“When was she due back in?”
“Well, she was a twenty-four-hour rental. Actually, she wasn’t due back till this evening sometime. I was surprised to find her here this morning.”
“We’d like that name, if you can get it for us,” Kling said.
“Oh, sure,” Popeye said, and turned off the hose. “Come on in.”
They followed him inside. The office was hung with lobster pots and fishing nets. Through the windows facing the river, Meyer and Kling could see racks and racks of stacked boats. Popeye went behind the counter, vanished from sight for a moment as he knelt beneath it. He emerged again, plunked a long narrow black book onto the counter top, and began riffling through its pages.
“Name was Andy Hardy,” he told them.
“Andy Hardy, huh?” Meyer said.
“There it is, right there,” Popeye said, and turned the registry log so they could see the name.
“That’s Mickey Rooney,” Meyer said. “A character he played in the movies. Andy Hardy.”
“You know, you’re right,” Popeye said, opening his one good eye wide in surprise.
“Never occurred to you, huh?” Kling said. “While this guy was renting the boat?”
“Well, the name did sound familiar, but we get a lot of people in here, you know. Sometimes too
“How’d he pay for the rental?”
“Credit card.”
“Showed you a credit card with the name Andy Hardy on it?”
“Andy Hardy was what it said. Same as on his driver’s license. Picture matched his face, too. You rent a boat, it’s the same as when you rent a car, you know. You’re responsible for it. There’s more boating accidents, ratio of boats to cars, than there are automobile accidents, you know. Anything happens to the boat—theft, fire, accident—I’ve got the man’s credit card.”
“And you got Andy Hardy’s credit card for the little
“You betcha,” Popeye said.
“Think we can get a line on Mr. Hardy?” Kling asked Meyer.
“Fat Chance Department,” Meyer said.
“I saw his driver’s license, too, I just told you,” Popeye said. “He seemed legit to me.”
“Maybe he is,” Kling said. “We’ll hit the computers when we get back to the office.”
“We’ll want our people to look over that boat, too,” Meyer said.
He was already on his cell phone.
“Why?” Popeye asked.
“It may have been used in a crime,” Kling said.
Meyer was dialing a number he knew by heart.
“How’d this Andy Hardy get here?” Kling asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Did he walk up? Drive up in his own car? Arrive in a taxi? How’d he get here?”
“In a black Ford Explorer. Two other people with him. They waited in the van while he filled out the rental papers.”
“Can I take a look at those papers?” Kling asked.
“Sure,” Popeye said, and went digging under the counter again. Meyer was just telling the Mobile Crime Unit where to find them.
“Man and a woman, right?” Kling said. “These two other people with him?”
“How’d you know that?” Popeye asked.
“Happen to see the license plate number?”
“Didn’t look. Here you go,” Popeye said, and put the rental folder for the Rinker on the counter top. Kling leafed through it. Andy Hardy, sure enough. Gave an address in Connecticut.
“Was the driver’s license issued in Connecticut?” Kling asked.
“Yep.”
“This address match the one on the license?”
“Yep. That’s why I asked to see it.”
Meyer pressed the END button on his cell phone, looked over at the papers Kling had spread on the counter top.
“They’re on the way,” he said.
“Did they leave the van here when they went out on the boat?” Kling asked.
“Unloaded it and left it, yes.”
“Unloaded it?”
“Took a carton from it.”
“What kind of carton?” Meyer asked.
“This cardboard carton. Not very big.” He showed the size with his hands.
“Think the masks might’ve been in it?” Meyer asked.
“You talking to me?” Popeye said.
“My partner.”
“Could be,” Kling said. “Any writing on the carton?”
“Didn’t see any.”
“And you say they left the van here?”
“In the parking lot, yes.”
“Was it gone this morning?”
“Didn’t notice.”
“When you came in, I mean.”
“Didn’t notice,” Popeye said again.
They were trying to pinpoint the exact time the suspects might have dropped off the boat and departed in the van.
“Do renters usually return boats in the middle of the night?” Kling asked.
“No, when their time’s up, usually. The rental period.”
“Are all your rentals for twenty-four hours?”
“No, we sometimes rent for a week. Sometimes longer.”
“But this one was for twenty-four hours.”
“Yes.”
“Evengloam to evengloam,” Meyer said.
“Supposed to be.”
“But Hardy brought it back early.”
“Yes.”
“Anybody here to receive a boat in the middle of the night?”
“We’ve got a night watchman, but he doesn’t check boats in, nothing like that.”
“So they just leave them at the dock, is that it?” Kling said.
“With nobody here to check them in,” Meyer said.
“We don’t have too many people bringing boats back before they’re due,” Popeye said.
“But Andy Hardy did.”
“What’d this guy
“Maybe nothing,” Kling said. “Is your watchman here now?”
“Left when I opened up this morning.”
“How do we find him?”
