10

THE WIFE

‘They found a dead body,’ Henry Biller blurted, his tone wild and giddy. It was Biller’s night off, but he had popped in on his way home from the Belly for some frozen pizza and gossip. He had strutted in through the big double doors with what Lori would call a shit-eating grin, his cheeks ruddy from the cold and one too many beers. He had come with a dozen theories about the increased police presence on the island, and he wasn’t the only one.

It was another cold and windy night, and Abby had expected a dead shift, but business had been unusually busy. There had been a steady stream of local foot traffic through her check-out, and everyone wanted to talk about one thing: what had happened at Beech Tree Landing?

Caddy Larson, who worked in the kiosk on the island ferry, told Abby that the morning run had been practically full of cops. She’d had to put an extra tray of egg-and-bacon pies in the oven just to accommodate them. According to Paul and Liz Ryan, who picked up a jumbo-sized tub of ice-cream and a bottle of Jim Beam, police were going door to door and asking if anyone had seen or heard any suspicious activity. Chris De Luca, who lived in a caravan out by the lighthouse, swore he’d heard the word floater on his police scanner.

Abby had told each of them what she’d seen at Beech Tree Landing and had drawn a twisted sort of satisfaction from the respect her story commanded. Theories ranged from a drug lab being on the island to some sort of mafia-related crime or a serial killer on the run from the law, but the general consensus was—

‘The cops found a body,’ Biller said again, clapping his hands together.

‘That’s the rumour,’ Abby said.

‘It’s no rumour.’ He came over, leaned on her checkout, and lowered his voice to a whisper, as if that made the news more official. ‘I’m telling you, they found a body on the island. Everyone at the pub is talking about it.’

‘Everyone in Belport is talking about it,’ Abby said. ‘What have you heard and who did you hear it from?’

‘A couple of coppers came to see me today,’ Biller said, grinning.

‘Came to see you? Today? In the store?’

‘Mm hm. Out-of-towners too. I think they shipped a bunch of cops over from the mainland to help widen the investigation. One of them looked like a foetus with a badge. The other one thought he was Columbo. They asked me if I’d noticed any strangers coming into the store lately, anyone with a suspicious demeanour.’

‘What did you tell them?’