“How would you know that?”I was a little irked he had that info and I didn’t.
“Tess told me.I ran into her at the Tidewater Market the other day.She mentioned that Gil had offered Rosa money for the Pacific Lady.”
“And you think she’d know?”
He sounded exasperated as he said, “I told you, I think Gil and her are having an affair.Yeah, I think she knows everything Gil is up to.”
What he didn’t know was supposedly Tess had told Craig it was Eddie she was sleeping with.I still found that hard to believe, but was trying to keep an open mind.
“She even said the offer was a generous one,” he said.“She said he was using his savings to buy the boat.”
“Hmmm.”Gil had that much in savings?That was surprising.
He watched me.“Should I continue?”
“Yes.”As much as I didn’t want Spencer involved, he obviously had information I didn’t, and that might prove useful.I just had to be very careful how I reacted, and this would not be a two-way street.
He cleared his throat.“When I told Ray about the offer on the boat, he couldn’t figure out where Gil would get that kind of money.He said nobody in the crab fleet is making enough to have big savings right now.Not with the current quotas and regulations.”
I kept my face unreadable, but that tracked with my own thoughts about Gil’s finances.
“Ray said the only way someone would have that kind of money is if they were doing something they shouldn’t be,” he said.“His words, not mine.”
I grunted.
“I asked him what that would look like, and he described guys running extra pots, fishing too close to restricted areas, overfishing past their allowed amounts.”Spencer’s gaze was intense.“He said people sell off the books, try different ports, find buyers who aren’t picky about how you got your catch.Small stuff that adds up if you do it often enough.”
I didn’t speak, but my mind was buzzing.This pointed me back to the GPS.I’d been focused on the data from the day Eddie died, but if what Spencer was saying was true, the days leading up to it might be just as important.I’d felt the GPS might be a dead end, but now I was rethinking that.I needed to find out if the techs had been able to pull anything from the unit beyond that one day.
“So, Ray was skeptical Gil would have the money to buy the Pacific Lady,” I mused.
“More like Ray was adamant Gil couldn’t come by that money legally,” Spencer said.“Not from fishing.”
“Okay.”
“After talking with Ray, I got the idea maybe I should talk to Gil.See if maybe I could get him to tell me where he got the money to buy the Pacific Lady.”
I scowled.“That seems foolish.If you think Gil is doing something illegal, why would you poke the bear?”
Spencer frowned.“Because who’s to say Gil is doing something illegal?I figured I could talk to him and see what he said.”
“Why would he talk to you?”
Spencer laughed gruffly.“Because I can be charming when I want to be, Declan.I know how to get people to open up to me.”
I had to grudgingly admit he had a point.I’d started out thinking he was trouble and should be avoided, then I’d fallen into bed with him because I found him so appealing.
I said stiffly, “So you were at the Rusty Anchor trying to pump Gil for information.What happened?I doubt he spilled his guts to you.”
“No, but you’d be surprised how much he did tell me.”He looked smug.“He was very drunk, and he basically admitted the money he’s using to buy the boat came from somewhere he doesn’t want people knowing about.”
“He told you that?”I asked, shocked.
“No, but he told me he’d figured out a way to get the money, and then he did this little shushing gesture, like it was a secret.”
“A secret doesn’t equal illegal.”
“Right, but it does kind of imply it might be.”Spencer’s eyes glittered.“And then I got hit by a car walking home from the Rusty Anchor.”
