October 5-6, 2018
Galveston, Texas
After they settled into his Saab, Chris and Marnie peeled out of the Gulf National Lab visitor’s lot and took a quick right, coming to an abrupt stop in front of a police car blocking the road.
Officer Torres approached the car and said, “Sorry guys, this road is closed. Sinkhole collapsed earlier today and left a six-foot crater. You’ll need to do a detour through the medical center. Oh hi, Chris, I didn’t recognize you at first. Did you just come from there?”
Looking up and recognizing Torres from some previous reporting, Chris laughed. “Yep, just got a tour. Pretty much gives you the creeps. We’re eager to get as far away from those diseases as possible.”
“Well, I’m sure that they won’t attack you on the street. Just go back a ways and take a few lefts and a right, and you should be fine.”
Chris slowly and deliberately did as he was told. Driving to his home, he parked outside the garage of the imposing main house.
“Welcome to my humble abode, or rather I should say, humbling abode.”
“Wow, this is something. Are you planning on a large family?” Marnie asked, almost giggling at the immensity of the project.
“I think most of these restored mansions have two people living in them,” Chris replied. “The problem is, what to do with the history? During the late 19th century, the nouveau riche competed to build the most elaborate homes in this neighborhood. The mansions have turrets, spires, columns, and whatever flourish was considered de rigueur for the times.”
When they’d pulled up, Marnie saw a small, older woman come out the front door. As they got out of the car, Chris made introductions. Rosa smiled approvingly at Marnie.
Rosa asked, “Cristobal, do you have a minute? I need to show you our latest progress.”
Chris glanced questioningly at Marnie.
“I would love a tour,” she said. “I can see your house withstood the Great Storm.” Marnie indicated the diamond-shaped plaque that was issued to other survivors around town. “I remember admiring these mansions when we lived here, but never got inside one.”
Rosa ushered them into the gleaming modern kitchen with brushed steel appliances, white flecked quartz countertops, and rich grey cabinets.
“We’re trying to keep much of the beauty of the mansion but not its inconveniences. The kitchen’s designed to be efficient and functional,” Chris said.
As they continued into the dining room, it felt like traveling back in time. The original oak wainscoting had been refinished. Stained glass filled the half-moons above the Palladium windows, sending multicolored beams across the floor. Chris and Rosa escorted Marnie through several parlors to his favorite work in progress, the library. The floor to ceiling bookshelves seemed to cover an acre. A vintage rolling ladder was in the corner ready to be of service when he had a chance to arrange his stored books. Chris punched the antique push button light switch which turned on most of the bulbs in the chandelier.
“Not the best light for reading, but my historian friend says it’s a fine specimen of turn of the century lighting. Our Island forefathers were keen to show off their new electricity.”
Back in the kitchen, Chris complimented Rosa on the progress as she handed him a plate of enchiladas, easily enough for two. After the attack at the lab, Marnie found the craziness of Chris’s work-in-progress mansion was a welcome distraction. It evoked images from all the Victorian romances she’d read as a teen. She loved the way Chris and Rosa interacted. Such love and respect.
They left the main house and went to Chris’s apartment. She was impressed with its clean efficiency. Not messy but comfortable. It was a light airy space. Glancing into the bedroom, she noticed that the bed was made.
In the corner of the dining area, Marnie reviewed Chris’s selection of bourbons.
“I have a great collection of bourbons and not much else,” Chris declared.
“My husband, Adam, was a huge fan of bourbons. Knob Creek is fine for me.”
“You’re married?” Chris asked.
“I was,” Marnie said, saying no more. Chris looked away.
After getting the drinks and warming up the enchiladas, Chris put the flash drive in his computer. Marnie took the desk chair with Chris leaning over her. The closeness of his body and his warm, earthy smell made Marnie’s heart beat faster. She hadn’t felt like this in months. At least while she was awake. Her dreams of Adam pressing up against her could awaken her in a full-fledged orgasm. She thought such things only happened to teenagers.
“This is definitely what we were looking for. It’s what Gen wanted me to find.”
At first, she couldn’t concentrate on Gen’s report. Marnie’s breaths were quick. Scrolling to the conclusion section, it became clear what a dramatic find Gen had made, and she forced herself to slow her breathing.
With Chris still reading over her shoulder, Marnie asked, “Can you follow what she’s saying?”
“I’m getting the drift of it. This is major. This new strain of dengue isn’t only a local threat to South Texas. The entire southern U.S. is vulnerable.”
“Look at this.” Marnie scrolled down and Chris leaned in closer.
“Gen seemed to have been working on the preliminary stages of a vaccine. This needs priority funding,” Marnie said.
Glancing up at Chris, she took in his strong jawline, slight stubble, and his warm “bourbon breath” as Adam used to call it. Chris’s eyes met hers and he bent in for a kiss.
Marnie met him willingly. Drinking in his kiss with a hunger she didn’t know she had. She stood up, folding into Chris’s arms.
