MacMillan Wharf

MacMillan Wharf: Chapter Twenty-Five

MacMillan Wharf: Chapter Twenty-Five

by Richard Gifford

Angus stood at the rail of the Explorer with a crowd of tourists, enjoying the whale watch cruise. Where the other passengers saw whales feeding at the surface, Angus envisioned drilling platforms extracting millions of cubic feet of natural gas. With the demand rising throughout the US, and the cost of Middle Eastern oil skyrocketing, he knew that this deal would be worth billions to Scotia Gas. There was no way he could let the Whale Center’s report reach the EPA in Washington.

He decided to keep his sunglasses on after seeing his black eye in the men’s room mirror. Knowing that Annie Macalister spotted him on the boat made him uncomfortable, but he’d decided that he posed far greater threat to her than she did to him.

He felt the cell phone in his pocket vibrate. It was an odd sensation that took him a moment to recognize. He walked away from the crowd at the railing so that no one would overhear his conversation.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Black?” a gruff sounding voice croaked.

“Yes, is that you?”

“Yeah. Listen, I just overhead a conversation between the director of the Whale Center and some girl. She knows all about the report. She says there’s another copy.”

“Where?”

“Back at the house where Hanscomb lived with her girlfriend. It’s on her computer.”

“We have to get to it before anyone else does. Tell me about the girl. Who is she?”

“Her name is Annie. She’s young, still in college.”

“We’ve got to get rid of her and the report.” “I know her. We’ve got to get rid of her and the report.”

“You mean kill her? Look, Mr. Black, you asked me to get you the report, not go on a killing spree. The first one was an accident. You want this one done, I want twenty five thousand.”

“Our initial agreement was five thousand for the report. Since you bollixed that one up, this has become much more complicated. Bring the girl with you when we meet tonight and I’ll pay you ten thousand cash. You don’t have to get any more blood on your hands, I’ll take care of her myself.”

“How am I supposed to get her there?”

Angus gritted his teeth and raised his voice. “Listen, mate, my patience with you is running out. Have her there tonight or I’ll put a bullet in the back of your head. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Angus hung up in disgust. He knew that in all likelihood he would have to kill both of them.  There was simply too much at stake.

“Everything  OK here, sir?”

Angus nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked around and saw no one. Then he looked up and saw a large man wearing a light blue shirt with a captain’s insignia on the lapel staring down at him from the stairway to the bridge. He tried to compose himself.

“Yes. Everything is fine thanks, just some bad news, that’s all.”

“I heard some yelling, and I wanted make sure everybody was all right,” Captain Billy Souza said while sizing up the man his father had just described to him as the primary suspect in Linda Hanscomb’s murder.

“Oh, yes, fine. Thanks for your concern.”

“Well, if you want to see some whales, there’s three finbacks feeding over there. You can see them just fine from the stern.” Billy pointed to the stern.

“Sure, right. Well, thanks.”

“So, what do we do?” Jack asked. “You have a nice day, sir.”

Billy Souza turned and ascended the metal stairs that led back to the bridge. “That’s him,” he said to his first mate Jack Taylor.

“So, what do we do?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know. I’m going to call the chief back.” Billy pressed the speed dial number for his father’s cell phone.

“Chief Souza.”

“Dad, it’s Billy. I just saw the guy you described. It’s definitely him. Looks like he’s got quite a shiner, too. He’s trying to cover it with sunglasses.”

“What’s he doing?”

“He was just on the phone with someone. Sounded pretty angry, too. I couldn’t hear the whole conversation but I think he was threatening to shoot someone. What should I do?”

“Nothing. I don’t want you to do anything that will arouse his suspicion. We don’t really know who this guy is yet, or what he’s up to, but he’s armed with at least a knife and he isn’t afraid to pull it out in public.”

“Great. So I’ve got an armed suspect on board my ship, and there’s nothing I can do about it?”

“Look, Billy, just bring the boat in at the regular time, and I’ll have my officers in street clothes to pick him up. Could you hear anything else he said?”

“He said something about bringing her with him when they meet. But I have no idea who he’s talking about.”

Chief Souza paused. “Annie,” he said with a sigh.

“What’s Annie got to do with this?” Billy was clearly concerned.

“I’m still not sure, but she thinks this has something to do with Linda Hanscomb’s research. I’m starting to agree. She knows the contents of the report, and someone wants it stopped.”

“I’m not following you, Dad. Linda was killed because of research about what whales eat and now the same guys are after Annie? There’s got to be more to the story than this.”

“I know, but that’s all I’ve got for now. Look, I have to go. Keep an eye on that guy. We’ll be waiting for him when you get back.”

“Roger that. Be careful, Dad.”

