A Spirited Gift

“There is something sticking up out of the water—a quay of some sort. It’s beyond a grassy area with walkways of stone.” Rafe shook his head. “Beyond that, I cannot tell you.”

“The park!” I interpreted. “I think he’s talking about Duck Park.” There was a small cove at the edge of the park where we’d built a pier for walkers that jutted out into the Currituck Sound.

Kevin pulled the pickup into the parking lot, and we ran down the trails toward the water side of the park. Rafe stayed visibly ahead of us, floating above the path. I felt like I was in an episode of Scooby-Doo—pirate ghost and all.

A few Duck residents waved as we went by. A senior group was meeting there for their weekly walk. I smiled and waved back, thinking all the time that the park would become a crime scene if Matthew was found here. Cleanup from the storm would have to be postponed.

The cove was beside the stairs heading up to the long pier, which had such great views of the sound. A few mangled bicycles, a tire and a baby stroller languished in the water.

“I don’t see anything—at least not a dead body,” Kevin said after a moment. “I’ll check from the pier.”

“He’s down there, girl,” Rafe assured me. “Might be weighted down. That’s the way we did it. Look hard. You’ll see him.”

I did as he suggested, as best I could from the shore anyway. I was leery of jumping into the water unless I had to. There was no telling what all was beneath the surface, aside from a dead body.

“I don’t see anything,” Kevin said again, coming back down the stairs. “I think your ghost might have some bad intel.”

“He’s here, blast your hides! You’re looking all wrong.” Rafe paced up and down the shoreline.

“Or you’re all wrong,” I answered.

“Maybe he’s being held down underwater with something,” Kevin said. “There’s a lot of debris. I wouldn’t go in there without some kind of safety equipment. We should call the fire department.”

“What will we tell them?” I worried the problem—and my lip. “I can’t tell them a ghost told me to come here.”

“I don’t know why.” Kevin shrugged. “People here believe in ghosts. I don’t think they’d be that surprised.”

“Because I’m the mayor, and people know I have a gift—I find things. Shayla sees ghosts. Mrs. Anson in Southern Shores sees ghosts. Not me. I was really hoping Chief Michaels would be here and I could quietly creep away knowing Rafe was right.”

“One of you lily-livered cods jump in!” Rafe yelled, causing the bushes beside us to stir as though a strong wind had come up from the sound. “I’d do it myself, but it wouldn’t do no good.”

“I left my cell phone in the truck,” Kevin said. “I’ll call the fire department and tell them we saw something hazardous down here. We won’t use your story. Then we’ll know if your ghost is telling the truth.”

I looked back toward the water and saw something lying on top of the tire. It gleamed in the sunlight. I knew I’d seen it before. “Matthew’s car key.” I called Kevin back, but he was already too far gone. “I guess you must be right,” I said to the pirate. “That’s the key I found at the Blue Whale.”

“I told you so,” Rafe raved. “Now do you believe?”

But there was something else. I walked to the edge of the water, the toes of my shoes getting wet in the process. There was something stuck on the handle of the baby stroller.

I looked around for something to drag the stroller closer to me—even as I heard sirens coming from the direction of the fire station at the other end of Duck.

“What’s that you have there?” Rafe came closer, angling to see what I was doing.

I found a stick of some sort—maybe a broken broom handle—and used it to snag the stroller. It took a few tries to get it close enough so I could grab it from the water.

I knew I shouldn’t touch whatever was attached to the stroller handle, so I pushed with the stick, trying to see what it was. I reasoned that it could get lost when the fire department arrived. They would be looking for Matthew, not for debris that might have nothing to do with his death.

My chest felt cold as I brought it closer—it was a small gun. It didn’t look real, more like a toy. But I knew it was lethal, probably the .22-caliber the police were looking for. I wasn’t the sheriff’s granddaughter for nothing.

“What did you find?” Kevin came back, cell phone in hand.

“A gun. Don’t worry. I didn’t touch it. It looks like whoever killed Matthew threw his keys and a gun in after him.”

“I’m sure the chief will give you a hard time for messing with the crime scene anyway,” he said. “I guess your pirate was right.”

Chapter 30

The cove had to be cordoned off with nets to make sure all the possible evidence was contained. Two police boats kept interested watercraft away from the scene. The fire and police departments worked with sheriff’s deputies to pull the terrible, bloated body of Matthew Wright from the waters of the sound.