The Spy Coast

Maggie Bird looks into the woods for the predator that is killing her chickens. She sees an animal watching her, reaches into her RTV, and pulls out her rifle. She shoots, and the animal runs into the woods. Maggie follows—she knows she has hit, although maybe not killed, her target.

Hiking through the deep snow is hard—she is 60 years old, and past injuries, including a bad ankle from a parachute drop, plague her. Finally, she finds the fox responsible for the killing, dead in the snow. She takes it back to her RTV, knowing Luther Yount will want the pelt.

She drives directly to Luther’s house next door. He greets her at the door and thanks her for the fox pelt. In the two years since Maggie bought Blackberry Farm, they’ve come to know each other well, even though they are both private people. Although Luther looks like a farmer, Maggie knows that he retired there after being a mechanical engineering professor at MIT. She discovered this fact when she did background checks on all the neighbors before she bought Blackberry Farm.

While they drink coffee, Callie, Luther’s 14-year-old granddaughter, comes in from collecting eggs. Luther shows her the dead fox, and Callie immediately recognizes the beauty of the pelt. She has been living on the farm with Luther since she was a toddler and her mother died of an overdose; she “shows no hesitation, no squeamishness” (12) about the fox. Callie comments that it is sad the fox had to die, but she lost chickens to the female fox as well.

Luther gives Maggie some fresh milk, and as she is leaving, he mentions that Callie heard someone asking for directions to Maggie’s farm at the post office. Maggie asks for details, but Callie doesn’t have any. She reflects that Callie’s story could mean nothing, but it still makes her nervous. At the grocery store later, she picks up her regular two bottles of whiskey, even though it isn’t the single malt she loves.

As she is leaving the store, Maggie sees Ben Diamond go into the café across the street. She follows him inside and joins Ben and Declan Rose at a table. She asks if they’ve heard about someone looking for her in town, but neither of them knows. Maggie reflects that she has become too relaxed in the 16 years since her retirement. Ben and Declan agree to tell her if they hear anything, and then they discuss their book club meeting that night.

On the way home, Maggie reflects on everything she’s learned since she moved to Maine—how to split wood, for example. She never thought she’d retire in such a place, but that’s exactly the point—she couldn’t retire anywhere expected. Suddenly, her alarm beeps, alerting her to a security breach on her property. She speeds up and heads for home. When she gets there, everything looks normal, but the filament she placed across the doorjamb is broken. She slowly enters the house and finds a woman pointing a gun at her.

The woman introduces herself as Bianca and says that the government needs Maggie’s help. Maggie says no, but reconsiders when Bianca tells her that Diana Ward has disappeared. Bianca says they are worried about everyone connected to Operation Cyrano. The name from the past shocks Maggie, but she refuses to help, saying that Diana can take care of herself. Maggie doesn’t care what happens to her. She shows Bianca out.

Police Chief Jo Thibodeau watches as Jimmy Kiely is loaded into an ambulance, still shouting threats at his wife, Megan. She goes inside the bar to interview Megan, who stabbed Jimmy with a steak knife. Jo and Megan have both lived in Purity all their lives, and Jo has seen first-hand the abuse Jimmy has heaped on Megan over the years. She reminds Megan that she could leave Jimmy, but Megan is unconvinced.

Jo could’ve left Purity, but she still loves the town, even though the new influx of tourists has changed it: She was named acting police chief after her boss, Chief Glen Cooney, was hit by a car. She is looking forward to the weekend off and to camping with her dog, Lucy, when she gets a call on her radio.

Maggie goes to Ingrid and Lloyd Slocum’s house for book club that night. Lloyd is cooking, as usual, and everyone else is drinking martinis. Although it is a book club meeting, they rarely discuss books. They all moved to Purity after retirement—Ben was first and convinced Ingrid and Lloyd, Declan, and Maggie to follow. Maggie tells the group about Bianca, but she doesn’t offer specifics about Diana or Operation Cyrano. The topic then shifts to how the younger generation doesn’t recognize the wisdom and experience they have to offer.

During dinner, Luther calls Maggie and tells her that there are police cars in her driveway. She drives home to find two police cars, lights flashing, and a body lying in the snow. Bianca is dead, with two bullet holes in her forehead. Maggie notices that her fingers are twisted and broken.

Jo Thibodeau approaches Maggie and introduces herself as acting police chief. She is surprised at Maggie’s composure upon finding a body in her driveway. Maggie admits that the woman is named Bianca but tells Jo that the woman had come to buy eggs earlier in the day. She offers the book club as her alibi.

Jo notices Maggie’s security cameras and asks to see the footage. Maggie reflects that this is something that an average woman living alone would want and agrees. They inspect the house before going to Maggie’s computer to access the security footage. Jo is surprised by her security system’s sophistication. The footage shows a dark car with obscured license plates pulling up. A masked man gets out and pulls Bianca’s body from the car before leaving.

Jo asks about Maggie’s life before she moved to Purity two years ago. Maggie offers her cover story—she worked in textiles for a customs brokerage. Most people are bored by this, but Jo continues, asking how she ended up in Purity. Then she mentions Maggie’s unusual reaction to Bianca’s body, but Maggie blames it on her age, saying, “At my age, Officer, nothing much freaks me out anymore” (46).

