A Crabby Killer (12 page)

Z
ambuco held
the chestnut-colored candy up to the light, his thick thumb and forefinger practically obscuring the entire piece. “So, the killer was tripped up by a candy,” he said in wonder.

“We should have figured it out before. The clues were all there,” Claire replied.

“Caught with a net from his own boat.” Tom Landry, seated across the long, wooden table from Claire shook his head. Claire couldn’t help but smile when she noticed he and Mae were seated next to each other, their chairs awfully close.

Her smile turned into a frown when she noticed Jane sitting awfully close to Zambuco. She made a mental note to talk to Jane about what was going on with the ornery detective, as well as her recent extravagance with money. A pang of guilt shot through her—had she been so involved investigating cases that she had ignored what was going on with her best friend?

A light breeze swept up from the ocean. The briny scent, mingled with that of seafood, garlic and spices, ruffled Claire’s hair, making the humid summer night bearable. There was something to be said for air conditioning, but Claire still preferred to dine outside, as they were doing now in a private preview of
Chowders
new outdoor dining patio.

Sarah had prepared a special feast to celebrate the patio’s first use as well as her brother being freed from jail. Claire watched as Sarah balanced plates of food on her way to the table, her smile wider than Claire had ever seen it, her stance much more relaxed.

This whole thing with Blunt had turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Sarah. She’d told Claire that she had hated having to lie to them to keep her past a secret. Now that everything was out in the open, and the islanders thought no less of her for her past actions, she felt a huge sense of relief. Now she could really settle in, make the island her home and focus on making improvements to
Chowders
, something she didn’t want to invest in before, in case she had to cut and run.

Not only that, but her brother Ray looked like he was going to be staying on Mooseamuck Island, too, and that made Sarah even happier.

“Woof!”

The golden retriever puppy Claire had seen in the animal rescue tent sat at the edge of the patio, his tail thumping wildly on the grass. Claire knew Sarah had bonded with the dog when she’d seen them that day at the Crab Fest. Sarah had used the restaurant as an excuse, but later on confessed that the real reason she didn’t adopt him was because she was always afraid that she might have to leave town quickly. She didn’t think it was fair to adopt the dog when circumstances might force her to give him up. But now, with that threat gone, she knew she could give the dog a loving and healthy forever home.

Claire’s heart warmed as she watched Sarah bounce over to the dog, who she had named Providence, and scratch him behind the ears. The dog looked up at Sarah adoringly and Claire saw that adoration mirrored in Sarah’s eyes as she slipped him a steak tip.

Claire dipped her spoon into the steaming clam chowder and sipped in a small amount. It was salty, creamy and the chunk of clam made for a chewy, satisfying taste.

“It’s terrible what Donovan did,” Mae said. “I hate to think that one of our own islanders killed someone so brutally.” She looked sideways out of the corner of her eye and added, “Even if he did deserve it.”

“It’s not so much that,” Jane added. “But he tried to frame Bob Cleary. Killing someone as mean and nasty as Blunt … well, that’s one thing, but an islander framing another islander—there’s just no excuse for that.”

“And poor Sally.” Alice held her knitting in her left hand while she balanced a crab cake in her right. “She must feel awfully betrayed by her brother.”

“Yes, it was cowardly for him to use her as an alibi and steal his nephew’s bike to commit the crime,” Norma said. “I can’t abide by something like that, even though Sally will come out okay in the end. I hear she’s taking over Crabby Boat Tours and she’ll have that place shipshape in no time. Donovan wasn’t very good at running the family business. It was going downhill, but under Sally’s expert guidance, I think they’ll do quite well.”

Jane nodded. “I agree. Who’d a thunk Donovan would stoop so low.”

“What I don’t get,” Norma said as she dipped a steamed clam in broth, then butter and dropped it into her mouth, “is how he could have had it planned all along. I mean, how would he have known that Blunt would have been in the bar that night so he could kill him and put him in the crab boil pot?”

