I drove it along the tabletop, past the marsh and out to the farm, resisting the temptation to make car sounds. “What time did you say he was taken from the party?” I asked.
“No one noted the exact time. Between eleven and midnight.”
“Just before Katy and Todd left the party with Todd’s parents, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay-so probably before Jack is dumped out of the car at the farm, the Ducane party is on its way to the boat.”
“Yes, that sounds right,” O’Connor said. “Except they stopped off at Thelma and Barrett’s mansion first.”
“Yes. Katy and her in-laws were in separate cars,” I said, putting Katy, Todd, and the dog in the paper roadster. “We know they stopped by her in-laws’ mansion, because Katy’s car was found there and Thelma and Barrett’s car was found at the marina.”
I moved Katy’s roadster to the paper marked in-laws’ mansion, and brought Thelma and Barrett’s car there, too.
“Did Katy and Todd ever get any farther than the mansion, though?” O’Connor asked.
“I don’t know. Someone was waiting for them, either at the in-laws’ place or at the marina. The marina is more likely.”
“Why?”
O’Connor agreed that a stranger’s car would look less out of place there, and less likely to draw attention than in the Ducanes’ neighborhood. It would be darker at the marina, even darker in 1958 than it was now.
“So let’s say they all get into the in-laws’ car, and Thelma or Barrett drives.” I left Katy’s roadster at the in-laws’ mansion. I moved all four people, the dog, and the elder Ducanes’ car to the marina. I put a couple of the question-mark figures there, along with the Buick and the Sea Dreamer. I frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just trying to picture the seating arrangement in the Buick. I talked to Lefebvre.” I told him what Lefebvre had said about where the bloodstains were.
He got a distant look in his eyes, as if he was trying to picture the car and occupants. “You don’t really need the bloodstains to see it. A man working alone wouldn’t leave Todd and Katy together in the backseat. They might attack, or try to escape. The killer forced Katy or Todd to drive, and rode in the backseat with the other hostage.”
“And the other man took Thelma and Barrett out to sea?”
“Yes.”
“How did he get back ashore?” I asked. I picked up a piece of paper and started shaping it with the scissors.
“You’re making a second boat?”
“There had to be one, and someone else to operate it while the killer was aboard the Sea Dreamer. They left the Sea Dreamer adrift and returned to shore in the smaller boat.”
“No-too many people. They wouldn’t involve so many.”
“Are you kidding? They used three people to beat up Jack.”
“They had to get him away from a party-the middle of a crowd. They had to make sure he wasn’t going to interfere with their plans for Katy. And he had a reputation for being able to defend himself.”
“I hear you used to finish his fights for him.”
“Not true, especially not when he was younger. He finished plenty on his own. And for that matter, they might have assumed I’d be with him that night.”
“True. Lucky you weren’t.”
“I happen to disagree. If I had been there…but there’s no use wishing it.”
We talked it over, and decided that Lefebvre’s theory made sense-that the original plan had been to keep Jack alive, a plan which had only been altered when Bo Jergenson had left him in the wrong place. There was no other explanation we could think of for moving Jack from the farm to the swamp.
“Back to the Sea Dreamer,” I said. “If you’re right, how does the killer get back to shore?”
“He didn’t need to abandon it far from shore. The storm probably took the Sea Dreamer farther out than he left it. He could have been closer and used a scuba suit.”
“Okay, I like the scuba idea. Less manpower and fewer boats involved.”
We talked about the possibility that all four of the Ducanes and the dog went aboard, and weren’t taken hostage until they were out at sea, away from any witnesses, but decided their captors would see that as full of risks. The killers would have been forced to try to follow the Sea Dreamer in the dark, and without attracting attention. The Ducanes might have been able to fight back or use the radio or manage to escape, especially-on a boat that large- if they weren’t all grouped together.
“Pirate movies make boarding another vessel look easier than it is,” I added. “And you told me that the fisherman who found the yacht didn’t see any signs of a struggle or that anyone had used life jackets. The killer was aboard from the start and abandoned the yacht after Thelma and Barrett Ducane were dead. My guess is, they were drugged or knocked unconscious and drowned.”
“Why not just shoot them, too?”
“Because that would show up if and when the bodies washed ashore. If you want people to stop looking for Katy and Todd, you have to make it seem as if everyone might have been lost overboard that night.” I looked at my notes. “The coroner found salt water in Thelma’s and Barrett’s lungs, so they were alive at some point when they were in the water. In cold water, in evening clothes, they would have had difficulty swimming even if they regained consciousness. I think someone took them so far offshore, they didn’t have a chance of getting back in alive. And if they were taken out into the fog, the Ducanes might not have even known which direction to swim in to reach shore.”
He nodded. “The killer then brings the Sea Dreamer closer to shore, abandons it, and swims to the beach. He made a couple of mistakes, though. He left it too pristine, didn’t turn the radio on, and took the key. Probably force of habit. Maybe he expected the yacht to break up in the storm that was on its way. But the boat survived.”
“Yes-do you know what became of it?”
“Warren sold it to Lillian. She has it maintained, but I don’t think she uses it much, if at all.”
“Another museum?”
He shrugged.
I was beginning to get a picture of how tightly Lillian held on to the past.
O’Connor pointed to the sailor question-mark doll and said, “What became of this one after he finished with the Ducanes?”
“For now, let’s put him in the unknown headquarters of the Boss, the unknown mastermind of all these activities.” I also put the question-mark car there, for the Boss to escape in.
“Unknown?” O’Connor said. “I think I know his name: Mitch Yeager. I think I’ve known that for years.”
I studied him. He had mentioned Yeager before. Time to ask some hard questions. “Did you believe that before you knew Kyle Yeager might be Max?”
He paced, and rubbed a hand through his hair, making a mess of it. “I suppose so. I never had an ounce of proof, mind you, and never came close to finding any. He wasn’t even in Las Piernas that weekend, from all I could discover. But there was that note Katy left, and-frankly, I couldn’t think of anyone else who would have the power to do it, or who hated Jack more than he did.”
“Hated Jack? Why?”
“Jack wrote stories that ultimately helped to put Mitch’s brother in prison, and almost sent Mitch there himself. Cost him a fortune in legal fees. Mitch nearly got Jack fired from the paper-Old Man Wrigley had enough spine to say no to that, but he wouldn’t let Jack write about Yeager.”
“Spine? I’ll bet Jack’s stories sold papers. And Jack could have had his pick of the L.A. papers.”
“That’s true,” O’Connor said.
“What about the others? Did Mitch hate the Ducanes?”
O’Connor shrugged. “I don’t know. They socialized and seemed to have been friends. The Ducanes helped him out when he was in trouble, bought his companies so that he’d have the cash he needed. There weren’t many people in a position to do that during the Depression. He bought the companies back, eventually.”