Today's Reading
I spun in a slow circle, my eyes first scanning the boats moored in their three-sided slips. Next I examined the parking lot. The marina was located on the eastern side of the St. Croix Scenic Byway along with a couple other marinas, a business that rented paddleboats, and the St. Croix Scenic Overlook. On the western side, there was a restaurant, a coffeehouse, a massage parlor, and plenty of houses. Yet, as a man once said, nothing was stirring, not even a mouse. Finally, I turned toward the large red, white, and blue building with the name HEGGSTAD MARINA painted in large white letters above the front door and huge windows. There was a parklike area reserved for picnics and barbecues located between the building and the river, along with a dockside gas pump, only I could see no one moving.
"Did your husband go inside?" I asked.
The woman shook her head.
"Did you look?"
She shook it some more.
"I'll be right back."
I walked across the wooden planks and climbed the concrete steps leading to the building. A sign on the front door told me that cable TV and internet access were available to slip renters as well as Free shower rooms and a coin-operated laundry.
Bright lights inside Heggstad Marina made the place seem like an automobile showroom, only for boats. There was also a large area devoted to the sale of all the things you might find on a boat, from life jackets to bumpers and fenders to ropes and harnesses to bags of Fritos and precut fruit, plus a section where a fellow might buy dry clothes, deck shoes, and rain gear.
I started walking through the building, my head on a swivel, searching the empty spaces between the boats.
A man called to me.
"May I help you?"
He had a name tag above his left pocket that read BRAD HEGGSTAD.
"Hey," I said. "I met a woman outside who's looking for her husband. I thought he might have wandered in here."
"I haven't seen anyone."
"Restrooms?"
"Good idea."
He gestured at a corridor between the showroom and the boat supplies. I found the men's room. It was large with several shower stalls and empty. I tried the women's restroom on the off chance. It was vacant as well.
Heggstad was waiting for me when I returned.
"Nothing, huh?" he asked.
"No."
"When did he get here?"
"I don't know."
"What's his name? Does he have a boat?"
"I don't know."
"Could he be visiting one of my early rentals?"
"His wife didn't say."
I expected him to be annoyed by my answers. God knows I was. Yet there was genuine concern in his voice when he said, "Maybe he's not here at all. Maybe he wandered across the street to get a cup of coffee."
"I'll look," I said.
I went to the door, opened it, and stepped outside. The cold wind slapped me in the face, yet the scream hit me harder.
Nina's scream.
I didn't see her as much as her long blue winter coat. The coat was at the far end of the marina where two boats were parked. It was standing at the very edge of the dock and looking down. A sleeve came up to cover Nina's mouth and the coat backed away from the edge. Another sleeve seemed to search behind her for a bench. Finding none, the coat sat down in the middle of the dock.
...
