Death's Door Read online

  Snark’s face was turning red, and the muscles in his jaw were working overtime.

  “And if you interfere with Mrs. Bell again you won’t know what hit you,” he said in a very controlled voice. “Luckily Mrs. Bell is a strong lady or you would have frightened her to death. I’m not warning you anymore.” He turned to Rosie. “Detective, I would think you’d be the voice of reason with Mr, Manning. You know better.”

  She just looked at him without responding. She had tried the voice of reason approach many times in the past. It had never worked, but she wasn’t going to tell Snark that.

  Our parting wasn’t cordial. When we got into the car I couldn’t even remember if Snark had said goodbye.

  As I turned into traffic Rosie said, “Let me say it this time—that went well, didn’t it?”

  “Your sarcasm isn’t as good as mine. But it went as good as I could have hoped.”

  “Pardon? It was a train wreck. You got nothing from him.”

  “I didn’t expect to get anything from him. That would have been a bonus.”

  “Then I must have missed something. What do you think was good about it?”

  “We’ll have to wait and see. You can’t piss somebody off that much without something happening.”

  “And what do you think will happen?”

  “Time will tell, my dear.” After stopping at a red light, I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

  She just shook her head and let out a long sigh.

  Chapter 28

  We turned off of highway 42 a little after three. Coast Guard Station Sturgeon Bay, a white building with a burnt red roof, was on the north side of the ship canal on the Lake Michigan side. A tree-lined dirt road along the canal, with a few homes along the way, led to the station. As we rounded a corner, we came out of the trees and saw the white station next to the canal. As we walked around to the front of the station, the red canal lighthouse came into view. A light drizzle was falling.

  “Spencer! What a beautiful lighthouse! Can we walk out there?”

  “Wait a minute. You weren’t too thrilled about the walk to the Algoma light. This is ten times farther and crosses water.”

  “But there’s not a drop of fog in sight.”

  “There wasn’t in Algoma either.”

  The light sat on the end of a stone breakwall and was accessed by an elevated iron walkway about ten feet off the ground and marked the entrance to the canal. The last portion of the north wall was separated from the main part by about twenty feet, and the walkway spanned the water. On a windy day it would be a tricky walk.

  “We can certainly get closer, but the walkway is closed to the public. We’ll walk over there after we’re done.”

  The watchstander said we were expected, and we signed the visitor’s log. A petty officer led us to a conference room where the executive officer, a boatswain’s mate, first class, BM1, was waiting for us. He introduced himself as Petty Officer Ray Stant and said Chief Adam Kraft would be right with us. He laid out a chart of the Door County waters. He also had a map of the park and the surrounding waters. As he was pointing out the park and the lighthouse, Chief Kraft came in. After introductions, we all sat at a long, wooden table. Chief Kraft started.

  “We spoke with Chief Werth this morning, and he brought us up to speed on the drug problem,” Chief said. “Your theory is interesting, Mr. Manning. If I’m understanding it correctly, you think the drugs are brought into the park by car and then transferred to a boat by someone from the car.”

  “Yes, and please call me Spencer. The search of a suspicious car leaving the park turned up nothing. It’s possible a search missed the drugs, but if I were delivering drugs I’d feel a lot better about driving a car out that no longer had the drugs in it.”

  “Agreed, but that’s because you’re smarter than the average perp.”

  Rosie laughed. “I tell him over and over that the only reason we catch a lot of these people is because they’re dumber than rocks. We caught a bank robber a few months back because he handed the teller a note written on the back of a business card that had his name and address on the front.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “We get the same on the water,” said Stant.

  Chief leaned toward the chart. “Your theory would require that a boat be able to access the shore. BM1, where do you think the best spot for that would be?”

  He stood and explained the shoreline. I already had a good idea of a spot.

  “The cliffs on the point present a problem… let’s rule that out. So either side of the park, where the land elevation is at water level, are possibilities.” He pointed out the two areas. “And there’s a lot more of that on the bay side heading down to Fish Creek.”

  “Since we have limited resources,” I said, “I’d vote for the bay side. The harbor side is full of boats and marinas and lots of people. Easy to get lost in the crowd but lots of witnesses. The bay side might have a passing boat, but it’s pretty isolated.”

  Everyone agreed.

  BM1 marked the park map with numbers at five locations on the bay side. We’d use those numbers to identify where they were coming ashore.

  “How many boats can you spare for this?” I asked.

  Stant responded. “We have two crews. One needs to stay at the station in case of an incident lakeside. We do regular patrols north from the canal up to the park. From there to the north is handled by Station Washington Island, and south of the canal is handled by Station Green Bay. I’ve already notified the command at both stations, and they’ll have a boat in the water on both sides of the park. If there is a boat out there and we miss them, the other two boats will join in.”

  “Sounds good,” I said. “But there’s one problem. How do you stop a boat that isn’t doing anything wrong?”

  Chief smiled. “That’s the beauty of the Coast Guard, Spencer. We don’t need a reason.”

  I’m sure I looked confused. “Pardon?”

  He laughed. “If a boat moves we can stop it for no reason and board it to do a safety inspection. And whatever we find that looks suspicious is fair game.”

