A Timely Vision

“I think I wouldn’t have had a chance if he’d been here to run for mayor.”

Kevin agreed. “He was definitely the Duck man about town. Maybe that’s why the Blue Whale is in such bad repair now. He never stayed home to keep up with maintenance.”

“How are things coming along?” Max came back into the little room and looked around. “You know, it’s a small place, and I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation about Bunk. He was a larger-than-life type of personality. He dominated the town for a few years. Never married. No one to inherit the old inn, which is why it sat around empty for so long. People said he never got over losing Miss Elizabeth to Wild Johnny Simpson.”

“Sounds like that could be a motive for murder.” Kevin smiled at me.

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” Max told us. “I’ve heard when Johnny came back to beg his bride’s forgiveness, it was like the Fourth of July around here. Fireworks! Bunk was courting Miss Elizabeth at the time, and suddenly, Johnny shows up. Bunk didn’t like it.”

“How long ago was that, Max?” I asked him.

“About the same time Bunk went missing. No one ever knew what happened to him. There was a massive manhunt. Dae, your grandfather would know more about it. I don’t know if anyone ever saw Johnny again after that either. Miss Elizabeth was still a handsome woman, even in her sixties. You can probably find some pictures there. The Gazette loved the drama.”

Kevin finally found that timeframe, back in the late 1970s. Max was right. There were plenty of pictures of Miss Elizabeth with Bunk. “I don’t see any pictures of Johnny here.”

“Wild Johnny didn’t like the limelight like Bunk. Some people said he stayed to himself because of things he’d done after he left Duck. I think the Gazette photographer liked Bunk better.”

I sat down and stared at the old newspapers on the walls. It was hard enough to think through what could’ve happened to Miss Elizabeth. A thirty-year-old murder was too much of a strain. “You said you knew Bunk, Max. Do you think he could’ve killed Johnny and then left town to keep anyone from finding out?”

Max shrugged, dislodging the red suspenders on his shoulders. “It doesn’t seem like him. There would’ve been so much drama in a good murder trial. I think he’d have preferred it. But who knows how a man will react until he’s faced with those circumstances? One thing’s for sure—if Bunk ran away because he killed Wild Johnny, he wasted his time. He could’ve lived with Miss Elizabeth for the last thirty years. Maybe if he had, she’d still be alive.”

The sad tale of Bunk, Miss Elizabeth and Wild Johnny left me feeling blue as we said good-bye to Max and headed toward Elizabeth City in the rain. A heavy fog had moved in over the sound, obscuring the bridge linking the Outer Banks and the mainland. The only way to know the truck was still traveling on the bridge was the sure sound of the tires on the concrete.

Elizabeth City was a long drive from Duck but not as long as the drive to Greenville, where Luke said Miss Mildred would be transferred eventually. The rain and fog weren’t as dismal as my thoughts on that matter. I’d begun to feel helpless against the weight of the world crushing down on Miss Mildred.

“There’s no way to know if Bunk had anything to do with Johnny’s death,” Kevin said. “Since no one knows what happened to him, there’s not much chance they can link any DNA evidence they find to him. This is one case there may not be an answer for.”

“And I know how much lawmen hate when that happens,” I bit back. “Tying up all the loose ends nice and neat, even if they don’t really go together, is what it’s all about.”

I felt him glance at me but didn’t look back at him, keeping my eyes on the bridge rail as we went by. “Dae, I’m sorry about Miss Mildred. But evidence is evidence. You can’t fault the investigation.”

“No. Just the results. I know she didn’t kill her sister. Gramps and Chief Michaels know it too. They’d rather believe their guts and DNA than their hearts.”

He didn’t say anything else for a long time. I didn’t blame him. I wasn’t the best traveling companion. Maybe I should’ve warned him and he could’ve stayed in Duck. After all, we weren’t really even friends yet. More like acquaintances caught in a bizarre set of circumstances. We might have lived in Duck for years without spending this much time together. Probably not, but it was possible.

When the front tires hit the pavement off the bridge and we slowed to a stop for the red light, the sun began poking through the clouds. Rays of light shimmered down between the raindrops, and I suddenly knew, without exception, that everything was going to be all right. I can’t explain it, but I felt it. I knew Miss Mildred would somehow be cleared of Miss Elizabeth’s terrible murder. We would catch whoever was responsible for what happened to her.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you.” I smiled at Kevin before the red light changed.