«What were you doing twenty-six years ago? Ever have a fling with a girl from California?»
Sebastian waved a middle finger in his direction, and Peter turned away from him when the phone rang again. «Peter? This is Mary Struthers calling you back. I just got off the phone with the local police there in Gustavus. I can't even begin to tell you…» Her breath caught in her throat again. «I can't begin to tell you. I knew him quite well, we all did, and I am only consenting to speak with you, and to the police, about his confidential work here because the Community Resource Officer there in town told me that they have very few clues about his murderer, and because she told me you were his friend. He began volunteering here. I think he was nineteen or twenty.» «Why? I mean, what in particular…»
«That was the year his sister was raped. Miriam. She was fifteen, hurt badly. Very shy child. But she was brave, and went to the police. Jacob went with her. I think their mother had died the year before, so it was just the two of them. Anyway, they arrested the man, but then the police let him out on bail and he disappeared. Miriam couldn't take it, not knowing where he was. She was afraid he was coming after her again. She had been so brave up until then, with Jacob by her side every minute, but when the man disappeared, she became more and more fearful, reclusive and withdrawn. She hung herself while he was at class at the Conservatory. He always said he didn't feel guilty about leaving her alone that day, but I wondered. He had an audition he couldn't miss. The Conservatory is extremely competitive, and Jacob had won a full scholarship. So he couldn't really stop attending. Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that the man was never caught. The man who raped Miriam has never been caught.» * * * * *
Susan brought some news at lunch. «They didn't find anything that could be tested for DNA.» Peter turned from the buffet. «What does that mean, Susan?»
«Nothing under his fingernails. He didn't fight. The knot on the rope was in the back. It's good in one way, I guess. He was taken by surprise, so he didn't…» Her voice trailed off. «We're going to have to figure out what happened pretty quick. The state cops are gonna be here tonight.» «Well, they certainly raced to the scene, didn't they?»
Susan sniffed. The remote villages had learned to do without help from the cities, help that was slow in coming and grudgingly given. «I believe what happened to Jacob had something to do with the hotel,» Susan said. She raised a hand to stop him when Peter began to protest. «Just listen. He came into the airport. He came out here. He stayed here, other than a few short hikes around the place. And he was killed less than forty-eight hours after he got here.»
«He came in on the plane with us,» Jesse said. «He seemed okay, not really chatty, kind of down, but okay. We both figured…» He glanced at Phillip. «We figured that he'd just broken up with someone.» «Did he act like he recognized anyone? The pilot?»
Jesse and Phillip thought about it, and then shook their heads. Susan started a list. «Okay, we need to check the pilot on your flight. Any other passengers?» «No, just the three of us.» «At the airport?»
«The van was waiting for us. That man, the driver, he put all the bags in the back except the cello. Jacob told him he wanted to hold it, and he carried it between his knees on the drive out here.» Susan made another note.
«Nothing happened on the way?» They both shook their heads. «When you got to the hotel?»
«Peter came out the door to greet us. He was wearing those evergreen-colored corduroys and a turtleneck sweater the same color, and the sun was making his hair all shiny and gold, and when Jacob saw him, he said…» Jesse stopped, his face turning pink. «What?»
Jesse glanced at Sebastian with an apology on his face. «He said, 'Holy heart attack, Batman!'»
Sebastian looked up and met Peter's eyes, smiled a funny little smile. «That's what I think every time I see him, too.» Jesse and Phillip smiled in relief. «Then that driver…» «Nelson,» Susan said, reading from her book.
«Yeah. He carried our bags in and took them upstairs. Peter showed us to our rooms. Mike was already here, out on the sun porch, but it was just like, 'Hi, I'm Mike, Hi, I'm Jacob.' Nothing more than that. We met Casper at dinner, then Travis came on duty late. I know Travis talked to Jacob about being in Iraq, something about taking classes. I remember Jacob told him that he studied music. But Jacob, he couldn't hardly…» He stopped again. «I'm sorry, Peter. I don't mean to embarrass you or anything. But Jacob couldn't keep his eyes off you. I mean, he was like one of those 'love at first sight' guys, you know? It didn't surprise any of us when you two went upstairs, because you were just so…I don't know. Attracted to each other.»
«Yeah,» Phillip said. «Your face was real tender, Peter. When you looked at him, I mean. Everybody noticed.»
Susan tapped her notebook. «Okay, any mail delivered? Supplies?» Peter shook his head. «Tiny come by?»
«Yes! Tiny came with some crabs the first night we were here. I don't know if he met anyone, though. He just brought the crabs into the kitchen. Actually, he didn't even come in,
he had his boots on and he just handed them into me, said something about not wanting to mess up the floors.»
«Okay. So the only thing that happened was…» Susan's voice was reluctant. «Jacob fell for Peter. In an obvious way. So unless you have lots of people jealous of who you're sleeping with, Peter, Sebastian is the only person with motive to kill Jacob. Motive and opportunity, because he doesn't have an alibi.»
Sebastian shook his head and sighed, ran his big hands back through his black hair.
Peter pulled a chair out, noting clinically that his hands were shaking. «Susan, how can you even say that? It's ridiculous. Sebastian? You must be joking. Don't even say it.» «Really? Why is it impossible, Peter?» «Because Sebastian would never do anything to hurt me, or anyone else.»
«Well, you and I know that, because we know him. We're gonna have to find something more concrete, because the state cops are on the way and they're going to find out I called him and told him about Jacob. He's my brother so it won't matter what I say. They will automatically discount my word. We know he was up the Yukon, but all we can prove is that he was on the other end of a phone the day after the murder. I called him the night Jacob was killed and there was no answer. He could have been anywhere. Okay, what we need to do next is fingerprint everyone Jacob met for the first time here on the island.» Jesse reared back, shocked. «Fingerprints? Why?»
«Because there were only two hundred eighty-one people on the island when Jacob was murdered. And I know the whereabouts of most of our criminals. The majority of them were dressed up as Elvis tribute artists, singing, and directly under my eye during the time in question.» «Susan, listen. If we did something…»
She shook her head. «I've already sent in criminal background checks on you guys.» She winked at him. «Shoplifting a pair of red Calvin Klein briefs when you were sixteen don't count, buddy.» Jesse turned bright pink. «I never!» Phillip laughed. «That must have been me!»
Susan continued. «So that means I'm looking for someone who was fingerprinted but never convicted of a crime, or someone who is hiding his identity. Like this man who raped Jacob's sister, then disappeared. «
Peter stood up again and started reorganizing the napkins on the buffet. «Susan, I think he would have told me if he'd recognized someone. Certainly he couldn't have kept it a secret if he had seen that man. I didn't know him well, but he didn't seem like the sort of man who could keep a secret, you know? I mean, you could read his feelings in his face. He was utterly transparent.»
Sebastian stood suddenly and walked out of the room. Peter watched him go, barely listening to Susan. «Then maybe someone just thought Jacob recognized him. Or something happened between when you left for Elvis and he was killed. Less than two hours. Hard to imagine. But if it wasn't something like that, then we're back to Sebastian as having the only possible motive. Or you, Peter. And that is even more ridiculous to contemplate than thinking Sebastian could hurt that sweet young kid.»