When he and John arrived at the West End Charter main office, Matt thought everyone who worked there still looked shell-shocked, even after three days. More than two dozen people sat together outside their cubicles, or stood in small groups. This was a third of their operation—the rest worked in security, maintenance, or in the club.
John knew every person he saw—one of the nice things about working in a small jurisdiction as a cop. Also, when the crime rate was low, residents trusted law enforcement more, and that developed a good working relationship between business and the police. But it also meant there could be a blind spot if someone you knew and trusted was involved in a crime.
John had called ahead, and the three owners of West End Charter—the Colfax siblings—had set up the conference room with coffee and pastries. Matt gladly took the coffee. He’d been up at three in the morning to catch the flight out west and was feeling sluggish now that it was after lunch—and close to the dinner hour on the East Coast, where they’d flown from.
The Colfax family had founded West End Charter with two boats more than fifty years ago. Since, it had grown to a fleet of forty that included charters, boat rentals, and guided tours. Their kayak rental business was thriving. Directly south of the main Friday Harbor port, they also had a harbor leased from the state for ninety-nine years, and they rented out a small number of extra slips there to long-term visitors.
Ted Colfax was the oldest, forty, and he appeared to have a quiet, even temperament.
Lynn, his sister, midthirties, was divorced and had taken back her maiden name. Not that it meant anything, but Matt always kept an eye out for family motives, past and present, whenever there was a crime that could have a financial component. Lynn was the accountant for the company and seemed to have a solid head on her shoulders.
Adam Colfax was the youngest brother, at least ten years younger than his sister, and clearly a hothead. Matt could tell not only because he had once been a hothead—and sometimes his Cuban temper still got the better of him—but because of Adam’s inability to sit still or talk without an accusatory tone.
“You still don’t have answers, John?” Adam said after introductions. “It’s been three days. We have the damn protesters back because they think the explosion was a malfunction of our boat!”
Matt had spotted the IP protesters lining the street leading to West End property. They chanted and carried signs with rather generic messaging about saving marine life, but hadn’t obstructed traffic.
John said, “I’ve already given a statement to the press that the preliminary investigation indicates that it was an intentional bomb, not a mechanical problem or accidental error.”
“And they don’t listen!”
Ted cleared his throat and said, “John, ATF was here all weekend inspecting our boats and property and they found no other bombs. We are remaining closed today out of respect for the families, but we’re cleared to continue operations unless you tell me there’s a reason we shouldn’t.”
“That’s a business decision,” John said. “At the moment, I can’t tell you whether your business was the target or not.”
“So you don’t know anything more than you did Friday night,” Adam interjected.
Matt said, “We know the bomb was planted in the bow of the ship, and the explosive used was C-4. That’s something we can trace because it’s hard to get and is heavily regulated, but tracing takes time. C-4 is easy to handle—it won’t go off spontaneously. We ran preliminary background checks with the ATF on all your staff, and so far, everyone is clean.”
“I could have told you that,” Adam said. “We run backgrounds on everyone when they’re hired.”
“Be that as it may,” Matt said, “we have to do the same. We appreciate your cooperation with security footage and access to your records. It helped us get a jump on the investigation over the weekend.”
“But you didn’t find anything?” Lynn asked, trying to sound hopeful.
“Not yet. Unfortunately, the security footage is only from building entrances and immediate exterior,” Matt said. “It wouldn’t show anyone approaching a boat from the water.”
Ted shook his head. “It’s our fault. We didn’t foresee something like this.”
“There’s no blame there,” Matt said. “And we don’t know exactly when the bomb was planted. We’re working backwards from the time the Water Lily set off. It could have been planted weeks ago.”
Ted shook his head. “We inspect our boats regularly. Our maintenance people would have found it.”
“How regularly?”
Lynn slid over a file. “These are the maintenance records for the Water Lily for the last six months. Ten days ago, the yacht was fully inspected. That means every inch was covered, both interior and exterior and a full exam of the engine. The Water Lily was last out Wednesday night. Ted took it out.”
