“Nice to meet all of you,” she says. Her eyes slide over to me. “And I’m guessing you are the private investigator who was working with Bronson.”

  “Still am. Just a different investigation,” I tell her. I extend my hand. “Dean Steele. Good to meet you, Detective.”

  She nods. “Thank you for allowing me to come to your home. I came because I need to speak with all of you about the direction of the investigation. Earlier today, the medical examiner was able to confirm conclusively that it was human remains found inside the burned boat and that they were those of Marcy Bassinger.”

  Bruce lets out a wail, “Marcy! No… no… Marcy.”

  “I’m sorry to have to bring you that news,” Balboa says.

  “What happened to her?” Clayton asks.

  He’s gotten up from where he was sitting on the couch and has his arm around his father in his recliner. Stephanie hasn’t moved from where she was standing. Her jaw is stony, but her eyes are wide.

  “More information will be available after the full autopsy is complete. This is a more difficult and delicate process because the extent of the burning was so extreme. That means right now there is no confirmed cause of death. When that information becomes available, I’ll let you know,” she says.

  “Thank you for telling us,” Stephanie finally says. “We appreciate your time.”

  It’s obvious she’s trying to usher the detective out of the house gracefully, but she doesn’t budge.

  “Unfortunately, that isn’t the only reason I’m here today. I’m going to need to speak with each of you about where you were and what you were doing the night Marcy Bassinger died,” she says.

  “What?” Clayton asks. “Are you saying you think that we did something to her?”

  “Investigations always start close,” I explain. “It’s like ripples in a pond. You start with the closest circle and then keep moving outward. It’s important to get information from everyone who was close to Marcy or might have had contact with her. It acts like pieces in a puzzle when the different pieces of information are compared and put together.”

  I’m trying to be as gentle as I can because I can see the family getting worked up at the idea of being questioned about Marcy’s death. But there’s nothing they can do. Marcy is no longer a missing person. She is dead, and now we have to find out what happened to her and why.

  “That’s exactly right,” Detective Balboa says. “We always start our investigations close to the deceased. In this case, we still don’t know what happened to her, but we need to know as much as we can about what she was doing and who she might have been with. If any of you saw her that night, we need to know.”

  “Why would you think any of us saw her?” Clayton asks. “We hired a private detective because none of us were able to get in touch with her or find out where she was.”

  “I just need to know where each of you were and what you were doing,” the detective says. “Particularly you, Mr. Bassinger.”

  “Me?” he asks.

  I’m not surprised that the investigation is already focused on Bruce. As her husband, he is considered the closest person to Marcy and the one most likely to know the most about her and her movements. Though the detective hasn’t said anything directly, I’m getting the feeling she suspects that this is more than just a suspicious death. She believes someone did something to Marcy, and her focus is zeroed in on Bruce.

  That might surprise people considering how he reacted to her being missing and now to the report of her confirmed death, but I know enough that this kind of suspicion doesn’t surprise me at all. Just because a person is acting surprised and devastated by bad news doesn’t mean they actually don’t know what happened. Often it is the people who seem most affected by the death who are actually the ones at fault.

  “I went out with some friends for the evening,” Clayton says. “We went bowling and got some drinks. Then I went home and crashed.”

  “I’m going to need the names and contact information for those friends,” Detective Balboa says.

  “That’s fine,” Clayton says. “Let me go find some paper and a pen, and I’ll write it all down for you.”

  He gets up and leaves the living room, heading further into the house. Detective Balboa turns her attention to Stephanie.

  “How about you? Where were you?” she asks.

  “I was at home,” she says. “It had been a really long day at work, and I had a headache. I decided to just order dinner in and take it easy for the evening.”

  “Do you have a receipt for the food?” she asks.

  “Yes. And one of my neighbors was outside when I picked it up from the porch. We waved at each other and exchanged a few words. I’m sure she can tell you that,” Stephanie says.

  “All right. Give me her information so I can confirm that,” the detective says.

  “Not a problem.”

  Detective Balboa looks at Bruce. He’s laid back in his recliner, his head tilted so he’s staring almost at the ceiling, seeming lost in his thoughts.

  “Mr. Bassinger?” she says. “What were you doing the night your wife died?”

  “I was at home,” he says. “I was right here in my chair waiting for her to come back, just like I have been since she left.”

  “And you didn’t go anywhere?” she asks. “Not even for a short time?”

  “No,” he says. “I got home from work, and I stayed right here.”

  “Did anyone see you? Did you talk to anyone, order food, see neighbors, anything?” she asks.

  “No. I stayed inside, ate leftovers out of my refrigerator, and didn’t talk to anyone,” he says. “The last person I talked to that day was Dean.”

  “He called me to let me know that another transaction had gone through on the joint account that he and his wife shared. We’d been tracking her movements on Twilight Cove through those transactions, and we talked on the phone earlier in the day about it,” I tell the detective.

