AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He’s already been surfing this morning,” Lucien pointed out as he stepped onto a wooden porch.
Before they could knock, a tall man with a salt-and-pepper beard and matching longish hair jerked the door back. “Wally said you’d be coming by today.”
“I’m Brogan. That’s Lucien,” Brogan replied to break the ice.
Lucien offered his hand. “If Wally told you we were coming, he must’ve explained why.”
Zeph’s handshake was brief. His immediate response was to the point. “He did. But I don’t see how I can help you. I wasn’t even in town the weekend your victim was murdered. I checked to make sure. I spent the morning scouring through the shed out back for my pay stubs. I found them and they prove I worked that weekend, August 1978. You can check the Coast Guard’s official records if you don’t believe me.”
“We’re not accusing you of anything,” Lucien clarified. “We’re here to—”
“Blah blah blah,” Zeph replied, heat and frustration in his voice. “You want to know if I have an alibi. I do. I didn’t kill anyone. In 1978, I was stationed out of Monterey. I spent that weekend out to sea on the Coast Guard cutterQuarter Moon, pulling my standard weekend shift. I didn’t know the girl. I don’t remember seeing her or having a conversation with her. I couldn’t tell you what she looked like. I can’t be the only ‘older’ surfer who liked to hang out at the beach when they weren’t working. Look, I appreciate you trying to solve a murder, but it has nothing to do with me.”
“Everyone says you’re the best surfer Pelican Pointe has seen.”
“No need to butter me up. I’ve always loved the water. I grew up working as a kid on my dad’s shrimp boat. I saw plenty of people do dumb things out at sea. It’s why I became a lifeguard and joined the Coast Guard—to help out stupid people who don’t know what they’re doing on the water. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Who were the other older surfers around during that summer?” Brogan prompted.
Zeph let out a heavy sigh. “I have no idea. Did I mention I was a loner? I don’t like people very much. Never did. I try to limit my interactions with them. It solves a lot of problems that way.”
“But what if this was your daughter?” Lucien stressed. “Wouldn’t you want somebody to put in the effort to find her killer?”
Zeph rubbed his forehead. “That’s low. Angie had a daughter when I married her. Matilda was her name. She was twelve when she was diagnosed with leukemia and fourteen when it killed her. Life’s cruel and unfair for a lot of reasons.”
“I’m so sorry,” Brogan said. “Is that the same form of cancer that killed Angie? Sometimes it runs in families. Wally mentioned you lost your wife.”
“It was. I hate to be rude, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to be left alone. If you press this or try to make me the fall guy, I have my pay stubs to prove I was nowhere near Pelican Pointe when this girl met her unfortunate demise. I’m done talking.”
With that, Zeph shut the door in their faces.
Brogan clucked her tongue. “Well, he told us.”
“I don’t understand why everyone is so unwilling to talk to us or help find this girl’s killer,” Lucien mumbled as he marched off the porch and onto the sand. Hands on his hips, he glared out to sea. “No wonder this murder remains unsolved. It’s like no one cares about this girl.”
“Think of it this way. The more someone resists, the more it looks like they have something to hide. No one has said anything to convince me they should come off the list. Agreed?”
“Agreed. Do pay slips mean Willis was actually out at sea? Is there a timecard that proves where he was?”
“I don’t know. But we need to find out if theQuarter Moonwas in port that weekend.”
“Yeah. Who’s to say Zeph couldn’t have made a quick trip back to Pelican Pointe that Saturday night? It would take less than an hour by car.”
“The day’s been a total waste, hasn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t say that. It means we keep digging until something more definitive than weak alibis pops up on our radar.”
10
Back home, at Brogan’s urging, Lucien popped the cork on a bottle of chardonnay. She poured the wine into stemless glasses before rolling out their whiteboard. “It’s time to get down to business.”
“With wine, nothing is impossible,” Lucien muttered as he emptied his glass and began to write down the names of their suspects.
“That’s no way to treat a fine white wine,” Brogan chided, sipping hers. “I hate to bring this up, but it’s an absurd notion that we could ever verify Tazzie and Richie’s whereabouts that Saturday night. It’s not that easy piecing together where two teens were forty-five years ago.”
“That’s why we keep them on the list.”
“It’s a small town, though, right? Even if they spent the first part of the evening at the movies, it doesn’t mean they didn’t end up somewhere along the beach. They could’ve taken a walk, gone for a swim, or made out for an hour or so, then ended up on or near the boardwalk.”