“I didn’t go down into the hull, so I couldn’t tell you whether the bomb was there or not,” Ted said. “But I took a group of sightseers all around Orcas Island, and we had no problems.”
“Who was your crew?”
“Cal McKinnon. He works full-time, year-round. He didn’t do this.”
“We have to talk with everyone. Cal passed our initial background check, but he canceled his shift last minute on Friday.”
“Cal and his fiancée had an argument. He didn’t get into what it was about, but Jamie had left, taking off to her dad’s place on the other side of the island with their daughter, and Cal wasn’t handling it well. I was surprised, to be honest, because Cal and Jamie have been together for five years, almost since Cal moved to the island. They’re not, I don’t know how to say it, a problem couple.”
Lynn said, “What Ted means is they don’t have drama. The idea of them arguing about anything substantive is almost laughable.”
John asked, “Did Cal tell you what the argument was about?”
Ted shook his head. “I didn’t ask, just told him if he needed anything to let me know. Cal is family. Not by blood, but family just the same.”
Matt didn’t see a motive yet, but Cal might know more than he was saying. The charge of “accessory after the fact” could be a powerful motivator to encourage someone to talk.
Which brought up another problem with small communities—they tended to protect each other. They didn’t want to believe the worst of their neighbors, and the idea that someone they knew could have killed nine people was foreign to them.
“And have you talked to IP?” Adam said. “Because they’ve vandalized our property before. Printed libelous accusations in the newspaper. They’ve—”
“Adam,” Ted said. “John knows what he’s doing.”
“They are behind this! I know it. That Valerie bitch—”
“Adam, that’s enough,” Lynn said.
“Donna is stubborn and idealistic,” Ted said, “but she’s not violent.”
“Donna? She has no control over these people.” Adam waved his hand generally toward the front of the building. “Two of her people vandalized our dock last year.”
John said, “And they paid for it, Adam. They’re still on probation.”
Adam wasn’t backing down. “It cost over seventy thousand dollars to repair and the insurance doesn’t cover all of it. Not to mention our rates went up because of all the little bullshit those people have done to our property—things we couldn’t get them on.”
“They’re paying restitution,” John said. “Graffiti and chanting is a long way from murder.”
“Maybe they didn’t plan for anyone to be on the boat,” Adam said. “It malfunctioned or something and went off.”
Matt didn’t need people to start speculating and talking about this outside of the investigation. He said, “We are investigating every threat made to West End. What I need from you is information. You gave the sheriff all the threats you’ve received, correct?”
“Yes,” Lynn said. “I’ve been tracking them, and anything that seems over-the-top I send to John right away. On Saturday, I gave him copies of everything we have.”
“Have there been threats aimed at any of you personally, not specifically the business?”
They all shook their heads.
“If you receive anything—mail, on the phone, a computer message—no matter how innocuous, I need to see it. No one has taken credit for the bombing, which suggests it’s probably not politically motivated. We’re also looking into the lives of each of the victims. Other than Neil and Kyle, did you personally know anyone else on the boat?”
“I knew Pierce Jeffries pretty well since he bought vacation property here on the island five years ago, after he married Madelyn,” Ted said. “He wanted to retire here, at least part-time, but that was years from now. He’s a good man. Both him and his wife are avid sailors. We had a lot in common, so sometimes had a drink at the West End club. He shared business advice freely—he could have charged a fortune for his counsel. In fact, two years ago, when we had the recall issue that ended up leaking oil and caused IP to target us in the first place, he gave me a game plan to fix the problem, both on the business end and the PR end. I followed it to a T, and we’ve been doing very well, even after the economy tanked.”
That was Matt’s unasked question. Though he wouldn’t rely solely on Ted Colfax’s assessment—he wanted outside verification of West End’s financial strength.
“And did you know Madelyn Jeffries?”
“Pierce never came to the island without her. Quiet, beautiful young woman, very nice. I didn’t know her as well as I knew Pierce, but he seemed devoted.”
“And what about his family? Was there friction that he married someone that much younger than him?”
“If there was, Pierce didn’t mention it. But he didn’t gossip. Honestly, he was a throwback to another era.”
