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  THE PIER

  A FOLLY BEACH MYSTERY

  BILL NOEL

  AUTHOR OF FOLLY

  iUniverse Star

  New York Bloomington

  The Pier

  A Folly Beach Mystery

  Copyright © 2008, 2009 by Bill Noel

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  iUniverse Star

  an iUniverse, Inc. imprint

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  ISBN: 978-1-4401-2698-7 (pbk)

  ISBN: 978-1-4401-2861-5 (ebk)

  Library of Congress Contol Number: 2009923910

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 1

  “Let’s have a toast to Chris Landrum, the newest resident of our beloved Folly Beach ...”

  A high-pitched, piercing police siren overrode the rest of the speech offered by my new and very strange friend, Charles Fowler. My house was only two blocks from the small barrier island’s police station; the sudden, loud warbling sound of the emergency vehicles’ warning sirens was prone to startle rather than get gradually louder. This was one more sensation I’d need to get used to as I adapted to my new home.

  “Look on the bright side, Chris,” Charles continued as the sirens moved away from the house and our eardrums recovered. “Last time you were here, it only took three days for you to stumble on a murder. Now, you’ve been here a whole week before you have the police running all over the place.”

  “Yeah, Chris,” chimed in Amber, Charles’s sort-of date for the evening, “it took the natives months to recover from your visit last year.”

  Time to change the subject—this was a housewarming party I’d thrown for myself, and I didn’t want it ruined. I had just taken early retirement from my former life as a health-care company executive in Kentucky. Through a couple of lucky real-estate investments and a nice corporate buyout plan, I was fortunate enough to buy my retirement home two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean, fifteen minutes from historic and beautiful Charleston, South Carolina, and within easy walking distance of some of the strangest, nicest, and most caring folks I’d encountered in my fifty-seven years. Most of them had honored me with their presence tonight. I hoped they had come to see me, although I suspected the free food and libations contributed more than a little.

  “Okay, folks,” I announced cheerfully after the sirens faded, “turns out this wasn’t the destination of Folly’s finest. So, drink up and enjoy the food.” Clearly without need of further cajoling, my friends refreshed their drinks, filled their plates, and checked out each corner of the weather-worn, screened-in front porch of my new beach house. Actually, it was only new to me ... and not quite on the beach, either. The small, one-story, weathered clapboard house had lived through many a hurricane and storm rolling off the Atlantic, and its blue paint was chipped and faded. But it was now my home, complete with rope handrail beside the brick steps leading to my porch, tin roof showing stains from every imaginable bird and airborne pollutant, and plenty of character.

  Despite my efforts to play the warm host, a festive housewarming wasn’t to be. Not fifteen minutes after the sirens faded into the cool February evening, Brian’s cell phone played the opening notes of the theme from the old television show Dragnet. Brian, who was known to most everyone on the island as Chief Newman, served as the director of public safety.

  None of us were surprised by the call. In fact, I was surprised one hadn’t come earlier.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Folks, duty calls,” said the chief as he retrieved his uniform jacket from the living room. “Seems like we’ve got ourselves a floater at the pier behind the Holiday Inn. I’ll try to get back and let you know what’s happening. Don’t eat all the food.” He stared at Charles.

  With that comment, I could tell the wind had gone out of the festivities. Amber gasped loud enough for all to hear. Bob, the stoic one, whispered, “Oh no.”

  “I think he really means ‘Don’t drink all the beer,’” offered Charles, in a moment of deep insight and in an effort to break the somber mood.

  “Enough about our police chief,” I said, then attempted to get everyone’s attention by tapping my plastic wine glass with a plastic spoon. The sound was quite underwhelming, so I stomped my foot on the wooden porch. “I’d like to offer a toast to the best real-estate agent a guy could ask for. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have found this aged, dilapidated, overpriced cottage. Here’s to my favorite—and only—Realtor, Bob Howard.”

  Bob looked like Santa out of season. He had the well-endowed belly and scruffy white—actually, gray—stubble of a beard. But he sorely lacked the jolly laugh and pleasant demeanor of the Christmas icon, and Bob also hadn’t aged as well as Santa; he looked his sixty-five years.

  “Damn, Chris, you sure know how to pay a compliment,” said Bob, his face reddening more than usual in response to twelve clapping hands. “I already got my commission check—and, of course, gave it to my lovely wife, Betty—so I don’t care what you say. As long as you use me for any of your further realty needs, that is.”

