Chapter Five

  "Yesterday I'm freaked 'cause I can't quit seeing Bert's naked body floating in the ocean and now I've got Phil on a platter playing over and over in my head."

  Why couldn't Travis have found Bert's body?  Maybe because he was too busy stealing my waves.  Travis always took my good luck away from me before so what makes now any different.  And finding Phil today was the icing on the cake.

  Wade also had a funny feeling that people might begin to suspect he had some role in the deaths because he'd been at both murder scenes.

  "Always at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said aloud.

  Wade almost missed the street when he finally pulled up to Ocean Drive. He could see the crowds of people coming closer to the zoo to see what was going on. The entrance was in clear view but unlike the crowds of people, Wade was less than anxious to go inside. He took a deep breath and climbed out of the truck. He went to slam his door but remembered what had happened yesterday and closed it gently.  Uncle Depp was already at the entrance waiting for him with a cup of WaWa coffee. He knew it was going to be a long night.

  Unc reached out for Wade, trying to avoid the crowds that had grown in the past forty-five minutes. As they searched for somewhere to talk, Wade remembered a table behind the groundskeeping shed. He knew that no one would bother them there.

  As the two reached the table, Wade sat down reluctantly. He knew where the conversation was going.  Nervously shaking his leg under the table, he struggled for the words to start what he knew was going to be a disturbing recollection of the deaths. He suddenly blurted out, "I can't believe that Phil Gregory is dead."

  Even though there were a million and one things going on in Wade's head, this was the only thing that he could manage to say.

  A long pause followed. Now Unc was at a loss for words. Although he had been at the scene he could not imagine what his nephew was going through. Wade was so young but had experienced so much.

  Unc's mind was in just as many places as Wade's was. He sipped his coffee slowly and placed it on the table before saying anything to his nephew.

  "Wade, I know that you're going through an extremely rough time, but you have to talk to me. You have to let me know what happened. Take your time, buddy. I know it's hard."

  Wade could not stop shaking as he tried to bring the coffee cup to his mouth. He finally brought his mouth to the cup. Then he placed the cup firmly on the table and looked up at his Uncle.

  "Well" he said, clenching his fists, "I went to help Melanie set up for the charity event.  Phil was here... I mean I saw him... well, yeah, he was here, I mean, not here but in the hall, well, all over really, you know."

  "It's okay, Wade. This has been a rough two days.  Just calm down and tell me everything that happened."

  "Alice Landon told me to find Phil to make his speech. He had been running around frantically all day so I went to track him down...I mean that's what Alice told me to do.  Melanie was going towards the kitchen anyway, so she was nice enough to offer to come with me... I figured she could use some help, too, so we went together."

  "You were always a sucker for the good looking ones," his uncle said, trying to make light of the situation.

  "Yea, I guess, Unc.  So anyway, then we hear this commotion coming from the kitchen and there he is--apple and all. Well, you saw it; I don't need to say anymore." With that Wade picked up his coffee again and took another sip. He dumped the rest of the coffee in the grass

  Uncle Depp shook his head. "I can't believe this is happening in Cape May.  This shore town has seen more action in the last 24 hours than it has seen since I've been on the force.  Well, Wade I guess you were in the wrong place . . ."

  "Yeah, I know.  At the wrong time," Wade said sarcastically.

  "So how's Melanie handling all of this?  I can't imagine what is going through her head.  To think, her first real catering event.  I guess she won't be catering alone again anytime soon."

  "I know.  She was really shaken up by Phil's death.  I keep seeing the look on her face when we found his body."

  "Yea she did look really shook up, but then again so did you. Everyone in this town going to be shook up about what's happening when they hear," said Unc as he stared at the table.

  Unc was searching for the right way to break the news to Wade about the lead he had found at the scene. He decided that the best way was Wade's way and that was to blurt it out.   "Mead thinks they got a lead on Linda Manning."   "Oh wait, the zoo keeper?" Wade said as he snapped out of it.  He could picture Linda Manning with an armload of beach clean-up flyers. Her hair was twirled into long dreadlocks and you never saw her without her red and black Baja.  He had seen her standing near the monkey exhibit when he was running wires.  And Mel had seen her, too, with Phil.

  Unc went on. "Mead said Melanie actually saw Linda have some sort of confrontation with Phil. Something about calling him a filthy pig. And Alice Landon mentioned that Phil had told her that Rex Manning had been pestering him all day. He finally had to shut off his cell to avoid his calls."   Wade laughed at that despite himself. You couldn't really avoid Rex Manning. He was one of the biggest developers at the shore, having already built waterfront condos in most of the towns between Atlantic City and Cape May. His smiling face was hard to miss, plastered as it was on billboards from Wildwood to Philadelphia. Rex Manning was itching to tear down B and B row--and his daughter, the zoo keeper/environmentalist, was apparently not too happy about it.   "So I guess Linda and Rex are butting heads right now.  This whole condo project has got the entire town talking.  I never would have guessed it would create such a buzz. I would never have thought Linda Manning could be capable of any sort of violence, let alone murder. But she's pretty passionate about the beach and the wildlife down here. And we know she would love to see her father fail with this project. We've got cars staking out her house now. She disappeared after Mel saw her threaten Phil. No one here has seen her since."   Wade shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what he thought about Linda Manning. And he didn't really even know if Unc was asking him his opinion. He was relieved that he wasn't a suspect--at least Unc had made it sound as if he wasn't. He suddenly felt exhausted--and he realized he'd made a date for dawn. He hoped, despite everything that had happened Mel would still be up for seeing him in the morning.  He wondered if he should call her to see how she was doing but figured he'd let her get some rest.  It had been a rough day for the both of them.   "Well, I guess I better get going." Wade said as he slowly got up from the table. There were so many questions that he wanted answered, but he was just too tired now to think of what they were. Unc could see that on his face.

"Go home and get some sleep, buddy. We'll figure this out. You just take it easy for a couple of days. Stay out of trouble."

"Thanks, Unc. I'll try." With that Wade started to walk towards his truck in a daze. When he reached the truck, he automatically turned the cd back on. He didn't even hear "Santeria" finish playing.