I prayed she would be all right. That was the most important thing.
Despite my priorities, I still swallowed hard. I’d have to tell the police what I saw. I might blow my cover and any chance I had to find the answers.
“Ma’am?”
I came back to reality. “It was dark. I couldn’t sleep so I went up to the widow’s walk. I thought I saw two people out here.”
“Two people?”
I nodded.
“You knew one of them was Ginger Wagnor?” He cocked an eyebrow. Even in the dark I could see that.
I shrugged. “Well, we’re rooming together, and she got out of bed. I think everyone else was accounted for, so I assumed it was Ginger.”
“Did she seem distressed?”
“Would you be distressed if someone was about to push you over the edge?” I pressed my lips together, regretting my words as soon as they left my lips. But as I watched the other officers set up lights near the bluff, there were so many things I would tell them to do differently. They were trampling potential evidence and footprints—things that could prove a second person’s presence.
“Excuse me?” Detective Hanson’s hand went to his hip.
I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair, trying not to be too sassy right now. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I thought I saw a man arguing with her. I think he pushed her. And those officers over there shouldn’t be walking in that area. You need to take photographs first and look for trace evidence.”
“A few too many episodes of CSI, Mrs. St. Thomas?”
I swallowed, wanting desperately to blurt the truth. My pride was trying to claw its way out like a baby alligator fighting out of its shell. “I suppose.”
“Everyone thinks they can be a detective. Leave the police work to us, though. Now, could you make out any details on this potential second person?” His voice was humorless, annoyed, and impatient.
I shook my head again, glancing back at Riley. He stood with the rest of the crowd on the lawn in front of Blackbird Lodge. His body language clearly displayed concern—in his hunched shoulders, his folded arms, and his heavy expression.
I desperately wanted to talk to him. He was the only person I could be real with, and that was saying a lot considering he was my ex-fiancé. “I have no clue what the other person may have looked like. It was so dark outside.”
“So dark that you couldn’t really see?”
I knew exactly what he was getting at. He was trying to catch me in my assumptions and show me the error of my ways. “I could see well enough to have the impression that two figures were out there.”
He stared at me another moment, still seeming annoyed. It was evident in the way he tapped his foot and his short, clipped words. Either way, I’d gotten on his bad side.
“Are you sure your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you?”
The baby alligator inside me was turning into a full-fledged komodo dragon. A hungry, annoyed one at that. “How am I supposed to answer that?”
“Are you sure this other person pushed her?”
“I’m not sure of anything! She jerked as if she was being shoved, and the next instant she was gone.” My voice rose, though I tried to tamp it down. He was treating me like an idiot, at best; a suspect, at worst.
“So maybe it was an accident?” He shifted his weight from one foot to another as he waited for my answer.
“Whether it was an accident or not, someone here knows something.” My frustration was getting the best of me, and I was close to raising a fist in the air and stating my own version of the Declaration of Independence. “You need to find this person and question him. He has the answers.”
“You sound like you’ve done this before.” He chuckled. The man actually had the nerve to laugh right in my face.
I let out a sigh now. Then sucked in a deep breath. Tried to get a grip. “You’re wasting time in here with me. I’ve told you what I know.”
“No one left this island, ma’am. If this was an attempted murder, all our suspects are right here.”
“For your sake, I hope you’re right.”
He scowled now. “Your attitude is a bit off-putting.”
“I’m not trying to be off-putting. I just feel like I’m the only one who sees any urgency here. There could be a potential killer on this island.” I had to calm down, but it was so hard.
“Or it could have been an accident. We don’t want to jump to conclusions and scare anyone.”
I shook my head and threw my shoulders back, realizing I’d spoken my piece and could do nothing else. “Of course.”
If anything, I’d put the detective on edge, and he seemed suspicious of me.
That wasn’t good.
I had to tread carefully.
When Ginger awoke—and I prayed she would awake—she could tell us exactly what happened.
Dear Lord, watch over us all. Be with Ginger and Jim and the rest of us who are stranded on this island with a killer.
CHAPTER 20
“What a first weekend, huh?” Riley asked once we were safely in his car the next morning.
“There’s one thing I know for sure after this session.” I watched Leroy glide away in the pontoon boat. A surprising sense of relief filled me at the thought of getting away from that retreat center.
“What’s that?” Riley asked.
“Bird’s Nest Island is the place where fun goes to die.”
Riley twisted his head in agreement. “I can’t argue that.”
Dr. Turner had sent everyone home early on Sunday, with the exception of Jim, who’d left Saturday night to go to the hospital with Ginger. It had been a long night. We’d been awake almost all evening. Everyone had been questioned. As far as I could ascertain, no one had any answers, just shock.
At least I’d have some time to clear my head during the week before I had to go back again on Friday. Would anyone else want to return? I had my doubts.
“What do you say we stop by and visit Jason Sparrow while we’re up here?” I asked Riley as he put his car in reverse. Jason Sparrow was the man with whom Anna had an affair.
