She looked out the window and watched Dan Sinclair walk to his car on the opposite side of the street. He stopped in front of the art gallery and chatted with a young woman with long blond hair and a very short skirt.

A man in his early thirties came out of the gallery and spoke with the pair on the sidewalk. Shortly another man, also in his thirties, walked out of the bookstore with a bag under his arm.

Right there, right before her eyes, could be three viable suspects. Any one of them could be the killer.

Her head began to hurt. There seemed to be no end to the potential suspects in St. Dennis. She watched the men across the street for a few more minutes, then turned her attention back to the room. It seemed half the town was in Lola’s.

Without any physical evidence, there was no way to start eliminating suspects from the pool. Unless, of course, someone did something to distinguish themselves at the meeting tonight. Or unless the lab found something in the folds of plastic.

She’d call the lab for an update on her way back to the police department. As far as culling a credible suspect from the herd, she’d just have to figure out a way to do that between now and seven thirty.

16

Mia watched the crowd trickle into the community room of the St. Dennis municipal building. It was a little after seven and already the room had begun to fill up through the wide double doors. By the time the meeting started, it would be standing room only.

“Some crowd, eh?” Hal Garrity had appeared at her elbow.

“It’s great, don’t you think?” Mia nodded enthusiastically. “Shows that the residents are taking the situation seriously.”

“That, and not wanting to miss out on the chance to be on TV.” He pointed discreetly to the cameras that were being set up to the left of the podium. “And let’s not forget that there isn’t a whole lot going on around here on a weeknight.”

“You have to think the merchants are worried about losing business if this case isn’t solved soon.”

“Thing about St. Dennis”-he leaned closer and lowered his voice-“is that most of the shop owners aren’t worried at all. These past few years have been boom times around here. No one ever really expected the town to take off the way it did. Oh, some gambled on it, like Ham Forbes. Of course, some could say he had the inside track on buying up all the real estate he could down there on Charles Street.”

“That would be the mayor’s ex-husband?” Mia recalled that the mayor’s son’s last name was Forbes.

“Right. Say what you want about Christina Pratt, but she’s been right on target, far as the tourist thing. She pushed for money for renovating the harbor, pushed for grants to restore old buildings, pushed for everything she could get to spiff up the town.” Hal nodded in the direction of the mayor, who’d just entered the room. “Yeah, I’d call her a real visionary. She looked north at Chestertown and south to St. Michael’s and saw no reason why St. Dennis couldn’t offer as much in the way of atmosphere. And of course, shopping.”

“She was the catalyst?”

“Worked relentlessly to get what she wanted, got everyone who was anyone on the bandwagon with her. Paid off, I’d say.”

“Which one is Mr. Pratt?” Mia studied the three men who had accompanied the mayor into the room.

“None of them,” Hal told her. “He’s been gone about five years now, went back to Connecticut, where he came from.”

“Divorced?”

“Yes. Complained to anyone who’d listen that she put all her energy into the town, none into the marriage, and he split.”

The mayor and her companions made their way through the crowd. As they approached the spot where Mia and Hal stood, she touched the man closest to her on the arm and said, “ Hamilton, have you met Agent Shields?”

“I haven’t had the pleasure.” The very handsome silver-haired man dazzled Mia with a smile. “Ham Forbes, Agent Shields. So, you’re here to help Beck catch the bad guy.”

“With any luck.”

“I’d have thought luck wouldn’t be an issue,” he said smoothly. “I would expect the FBI to come in here with a game plan and take care of business.”

“We’re doing our best,” she assured him.

“Yes, well.” He straightened his tie. “Let’s hope that’s enough.”

He nodded to Mia and Hal, then resumed following his former wife through the crowd to the front of the room.

Mia watched him with an amused expression on her face.

“Am I supposed to guess why she divorced him?” she asked.

“You’d be wrong.” Hal chuckled. “He divorced her.”

“Really?” She thought that over for a moment. “A little too much ego under one roof?”

“Yes, and most of it hers.” Hal waved to a neighbor. “Don’t let him fool you. He’s developed a little spine over the past few years-remarried and divorced since they split up-but he was never in charge in that relationship. Christina calls the shots in everything she does.”

“Must make those town council meetings fun.”

“They are, actually,” Hal said with a wicked grin. “The thing is, she’s the best mayor this town ever had. She had the vision, and she had the guts to see it all through. St. Dennis would be just another sleepy bay town without her. The other side of the coin is that she can be the very devil if you don’t see things her way.”

“I think Beck mentioned that she spearheaded the revival of the town.”

“And happily sunk that spear into the back of anyone who stood in her way,” he said. “But she’s made more friends than enemies, because she was dead-on about what St. Dennis could become. A lot of people made a lot of money because they listened to her and invested in the right places at the right time.”

“Including Hamilton Forbes.”

“Especially Ham Forbes. He owns more of St. Dennis than anyone else in town.”

“Does he own beach property? In Dewey or Rehoboth, maybe?”

“Not as far as I know. He’s kept his holdings right here in town. Likes being a big fish in a small pond.” Hal seemed to study her face. “I know what you’re thinking, but no, Ham’s kept it all right here. If he’d bought property over in Rehoboth or Ocean City, we’d have heard about it. He likes to talk about what he has. Compensation, I’m thinking, for what he lacks.”

“Actually, I was thinking about his son.”

“As far as I know, Mickey doesn’t own anything except the two businesses. He did have some interest in a property out along the highway, but he sold that when the new shopping center went in. Going to end up paying for his divorce, from what I hear.”

“The center right outside of town? The one with the movie theater and the fancy coffee shop and the gym?” Mia had passed it several times. “That must have been some divorce settlement.”

“Yeah, I heard Callie-the soon to be ex-is making out pretty good. Mickey was lucky to keep the sporting goods store. I’m not sure he minded though. He wants out of the marriage, but he wants his kids taken care of, too. So he’ll give Callie pretty much everything she wants.”

“I’d think sporting goods would do well around here.”

“Very well. He carries a lot of fishing and hunting gear, along with the sports paraphernalia. Runs some soccer clubs, lacrosse, softball.” Hal laughed. “Time was, if you were into sports, all you needed was a pair of sneakers and a ball, maybe a glove and a bat, but that was as complicated as it got.”

“You play a sport back then, Hal?”

“Played some minor league baseball, yes, ma’am.” He nodded. “Some thought I’d make it to the pros, but my number came up in the draft. One day I was on the mound throwing my fastball, the next I was dropping out of a helicopter into a jungle in Vietnam. Spent the next twelve months dodging bullets.”

“One of my uncles was in Vietnam,” she told him. “My dad said he wasn’t the same person when he came back.”