Barry shrugged, knowing he didn’t have an easy answer.“I just figured, sell the boat to another fisherman in need and get another.”
Mac shook her head, shooting down his theory.“Fishing boats aren’t super hard to come by.Maybe on this island, but in general, you can get one from any of the islands.Many are handed down from families and businesses sold.”
“Another vendor said this guy never got any fish.Not enough to pay his bills.He was about to lose everything.”
“And suddenly got a million dollars?”
“That’s why I looked into him.”
“And he died a week later.”
Even more suspicious.“Dead men tell no tales,” Barry recited, standing up and taking a seat on the chair next to the desk so he could see her.
“So, whoever paid him off didn’t want the chance this fisherman would rat them out.”
“Yep.”
“Isn’t there a way you can track the money?”
“I can’t.I talked to the boat salesman, and he said it was paid in cash.I can’t track that.”
“The only person in these waters with that kind of money would be Miles.”
That had been Barry’s initial guess.He was the richest man on the island.Rich people went to the Bahamas, not this little island.Nor would they give a small-time fisherman a million dollars only to kill him.“But why do it?”
“What do you mean?”she asked, not following his question.
“Why pay off a broke fisherman just to turn around and kill him?Why care about a fisherman at all?”Miles released a heavy breath.This case was getting more twisted the deeper he got into it.Barry stood up and started pacing.“In my experience, money motivates.”
“Miles is a millionaire,” she stated the obvious.
“Yeah, but like any millionaire, once you acquire it, you’ll do everything to keep it and make more.”And kill anyone in the way of you maintaining it.Miles wouldn’t just throw a million dollars away as if it were spare change.
“That makes sense, but why pay off a bankrupt fisherman then turn around and kill him?”
“I’m not entirely convinced it’s Miles behind it.”
Mac reared back as if slapped.“But the evidence…” she sputtered, throwing her hands up in the air in irritation.
“It started happening when he showed up, yes, we’ve covered this,” he interrupted her before she could go off on her ‘I hate Miles Banks’ rant.“But the yacht owner had a slip of paper in his hand when he died.”
Barry leaned over to the desk and pulled up the image of the ‘M.’
“See, Miles,” Mac said matter of fact.
“Only it doesn’t match any of his insignias.”
Mac slumped back into her chair like a wilting flower under the hot sun before looking up at him, more hopeful.“Maybe he hired someone and this is theirs.”She pointed at the screen.
“But again, why this man?”
“Because he had everything to lose,” Mac inserted.Barry looked at her questionably.“You said he was on the verge of losing his boat.Without income, he couldn’t feed his family.”
“They say he was on his own,” Barry corrected, ending her theory.
“Then feed himself,” she amended, her nostrils flaring open in annoyance at his attention to detail, which only made Barry smile despite the severity of the conversation.
“If that were so, then why sell his boat for a yacht?”