  Bob had been one of the reasons I decided to make Folly my full-time retirement home after I had spent a month here on vacation. My original plan had been to buy a vacation home on the small island and split my time between Louisville and Folly Beach. But, in less than a month, I had accumulated more friends—although most a bit off-center, I’ll admit—than I had back home. I hadn’t expected my social life to take off on a scrap of land only six miles long and a mile wide; even after retirement, life could certainly be full of surprises.

  “Bob,” I said. “I’m honored you dressed up for tonight’s party—I didn’t know you had a shirt that wasn’t wrinkled or said something like ‘I’m with Stupid!’ or ‘USA—Love it or Suck Raw Eggs.’”

  “You’d be amazed how few of my clients invite me to a party after they’re done with me,” replied the mostly rumpled agent. “I thought I’d better show how GQish I am. Besides, Betty wouldn’t let me leave the house dressed like I wanted to.”

  Neither of these things had surprised me. Bob, who generally failed to shave, detested eating anything healthy, and had never met an insult he didn’t like, must have owned an overly abridged dictionary if he could find the word “GQish” anywhere near “Bob Howard”!

  “Chris, do you still plan to open a fine art photo gallery on Folly?” asked the always proper and earnest Bill Hansel, as he moved between Bob and me.

  Drastically different from my other, much more irreverent friends, Bill held his own in the area of uniqueness. He was one of Folly’s fourteen or so African Americans, out of two thousand plus residents. To add to his extreme minority status, he hailed from the north, was a conservative Republican, held a doctorate in travel and tourism, and taught as a tenured professor of hospitality and tourism at the College of Charleston. He was also a great guy who had been my neighbor for a while last year.

&n
bsp; “Yes, Bill,” I said as I switched my attention away from Bob—no easy task. “I don’t know how I’ll do it, but since I’ve been taking photos for more years than I can remember, I’m going to give it a shot—pun intended. Besides, I’ll need to do something with my time.”

  I offered to get Bill another glass of the finest box wines that Piggly Wiggly had to offer. He declined.

  “You can always help with my gardening,” he said, in the deepest bass voice I’ve heard from someone as thin as Dr. Bill Hansel.

  “Don’t bet your hoe on that. I’ll come over and occasionally watch,” I replied.

  Looking through my camera’s viewfinder was as close as I wanted to get to gardening and flowers.

  * * * *

  A small space heater did its best to warm the porch from its position near the side wall, but cold winds had traveled the few blocks from the ocean and were beginning to take their toll on my guests. The party was clearly winding down, and the alcohol was running out; even the stash of Pepsis for Betty was running low. Chief Newman pulled up in front of the house in his unmarked Crown Victoria just as Bill was preparing for his three-block walk home.

  “Welcome back, Chief. I saved you some cheese puffs,” said Charles as he waved his hand-carved oak cane in the direction of the food. “What’s up?”

  Brian walked toward the food table. “I don’t know much, other than the body was a white male and looked to be in his fifties—but even that’s hard to tell with a floater. Water does terrible things to a body,” he said as he filled his paper plate with the diminishing fare. Apparently, death didn’t affect his appetite. “The guy was well dressed—had on a dark suit, a red bow tie, even a matching pocket handkerchief. Amazing how it stayed in the pocket after what the corpse had been through.”

  “Any idea what happened?” I asked as I followed him to the Styrofoam cooler sitting on the floor.

  “Not really,” said Brian before he popped a cheese puff in his mouth. “There didn’t appear to be any gunshot wounds. There were a few cuts on the head, but they could’ve been caused by the rocky sea bottom while he churned around. We’ll have to wait for the coroner’s report before we know much. Unfortunately, we average about one of these every couple of years; people continually ignore our riptide warnings as if we’re issuing ‘em just to amuse ourselves. But I’ll admit this one doesn’t fit the profile. Few folks go for a swim dressed like they’re going to the opera.”

  I noticed Bill, who had been standing by the door and getting ready to leave, had suddenly turned pale—or, for him, the color of cream-infused coffee—and sat on a plastic porch chair while the chief was speaking.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Bill.

  “No, I must say I’m not,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper. “Chief Newman, I believe I know the poor soul you just described.”

  I think that’s what he said, but it was hard to tell. His voice cracked, still nearly inaudible. The rest of what he had to say was easily heard; the wildly speculative chatter of my guests abruptly dropped to just below the decibel level of a pin dropping.

