Chapter 8. Carson’s Found in the Harbor

About 9:00 that Sunday morning Sheriff Ericsson is getting ready for church when he gets a call from the 911 dispatcher. She says, “Sheriff, there’s a body in the water at the harbor. The harbor master believes it’s been there for more than an hour so I called you instead of the EMS. I told the harbor master to wait for you.”
“Alright, I’ll pick up a deputy and go straight to the harbor,” the sheriff replies.

Within ten minutes Sheriff Ericsson and a deputy arrive at the Pineville Harbor. They find Harrison Cook waiting at the end of the dock. The sheriff says, “Good morning, Harrison. I understand there’s a body in the water.”

“Yes, Sheriff. Follow me. I’ll show you.”

When they reach the location of the body the sheriff asks, “Whose boat is the body beside?”

“That’s Carson Crenshaw’s boat.”

“Is that Carson in the water,” the deputy asks.

“I don’t know,” Harrison replies.

The sheriff says to the deputy, “Help me get him out and we’ll see who it is.”

After the body is laying face-up on the dock the deputy says, “It’s Carson alright. That’s what he was wearing at the meeting last night. He must have come here after the meeting.”

“Call the medical examiner and tell him we have a body for him. He’s not going to like being called on Sunday morning, but that’s not our fault. Carson probably slipped on the dock boarding his boat and fell in. Maybe he hit his head and drowned before he could recover. Anyway, if there’s one thing I’ve learned on this job it’s to let the medical examiner determine how someone dies. That’s all we can do now, Harrison. My deputy will stay here until the body is taken to the medical examiner. I’ll notify Mrs. Crenshaw, I’m going to church after I talk to her,” Sheriff Ericsson says.

Harrison replies, “Jolene Crenshaw is most likely at the Methodist Church by now. She and Carson usually attend. She probably thinks Carson went fishing all night. He sometimes does.”

“Then I’ll wait at the Methodist Church for her. The sheriff replies. “I guess I can be forgiven not going to church when someone like Carson is found dead.”

The sheriff waits at the Methodist Church until Jolene comes out after the service. He calls to her and tells her he has some bad news. When she learns Carson is dead she cries out, “Oh, no. I thought he had gone fishing. When people asked me why he wasn’t at church with me this morning I said he probably went fishing all night.  He didn’t come home after the meeting last night. I assumed he went fishing like he often does when he’s had a bad day. What happened? Did he fall in by accident?” 

“We don’t know how it happened. We’ll have to wait for the medical examiner to tell us if he drowned. Is there anything I can do for you, Mrs. Crenshaw?” the sheriff asks.

“No, no thank you, Sheriff. I’m going home. I want to be alone to deal with this. Will you call me when you get the medical examiner’s report?” Jolene replies.

“Certainly, Mrs. Crenshaw. I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s a loss for our whole community. Mr. Crenshaw’s plan for the Wellborne beach would have been good for our village,” the sheriff says as Jolene goes to her yellow VW. He watches as she leaves the Church parking lot. 

Just before lunchtime on Monday morning, Sue Johnson, the sheriff’s tall slender secretary enters the sheriff’s office with some papers and says, “Here’s the medical examiner’s report on Carson Crenshaw, Sir.”

“That was fast. The medical examiner must have worked all day yesterday. What does he say, Sue?”

“You’ll have to read it for the details, I just glanced at it. He doesn’t think it was a natural drowning, Sir.”

“Oh, no. I was hoping Carson simply drowned accidentally. I don’t want to deal with something more complicated. Give me the report.”

Sue hands the sheriff the report and leaves his office.

When the sheriff finishes reading the report he gets up and goes out to talk to Sue. He says, “Just what I feared. The report says Carson suffered a blow to his head killing him. There was no water in his lungs. The medical examiner believes someone killed Carson then pushed his body into the water. It has to be considered murder.”

“When did it happen, Sheriff,” Sue asks.

“The report says Carson was in the water for about twelve hours. It looks like Carson went to the harbor after the meeting and met someone, or someone followed him. Or maybe the killer dumped his body in the harbor after he killed him,” speculates the sheriff.

Sue says, “Sounds like it’ll be hard to tell what happened. From what I heard after church yesterday the Saturday night meeting had a lot of yelling and threats. I heard Peter Brown and David Wellborne both threatened Mr. Crenshaw.”

“Yes, that’s what’s in the report submitted this morning by the deputies assigned to keep peace at the meeting.”

“Then you have several suspects. What about those activists that Violet Green stirs up?” asks Sue.

“They have to be considered suspects as well given the serious threats they were yelling according to the deputies’ report. I’m not looking forward to questioning Violet Green. She’ll start yelling at me if I question her.”

“I can imagine her reaction knowing how excitable she is. That reminds me, I’ll be leaving early this afternoon. I have a haircut appointment with Violet. I hope she’s settled down by 4:00.”

“Good luck with that, Sue. Call Mrs. Crenshaw. I promised to tell her how Carson died as soon as I got the medical examiner’s report. Then get Mary Jane Bloom on the phone. For once I’m going to call her before she calls haranguing me for information. When she wants details or background information I intend to share the deputies’ report from Saturday night’s meeting. I bet she attended the meeting, but the report will make what she writes more official. I'll wait to see what responses we get. Be ready after the paper is out. We’ll be deluged with calls. Maybe someone will offer some useful information. Someone may have seen Crenshaw at the harbor and possibly who was with him.”