  I glanced at Rosie. She looked jealous.

  “No probable cause?” she asked.

  “None. Makes a situation like this easy.”

  She shook her head. “That’s amazing. How do I join?” she asked with a smile.

  “BM1 will fix you up before you leave.”

  “If I wasn’t happy where I am, we’d be talking.”

  “Door’s always open. With your police experience, there’s a lot of avenues.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind if anyone pisses me off.”

  I had no idea why she looked at me.

  “And you’ll be up in the tower?” Chief asked.

  “Yes, we—”

  I was interrupted by a loud alarm that stopped after five seconds. There was a quick, unspoken communication between Chief Kraft and his executive officer, and Stant left the room.

  “Sorry for the interruption,” said Kraft. “You were saying about the tower…”

  I was surprised that he was so calm… something was obviously going on, and I wondered why he was still here with us. But then I realized that was Stant’s job, and if Chief was needed we’d find out soon enough. But I was curious about what was going on. I glanced at Rosie who was as calm as the chief and continued.

  “From the tower we have a view of some of the roads and all of the water surrounding the park. We’ll be able to see boats that are offshore a couple of hundred yards. But if they’re closer than that we’ll lose them in the tree cover.”

  “Right, but most boats out in these waters are at least thirty feet and wouldn’t be able to get that close. So they’d be sending a raft in for the pickup. You’d just have to look for that launch.”

  Stant came back in the room. “A twenty-six-foot fishing boat taking on water about a quarter mile into the canal.” He had a small hand-held radio that he set down on the table in front of me. “Do
you know how to use this?”

  “We do,” I said.

  “Contact us on channel eighty-one.” He gave us the boat number.

  “Will do.”

  “What time are you planning on getting there?” Chief asked.

  “Around eight,” I said.

  “I’d recommend seven,” said the chief. “It starts to get dark by eight. You need to be in position before that so you can see the boats.”

  “But even if it’s dark, I’ll be able to see the lights,” I said.

  “If they have them on. If I was doing something illegal, I’d turn my running lights off, which would be a good reason to stop them.”

  I agreed. “Okay, seven it is.”

  He nodded, and Stant slid the radio to Rosie. “Our boat will stay a bit south of the bay so we don’t scare anyone off. Once you have a boat identified we’ll be there in five minutes. Do you have binoculars?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  He nodded at Stant who left the room.

  “Being on the water, you have a problem we don’t on land,” Rosie said. “Assuming all this happens and you stop the boat, what are the chances you’ll catch them with the drugs?”

  Chief smiled. “Yes, we do. The chances are slim. As soon as they see us they’ll throw the drugs overboard.”

  She raised one hand, palm up. “Then how do we win here?”

  He sighed. Stant came back in and handed me a large pair of binoculars.

  “Yes, not easy. But depending on where that happens, you’ll be watching and can testify that that happened. We’ll board the boat and go through every inch of it. I guarantee we’ll find something... and perhaps you can give us a location and we’ll send a diver down. And hopefully Iverson will be able to apprehend the person in the car.”

  Rosie sighed. “There is a similarity between land and water… even if they aren’t very smart, we need to get lucky most of the time.”

  Chief agreed. “One other thing… we’ll have to watch the weather. There are storms coming in overnight, and the bay will turn choppy. It should stay calm in the time frame we’re looking at, but if it comes in early your boat might not be out there.”

  “Or maybe that’d be the perfect time… they’d think no one else would be out there either.”

  “Maybe. It’s a guessing game. But most boaters up here are aware of how dangerous that bay can be. It’s the tourists who don’t know any better who get into trouble.”

  “Is there a point where you wouldn’t have your boat out there?” I asked.

  “Yes, it’s always a risk when we go out, but we manage the risk. There is a point, but I don’t see what’s coming in tonight to be a problem.”

  “Okay, we’ll play it by ear.”

  “Any other questions?”

  No one had any.

  “Okay, we’ll see you tonight.”

  “Thanks, gentlemen. We’ll cross our fingers. Would you mind if we wander around the grounds a bit?”

  “Not at all. Would you like a tour of the station?”

  Rosie perked up. “That’d be great.”

  He nodded at Stant and everyone stood.

  “I’ll take you back to the coms room and find someone to show you around,” Stant said.

  On the way back we passed a female who Stant asked to give us a tour. He told us Seaman Fox knew as much about the station as he did. She seemed excited to do so and spent the next half hour explaining the workings of the station. She was very knowledgeable. At some point I pointed that out and asked why she was still a seaman. Rosie gave me a look that meant I shouldn’t have asked.

  Fox laughed. “Oh, they’ve been trying to get me to go to school, and that had been my plan… to make a career of the Coast Guard. But I met ‘mister right’ and decided to get out and start a family.”

  “You have to get out to do that?” I asked.

  “Not necessarily, but we get reassigned every four years… or less. That’s pretty tough on a family.”

  “I guess. Good luck with that.”

  We finished the tour and thanked her. The sky had clouded over by the time we got back outside, and we walked toward the lighthouse. When we got to the water, we stood on the rocks, and I took out the binoculars. The red lighthouse was striking against the gray sky.

