The Body in Bodega Bay Read Free

shop over the weekend.”
    Dan jotted down the information. That meant that Charlie was killed sometime after closing Friday and this morning, which was Sunday.
    â€œSo when you saw him Friday, did he seem nervous, worried about anything?”
    â€œNo, just the opposite. He was in an upbeat mood, seemed excited about some stuff he’d bought at auction the week before. I remember he bragged about some movie memorabilia that he picked up for a song. Not ‘bragged.’ You know what I mean. He was happy about what he’d bought.”
    â€œDid he say anything about plans for the evening? Say, meeting anyone, or going out somewhere?”
    â€œHe did mention something about a customer.”
    â€œWas he expecting to meet someone after you left?”
    â€œThat wasn’t clear. Maybe. Or maybe he meant Saturday.”
    â€œDid he say anything else about this customer?”
    â€œNo, I didn’t ask. It was more like a possibility that somebody might be by, not a definite appointment.”
    Dan drummed his fingers on the coffee table. “Tell me, how well off was Charlie? Did he carry much cash?”
    â€œHardly. He was just scraping by. That’s why I offered to share space with him.” Toby explained the terms of his business agreement with Charlie. Dan continued to take notes.
    â€œWhat kinds of things did he bring into the gallery? Was there anything really valuable?”
    â€œNothing worth big money as far as I know,” said Toby.
    â€œAll the same, if you haven’t been up there since Friday, you better check to see if anything’s been taken.”
    â€œAre you saying robbery was the motive?” Judging from Toby’s expression, that thought hadn’t occurred to him.
    â€œAt this point, we can’t rule it out. Charlie’s wallet is missing, but that could be a smokescreen. I’m not even sure he was killed on the boat. The medical examiner says he was stabbed through the heart, but if so, there should have been more blood than there was at the scene. That means he might have been killed somewhere else and his body dumped on the boat. We’ll see what forensics tells us. Meanwhile, better make sure nothing’s missing from your gallery.”
    â€œI will,” said Toby. “But if Charlie wasn’t killed on the boat, why would anyone go to the trouble of hauling his body out there?”
    â€œGood question,” replied Dan. “I can think of a couple of possibilities.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “One, to send a message, the point being to make sure the body was discovered. Everybody knows the kids go out there at night. Do you suppose Charlie had any connections to the mob?”
    â€œI can’t imagine that,” said Toby, incredulous.
    â€œWe’ll look into it. Okay, two, as a plant, to incriminate a third party, namely the owner of the boat. But we’ve already tracked the guy down, and he has a tight alibi. He’s been in the hospital the past three days. And he’s in enough trouble for abandoning the boat.”
    â€œThat’s two,” said Toby. “What’s your third possibility?”
    â€œThree, and this one I don’t like at all, our killer is deranged and the location has a twisted personal meaning for him. But frankly, none of those explanations gets us very far. And if it turns out that your partner was killed on the boat, that raises a different set of questions, starting with, why was Charlie out there in the first place?”
    â€œI haven’t the faintest,” said Toby, shaking his head.
    â€œMe neither,” said Dan, checking his watch. “I’ve got a report to file. What you can do for me is to get up to Duncans Mills and let me know if anything looks suspicious in the gallery. Tell me if anything’s out of kilter or if you can think of anything else I should know about Charlie. In fact, give me a call when you get there.