“I’m game. Brad said he worked up at the marina in Onancock, right?”
I nodded. “It would be worth a chat with him. However, I have to say, if these two incidents—Anna and Ginger—are connected, I have a hard time seeing how Jason would be connected with both women.”
“Maybe he can offer some insight into Anna,” Riley said. “Collecting information is always helpful.”
Spoken like a true lawyer. I nodded. They were always so practical.
We hit Onancock a few minutes later and easily found the marina. Riley and I strolled toward the sun-drenched docks and found a little shack with an “Information” sign above it. We asked for Jason Sparrow, and the woman nodded toward a huge yacht in the distance. A man was rolling rope on the pier and didn’t bother to look up as we approached.
I observed him for a moment. The man looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was tanned, with neat clothing and short brown hair. He had purposeful-looking scruff that was manicured and groomed. The man obviously prided himself in the way he looked.
Someone who knew so much about boats could have easily traveled to Bird’s Nest Island to meet with Anna one night, maybe for a secret rendezvous that turned ugly. Had Ginger seen something—leading to someone trying to kill her to keep the silence?
“Jason Sparrow?” I called, purposefully keeping my sunglasses on to conceal my gaze. All those secret service men were making more and more sense to me. Their sunglasses were simple but brilliant.
He barely glanced up and, instead, continued to work. He either had a great work ethic, had no manners, or both. “Yes?”
“I was wondering if we could ask you a few questions.” The sun and warmer temperatures today were nice, except the heat seemed to enhance the scents of the bay. I couldn’t pinpoint which sea creature exactly I smelled, but it was probably a mix of fish, clams, and seaweed.
; “And you are . . . ?”
“I’m Gabby, and this is Riley. We were friends with Anna Thorn.”
He froze and finally looked up. “Anna? How do you know her?”
“We go way back,” Riley said. “We’re concerned about the way she died.”
“I’ve been concerned also,” Jason said, going back to work.
“We don’t believe she committed suicide,” I added.
“I don’t either.” Jason scowled, rolling the rope with more urgency now. “I think someone’s getting away with murder.”
Yes, the trip to visit him was definitely worth it. I wanted to hear his viewpoint. “Why do you think that?” I asked.
“Anna would have never killed herself. Never.” He swung his head back-and-forth, his jaw clenched with anger.
“Do you have any theories about what happened?” Riley shifted and his elbow rubbed mine, sending an electrical wave through me.
Jason grimaced and stopped rolling the rope. He stood and wiped the sweat from his forehead using a white cloth from his pocket. “No good theories.”
“We’ll listen to bad ones,” I said.
He stared over the water a moment, and I could sense his thoughts were churning like an ocean storm. Finally he glanced at us again. “You’re a family friend, so you probably don’t want to hear this. But I think her husband killed her.”
I remembered the grief I’d seen in Brad’s eyes. But on a purely logical level, the man could easily be grieving over killing her just as much as he was grieving over her death. “Why would you think that?”
“She was going to leave him.”
My jaw instantly tightened. Leave him? Was there anyone who was telling the truth on that island? I was beginning to doubt it.
CHAPTER 21
“We heard they were working things out, that she’d left you,” I said, reserving my judgment for later. Again, I was thankful for my sunglasses. Otherwise, he would have seen my surprise.
“That’s what she told people.” Tears glimmered in Jason’s eyes. But, beneath the tears, I glimpsed rage. “She was just tired of all the arguing, tired of trying to live under her husband’s demanding expectations.”
“Is that what she told you?” I clarified.
“In so many words. With me, she could be free to be who she really was.” He ran his hand over his face. “She had fun. She laughed. I loved hearing her laugh. The sound was beautiful and free and contagious. She told me she never laughed with Brad.”
“Was she really that unhappy with Brad?” I asked. Brad had painted a totally different picture of their relationship.
Jason seemed more than ready to talk now. “They never saw each other. They slept in separate bedrooms, took separate vacations. The worst part, she said, was that they stopped fighting even. That was when she realized that they’d both grown apathetic. That’s when she knew what they had was over.”
“One of them must have had hope,” Riley said. “They were going to counseling.”
“It was like being told you had terminal cancer but going through chemo anyway. I didn’t get it, but I had to respect her choice.”
“I thought you said she was going to leave him?” I asked.
“She was, but they had a pre-nup. If she left him, she’d lose everything. I told her it didn’t matter. I didn’t care about money. The last time we talked, she told me counseling had only confirmed what she already knew: Her marriage with Brad was done. She was supposed to tell him after the retreat was over.”
I nodded, soaking all of that in. Jason had given me a lot to think about.
“Just one more question,” I said. “Where were you on the night she died?”
He balked and shoved his finger in his chest. His nostrils flared with subdued outrage. “Where was I? I thought you were family friends. You sound like you’re cops.”
“We’re friends who want answers,” Riley said.
Jason scowled. “I was actually on a four-day fishing adventure in the Atlantic. You can ask anyone around here. I was gone. I couldn’t have gotten back here if I wanted to.”
