Back at the motel, Angie took a scalding shower before changing into dry jeans and a comfy sweater. She called Coastal Investigations and left a message for the data clerk, who would be in the office first thing Wednesday morning. She asked the clerk to run background and criminal records checks on Wallace and Jessie Carmanagh, twins Beau and Joey Tollet, Garrison Tollet, Jim “Budge” Hargreaves, and Tack McWhirther, who was now deceased. She killed the call and gathered her files and computer. If any one of those guys had a record, it might speak to a pattern of behavior, show what they could be capable of. Right now Angie wanted to know for her own safety.
So far her biggest takeaway from her visit to the Sea-Tech compound was that either Jessie Tollet was lying and setting up Rachel Hart for something, or Rachel had lied. Regarding Eden having read or not read the journal, in that case a teen’s memories might be fickle. It was always a possibility in old and cold cases like this—memory was a trickster. Angie knew this well.
Her other takeaway was a firm belief that Wallace and the Tollet twins had acted allDeliverance-ish and hazed the women on the river. The question now was, had one of those men seen what happened to Jasmine?
If so, why had they not fessed up or done anything to help her? Plus a darker question lingered: Could one of them have pushed Jasmine Gulati to her death? Could they have punished a “sinner” who’d lured a man from his wife?
In need of food and a hot drink, Angie took her work and headed across the road to the Mariner’s Diner. The eatery still bore the same name as it had in Rachel’s footage and looked as though it had not seen new owners or a facelift since. She figured it might be a good place to gather some old-timers’ lowdown on the Tollets and Carmanaghs while she grabbed a bite to eat.
CHAPTER 27
Angie took a booth beneath a window that looked out over stormy Ferris Bay. The Mariner’s Diner was surprisingly quiet for dinner hour—just two whiskery old men in dungarees playing chess and drinking coffees at a table close to the door and one male on a stool at the counter.
A woman in her early sixties was the lone staffer out front. She took Angie’s order and said her name was Babs. She fed her slip of paper through a hatch into a kitchen at the back, where a loudmouthed chef boomed the order out to some minion who did the grunt cooking.
Angie’s booth was near the rear of the diner, and she spread her laptop, files, and photographs out over the table. While she awaited her fried chicken sandwich, she sipped coffee and jotted notes in her case book. She’d have her recorded interviews transcribed by staff at CI later, but the physical act of putting pen to paper helped Angie summarize her thoughts, highlight anomalies, and formulate new questions. She was also being purposefully open about what she was doing in this diner. The motel receptionist had told her Babs the waitress had worked at the Mariner’s for almost as long as it had been open. Angie reckoned someone like Babs would have a handle on juicy Port Ferris gossip. The old waitress might even get a kick out of being able to help with an investigation.
Topmost on Angie’s mind was the fact Jasmine Gulati had offended a lot of people. Jaz had been gasoline to an angry flame, and discrepancies were emerging from witnesses.
In Angie’s mind there was a real possibility developing that foul play could have occurred on that river. She decided to test out the notion as she began to jot down names of the people who’d expressed dislike for Jasmine, weighing each against what she called her MOM criteria—motive, opportunity, and means. She started with Mr.Toothless and wrote:
Wallace Carmanagh.Motive: Jaz was rude to him. Aggressive and vindictive personality. Wanted to teach her a lesson. How far would he go? Opportunity: Did not deny having been on the river, possibly for entire duration of trip—could have been one of theDeliveranceguys. Could have seen Jaz fishing alone. Was wearing clothes in the pub footage that matched the women’s description of banjoDeliverancedudes hazing them.
Garrison Tollet.Slept with Jaz (still to be confirmed). Motive: Might have wanted to hide this fact from his wife. Had Jaz threatened or blackmailed him with exposure in some way? Sleeping with a client would also hurt his growing tourism business and livelihood if it was made public. Especially on a documentary. Opportunity: Alone on top of talus ridge. Jessie was alibi that he was on ridge, but is Jessie telling the truth?
Jessie Carmanagh.Motive: Believed Jasmine was a “class-A bitch,” a bad/evil temptress seducing married men. Needed to be punished? Eliminated? Would also hurt Jessie’s business if it was made public a guide had slept with a client. Opportunity: Left camp with Garrison after Jaz. Was separated from Garrison for a time shortly before Jaz was seen going over the falls. Did he lie about seeing Rachel on the ledge? Or seeing Eden reading Jasmine’s journal?
Twin Joey Tollet.Motive: Slighted/humiliated by Jasmine. Aggressive personality. Opportunity: Could have been one of theDeliveranceguys on the river.
Twin Beau Tollet.As above. Motive: “Thou shalt not lead into temptation” is how he described Jaz. She needed to be punished?
Tack McWhirther.Deceased. Motive: Was highly protective of Shelley, his niece. Had witnessed Jasmine “seducing” his young niece’s husband. Wanted to punish Jasmine for seducing Shelley’s husband? Protecting niece in some way? Had he been among the group along the river?
Angie hesitated, then wrote down:
Rachel Hart.Lied about where she’d been filming before Jaz went into water? Where are the missing tapes from that night? If she was on the ledge filming, she was alone, no alibi at the time Jaz slipped. Motive?
Eden Hart.Read diary and lied about it? Or did Jessie lie? Or a young teenager forgot details? If she did read the journal, what did she see in there?
Where did journal go?
Angie chewed on the end of her pen. Her plan was to drive out to Predator Lodge first thing tomorrow and interview Garrison and Shelley Tollet. Next, she’d visit the last campsite and the small bay where Jasmine’s rod and the slip marks were found. Angie would then attempt to locate the rock ledge where Jessie claimed Rachel was filming. She’d see if she could get a view from the ledge down to the bay where Jaz allegedly fell into the water.
She’d also check out Garrison’s and Jessie’s vantage points from the talus ridge. Angie would ask Claire Tollet if she’d guide her around to the other side of the Nahamish for another look at the grave site. Possibly Budge Hargreaves would be home on the Tollet land he rented not far from the grave location. She wanted to talk to him, too. The words the young RCMP officer, Erick Watt, had uttered upon arrival at the grave site sifted through Angie’s mind.
So Hargreaves just happened to come this way? He walked right into this remote grove? There’s no discernible trail or anything leading into it.
She recalled the look exchanged between Constable Watt and Constable Darnell Jacobi, who’d been drinking in the pub with Budge Hargreaves that first day of the river trip twenty-four years ago. It all took on a more sinister tone now.
Angie would like to talk to Jacobi again, too, to get his take on Jasmine’s behavior in the pub that long-ago night. Given the tiny size of the Port Ferris police force, rookie Jacobi would likely have been involved in the search for Jasmine and in taking witness statements. But neither he nor Budge had mentioned the possibility that the skeleton in the moss could have been Jasmine. Angie would expect a good cop to hold back that kind of hypothesis but not someone like Budge.
Her cell rang. She reached for it, saw it was Ginny’s number. She connected the call.
“Ginny? Everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah—guess what?” Her voice was pitched high with excitement. “I just had choir practice at the Catholic cathedral downtown. I spoke to Father Simon afterward. I told him you and Dad were getting married—”
“Whoa, wait a minute, Ginn. I told you we’re still working things out, and—”