“I know Madelyn,” Lynn said. “We became friendly. She didn’t have friends here, and when Pierce was on business calls, she’d lunch here—said our club was more comfortable than the Harbor House.”
“Which is?” Matt asked.
“The premier country club on the island,” John said. “Anyone who’s anyone in Washington belongs, though most of their members don’t even live on the islands, just vacation here.”
“The Jeffries belonged—it’s where Pierce did most of his business,” Ted said. “But to relax, he came here.”
Lynn agreed. “I didn’t like seeing her eat alone, so often I joined her. Madelyn was standoffish to most people because she felt they were judging her as a gold digger. Once you got to know her, you realized why she and Pierce had such a successful marriage. She’s far more mature than her age suggests, and very knowledgeable about art and books, but not in a snooty way. I like her. I went out to see her yesterday, to find out how she’s holding up. Her mother was there, so I didn’t stay long, just gave her some food I had the kitchen prepare.”
“And how was she?” Matt asked.
“In shock, I would say,” Lynn said. “She seemed lost.”
“Why all these questions about the Jeffries?” Adam asked. “They are good people. You need to be looking at IP!”
“Adam,” Ted said quietly.
“It’s okay,” Matt said. “I’m used to people telling me how to do my job.” He addressed Adam directly: “I have to look at all possible motives, suspects, and victims. Pierce Jeffries was by far the wealthiest person on that boat, and money can bring out the worst in people. So I need to look at anyone who might hold a grudge, or who might benefit from his death.”
“I would look at his rotten kids before Madelyn,” Lynn said. “I might be biased because I like Madelyn, and she’s rarely spoken about her family situation. But they were here in the spring for a long weekend, and Madelyn stayed a few days longer. I asked her about it because it was unusual. She said Pierce had to go to New York and she wanted a few days without family drama. She regretted saying it, tried to backtrack—as if she feared I’d talk to a gossip rag. But it was more how she said it—it clearly bothered her. Later I learned there was a write-up in a business magazine where Pierce’s daughter cruelly insulted Madelyn. It hurt her.”
Matt made a mental note to have Catherine read and assess that article and the relationship between Madelyn Jeffries and the family. But back to West End. “I need a list of every employee who was let go over the last year, or any employee who was let go over the last five years who you think might possibly have a grudge.”
“There’s no one.”
“No one?”
“We haven’t fired anyone this year. Like I said, this is a family business,” Ted said. “Small and lean. We hire locals. My kids work here. Lynn’s daughter works here in the summers—she’s in high school. I know everyone on the staff personally. There are people working here who’ve been here for twenty years, who our dad hired. People have left—usually because they moved off the island. We have a lot of temporary summer hires—a lot of college students. I recruit for the summer from University of Washington and hire ten to fifteen extra staff. It’s the nature of the business—we don’t do a lot of charters in the middle of winter.”
“Neil Devereaux worked year-round?”
“Yes, part-time. As needed—and we always needed him in the summer. Plus, because he was a former FBI agent, there were a few jobs I wanted him to take.”
“For what reason?”
“A few years ago I found out that one of my charter boats had been used to smuggle drugs from Victoria into the islands. I didn’t know how or who, so I asked Neil to do the run for a few weeks. He figured out who it was and how they did it.”
“An employee?”
“No. It was someone who bought a ticket, once a month, working with a dockhand in Victoria. They’re both in prison now, thanks to Neil.”
“I’ll need any files you have on that case,” Matt said, “just to cover bases.”
“I’ll get them for you,” Lynn said and wrote on her pad.
“I remember the case,” John said. “I can pull the arrest record.”
“You think some guy who is doing five years for smuggling blew up our boat and killed people?” Adam said with a distinct frown.
“I don’t think anything at this point,” Matt said. “But like I said earlier, I need to cover every possible angle.”
A knock on the door interrupted Matt’s next thought. A young man opened the door. “Ted? The protesters outside blocked access to the club, and it’s getting a bit volatile. Raul and his team are there, but they still won’t leave.”
