Chapter 14 - The Bell Beneath the Dock
I knew the bell. Robert had mounted a small brass bell beneath the dock years ago, a safety signal for swimmers who got caught under the floating platform. One pull rang through a cable to the boathouse, where a second bell sounded loudly enough for anyone inside to hear. We had used it during summer lessons. After Robert died, I assumed the cable had rusted through.
Deputy Grant accompanied me to inspect it. The cable was still intact, but the bell's striker had been removed. Someone had deliberately disabled it. The officers photographed the hardware and found fresh tool marks beneath the dock's edge.
"This isn't proof of who did it," Grant said. "But it's consistent with someone wanting the dock to be less safe. We'll compare the marks with tools recovered from the storage unit."
The tool marks matched a wrench found in Dean's storage unit. His lawyer claimed the wrench was common and could have belonged to anyone. The prosecution had more than the tool: the messages, the camera, the ledger, and the false petition. Still, each piece had to be defended separately.
The question surprised me. Wren wanted to restore the swimming program Robert had run for local kids, but only after the case was over and the dock was rebuilt. I told her we'd think about it.
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The next morning, the prosecutor called. Stacey had offered to plead guilty to the financial charges if the state dropped the allegation that she deliberately pushed Robert.
The prosecutor wanted to know whether I would testify.