As Riley and I started to walk back to his car, I caught a glimpse of someone pulling out of the parking lot.
I frowned. I couldn’t be sure, but the woman looked an awful lot like Blaine Stewart.
***
“There’s something strange happening on that island,” I told Riley as the miles blurred past us. We were already on the Bay Bridge Tunnel, heading back toward Norfolk. We’d grabbed a fast-food lunch on our way out and gobbled it down in his car. Just for fun, I wanted to leave one stray French fry on the floor and see how long it took for Riley to clean it up.
I wouldn’t do that, though. It would be immature. I was never immature.
I was grateful that I’d be getting some space from Riley in the very near future. Maybe I could distance myself and figure out exactly what was wrong with me, because right now I honestly felt like I needed some counseling. Maybe when this was over, I could talk to Dr. Turner.
“If it was a man, then that limits our options as to who did this,” Riley continued. “There was only me, Atticus, Bo, Jim, Dr. Turner, the cook, and Captain Leroy. Our pool of suspects is pretty small yet exceedingly large at the same time.”
I frowned. His words were true. The problem was that everyone either had motive, means, or opportunity. Who had all three?
I could rule out Dr. Turner. He was on the mainland last night and had just returned this morning.
“What about Atticus? Did he leave the room?”
Riley frowned. “I don’t think so.”
“Did you hear him stirring at all?”
“I didn’t.” A strange emotion lingered behind his words.
Why did I have the feeling there was something he wasn’t telling me?
I moved on. “I did see a boat pull up on the other side of the island.”
“What? You didn’t tell me that. Why would a boat come to the island at that time of night?”
I shrugged, wiping some stray salt from my jeans. There was a fry down there—and I hadn’t even left it on purpose. Begrudgingly, I picked it up and placed it in my paper sack with the rest of my trash. “I have no idea. The bay would be a perfect place for something illegal. Don’t you think?”
“Absolutely. You know pirate stories abound in these parts. We’ve practically got Blackbeard’s ghost living in our back yard on our side of the water. But that would be strange, right? I mean, if there was something going on, what are the chances that two of the women at the retreat center who are both from different areas had something to do with it?”
“That’s a good point,” I said. “It would be hard to find a tie-in. Unless both women happened to be wandering around at night and stumbled upon something they shouldn’t.”
“We’re going to have a hard time proving that.”
Yes, we would. I stared out the window, trying to formulate my thoughts. “Are we meeting with Brad again?”
“I promised to talk to him and give him an update. Why?”
“I just think it’s interesting that his wife cheated on him. That would make him a good suspect, especially since she’d decided to leave him.”
“But why would he hire us if he was guilty? That seems counterproductive.”
“Unless that was exactly his point, almost like a slight-of-hand trick where he convinces us to look one way so no one will see what really happened.” I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know. I’d like to do a little more research on the people at the retreat center. I should be able to do that now that I’ll have Internet and cell phone service.”
“It’s funny how we learn to depend on those things, isn’t it? I feel old saying this, but I remember a time when we didn’t have Internet or cell phones.”
“You do sound old,” I teased. I instantly sobered. What was I doing? I couldn’t flirt and tease.
Distance, Gabby, distance.
I cleared my throat, trying to regain my focus.
“So, tell me about your new job, Riley. What are you up to?”
“I got a job at a law firm based in DC, but they’re letting me work from down here. I’m doing things that require a lot of paperwork. I’ll travel up to DC about once a week to meet with clients and the partners at the firm. But they’ve given me a lot of freedom, which was what I needed.”
Freedom. I supposed that’s what he’d needed from me also. My feelings of resentment returned like a ton of bricks being dropped on my chest.
“I’m glad it’s worked out for you,” I finally muttered.
“I finished therapy, and all my doctors say my recovery has gone beyond their expectations. I’m ready to get on with my life. I wasn’t totally onboard with that temporary pause that had been handed me.”
Temporary pause? Is that what he considered it? To me it felt like a U-turn. Or a free fall. It depended on the day you asked me.
We pulled to a stop in front of our apartment building, and I turned toward him. “I know we’ll probably both get busy this week with our jobs and everything, so I just thought I’d let you know that I’ll look into Ginger and Jim. I want to find out more about their backgrounds.”
“I’ll see what I can find out about Angelina and Bo, as well as Atticus and Farrah. We’ll exchange notes sometime. How’s that sound?”
My heart felt unreasonably heavy, and I wasn’t sure why. But I forced myself to smile. “That sounds great. In the meantime, I’ve got to gear myself up for my new job.”
“You’re not nervous about it, are you?”
I thought a moment. My stomach had been churning all day, and that could very well be why. I had my first training session the next day, and I had to make sure I was prepared. I had to make sure my boss didn’t regret hiring me, or come to the conclusion I’d only gotten my job because of my connections. I felt like there was a lot at stake for me professionally.
“Yes, actually, I am.”
“You’re going to kill it, Gabby,” he said. “I have no doubts.”
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