  “Do you have your camera?” Rosie asked.

  “No, it’s back at the cottage.”

  “Too bad, this’d make a great photograph.”

  I handed her the binoculars.

  “Too bad that phone of yours doesn’t take pictures,” she said.

  I laughed. “Right… I’ve got enough trouble making phone calls. If it took pictures too it’d be the size of a Buick.”

  “Yeah, I was just being silly.”

  It started to drizzle again, and we headed back to the car.

  “Spencer, the weather might be a factor.”

  “Yes, it might.” I held the door for her. “But that’s not something we can control. We’ll go and see what happens.”

  Before we left I called Aunt Rose. Maxine answered. I told her we had to be out of there by six thirty. She said they’d plan dinner for five thirty.

  ***

  We were back at the cottage by four thirty, and Rosie went over to tell Stosh to get ready for dinner. I had already told him to pack a bag and plan on staying overnight. When we left fifteen minutes later it was obvious he was thrilled to be getting out of the cottage. And he was also thrilled about seeing Aunt Rose. The two of them had always gotten along great. But I warned him about what her reaction might be about seeing a dead person. He thought it would be fun and pointed out it was better to see a live person who you thought was dead than a dead person you thought was alive. I couldn’t argue with his reasoning.

  On the trip across the peninsula we brought him up to date on the investigation. I knew he was listening, but his only response was, “I’m glad you’re pissing off someone besides me for a change.”

  Rosie thought that was funny. I didn’t.

  ***

  We parked in Rose’s lot and said hello to two guests who were heading out for dinner. We left Stosh sitting in one of the rockers on the porch and went in to find Rose and Maxine. I told Stosh to look alive. Maxine was setting the table. After hugs she asked where the guest was. I told her she’d see in a minute. She said Rose was in the kitchen.

  Aunt Rose was happy to see me, but then she was always happy, so that really had nothing to do with me.

  “Hello, my dears. I’m so glad you could come for dinner. But I thought you were bringing a guest. I had Maxine set an extra plate.”

  “No worries, Aunt Rose. He’s relaxing on the porch. Can you come out and meet him?”

  “Of course. Just give me a minute to check on the vegetables. I didn’t have time to make a roast, so it’s just chicken.”

  No matter what Rose made it was never just anything.

  “I’m sure it will be wonderful as usual. We’ll wait for you on the porch.”

  Rosie and I were leaning against the railing trying to hold in our excitement when Rose came out.

  “I’m sorry to not be dressed to meet your guest, but I’m sure—”

  And then she swooned with her eyes and mouth wide open as she saw Stosh smiling in the rocker. I was afraid she was going to faint and took hold of her shoulders. It took a bit for her to find words.

  “My Lord, am I seeing a ghost?”

  Stosh pushed himself up from the rocker. “My dear Rose, I assure you I’m as real as the rest of you.”

  He held out his arms, and she started to cry as she put her arms around him. I stood behind Rosie just in case anyone wanted to hit me. Turned out that was the wrong place to stand as Rosie turned around and hit me in the chest.

  “Hey! What’s that for? You already had your turn.”

  “That’s for Rose. She’s too polite to do it.”

  I laughed.

  “I need to sit down,” said Rose, and she sat on the bench next to
the rockers. Stosh sat next to her and held her hand as Maxine came out to see what all the commotion was.

  “Someone needs to explain,” said Rose.

  I gave her the basics. She took it a lot better than Rosie had. She turned to look at Stosh, still looking amazed.

  “This is wonderful. I wish I had known… I’d have made something besides chicken.”

  We all laughed.

  Over dinner we told the whole story, ending with why we had to leave by six thirty. Rose wasn’t happy about our getting involved with drug dealers and told me to call when we were on our way home, no matter what time it was. And as long as we had to come back for Stosh, she wanted us to come for breakfast. I knew that not only would she be happy to have us come for breakfast, but if she made plans for us to be there, she thought nothing bad would happen to us. She said God wouldn’t interfere with her breakfast. I explained to her that Rosie and I were just the spotters so we wouldn’t be in any danger. The Coast Guard and Iverson were handling the dangerous parts. She said she wasn’t taking any chances.

  When we were leaving, Stosh told me to remember the part about just being the spotters.

  Chapter 29

  We stopped at the ranger station and picked up radios for each of us and another pair of binoculars. Chief Iverson was already there with three of his officers, and we went over the plan. Iverson and one of his officers would be in unmarked cars near where we thought the exchange would take place on the west side of the park. One officer would stay with the ranger. Rosie and I were the key to putting the plan into operation. We both got our shoulder holsters and guns out of the trunk.

  The drizzle had stopped and the sky had cleared, but the forecast was for the rain to return sometime during the night. The temperature was in the sixties, and we had on light jackets. It wasn’t a good night for boating or being in the park, so I expected traffic to be light both on the water and in the park. On the drive to the tower on Shore Road we only passed two cars going in the other direction, and the tower was about halfway through the park on the northern point.

  The climb up the tower seemed easier than the last time because I was anxious to get to the top. I felt like I was back in the army, getting ready for a night exercise. I was already scanning the waters, and Rosie was only halfway up.