“To the bedroom?” Chris asked.
Marnie was already headed that way.
Before she undressed, she hesitated. She hadn’t undressed for anyone but Adam for twenty years. It all felt a little intense. She didn’t even know Chris’s relationship status.
“So, you’re single?” she asked.
“At the present time, yes. I’m hoping to change that shortly.” He smiled as he took her in his arms. “We could take this slower. There’s no rush.”
Marnie was thinking about how hot and bothered her body was and didn’t agree. “Well, let’s see how it goes,” she murmured.
As they lay in bed side by side, Marnie thought how nice it was to be next to a real person and not a memory. Chris rolled over on top of her, supporting his weight on his elbows. She could feel his strong lean muscles lined up with hers. He wasn’t much taller than she was but just enough. He had said he was an avid rower and Marnie could tell. Strong but lean. Matching her runner’s body perfectly. Every inch of her felt alive.
“We can go slow,” Chris repeated.
Marnie gave him a smile. “I’ve always kind of liked it fast.”
The next morning, Marnie lay quietly in the bed, feeling Chris’s warmth beside her. She slowly got up and stretched. Something she had learned from the pups. Stretching was the best way to start a day.
Chris rolled over, and seeing Marnie smiling at him, said, “You know you have the best smile of anyone I have ever known.”
“I feel like I’ve smiled more in the last forty-eight hours than in the last six months. Get up lazy bones. We have to figure out what to do with Gen’s report.”
As Chris pulled on clean jeans and a t-shirt, Marnie felt envious.
“I don’t have any pants that will work for you, but here’s a clean t-shirt,” Chris said.
“Thanks.” Marnie started laughing. “It must be twenty-five years since I’ve found myself in this situation. I’ll take a quick shower and put on my new ‘outfit.’ I’ll be out in a minute.”
Padding his way to the kitchen, Chris took out a few items. He cracked fresh eggs, added some leftover sausage, and made each of them a delicious scramble. They went out to the porch to enjoy the morning sun.
Marnie thought how much she had missed a man cooking for her. Adam had been a great cook.
After savoring her contentment, Marnie broke the silence. “So, any thoughts about our next step? We now know that Gen’s death is related to her research. Since all of the results seem to have been deleted—even on Gen’s home computer, it’s up to us to make sure the right people get this thumb drive and take the appropriate next steps. It’s hard to know how high up the cover-up goes.”
Chris hesitated. “I agree with you, but I don’t think we have enough proof. With the blackout at the lab, they can claim ignorance. We have a motive, but not enough data to convince the police.”
“Okay, back to my question. What is our next step?” Marnie asked.
“Yesterday morning I called a friend, an investigator, to get a little scoop on the people at the lab. Savannah thought she would have some data for me tomorrow afternoon.”
“Savannah, huh. I hope she’s sixty-five and married to her work.”
“Yeah, not quite. But she is quite good.”
“So, this morning we should eliminate other motives for her murder. Just to help nudge the police along. Who benefits from Gen’s death? I don’t know who is in her will but let’s assume no one particularly benefits. She wasn’t married, she didn’t have any kids, and she wasn’t that close to her brother and sister. They would be unlikely to know how to orchestrate a murder from Iowa, especially since they might not benefit. Garrett might be the beneficiary, but no, I can’t go there. I know he loved her.”
Chris started playing along. “If not inheritance, then a hate crime? Did anyone know she was transsexual? It seems like a pretty tightly held secret until after her death.”
“Yeah, and as far as I know, she wasn’t hanging out with the LGBTQ crowd,” Marnie agreed. “The most likely person to benefit is someone at her lab, someone who didn’t want her research released. Or maybe, someone who would gain an advantage if she wasn’t working there? If we consider that the person who committed the murder might’ve been getting paid, the question remains, who would orchestrate it?”
Chris nodded in agreement. “The lab is the key. Hopefully, Savannah will have some new angles for us to look at. What should we do today?”
“I need to get my dogs and go for a morning walk. With the help of their grandmother, Nancy, Louise’s kids, Noah and Cora, are going to start walking them after school. Louise and I are going to have another girl’s night out.”
Chris smiled. “Sounds like fun. I’ll head to the newspaper this afternoon and get a preliminary article out about Dr. Drake’s murder. Maybe it will flush out some information. I wonder if we shouldn’t rest a bit more before starting our activities. It looks like we might be busy for a few days.”
Marnie answered his smile. “I do feel a little tired after that delicious breakfast.” She wandered back to the bedroom, with Chris following.
With the noise of construction at his house fading into the background, Chris and Marnie headed to her little cottage. The day promised to be warm, but it still held a hint of the morning’s freshness. As they pulled up to Marnie’s, Chris realized they were neighbors. Not that Galveston was very big, but this was close even for a town of 50,000. He admired the little green house tucked into the row of older homes.
“How did you find this place?” he asked.
“How does anyone find anything?” Marnie said. “The internet. I felt like I recognized it. I used to walk my daughter, Ellie Jean, up and down this neighborhood. We lived closer to the hospital but not so far that I couldn’t walk these streets.”
