A Case of Vineyard Poison Read Online Free PDF Page A

in a good mood and survived it with barely a curse. I popped out on its far side and was pleased to see a long line, which I was not in, backed up in the opposite direction. It’s nice to not be in someone else’s line.
    I stopped at the head of my long, sandy driveway and got my mail, then drove on down toward my house. About two thirds of the way down, I saw the moped lying in front of me. I stopped and got out. Beyond the moped, there were footprints in the sand of the driveway. I followed them. They wandered down toward my house. After a hundred yards, the footprints veered off into the trees. I found the girl there. She had long brown hair, and I recognized her as being the moped rider I’d seen earlier on the highway. She smelled of vomit and diarrhea, and there were flecks of foam at her mouth. I could find no pulse at her neck or wrist. Her eyes were wide and staring. I left her there and jogged down to the house and called 911.
    Finding the girl was the very bad thing that happened.

— 4 —
    I was back at the Land Cruiser when the first wailing patrol car arrived from Edgartown. Behind it was an ambulance with its flashing lights.
    Tony D’Agostine got out of the cruiser. “Can you move your truck?”
    â€œThe girl’s about a hundred yards farther on,” I said. “I may be wrong, but I don’t think there’s any rush. I thought you’d want a look at this moped and the girl’s tracks before I changed anything.”
    â€œOkay,” said Tony. He looked over his shoulder at the medics getting out of the ambulance. “Bring your gear,” he called. “The victim’s down ahead.”
    â€œYou might want to tell them to go down the side of the driveway so they don’t mess up the girl’s tracks any more than I already have.”
    â€œGo down the side of the driveway so you don’t mess up the girl’s tracks,” said Tony, as the first medics came by. “What about the tracks?” he said to me.
    â€œThey wander around. Like the girl was staggering.”
    â€œHurt when the moped fell over?”
    â€œI don’t think she was staggering because she was hurt. I think she was sick.” I told him about seeing her on the highway and about the smells and froth I’d noticed when I found her.
    More police cars arrived, stacking up behind the ambulance. Policemen came walking down the driveway.One of them had a camera. After he took pictures of the moped, several of us walked down the driveway looking at the girl’s tracks. When we got to the girl, a medic looked up and shook his head. He and the other medics kept working on her anyway. I was glad I didn’t have their job. The policeman with the camera took some more pictures. A medic got up.
    â€œWe aren’t going to get her back.” He looked at me. “You the guy who found her?”
    â€œYes. This is my driveway.”
    â€œDo you know her?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen what was she doing down your driveway?”
    I didn’t like his tone. “Dying,” I said.
    He gave me a sour look. Tony D’Agostine took my arm. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s move that moped out of the way and then get your truck and some of these other vehicles on down to your house so we can get rid of this traffic jam.”
    When we got back to the moped, we took a look at it. It seemed all right to me. We pushed it off to one side of the driveway, and I led the caravan of cars down to my yard. There, most of the police cars turned around and went back to town, and the ambulance turned around and went back to the body.
    Tony got out his notebook and took down the little I could tell him, then we walked back up to the body.
    â€œWe’re ready to take her in,” said the medic.
    â€œWhat do you think, Miles?” asked Tony.
    â€œVomit, diarrhea, foam at the mouth. Something toxic. I imagine they’ll find the agent in