  “Mr. Bassinger, are you absolutely certain you didn’t go anywhere else that night? The night before you discovered that the boat was missing from the marina, you didn’t go anywhere that night?”

  The detective is asking it in a way that tells me she already has an answer in her mind and is just waiting for Bruce to give her that. That makes my stomach sink.

  “I didn’t go anywhere,” he insists, sitting up straighter and leveling a narrowed-eyed glare at the detective. “What are you implying? You think I did something to my wife?”

  “I’m not implying anything, sir. What I’m telling you is that we have evidence that you aren’t telling me the truth right now. That you did go out the night before your wife’s body was found aboard your boat,” Detective Balboa says.

  “What kind of evidence?” I ask, not looking at Bruce.

  “During the initial investigation after the body was found, officers were interviewing people around the marina and went to the boat rental agency. The same one you, Bruce, and Clayton used to rent boats to go searching for Marcy,” she says. “The guest log of the honor box rental table showed Marcy’s name, but one of the officers noticed it was written over an erased name. Further examination showed that the name written on the log originally was Bruce Bassinger.”

  “Dad?” Clayton asks, coming back into the room. “What is she talking about?”

  “That’s absurd!” Bruce explodes. “Why would I rent a boat? And why would I write my own name on the guest log, then replace it with hers?”

  “Habit,” the detective says. “People who do things frequently often do them without thinking even when they don’t want to do them at all.”

  “I didn’t write my name on that log, and I certainly didn’t replace it with Marcy’s trying to cover it up,” he says.

  “What boat was rented under her name?” Stephanie asks. “This doesn’t make any sense. She already had our boat. Why would she rent another?”

  “We don’t know,” the detective says. “The column for which piece of equipment was taken was not filled out, and the owner of the shop said that all of his equipment was in place the next morning when he got back to work. Whatever was taken was brought back.”

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” Stephanie repeats, shaking her head.

  “Are you going to arrest me?” Bruce asks. “Is that why you’re actually here?”

  “No,” Detective Balboa says. “We don’t have a warrant for your arrest at this time. But I wouldn’t recommend planning any trips any time soon. And I’d appreciate it if all three of you remain easily accessible for further questioning if necessary.”

  “Of course,” Stephanie says.

  Her eyes slide over to her father, searching his face. Clayton hands a piece of paper to his sister, who looks at it blankly for a second before seeming to remember she was supposed to write down the information about her neighbor. When she’s finished, she hands it to the detective.

  “Thank you,” Detective Balboa says. “I appreciate this. I’ll be in touch soon.” She gives me a nod. “Mr. Steele.”

  I nod back. She leaves, and Bruce is instantly on his feet, his hands reaching toward me imploringly.

  “I didn’t do anything to Marcy,” he says. “Nothing. I don’t know why my name would be on that log.”

  “Calm down,” I tell him. “She was just giving you the information they have. That was actually really courteous of her. She could have withheld all of that and brought you in for formal questioning, but she didn’t. They are still trying to find out what happened to Marcy. Without a cause of death right now, they can’t even say that there was foul play. That would mean they can’t blame you for anything.”

  “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” he says, clearly extremely upset and on edge. He begins pacing back and forth across the room. “What am I supposed to do? They think I did something. They think I had something to do with Marcy’s death. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t rent a boat, I didn’t hurt her. I didn’t do any of it. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to think right now. I really don’t want to think that she killed herself and I wasn’t able to save her. But I also don’t want to think that someone killed her. But I also really hate the idea that there was some kind of accident and I couldn’t help her.

  “There isn’t any explanation that makes this all right. None of it is all right. My wife is dead. She’s gone, and instead of just focusing on trying to find out what happened to her and why, these people are looking at me. I know I was supposed to protect her, but there wasn’t anything I could do.”

  “If they are looking at you, it’s because that’s the first step in any investigation,” I tell him. “Remember what I said about the ripples in a pond? You are the closest to Marcy, so you’re going to be the first person they look at.”

  “Then what about the guest log?” he asks. “Who did that?”

  “I don’t know,” I tell him. There is nothing else I can say.

  After leaving Bruce’s house with the promise that I am going to keep looking into everything and do my best to get to the bottom of this, I go back to the hotel to pick up Xavier. There’s a message from Celeste asking me to meet up with her for lunch to talk about everything since she is on the mainland today, so we head to the restaurant.

  Along the way, I tell him what happened at Bruce’s house.

  “What’s with the rental boat?” I ask. “That’s this big question looming over me. Why would he rent a boat that night? And why write down a name if he wasn’t going to write what equipment he was taking? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Except for what the detective said,” Xavier points out. “People do things out of habit. If he rents equipment there regularly, maybe so that he can still boat even if one of his children is using the family boat, then he would be used to writing his name on the log. He realized what he was doing, erased it, and replaced it with Marcy’s in an effort to cover it up, not thinking about the fact that it wouldn’t make sense for her to have both the family boat and a piece of rental equipment that was right back at the marina the next morning.”

  “But why would he rent the boat to begin with?” I ask.