After Jo leaves, Maggie resets her security alarm. She finds her go bag, with passports and money in various currencies and puts it by her bed in case she needs to run. Declan calls and offers to sleep on her sofa. Maggie thanks him but declines. She pictures Diana’s face and then she pictures Danny’s.

Maggie is on vacation in Bangkok when she meets Danny—he is obviously a tourist. It is pouring rain, and she invites him to share her umbrella at a noodle stand. She is immediately attracted to him. He tells her that he is a doctor, vacationing in Thailand after five years working in refugee camps before he goes back to London. When she asks why, he tells her he is going to take a conventional job because his mother needs financial help. When he asks what she does, she gives him her cover: She is a textile and clothing expert for an import brokerage. He asks her to get a drink later, and before she can think too hard about it, she says yes.

Later, they are in Maggie’s hotel bed after having sex. Their attraction was mutual and undeniable, and Maggie is happy to have found someone to share a no-strings night with. Danny asks if she will call him when she is in London, and she resists, sure that meeting again would be a disaster. She is surprised at the serious nature of their conversation, and of what it says about her life. She admits to him that she is lonely and asks him to stay for dinner.

Jo knows immediately that State Police Detective Robert Alfond is going to be difficult to work with. At the crime scene, he walks by her, assuming that her deputy, a man, is in charge. Alfond questions her about the crime scene, and Jo can’t resist citing the exact code pertaining to death investigations. The medical examiner, Dr. Wass, arrives. He knows Jo from earlier investigations; most recently, the investigation into Chief Cooney’s death. Alfond and Wass talk, and although Jo wants to join them, Alfond makes it clear that she isn’t welcome. While Alfond and Wass discuss the body, she decides to go in a different direction.

Jo goes to Luther Yount’s house, and before she can knock, Luther opens the door. Jo questions him about Maggie, but she quickly realizes that Luther isn’t going to tell her anything. Callie comes in, and Luther introduces her. Jo realizes that, like Luther, she is loyal to Maggie. All they will say is that Maggie is a good neighbor and a good shot.

As Jo is leaving Luther’s house, she sees a white SUV in Maggie’s driveway. She drives back to Maggie’s house and finds two people standing in the driveway. Ingrid and Lloyd Slocum introduce themselves and say that Maggie asked them to look at the scene. Lloyd points out the lack of blood where the body was found, indicating that Bianca was killed elsewhere, and Ingrid identifies the tire tracks as belonging to Goodyear tires.

Jo asks if they are retired police, but Ingrid claims they are amateur detectives. Ingrid also tells her that Maggie and Declan are at the Harbourtown Inn, where Bianca was staying, talking to the manager. As they talk, Jo discovers that they know more about the case than she does. She asks them to leave, and Jo reflects that Maggie and her friends are an intriguing mystery.

Diana placed a video call to another ex-operative, Gavin, from an internet café. She is shocked at Gavin’s appearance—he is skeletal and not in good health. She asks if she can hide at his place because someone is after her. She admits that the Agency contacted her last week, asking about Operation Cyrano. Gavin points out that Maggie deserves to know the truth about the operation. Diana believes it is Hardwicke.

Gavin refuses to let Diana stay at his house. She isn’t surprised, after the way Operation Cyrano ended, but asks him to find out why the Agency is interested in Operation Cyrano again. Just then, she notices a man watching her in the café. She cuts off the call with Gavin and leaves the café.

She walks down the busy streets, turns onto a less crowded one, then turns into an alley, and the man follows her. She hides, waits until he passes, grabs him from behind, and presses a knife to his throat. He claims that no one sent him, but she doesn’t believe him and kills him. Afterward, she searches his pockets and discovers he was just a tourist.

Dr. Wass agrees to let Jo observe Bianca’s autopsy. She’s only seen one other autopsy, during officer training. She’d made some observations about the corpse’s apparent job from the marks on his hands, and Wass had taken an interest in her. Detective Alfond asks Jo to leave the autopsy room, but Wass invites her to observe.

Wass removes the heart and lungs while Jo looks at Bianca’s broken fingers. She sees it as either “punishment or interrogation” (84). They are interrupted by Wass’s assistant, who tells them that the body is to be transferred to Boston, and Wass, Alfond, and Jo all wonder why.

Maggie and Callie wash eggs in Luther’s kitchen. Callie offers to let her stay at their house. She reflects that it would be nice to have a woman around, but after they are done, Maggie leaves.

Ben and Declan come to Maggie’s house for dinner, and afterward, they discuss Bianca. Ben’s sources at the Agency won’t give him any information, and this worries them all. Declan points out that he and Ben need to know more about the situation. Maggie tells them that she was involved in an operation with Diana 16 years ago, and it was the reason she left the Agency. Bianca wanted Maggie to help locate Diana but even if she wanted to, she couldn’t—she doesn’t know where Diana is.

When Declan and Ben look doubtful, she asks if they trust her, and they both laugh. They all know that even though they’ve known each other for nearly 40 years, they are all keeping a lot of secrets. When Declan asks why Maggie is bitter about Diana, she replies, “She turned me into a traitor” (90). However, Maggie recognizes that in reality, Diana didn’t do anything to her—she did it to herself.