to her normal self and dusted her hands. “That should take care of him. He didn’t scare me.”

I shivered as I picked up my cell phone. “Maybe not, but you scared me! Let’s not do that again.”

Later Chief Peabody said that it was like a cursed spirit had risen from the grave, a hideous sight that he thought I’d conjured up from my gift. It was the truth. I’ll never forget it.

I called Chief Michaels, who was there with Sheriff Riley in record time. I told him what I knew, what Chief Peabody had confessed to.

“We already figured that much,” Tuck Riley drawled.

“I checked into what you said about Walt giving Joe a ticket a week later,” Chief Michaels told me. “When I spoke with Ms. Walsh, she had the tow truck receipt to prove when her parents found Joe’s car. When I called Walt’s home, I found out he’d already confessed once—to his wife, Patsy. It didn’t take much to hear it all from her.”

I glanced at my watch. My hands were still shaking. “I have to go to Duck Park for the rally. I’ll never hear the end of it from Marjory and Cailey if I don’t show up.”

“I’ll have Tim take you.” Chief Michaels signaled to the car behind his. “You okay?”

“I will be. Thanks, Chief.”

He started to say something then shrugged. “No point in me telling you not to let this happen again. It’s like shouting into the storm.”

“I can say it.” Tuck hitched up his pants. “Quit meddling! You’re gonna get yourself killed!”

Tim talked about Trudy and their marriage plans the rest of the way back to Duck. I didn’t say much, just trying to take the whole thing in. People changed with time, I realized, thinking about what I’d seen La Donna do and what Chief Peabody had done. I wondered how I would change in the next forty years.

I didn’t have to worry about no one showing up for the rally. There were at least a hundred people with signs and banners at the park. Most of them had my name on them—a few said vote for Wilson. When they saw me, almost everyone started cheering and applauding. It looked like not all of Duck hated me for finding Mad Dog’s car after all.

I said a few words, which were greeted by more applause. Marjory, Cailey, Mrs. Euly Stanley and Shayla stood around me like guardian angels, beaming on my presence.

I saw Kevin in the crowd and smiled at him. I could tell by the look on his face that he knew something about what had happened and had plenty of questions. Gramps pulled up in his golf cart a few minutes later while members of the Duck High School band serenaded us.

I really felt that it might be possible to win the election after all. It was a warm feeling in my chest that made me proud to have been the mayor of Duck for the last two years.

The band got quiet, and the applause died down. Marjory introduced me again to speak. But before I could say a word, Mad Dog had pushed himself between me and the makeshift podium.

“I’d like to take a minute to say thank you to Mayor O’Donnell for her hard work in keeping Duck growing and thriving. But there’s always room for progress. I hope you’ll vote for me tomorrow when you head to the polls. I’ll make you proud as your mayor, and together, we’ll sail into the next century.”

• • •

I
was up early the next morning, wrapped in a shawl and
looking out from the widow’s walk on top of my house. It was early—the polls weren’t open yet. The sky looked clear and blue even though the temperature was cold.

I’d know by that night if I was elected as the new mayor. The crowd yesterday seemed to think I should be. They booed Mad Dog away from the microphone, and a large group of us went to the Blue Whale for dinner afterward.

It was so quiet on the roof. A few cold seagulls dipped through the sky around me. If they had known what a storm was coming later that day, they would have raced away.

After I went to the polls, I was supposed to go to Chief Michaels’s office right away to give my statement about Chief Peabody. Then there would be a dozen small parties, which was traditional. Some of them Mad Dog and I would attend together. For most of them, we’d be apart.

Treasure meowed and looked out of the shawl where he’d been hiding from the cold. It was going to be a crazy day but also a good one.

La Donna had called to say that she was coming home. She wasn’t sure yet if Luke Helms was going to press charges against her for that long-ago fight with her boyfriend. Even if he did, she’d get through it. She was that kind of woman.

Maybe best of all, the Duck Historical Society had come through for me. Barney had called to let me know that they’d found the grave of Thomas Graham. The tiny cemetery was located behind James Millford’s old shed where three generations of his family had made illegal moonshine.

“Dae?” Gramps called from inside the house. “Get down here. You have to vote. This isn’t the time to be standing up on the roof, daydreaming. Pancakes are almost ready. Get dressed.”

• • •

H
ours later, I was finally finished with the polls and my
statement to the police. I tried not to wonder how many of the people at Duck Elementary School were voting for me.

We’d found the tiny cemetery. Most of the headstones were falling apart, but enough information could be seen to declare it a historical site.

I’d buried almost all of Maggie Madison’s earthly possessions along with her bones in an earthen wine jug that Kevin had found for me. I kept some of them that weren’t personal. A few I planned to sell. The rest I donated to the museum.

Barney and Mrs. Euly Stanley had walked with me and Kevin to the old cemetery. Mr. Millford wasn’t interested. He waved us on from the kitchen window when he saw us on his property.

“There was a little chapel out here, according to records we found from the 1700s,” Barney said. “Several members of the Madison family were buried here. But so was your sea captain.”

“I have my doubts that Thomas Graham wasn’t just another scallywag pirate.” Mrs. Euly Stanley took pictures with her new camera. “Nice trees, anyway. What is that you’re burying, Dae? I think we should include it in our cemetery log.”

Maggie, who was reluctant to go now that we were here, came to the front. “It is but a little-known woman who loved well and died unfortunately. I have enjoyed being here. I never thought to feel the kiss of the sun again or a man’s arms about me. Farewell to you all.”

I shuddered as she left me. I’d hoped to see some misty-colored light as she went to be at peace with her lover. There was nothing.

Nothing except the stunned faces of my companions.

“My, you are going to be excellent in that play.” Mrs. Euly Stanley patted me on the back.

“Thanks.” I started filling in the hole where the clay urn would rest, hopefully for another four hundred years at least. Barney helped me too.

I felt a little empty when Maggie was gone. It had certainly been an experience having her inside me.

I said good-bye to Mrs. Euly Stanley and Barney at the road, and we went separate ways. Kevin had to go back to the Blue Whale to get ready for the party later. He dropped me off at Missing Pieces, more to calm down than anything else. I planned to have a quiet, solo cup of tea before the next election party. I knew it was unlikely there would be any customers that day. That was okay.

The Currituck Sound was a smooth, glossy surface leading to the horizon as I walked down the boardwalk. All the shops were closed. There was one woman standing at the railing in front of Missing Pieces. She was looking out over the water, as I had been. She wore a dark purple suit with an amazing hat that matched it.

She turned to me as I came closer. “Hello. I’ve been waiting for you.”

I thought she was wearing a marmalade-colored scarf around her neck, but it moved. A large cat looked at me with lazy green eyes.

“Do I know you?” I thought she looked vaguely familiar. Maybe a former customer.

“Yes. We met a few years back. I see my shop still bears my name.” She glanced at Shayla’s shop—Mrs. Roberts, Spiritual Reader.

“I remember you. You opened the shop and then moved to Wilmington. Have you moved back to Duck?”

“Not exactly. Baylor and I will be here for a while. Something quite large and possibly dangerous is about to happen here. Maybe you’ve heard something about it from the horses. Goodness knows, news travels fast.”

At that moment, a large fish jumped out of the sound and seemed to fly through the air toward her until it finally dove back into the water, inches from the boardwalk.

She laughed. “You see? Everyone knows. I’ll wager your little Treasure has been talking about it too. Don’t worry. We’ll handle it. I think you have some prehistoric horse figures we need to examine. I hope you have some tea.”