  CHAPTER 3

  All eyes were turned to the professor—all eyes and the battered, black notebook Chief Newman pulled from his jacket.

  “Some of you know I’m a member of Preserve the Past,” said Bill, his voice strengthening. “We meet each month and talk about ways to raise money to draw attention to the plight of the slowly sinking Morris Island Lighthouse. I’ve been going to these meetings for four years or so. It’s sad how few people are really concerned about saving the historic lighthouse .so sad.” Bill bowed his head, supporting his chin with both arms.

  “Umm, Bill? You say you know the deceased?” interrupted the chief.

  That jolted Bill back to the present.

  “Oh, yes,” said Bill. “I believe you described Julius Palmer. He’s been to almost every meeting since his wife died three years ago. I think that’s how he channeled some of his energy after being left alone; he didn’t have children. We became friends—I think mainly because we both had lost spouses to cancer.” Bill’s wife had died of the dreaded disease eight years ago; he still spoke of her often. “Besides that, we really have little in common. Julius owns an antique shop in Charleston. Chief, I hope I’m wrong, but who else would wear a bow tie and pocket handkerchief here?”

  Good question, I thought—no one I knew, to be sure.

  One other notebook got a workout that night: the one that belonged to Tammy Rogers, crime reporter extraordinaire for the Post and Courier, Charleston’s daily newspaper. Besides being a fine reporter, Tammy was my date, my girlfriend, my significant other, my whatever; I had no idea what the appropriate term was for a middle-aged couple in this day and age. Regardless, Tammy took a keen interest in what the chief and Bill had said.

  * * * *

  My guests—all but Tammy, to my great pleasure—had gone their separate ways after the party-stopping revelation by Bill. Bob left in his typical grumpy manner, instructing me to call only when he could make a commission in real estate. “Or when there’s more free booze,” he said. Betty smiled; I suspected she did a lot of that around him. This was the first time I’d met her, so I wasn’t sure.

  The chief, saying he needed to get back to the pier, thanked me for the invitation. He said he was glad I was finally getting settled in his fair city and ordered me to stay out of trouble. Bill, with hardly a word, left with his chin resting on his chest—in as gloomy a mood as I’d ever seen from him. Charles and Amber were the last to leave—with the exception of Tammy, of course. Charles and I had become amazingly close after spending time together last spring. He was a few years younger than I, and we were opposites in most every respect. I had taught him photography (some, anyway); he had taught me how to kill time while not working for a living—a condition he had perfected many years ago. I had a bunch to learn. During my previous month-long stay, Amber had been my best source of gossip, cheer, and flirtatious overtures, all while serving the best food on the island at the Lost Dog Café. Charles and Amber’s relationship had sparked and ignited during the last seven months. She was especially eager to get home to her ten-year-old son, Jason.

  For about an hour, Tammy and I were sad to see my friends go. But then we decided to focus a little more of our attention on each other. After that, we quickly forgot the party—and most everything else, to be accurate.

  CHAPTER 4

  Two early assignments required Tammy’s return to the city that morning. With her short, blonde hair and minimal makeup routine, she wasted little time preparing for the day. We were up and ready a little before sunrise. My two previous visits to Folly Beach had been in late spring and summer; I still wasn’t used to how cold it was now in the predawn hours. Fortunately, I hadn’t thrown away my coats from the less tropic Kentucky climate.

  The ongoing investigation of last night’s unpleasant discovery was absolutely none of my business. I hadn’t even met the late Julius Palmer, if he was the drowning victim, but I couldn’t get the image of Bill out of my head. I’d never seen him anything but pleasant, upbeat, and kind—and a bit erudite. But what could one expect from a college professor—especially a tenured college professor in his fifties? He was somewhat of a loner, except for his acquaintances in Preserve the Past. His look when he realized Mr. Palmer was gone made the eyes of a basset look gleeful.

  * * * *

  Tammy called around three with the not-so-surprising news. The police had confirmed the body as being Julius Palmer, age fifty-five, of West Ashley Avenue, Folly Beach, South Carolina. Bill was right.

  On Folly, nothing was far away. Palmer’s house was less than six blocks from my new abode. Tammy had also learned that he was considered “wealthy,” whatever that meant. He had inherited his father’s antique shop on prestigious King

  Street—the affluent shopping address in Charleston. His shop specialized in European antiques, and anyone lacking a well-heeled wallet needed not enter. But unlike some dealers, he was liked by everyone in Charleston.