“Well, I thought … I mean, what I’m wondering is, maybe we’re overreacting to this whole thing.”

“You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding.”

“Hardly, Martin. Now calm down. Let’s discuss this rationally.”

“I’m rational. I’m not sure about you, though.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Vaughan said, “What would you say to opening the beaches, just for the Fourth of July weekend?”

“Not a chance. Not a fucking chance.”

“Now listen …”

“No, you listen, Larry. The last time I listened to you, we had two people killed. If we catch that fish, if we kill the sonofabitch, then we’ll open the beaches. Until then, forget it.”

“What about nets?”

“What about them?”

“Why couldn’t we put steel nets out to protect the beaches? Someone told me that’s what they do in Australia.”

He must be drunk, Brody thought. “Larry, this is a straight coastline. Are you going to put nets out along two and a half miles of beaches? Fine. You get the money. I’d say about a million dollars, for openers.”

“What about patrols? We could hire people to patrol up and down the beaches in boats.”

“That’s not good enough, Larry. What is it with you, anyway? Are your partners on your ass again?”

“That’s none of your damn business, Martin. For God’s sake, man, this town is dying!”

“I know it, Larry,” Brody said softly. “And as far as I know, there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. Good night.” He hung up the phone.

Meadows and Hooper rose to leave. Brody walked them to the front door of the station house. As they started out the door, Brody said to Meadows, “Hey, Harry, you left your lighter inside.” Meadows started to say something, but Brody stepped on his words. “Come on back inside and I’ll give it to you. If you leave it around here overnight, it’s likely to disappear.” He waved to Hooper. “See you.”

When they were back in Brody’s office, Meadows took his lighter from his pocket and said, “I trust you had something to say to me.”

Brody shut the door to his office. “You think you can find out something about Larry’s partners?”

“I guess so. Why?”

“Ever since this thing began, Larry has been on my ass to keep the beaches open. And now, after all that’s just happened, he says he wants them open for the Fourth. The other day he said he was under pressure from his partners. I told you about it.”

“And?”

“I think we should know who it is who has enough clout to drive Larry bullshit. I wouldn’t care if he wasn’t the mayor of this town. But if there are people telling him what to do, I think we ought to know who they are.”

Meadows sighed. “Okay, Martin. I’ll do what I can. But digging around in Larry Vaughan’s affairs isn’t my idea of fun.”

“There’s not a whole hell of a lot that is fun these days, is there?”