Page 118 of The Session

“What are you proposing?” Morris asked.

“I want Mark and Tru to make sure our partners are still on board. Reassure them that we’re still active and not in decline. If we lose any of them, that can cause a problem—make it easier for somebody else to take this away from us,” Lightman explained.

Mark raised his hand and spoke up. “Whoever is behind this, do you think they might have wanted Kevin dead?”

All eyes turned to Mark. He couldn’t have gotten more attention if he’d fired a gun into the air.

“What do you mean, son?” Lightman asked.

“It’s just . . . I’ve been looking into it, and his death seems suspicious.”

“This really isn’t the time or place to talk about this, Mark,” Morris said.

“Explain,” Lightman said.

Morris cut in. “I think Mr. Greenley may have heard certain rumors about a relapse. Kevin’s death was a tragedy and affected us all, and I don’t think there’s any reason to besmirch him.”

“I don’t know anything about a relapse, but I’m certainly not trying to besmirch him,” Mark told Morris.

“I didn’t mean you. I meant other people who are out to get the family,” Morris clarified.

“I think he was killed,” Mark said.

Lightman pulled out a chair and sat down. “Why do you say that?”

“I went back to investigate Kevin’s house.”

“You investigated?” Jameson asked.

“Looked into. I was curious. The first time I was there, I noticed something and wasn’t sure about it, but I took a photo and then decided to go back and take another look,” Mark explained.

“What did you find?” Tru asked.

“I wanted to tell you, but I had to check it first. The kayak—the one Kevin died on—that’s the one still at the beach house, right?”

“Yes. It was placed back in the rack after the accident,” Tru confirmed.

“There are straps along the front and back of the kayak that you use to hold down things like paddles or other equipment. When I was there, something caught my eye, but I wasn’t sure what. I took a photograph. When I went back, I removed both sets of straps and took them with me, had them examined in a lab. The cord had been replaced,” Mark said.

“What’s the significance of that?” Jameson asked.

“If Kevin drowned, but he was murdered, it means somebody had to drown him. If he was found near the kayak, they probably put him in it and capsized it. But to do that takes a lot of effort and force, particularly with someone in it. Trust me, I’ve tried getting back into one before. The first thing you grab on to—either if you’re trying to throw them over or if you’re trying to climb back into the kayak—is the straps. But they’re not meant for that kind of weight. If they’re old and weathered, they’ll snap,” Mark explained.

“But the straps hadn’t broken,” Tru said.

“Neither set was broken, but one of them looked different, so I had them inspected. The one that stood out has never been in salt water; it’s brand new. Plus it’s a different material than the other strap,” Mark explained, “which is weathered and worn like you would expect.”

“I’m sorry, I’m having trouble following,” Morris said.

“Between Kevin drowning and when I inspected the kayak, one of those straps was replaced, and nobody is supposed to have had access to the cabin.”

“That’s a bit of a reach,” Jameson said.

“I know, but here’s the other thing. I’m a paramedic. One of the things I have to do at a scene of an emergency is figure out very quickly what happened. I thought about that when I was at the beach house. What would I have done if I’d found Kevin unconscious and needed to know what caused it? So I did that. I looked in his bedroom, his meds, the kitchen, the refrigerator, and the trash. That’s when I found something unusual.”

“Unusual how?” Jameson asked.

“Inside the refrigerator, there was a six-pack of beer with only one bottle in it. Inside the trash can, I found two more beer bottles, but five caps. Six caps if you count the one in the refrigerator,” Mark explained.