Zambuco snuck a fried clam from Jane’s plate. “That part was just a matter of good timing. He had known he was going to kill Blunt for months. In fact, that’s why he redid his whole boat line in the blue colors. Donovan used to use the brown twine, but he had to change colors to point suspicion at Bob. He was planning on framing Bob all along, because he knew Bob would have the same motive. And with Bob out of the way, Barnacle Bob's tours might go under, which would give him a monopoly on the boat tour business.

“Donovan knew that Blunt was planning on opening the tour boat business and, since his was doing badly, he knew it would put him under. He also knew Blunt would eventually come to the island. He didn’t know exactly when, but he'd set the wheels in motion ahead of time so he would be prepared when the time came.”

“That’s right,” Dom added. “He just got lucky with the Crab Fest. When he saw both Blunt and Bob in the bar that night, he knew he had the perfect opportunity.”

“But he had to get Bob out of the way, and create an alibi for himself,” Robby chimed in. “So, he pretended to be drunk. He actually poured his drinks into the plant on the windowsill, which is now quite dead.”

“And he sent drinks anonymously to Bob, but he got them delivered to his table first and spiked them with rohypnol, then had the waitress take them over. He needed to put the drug in because he needed Bob to not be able to remember what he did that night.”

“So Donovan pretended that he was too drunk to drive and he stayed over at Sally’s?” Alice asked.

“That’s correct. Once Sally and Jonathan were asleep, he took the bike and rode back to Duffy’s. Lucky for him, Blunt was still inside. We’re not exactly sure of the chain of events because he refuses to say much, but he grabbed Sally’s
Crabby
out of her tent, got the twine that he’d been saving up and then waited for the bar to close so he could confront Blunt.

“According to what little he told us, he kept Blunt talking for quite some time. He pretended like he was going to sell him his own boat business on the cheap. He had seen the crab pot earlier in the day and figured that would be a great place to hide the body and, hopefully, add confusion to the investigation. Once he got down there, he knocked Blunt out with the
Crabby
, lifted him into the pot and then strangled him to finish him off,” Zambuco said.

“We don’t know if he planned to use the
Crabby
all along or the idea came to him that night, but either way it was premeditated murder,” Robby added.

“I didn’t realize he was so devious. But what’s the significance of the candy?” Norma nodded to the caramel root beer acorn, now laying on the napkin beside Zambuco’s plate.

“A candy like this tied him to the break-in at Bob Cleary’s and proves his intention with the
Crabby
.” Zambuco picked it up and then narrowed his eyes at Dom and Claire. “What I don’t get is how you knew Donovan had left one of these candies behind at Bob Cleary’s. There was no reason for the two of you to go back there … unless you were investigating.”

Zambuco popped the candy into his mouth while Claire struggled to come up with a valid reason for why they went back to Bob's. She'd thought they'd gotten off the hook on that one. After Donovan had been captured on the dock, Claire and Dom had gone home and changed out of their wet clothes, then gone together to the police station and given their statements.

The police had found the
Crabby
in the duffel bag and Dom had told them his and Claire’s suspicions had been confirmed when they’d seen Donovan eating the very candy they’d found on the path outside of Bob’s. Zambuco hadn’t asked what made them go back there at the time and they’d thought they had gotten off scot-free.

Claire glanced at Dom for help, but they were saved from answering when Zambuco screwed his face up into a tormented grimace.

“Blech. This thing tastes awful.” He spit the candy out into a napkin. ”Who eats these things? No wonder Donovan was driven to kill someone.”

Claire said, “That’s how we knew that candy was from him. Not too many people eat them, as you can see. And the reason we were there is—”

Zambuco held up his hand. “Save it. I don’t even want to know. The truth is that the two of you did help us out quite a bit and I have to admit I’m grateful for it. Maybe we could even utilize your consulting services sometimes … I could use some extra hands, especially with the alarming rate people get murdered on this island.”

Claire and Dom exchanged raised-brow looks. Was Zambuco serious? She couldn’t believe he was actually giving them accolades in front of everyone. Beside him, she noticed Jane beaming proudly. Was she responsible for Zambuco’s change in behavior?