John stood. “I’ll take care of it.”
“May I go with you?” Ted said. “This is my business. I know some of those kids. I can talk to them.”
“Go ahead,” Matt said. “I only have a few more questions.”
When they left, Matt asked the others, “Who is Raul?”
“Head of security,” Lynn said. “He’s worked here forever, was one of our dad’s closest friends. He has a crew of six—we’ve never needed more. After Friday, he hired on additional security for the rest of the summer. We don’t want anything like this to happen again. They’re inspecting the boats every morning now.”
Doubling security must have cost them, but it was a smart move, Matt thought.
He finished up by asking Lynn for a few files and information about security that she didn’t have with her. She left the room and Adam was about to follow, but Matt asked him to stay.
“I can see that you’re both upset and angry about these events,” Matt said.
“Wouldn’t you be?” Adam demanded.
“We don’t know if IP is involved—or anyone in the group. Know that my team will be investigating every possible theory. We follow the evidence. But your animosity could be a hindrance, and I don’t want to have to talk to you about it later.”
“It’s been three days!”
Adam ran both hands through his hair and paced. He was the outward persona of how Matt sometimes felt. But experience, training, and age had taught him to contain his natural frustrations.
“Multiple agencies are working the evidence. We know a lot, Adam. Far more than we did Friday night. We have some of the best people in the country working this case, here, in Seattle, and in DC. I don’t give up. The bomber will face justice.”
“You believe that?”
“I do.”
“It would really help,” Adam said, swallowing some of his anger, “if you could get it out that this wasn’t West End.”
“Meaning?”
“What, you haven’t ruled us out? Do you actually think that Ted or Lynn or I blew up our boat and killed our crew and all those people? That we could be that...cruel? Heartless? Risk all that legal fallout and destroy our business?”
“Like I said, we must investigate every possible scenario. Insurance payouts are a powerful motivator for struggling companies.”
Matt had intentionally baited Adam to see what he would say or do. It was clear from his shocked expression that Adam was stunned by Matt’s words. Insurance scams were a dime a dozen, but hard to get away with—and Matt sensed that the savvy Colfax family would know that.
“Insurance? We have replacement insurance on all our boats. We don’t get like, what? A cash settlement? We get a new boat. For what? Nine lives? We want a new boat, so we kill nine people? I can think of half a dozen ways to get a new boat without killing anyone! If that’s one of your theories, it’s idiotic. I hope you know what you’re doing, because right now, I’m having doubts.”
“We’ll be looking at your insurance documentation—which is one of the things I asked Lynn to get for me—and can verify everything you’ve said. One thing to mark off the list—but I have to mark everything off the list.”
Adam wanted to argue but kept his mouth shut.
Matt didn’t honestly think it was an insurance scam, mostly because of exactly what Adam said—West End wouldn’t benefit.
Though insurance could be a factor; life insurance on one of the victims. At this point, among the Nava Software folks, only one had life insurance, a small policy that benefited a sister. The Marshalls had dual policies, benefiting each other—so that wasn’t a clear motive. Neil had a small policy that was part of his pension plan—that was split evenly between his two kids. But Jeffries? He had a substantial life insurance policy, and the beneficiary was his wife. If she predeceased him, it was split evenly between his mother-in-law and his three children.
“If you have any questions,” Matt said, “call me. I’ll tell you as much as I can about the investigation. But the last thing I want to hear is you—or anyone, frankly—making accusations or confronting potential suspects.”
Adam nodded stiffly. Matt turned to leave. Then Adam said quietly, “Kyle was my boyfriend. We’d been involved for—well, a while now. About a year.”
“Was it secret?”
“We didn’t announce it in the paper, but we’re both out, so it was pretty obvious to people who knew us.”
“Are you telling me this because you think Kyle being gay could be a motive for murder?”
“No. I’m telling you because I loved him, and it hurts that he’s gone.”
Matt commiserated. “Like I said, my team is the best. We’ll find out who did this. Talk to me if you need to talk about the case, but don’t let your emotions dictate your actions. It never ends well.”