  “To meet up with Marcy on the family boat and still be able to get back to shore after killing her,” Xavier says.

  My heart drops at the easy, smooth way he says it.

  Celeste is waiting at the restaurant when we get there. She has already put our name in, and as soon as Xavier and I walk through the door, the hostess grabs menus and leads us to a table. The smell of grilled meat and fresh bread makes my stomach rumble. We sit down, and the waitress puts a basket of rolls in the center of the table as she asks us what we’d like to drink. We all put in our drink orders and spend a few moments looking over the menus so we’re ready when she comes back.

  With our food orders in, Celeste folds her hands on the table and looks directly into my eyes.

  “What’s going on with Joseph’s case?”

  “I can’t get into all the details because it’s an active investigation,” I tell her, “but I can tell you that he was stabbed to death.”

  “I know,” she says. “I saw him.”

  “There hasn’t been a full autopsy yet, so we can’t be absolutely certain, but it didn’t look like there were any other types of injuries on his body. Just the one stab wound. We’re getting his phone records to try to find out who he was on the phone with on the security camera footage. Right now, we really have no idea what happened. I was hoping you might be able to help. What can you tell me about him? You said you two met at a fundraiser?”

  “Yeah, a couple of years ago,” she says. “I wouldn’t say we’re exactly close friends, but pretty good. We see each other at different events and activities. I always go to his holiday parties. He’s a good guy. Was a good guy. I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe having to say was about Joseph. He was so full of life. Just one of those people who the word exuberant seemed to be made for. At least, he usually was. Over the last week or so, he has been pretty on edge. I saw him a couple of times leading up to Mardi Gras, and it seemed like something was really bothering him. He wouldn’t talk about it. I asked him what was wrong and if there was anything I could do to help, and he just brushed it off.

  “It was like he never wanted anybody to think that anything could be going on in his life other than happiness. I wasn’t fooled by it. I always figured there was something that he was trying to cover up for himself more than for other people. Like if he could convince every body around him that his life was perfect and everything was going well, then he would believe that himself and he wouldn’t have to face the things he had within himself.”

  “But you don’t know what those could be?” I ask. “He never told you?”

  “No,” Celeste says. “Again, we weren’t really close, so maybe he just didn’t feel comfortable talking to me about it. But I have the feeling he didn’t talk to anybody about it.”

  “Do you know much about his past?” I ask.

  “No. Just that he used to be in politics. I don’t know exactly what he did, but he must have gotten into some kind of investment or something, or maybe he was from old money, because I never knew him to have a regular job. He was just kind of a public figure,” she says.

  “What were you telling me about the jury that he served on?” I ask.

  “There was a big case not too long ago with a trafficking ring. It was highly publicized, and there were a lot of opinions about the case and the people being accused. There’re a lot of people who believe the police planted a lot of evidence and manipulated things to make sure that everybody on trial was convicted, even though it didn’t seem like there was enough for at least a few of them to be found guilty. There were particular rumors that there was a lot of jury tampering to influence the jurors to go along with what the police and prosecutors wanted them to think and believe.

  “When the jury came back convicting everyone, there was some backlash. Even though the case was against some pretty awful people being accused of terrible things, a lot of people thought they didn’t get a fair trial and that some of them weren’t even involved in all the things that they were being accused of so they shouldn’t have been lumped in with the other ones.

  “The entire trial was surrounded by drama even before it started. The defense was very outspoken in their belief that those people shouldn’t have even been indicted based on the evidence they had and that there was no way there could be a conviction. There were so many threats and minor attacks, like tires being slashed during the trial, that the whole thing was shut down. The jury was sequestered, and the media was banned from being inside during the proceedings. That made it even worse for the people who thought the trial was unfair. They believed the media was closed off so that they didn’t see what was being done.

  “When it was over, Joseph decided to come forward and talk about his experience as a juror and what really went on in the jury room. He wanted to make it very clear that there was no manipulation or interference by anyone and that the jury came to the conclusion based on specific bits of information and evidence. It was important to him that people knew that they had taken their jobs very seriously and did them correctly, even though people thought they were tainted from the beginning. He wanted to make sure that people knew they weren’t coerced and that the verdict came from the testimony and evidence they saw and knew was authentic.

  “He was very charismatic in all facets of his life, and it was no different when he was talking to the media. They completely fell for him, and he started doing all kinds of shows, magazines, blogs. He even did some content for Seth Powers. It created a little bit of a buzz of fame around him, and he was very much out there for the public eye to see. I got really worried about him being so outspoken and talking so much about everything that they did and what they were influenced by,” she says.

  “Why were you worried?” I ask.

  “I thought that the remaining members of the trafficking ring or other criminals would be angry at him for serving on the jury and finding everyone guilty, and they would want to retaliate against him. I wasn’t the only one who was worried about that. There’ve been threats, and some people connected to the trial have even experienced retaliatory acts during and since the trial. It’s the first thing I thought when I found him dead,” she says.