“Thanks,” Claire said uncertainly. “I have to say we could have put it together sooner, but I never imagined that Donovan would fake his alibi and use Jonathan’s bike to do it. You see, I noticed he had grease on his pants leg when we talked to him the day after the murder, but I didn’t put two and two together at the time. I thought the grease smear was from something on the boat, but it was from Jonathan’s faulty bicycle chain.”

Dom frowned. He had noticed the greasy pant leg, too, and had also not put two and two together. He could forgive it in Claire because that was not her department but
he
was supposed to be the one who noticed the clues. He made a mental note to be more observant next time.

“We really had no reason for that to make us suspicious at the time. It wasn’t until later on when Esther mentioned she’d heard Jonathan’s bike squeaking in the middle of the night that we realized Donovan had used it to get back to the pier,” Dom said.

Norma dropped another clam into her mouth. “That really gets my ire up that he used the little boy’s bike. I hear it’s at the bottom of the cove now.”

“Dom used it to catch Donovan and knock him in the water,” Mae smiled at Dom. “And he was nice enough to buy him a brand new one to replace it. He’s a real hero in my book.”

Dom blushed. “Well, I don’t know about that. There was another clue that we missed. Might have caught him sooner and been able to avoid chasing him into the water had I paid more attention.”

“What was that?” Norma asked.

“Claire had seen Donovan fighting with Blunt on the docks the day before Blunt was killed. When we asked him about it, he said they were fighting about the baseball game. Donovan, like everyone else on the island, is a huge Red Sox fan and he said that Blunt was a huge Yankees fan and they'd fought about which team was best. But when we talked to Floyd in the bar, he said Blunt was
jeering
the Yankees. He wasn’t a Yankees fan at all. Donovan lied about the subject of their argument because they were really arguing about Blunt’s intention to launch a tour boat business. Naturally, Donovan didn’t want to let on that he knew about that as it would give him a motive. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick up on that at the time.”

Claire frowned.
She
hadn’t picked up on him lying, either. She could forgive it in Dom because that was not his department. She was the one who was supposed to notice when people were lying. She made a mental note to be more observant next time.

“What’s all this business with the
Crabby
, though?” Norma asked. “Tom buried the top of it to protect Mae, but the murder weapon wasn’t even her
Crabby
. Then Donovan stole Sally’s and Bob’s. What’s up with that?”

“Tom found the top of the
Crabby
next to the crab boil pot when the committee met there that morning,” Claire said. “He knew Blunt had been threatening Mae’s farm and when we saw Blunt’s body in the pot, he panicked, thinking it might incriminate Mae.”

“And he picked up the evidence to save me.” Mae beamed at Tom who blushed and ducked his head.

“But it turned out it wasn’t Mae’s
Crabby
that did the killing,” Zambuco said. “Hers was in the basement and still intact.”

“Donovan had used Sally’s but I think he planned to make the switch and frame Bob all along,” Dom said. “He’d already orchestrated things so that Bob had no alibi. And Bob had a motive
and
he used the brown twine. Donovan knew Sally had her
Crabby
in the tent at the Crab Fest and it was easy to get to. He used that one to clonk Blunt on the head, but he didn’t want to incriminate Sally, so he stole Bob’s
Crabby,
intending to switch the tops, then return Sally’s and plant Bob’s—now with the broken, incriminating, top—on one of his boats where it could later be found by the police.”

Jane shook her head. “Poor Bob.”

“And Sally,” Mae added.

“Oh, I think they might make out okay.” Norma nodded toward the street where Bob and Sally were walking, ice creams in hand and heads bent together.

“Maybe Bob and Sally are getting together to join forces in the boat tour business,” Jane mused. “Donovan had a big ego and always tried to compete with Bob, but I know Bob always thought they could do better if they worked together instead of against each other.”

Norma craned her neck to watch the couple as they walked out of view. “That may be, but I suspect they may be thinking about combining more than just the businesses.”

“Well, that will end a decades-long feud and probably be good for both of them.” Alice finished off the row she was working and stuffed her knitting project into her large tote bag.

“I guess Blunt's death might have actually done some good.” Tom put his hand over Mae’s. “It seems to have caused more than one feud to be ended.”

“And it helped Sarah get her life back,” Jane nodded toward Sarah who was approaching with a loaded dessert tray.