Free The Whale's Footprints - Rick Boyer by Rick Boyer Page B

said,
"do most of the faculty down at the MBL think you and Alice
Henderson were a hot item, and that you were the horrendously jilted
lover, thus capable of revenge homicide?"
    "No," he said without hesitation. "
'Course not. We only dated for a couple of weeks. I thought she was
okay, you know. Then Andy showed up and really fell for her, so they
started going out."
    "Well, that's not exactly the version that came
out at the cottage."
    "I told you, Dad, she's lying."
    "Look, Jack, any message has two parts: the
words and the music. I guess the tune I heard back there is not the
one you're trying to play now. Think about it. But you did sleep with
her . . .”
    "Well, yeah."
    "Hmmm, well it seems you two hit the sack pretty
quick for people just getting acquainted. That happen often?"
    "Well sure. Usually, if you like somebody, like
the second or third date."
    I paused to consider this. I wasn't keen on it. I
didn't like it because it cheated youth out of being young. It got
the procedures and priorities in reverse order. And it led to rushed
relationships, premature commitments, bad marriages, venereal
disease, and a lot of other bad stuff.
    "That, uh, timing seems a bit out of line,"
I observed.
    "You're not kidding. The guys don't like it
either. We really want it to happen on the first date. It seems like
such a long time to—"
    "Oh shut up," I said, and watched two gulls
that were dipping and gliding in our wake. There was silence for a
while, then he spoke again.
    "Well, I'm not so bad about that. Really.
Y'oughta see Tony."
    "I have seen enough of your brother—and made
the likely inferences—to have a reasonable estimate of his sexual
activity. Suffice it to say that it is beyond the bounds of decency.
I'd worry more, except we know he uses condoms. Your mother chanced
to look inside his shaving kit this morning—"
    " Chanced to look in? You mean snooped?"
    "Whatever. Snooped is as good a word as any.
Well, she was so amazed she called me in to see his collection of
latex products. Keee-riste!—as Uncle Joe would say. The kid's got
enough rubber in there to construct his own Goodyear Blimp."
    He finished his coffee, leaned over the side, and
dipped the mug into the brine to rinse it. From far off behind us
came a faint thoom, thoom, thoom . . . It grew louder, and then we saw the boat, a big sport
fisherman, hitting its hull up against the big waves at high speed.
It rocketed past us, the men in the rear cockpit waving arms and beer
cans at us and shouting. Jack managed a tired wave back, then ran his
fingers through his hair.
    "Tony and I talked about it," he said.
    "About screwing?"
    "No. About Andy dying. And it being murder. And
I told him about your fight with Detective Keegan. Anyway, he thinks
it's somebody who hates me. Trouble is, we can't think of anyone who
hates me."
    "Well, if whoever-it-is hated you, he hated Andy
Cunningham worse. Think about the people in Woods Hole. Is there
anyone there you don't get along with?"
    "Not that I'm aware of. Of course, somebody
there could hold a secret grudge, but I haven't done anything that
bad to anybody."
    "How about somebody who could have hated Andy?"
    "Well, there's old Lionel Hartzell, his lab
supervisor. It's true that he's a little nutty, and he seems paranoid
about his data; keeps thinking everybody's out to steal it. Andy told
you Hartzell accused him of stealing it. But I don't think that holds
water."
    "Why not?"
    "A couple reasons. Andy was kind of hotheaded.
He had a temper, and a mouth to go with it. And while I agree that
Hartzell's a little weird, I really doubt if he's violent or nasty;
he's just eccentric. Personally, I kind of like the guy. He can be
pretty funny sometimes when he's relaxed. As long as you respect his
perfectionism and don't ride him, he's okay, at least in my book."
    "And you think most people in Woods Hole would
agree with you?"
    "Uh-huh, I do. But you'll have to see for
yourself."
    "And Andy rode Hartzell?"
    "Oh yeah. They