“Staking things out. A few months ago he bought Sandcastle, a cottage on the north point.”
“He bought a house in Whiskey Beach? I know that house.” She jabbed a finger at Eli. “I know it. I do seasonal cleaning for one across from it. Eli, there’s only one reason he would buy a house here.”
“To gain access to this one.”
“But it’s crazy, it’s crazy when you think about it. He was having an affair with your wife, and now he’s . . . Did he have the affair so he could get information about the house, maybe hope to get more on the treasure? Or did he learn about all that during the affair?”
“Lindsay never had much interest in Bluff House.”
“But she was a connection,” Abra insisted. “She knew about the Calypso, the dowry, didn’t she?”
“Sure. I told her about it the first time I brought her here. I showed her the cove where pirates used to moor. And about running whiskey during Prohibition. You know, impress the girl with local color and Landon lore.”
“And was she? Impressed?”
“It’s a good story. I remember her asking me to tell it at a couple of dinner parties back then, but that was more for laughs. She didn’t think much of, or about, Whiskey Beach.”
“Suskind obviously did, and does. Eli, this is huge. He could be responsible for all of it. The break-ins, Hester’s fall, Duncan’s murder. Lindsay’s—”
“He has an alibi for Lindsay.”
“But wasn’t that his wife? If she lied . . .”
“They’re separated, and she’s sticking by her original statement. A little reluctantly, Sherrilyn thinks, as she’s not feeling very friendly toward Suskind these days.”
“She could still be lying.” Abra stabbed some pasta. “He’s guilty of other crimes.”
“Innocent until,” Eli reminded her.
“Oh, don’t go lawyer on me. Give me one good reason, other than bad behavior, he’d buy that house.”
“I can give you a few. He likes the beach, he wanted an investment, his marriage is/was going south and he wanted a place to go, somewhere quiet so he could think it all through. He and Lindsay drove up here on a whim so she could show him Bluff House, so he bought the cottage here to remind him of that perfect day.”
“Oh, that’s all bullshit.”
He shrugged a shoulder at the spike of annoyance. “Reasonable doubt. If I were representing him, I’d make a big deal over my client being questioned for simply buying a beach house.”
“And if I were a prosecutor, I’d make a big deal over the series of coincidences and connections. A house on this particular beach, where your family owns a landmark home and which has since his purchase experienced a series of break-ins?”
She snorted, then fixed her face into serious lines. “Your Honor, I submit the defendant purchased said property and took residence in same for the sole purpose of illegally entering Bluff House to search for pirate treasure.”
He smiled at her, leaned over to kiss her. “Objection. Speculative.”
“I don’t think I’d have liked Lawyer Landon.”
“Maybe not, but with what’s here, I’d’ve gotten Suskind off in a walk.”
“Then flip it. How would Lawyer Landon build the case against?”
“By finding out he has knowledge of or interest in Esmeralda’s Dowry, for one. Linking those fibers found at your place to him, that would be key. Tracing the gun to him. Tracing any of the tools in the basement to him, for that matter. If my grandmother could identify him as the intruder. And all the way back to breaking his wife’s statement. Better yet, find a way to put him in the house when Lindsay was killed, and that’s not going to happen. Dig up a witness or witnesses who would testify to some trouble between him and Lindsay. That would be a start.”
Abra sipped her wine and considered. “I bet we’d find books and notes and all sorts of information on Bluff House and the dowry in his possession.”
“Not without a search warrant, and you don’t get those without probable cause.”
“Don’t interrupt with legalities.” Abra dismissed them with a wave of her hand. “And they could do a CSI on the fibers and his clothes. The DNA from my pajamas.”
“All requiring a warrant, which requires probable cause.”
“And the gun—”
“Unregistered. That tells me he probably bought it on the street, for cash. Or from a shaky dealer, for cash. Not that hard to do in Boston.”
“How do you trace something like that?”
“Show his picture around to known dealers in that kind of trade. Find the dealer, then get him to ID Suskind, then get him to agree to testify.” Eli wove through the process and possibilities. “All of that takes the same kind of luck it does to win the Mega Millions lottery.”