“Your wife is Scotty?” Reid asked.
Nick nodded. “Yeah. Best friends with Kate and Beth, especially Beth—they were closer in age—since they were kids. Inseparable. I loved Beth too. She was practically family to us.”
“Was Pete also like family?” Reid asked.
“Right,” Nick said, barking out a laugh. “By the way, I told Scotty I was meeting you here, and she’s coming by. I know you want to talk to her as well, and we thought it would be easier.”
“That’s great,” Reid said. “Why did you laugh when I asked if Pete was family?”
“Because he’s a pompous ass, and no one can stand him.”
That got Reid’s attention. “But you went on a weeklong sailing trip with him.”
“Yeah, well, he’s a friend of Lee’s—Lee Ackerley—and he chipped in on the charter. Believe me, if it were up to me ...”
“Okay,” Reid said. “Why don’t you tell me about the trip?”
“Great weather, incredible breeze. The first night, we cruised around Nantucket. Pete was distracted, though. He kept saying he was worried about Beth—her pregnancy hadn’t been easy. I told him Scotty was there, even though Kate and Lulu—their other friend—were away. My wife would do anything for Beth.”
“How did he act worried?”
“Calling her constantly. Making a big deal about the fact she wasn’t picking up. Totally distracted.”
“Distracted in what way?”
“Yeah. The reason the boat’s here now. Pete took a turn at the wheel, and when he rounded Sankaty Head, he was so busy checking his cell phone he missed the buoy and steered straight over the east end of Davis South Shoal—shallow and dangerous, and every sailor knows it. He dinged the keel, and it’s going to cost a few grand to get fixed.” Nick paused.
“How did the crew react?”
“Pissed off, but you couldn’t help be concerned. The guy was definitely off his game. From then on, it was all, ‘You okay, Pete? You doing all right?’ He loved the attention. It’s like he got what he wanted.”
“You saying you think he was acting worried and distracted on purpose?”
“I have no idea. With Pete it could be anything. He’s got this intellectual superiority, so he thinks the rules are different for him. He’d probably think it was beneath him to look at a chart. He’s a member of Mensa. You know what that is?”
“Tell me.”
“The genius club. For people who have superhigh IQs, to quote Pete. He’ll be very happy to tell you about it.”
“So, take me through more of the trip,” Reid said.
“Well, at one point I had the wheel. Up ahead a whale surfaced and spouted, then another—it was a pod of humpback whales swimming by. Just beautiful. But we wanted to get back to port for dinner, and I was making time. Pete told me to bear off.”
“Bear off? What’s that?”
“It means fall off the wind. Stop going so fast. Pete was on the rail with his camera out, as he had been practically the whole voyage. He said he wanted to get a picture for Beth, that she’s whale-crazy.”
“What’s unusual about that?”
Nick snorted. “Pete never cared about taking a picture for Beth in his life. A photo of whales, fine. But then he wanted us to go in a completely different direction to get a shot of a three-masted schooner. Then a flock of gulls. Then a guy catching stripers. It was like he wanted us to notice how much he wanted to do for Beth.”
“What did he wear on the trip?”
“Jeans. Long-sleeved shirt. And it was hotter than fuck.”
Reid nodded. It was what he’d hoped to hear.
“Did you ever see him with his shirt off, or a T-shirt—anything like that?” Reid asked.