By this time, the dogs were barking relentlessly.
“We better go in before they come through the window.”
Harlee and Jack greeted Chris like a long-lost friend and ran around the furniture. Jack’s tail was going around in circles so fast he looked like a helicopter about to take off. Chris asked if this is what Marnie meant by well-trained.
She reached down to pet Harlee. “They’re trained in the things I care about. I started off trying to train them not to get on the furniture but Adam, my husband, who had never had dogs in the house, liked to pet them on the couch in the evening. I despaired teaching them they were welcome on the furniture only when invited.”
She shrugged. “I don’t care too much about excessively nice things. Couches are replaceable. I was clear to the owner of this cottage that I would replace anything damaged.
Chris bent down to give both dogs some pets and looked up at Marnie. “I feel like I need to know a little bit more about your life. The oblique references to a husband and a daughter make me nervous.”
“Sorry. My husband died last spring in an accident. My daughter is twenty and studying abroad this year. She’ll probably come for a visit this winter.” Grief was etched on Marnie’s face.
Chris took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said.
Marnie gave a weak smile. “I can’t really talk too much about it.” She bustled around as an excuse to compose herself. “Let’s take these puppies for a walk.”
“I know some hikes on the bay side at Galveston Island State Park that allow dogs,” Chris said.
“I like the plan. Let me get into my own clothes and we can head out. We can pick up lunch after we tire these guys out. I’ll text Louise and tell her that we found the thumb drive and what’s on it.”
After a short drive down Galveston Island, they watched the dogs frolic in the surf. Looking at bits of tar stuck to the dogs, Marnie began thinking that what she most needed to find was a dog spa somewhere close by. She also thought she was way too smitten with Chris Hill. She didn’t know anything about him. How old was he? Had he ever been married? She thought about dancing around these subjects. Shit, I’ll just be myself and ask outright.
“Hey Chris, I feel like I’ve told you some basics of my life, but I don’t know anything about you. Which is my way of saying, spill your beans.”
“Okay, sounds fair,” Chris said. “I’m forty-two and grew up here, went to the local high school. My family has worked at or owned the newspaper in Galveston since it was founded. My dad discouraged me from staying in the business since the digital age has been hard on small newspapers. I went to the University of Texas in Austin and dutifully took some computer science classes. But my interest in technology only extended to improving the newspaper.”
“What did you do after college?”
Chris smiled. “My dad gave up on me doing something else when I moved back to Galveston and became a reporter. Over the last twenty years, I’ve been slowly taking control of the paper and working to make it relevant to both the local population and to the state of Texas. Trying, anyway.”
More self-consciously now, he went on.
“I’ve had several long-term relationships but am pretty married to the paper and few women want to play second fiddle. I will confess that turning forty makes a man think about the future and where a family would fit in.”
“Oh whoa,” Marnie protested. “I wasn’t looking for a marriage proposal. But if you haven’t guessed, I’m a rather intense person. Falling into bed with a stranger really isn’t my style.”
She looked away and bent down to pick up a shell before continuing.
“Which is something I clearly needed and enjoyed. I guess I want to make sure that our relationship isn’t complicating your other life. I don’t want to be cornered by someone telling me something ‘for my own good’ or by an angry—and armed—girlfriend.”
“Oh, I can’t swear that those situations won’t happen, but I’m a straight shooter. No current attachments.” He took her hand and went on. “I’m an employed man with my own teeth and I’ve been told that’s the going requirement on a dating app these days.”
Marnie grinned. “I haven’t had the pleasure of consulting a dating app but it’s nice to know there are rules. Okay, what about hobbies besides breaking and entering Level 4 labs?”
Chris thought a minute. “I work out and row some just to clear my head. I play a poor game of golf to socialize with the important people at the Bayside Country Club.”
“Oh, that’s way more important than teeth for me. I love a man who plays a poor game of golf. I love to win.”
They spent the rest of the morning talking about the news and whether a Democrat had a chance in Texas. After a walk, Chris introduced Marnie to his favorite food truck where they thoroughly enjoyed tortas. They took the pups to a local pet shop for a quick rinse and then landed them back at the cottage for their nap.
Chris said, “They’re your babies, aren’t they? I have to admit that they’ve charmed me. Jack is such a doofus. He’s so big but incredibly funny.”
“Yes, they are my kids.” Marnie laughed. “Terribly more spoiled than my daughter ever was. I’m going to clean up and then sketch down what we’ve learned. Think about what we need to look into.”
“I’ll head to the newspaper and try to get a story out about Gen. Touch base tonight or tomorrow?” Chris asked.
Marnie’s phone vibrated. “It’s a message from Louise. She’s changing the plans for tonight. She wants to meet sooner to talk about some information she got from the EPA. I’ll let you know what we find out.”
“Sounds good. Talk soon.” Chris gave Marnie a kiss and headed out the door.