“Actually, there is. I’ve never been on the water here before, in spite of all the time I’ve spent in town. Would you show me where Esteban was supposedly killed? I was told that his body, or whoever’s body was actually recovered, wasn’t far from where he went into the water. But the company my family hired had been searching that area for months without finding anything. There had been a storm right before they supposedly found him, and they said it must have done what you said earlier, moveddebris around. Including the skeletal remains they pulled out.” She swallowed. “Remains I thought were my brother’s for a very long time.”
Beau moved some gears and the sound of the engines cut out. Then a metallic grinding noise sounded from the back of the boat. A slight jerk had her grabbing his arm to keep from falling.
“Sorry about that,” he said, steadying her. “I should have warned you. I dropped anchor. This was actually my first planned destination today. We’re already here, where Jake Randolph, aka your brother, allegedly went overboard.”
She looked out the windows on all sides. “Doesn’t look like a spot that’s dangerous.”
“Most of the dangerous places around here don’t. Do you see any cabins or docks?”
She shook her head. “No. Just trees and muddy banks.”
“This is one of the most dangerous parts of Mystic Lake. There’s debris throughout this section. But there’s something very interesting about where we are right now. I’ll show you why.” He stepped the few feet to the open doorway.
“I thought we weren’t allowed out where someone could see us.”
“We’ll have to take some risks today or we won’t get any information. I don’t see anyone around and can’t think of any reason for them to be. It seems safe. But if you’re worried and don’t want to—”
“No, I do. If you think it’s safe, that’s all I need to hear.”
They headed out to the fishing area of the boat in the back, the only place that comfortably allowed them to move around because the boat was so small.
“Sit here,” he said, guiding her to one of the built-in seating areas along one side. “The accident report listed the GPS location from the boat that Jake Randolph and his friends rented right around here.”
“You memorized the GPS coordinates?”
“No, although I’ve been in this precise location before and remember it pretty well. I programmed the coordinates from Randolph’s file into the boat’s GPS tracker before we left our dock. His file is one of the ones that I put in my backpack at the station, before we headed down the road toward Chattanooga.”
“Plan A.”
“Yes, the infamous, ill-fated plan A. With plan B being a bust too, I’m hoping plan C will go far better.”
“Plan C? Us, out here trolling for information?”
“Trolling. Yeah, I suppose that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re going to talk to a lot of people today, people I trust, like Bobby. Hopefully some of them will remember something about Randolph, or saw your father’s men out here searching for his body or, more importantly, have seen your brother or his men out here in the past few weeks. If there are enough confirmed sightings we might be able to piece the information together to form a picture that will tell us why he’s here and what he’s really up to.”
“And your team, the officers, are doing the same in town.”
“In town and in the mountains around town, exactly. Knock-and-talks. That the name of the game today.”
“Knock-and-talks? Like, knocking on someone’s door and talking to them?”
“Exactly. The goal is that timeline I mentioned. We’ll pull together all the puzzle pieces this evening and see if they form a picture.”
“Starting here, where Esteban—Jake, I mean, or whoever was really here—went overboard.”
“Exactly. The investigation into Randolph’s accident centered right here because this is the GPS location where the boat was stationary for the longest period of time. It makes sense that this would be where he went over and his alleged friends searchedfor him. Look over the side. Be careful, hold on. But don’t worry about tipping the boat. In spite of its small size, it’s heavy and secure. Look in the water and tell me what you see.”
She frowned. “I won’t be able to see anything. The water’s too dark.”
“When you look at it from the wheelhouse it seems that way. But is it really? Look over the side. Straight down.” When she hesitated he said, “Trust me.”
She rolled her eyes and held onto the side of the boat. “Okay, but this seems silly. I won’t be able to—wait, what the heck? I can see all the way to the bottom.”
“Not quite. It’s far too deep for that in this section. But it’s clear, as it is in much of the lake. It’s an optical illusion that makes you think the water is dark, murky. Although, it is murky in some areas. But most of it’s like it is here. The mountains and woods surrounding the lake and the debris under the water combine to make it look dark when you look out, like when your boat is skimming along. But if you stop, at least in this area, obviously you can see pretty far down.”
He waved a hand. “I’ll stop with the physics lessons. But tell me what you actually see here, where Randolph supposedly went overboard and drowned.”
She peered down, carefully scanning what was beneath the water. “I don’t understand. I don’t… I don’t see anything but clear water that goes on and on. Where’s all of this dangerous debris you mentioned?” She straightened. “Wait, you said the town cleans up hazardous debris once they’re aware of it and have the budget. Did they clean it up?”
