Barb turned to look out my kitchen window as she searched her memory bank. “The name is familiar to me, but I can’t place it,” she finally said. “I’m actually thinking that’s the name of an old friend from college or maybe an author I’ve read. I’ve got nothing, really.”
I nodded as I continued searching Carl’s files for any other Amelia Burke reference. I agreed it seemed like a name I had heard before.
“Carr, if you want to go to Governor’s Point, I think we should go soon. I have guests arriving later today on the 4:00 boat. I need to be available for them. And don’t even think about going out there by yourself.”
I looked up to find her looking at me sternly, her eyebrows knitted together.
I reassured her, “Even if I wanted to, I doubt I would ever find my way down those twists and turns by myself!”
“That may be the only thing that saves us from you heading off by yourself at all hours.”
We hit the road with a packed lunch, my camera, and a few supplies stuffed into my big canvas tote bag. “I feel like a real-life detective!” Barb laughed as we climbed into my cart.
We rode in silence, each lost in our thoughts. We turned off Old Port Passage Way to start down the dirt road into the woods.
“What happened to our sunny day?” I wondered aloud, “Is it supposed to rain?”
“This morning’s weather report said clouds would roll in, but I thought it was supposed to be later. Gray skies do add a certain level of—I don’t know, should we call it atmosphere?”
“I think we could both do without any more atmosphere, right?”
As the air filled with humidity, we could feel rain coming. We were back at the scene for the first time since Saturday, and all of our senses were on edge. Our surroundings seemed heavy with loss, fear, anger, and mystery. Except for her directions, Barb said nothing else until we pulled into the parking space in front of the gate.
“On second thought, let’s move this cart and park farther away, like over there,” I said as I backed up and drove to a clearing. “I want to explore where the killer likely parked.”
Barb’s hands were firmly on her hips. “What are we looking for? How do you want to start?”
I responded slowly as I thought this through. “If we accept that Carl was likely killed or at least seriously hurt at the Beach Road property, then let’s get into the mindset of someone who would have brought him here. So, where would you park if you had just killed someone?”
“Where would I park if I had just killed someone? Not here, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t want to be at Governor’s Point. Remember, this is my special spot.”
“Exactly, being here has to mean something,” I agreed. “If someone brought Carl here, they would have parked as close as possible to the gate, right? As close as they could get to where they wanted to leave him. So the question is, why would someone move their victim here, to this place, where no one ever goes? Why not leave him where he was? It was secluded there, too. There has to be a connection. Governor’s Point, specifically, is part of this.”
I walked as I talked. “For now, my theory is that whoever left Carl here acted alone and needed a way to get out of these woods. Walking is an option, but not an easy one. If that person drove Carl’s cart here, how would they get back home? No, they had to use their own transportation.”
I continued, “If we believe that Carl died mostly from the internal injuries and not the injury to his head, then he might not have died immediately. Let’s say Carl could have been put into someone else’s cart. I’m guessing someone brought him here for some significant reason. And then, watched him suffer and die. Poor Carl, it’s all awful.”
Our eyes looked over the property in front of us, noticing the remnants of the sheriff’s department investigation. Police tape had marked a barrier around the pool deck, but some long strands had already fallen. This felt like it was our invitation.
“Julie’s team has already been through this, Carr,” Barb said, sounding skeptical. “Look at those piles of leaves they turned over—and paths they cleared off. I don’t know what we are going to find that she has not already seen, documented, and probably discarded.”
“You’re probably right,” I said. “It is just a hunch. There was so much going on Saturday, I’m not sure I saw everything clearly. Don’t you think it is easier to see this place—the scene—without everyone running around here? So, let’s start at the beginning, retracing what we think were the steps of whoever brought Carl here. I’m thinking it had to be one person, someone big who could lift Carl.”
We started in the parking spaces closest to the gate. The overgrown grass and the untamed landscape presented their own challenges. It wasn’t as easy as just looking carefully. We had to get down and focus. The few tools we brought with us were impractical. Everything was too unkept to use small hand rakes and trowels. We walked around, silent and hunched over, looking in the grass and weeds, moving things with our hands.
“What is this?” Barb said. She crouched down. Under some leaves was a tiny blue lighthouse charm. “Do you have those plastic sandwich bags in your tote? Can you get one?” she asked as she looked up at me.
Returning to her just a minute later, I said, “I have seen that before, but I can’t remember where. Do you recognize it?”
“No, I don't think so. I mean, it is just an ordinary thing. There is nothing remarkable about it, right?” She used one bag as a glove while inserting the charm into another. She sealed it shut as she looked at me. “What are we doing? This seems like a bridge too far. We are crawling around, picking up random things, storing them in plastic bags? Who knows how long this charm has been here?”
“Stay with me Barb, please. We’ve come this far, please, just a little bit more. Don’t you want to know for sure that no stone was left unturned?”
”Well, no,” she said. “I don’t think turning over stones and digging around in the weeds is what Julie had in mind when she asked us to help. I think the actual detectives did this already. Meanwhile, some crazy killer could be lurking around out in these woods and we are here alone.”
I had not realized that Barb was scared. “Ohh, Barb,” I said. “Do you really think someone has been hiding in the woods for the past five days waiting to kill us? I don’t think this crime was random at all. I think someone wanted Carl dead and it has something to do with this property. Carl was the target. We aren’t. We are going to figure it out—so, please stay with me, just a little longer.”
I hoped Barb would understand that her presence gave me a strength I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Barb sighed, loud enough for me to know she was losing patience with all of this. “When we are two old ladies, sitting in the rockers on your porch, we are going to remember this day, that’s for sure. Carr, in all my years, I would have never guessed this is how I would spend my time on Mongin Island, crawling around Governor’s Point.”
She shook her head. “I guess I am not as much afraid as I am uneasy and maybe a little uncomfortable, emotionally and physically.”