“You too, Billy.”

Chief Souza punched the off button on his cell phone and parked his cruiser in the small plaza near the end of MacMillan Wharf. He turned and walked the 150 feet to the Post Office Café where he saw Annie and Juicy sitting at the front table looking nervous.

“Chief, what’s going on? Is Bruce a suspect too?” “Hi, Annie, Juicy. Where’s Bruce?”

“I don’t know,” Annie replied. “I stepped outside to call you, and Juicy said he excused himself to go the men’s room.”

“But he’s not in there. I checked.” Juicy finished her sentence.

Annie was confused about the entire situation. “Chief, what’s going on? Is Bruce a suspect too?”

“I just want to ask him a few questions, but his disappearing like this does raise some concern. I need to establish if he saw Linda the night she was killed.”

“No, I didn’t,” Bruce said tersely from behind them.

Annie shot him an angry look. “Bruce, where did you go? What’s going on?”

“I just went to my car to find a better sling for my arm.” He motioned to the towel that he had tied around his shoulder.

“What happened to your arm?” Chief Souza inquired.

“I dislocated it. The whale flipped me out of the boat, and as I went over I smacked into the outboard motor. Annie here did a good job of popping it back in place, but I’ll need a few more beers before the pain goes away.” He sat down in his chair and took another sip from his bottle.
Chief Souza wanted to get back to business. “So, you said that you didn’t see Linda Thursday night.”

“No, the last time I saw her she was working in her office on the EPA report. I had to leave early to go to a fundraising dinner at Napi’s with the board of directors.”

“What time did the dinner finish?”

“Around eight, but some of us stayed for drinks until nearly midnight. I went home after that.”
“You live right across the street from the Whale Center, did you see or hear anything when you got home?”

“No. It looked like all the lights were turned off, so I just went to bed.”

“You didn’t check to see if the door was locked or anything?”

“No, why should I? Everybody there knows to lock up if they’re the last ones out of the building.”

“And everybody remembers?”

“Pretty much. Don’t you think so?” He glanced at Annie and Juicy. Both nodded.

“So, if the door was locked, how did someone get in? There was no sign of forced entry, no broken windows, no pry marks on the door.”

“I don’t know. It’s possible that Linda was there working. She sometimes worked late at night. Maybe the door was open and the guy walked right in.”

“Why would someone want to steal her research?”

“Why? Simple, money. In all likelihood there’s as much oil and natural gas out there as in all of Texas. If the EPA allows drilling, whichever oil company gets the contract will make billions. People don’t care much about what happens offshore if they can’t see it. That’s why this report is so important. The public has to be made aware of what’s out there and what’s at stake. If you want to find out who killed Linda, you need to find out who has the most to lose in this deal.”

Chief Souza thought about this for a moment. He reconsidered his initial decision to arrest Bruce. “That’s what I intend to do. But I’ll need your help. Will you come back to the station with me and answer some questions about Linda and this report? I’d like to record it so that we don’t miss any details.”

“Sure, Chief. Whatever it takes, I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Chief Souza helped him to his feet and led him out the door. “I hope you’re right.”

Annie and Juicy sat quietly as they watched Chief Souza walk Bruce back to the police car. His alibi made sense to her, but it was obvious that Bruce was being treated as a suspect.

“Juicy, I’ve got an idea. We need to get into Mary Ellen’s house and make copies of that report. If we can get it out to the media now, whoever is trying to stop it will be too late.”

“And they won’t be after you or anyone else, right?”

“Hopefully. I’ve got to go back to my apartment and change my clothes. Can you meet me at Mary Ellen’s in half an hour?”

“Sure, mon, but what do you want me to do?”

“Help me get in, and be a lookout.”

“Yah, OK, but we need to be careful. I got a feelin’ there’s some bad folks around. The sooner the police catch that Tom guy the better.”

“That’s why we need to do it now before he gets back. OK, I’ll meet you at the Dharma Gallery at six.”

“You want me to come with you now?”

Annie stood to leave. “No, I’ll be all right. I just want to shower and change out of these clothes. Hey, wait a minute. Bruce left without paying.”

“It’s okay Annie, I got it.” Juicy pulled a surprisingly large wad of cash out of his pocket and peeled off two twenty dollar bills.

“Whoa, Juice, where’d you get that kind of money?”

“Billy pays me in cash. I don’t have a bank account here, so I just keep it with me.”

Annie shrugged her shoulders. She’d heard that Juicy always had more money than a deck hand would make. Rumor had it that he was supplying designer drugs to tourists, but she’d never believed it, until now. She and Juicy walked out the door and into the late afternoon sunshine. Squinting, Annie said “Thanks for paying, see you in half an hour.”

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