of my doctor back home are listed on the bottom.”
The pharmacist looked at the paper Grandpa handed him. “You must be the new folks who are staying out at Garrett’s place.”
“We are,” Grandpa confirmed.
“I’m so happy to meet you. My name is George Brolin.”
“Ben Jensen.”
“I’ll need you to fill out some paperwork, but we should be able to make the transfer without any problem.” The pharmacist handed Grandpa a one-page form and a pen. “If you’re staying out at Garrett’s you must be the folks who found Buck’s remains in the attic.”
I confirmed that we were. “Did you know Mr. Barnes well?”
“I did indeed. We’d been friends for years. It’s such a shame what happened, but I have to say I’m not surprised.”
“And why is that?” I asked as Grandpa filled out the form George Brolin had given him. I was interested to hear whether he would say the same things Gertie Newsome had.
“Buck was a friendly sort who would strike up conversations with total strangers. Not that being friendly is a bad thing, but Buck had a tendency to overshare. I tried to warn him that not everyone was worthy of his trust, but Buck didn’t view the world in terms of good and bad. As far as he was concerned, everyone he met was a potential friend.”
“And you think one of those friends might have killed him?”
George shrugged. “I don’t have anything to back up my suspicion, but yes. There were a couple of men hanging around with Buck just before his disappearance. He stopped by here for his heart medication and he introduced me. They seemed shifty to me, but Buck insisted they were good guys who were going to help him with his treasure hunt.”
“The hunt for Barkley’s treasure?” I clarified.
“Buck spent a lifetime looking for that treasure. He’d never had any luck with his quest, but that last time I saw him, he told me he knew where the map Garrett’s grandfather had left behind was hidden. He figured he’d need help to locate the treasure even with the map, so he’d decided to cut the two men he’d met at Sully’s in on the deal.”
“Sully’s?”
“The local bar.”
This bit of information was incompatible with my recent conversation with Garrett, when he’d assured me that the map had been destroyed a long time ago. It seemed Buck might have been lying to his new partners about the fact that he knew where the map was hidden, but why?
“Did Buck happen to mention the names of these friends?”
“He just referred to them as Dilly and Lambert. They weren’t locals. In fact, they seemed to have arrived on the island at about the same time Buck ran into them.”
“And have you seen those men since the day Buck introduced them to you?”
“No. I did suggest to Deputy Savage that they could be responsible for Buck’s disappearance. I’m pretty sure he looked into it then, but nothing came of his investigation. Of course, at that point we didn’t know Buck was dead. We just figured he’d found the map and had taken off on some sort of prolonged treasure hunt.”
Grandpa handed George the filled-out form. The pharmacist looked it over and assured us the transfer could be completed by the end of the day. Grandpa and I said our good-byes after George promised to call when the prescriptions were ready to be picked up.
“What do you think about the men Buck hooked up with?” I asked Grandpa after we left the pharmacy.
“It’s hard to know what sort of deal the men might have entered into. Could have been on the up-and-up, but I suppose if Buck pretended to have the map to get the men to invest in his project and then was unable to provide it as promised that could have gotten him killed.”
“I remember seeing a bar one block up on Pelican Way. Do you mind if we pop in there to see if whoever is tending bar remembers the men Buck was with?”
“Are you planning on investigating Buck’s death?”
“Not really. I’m just curious. I’ll buy you a
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