“It isn’t the answer to our most pressing question, though.  Who killed Greg Hammond and why?  Actually if we know who did it, I don’t really care why they did it.”  Viv asked Lin to hold on for a second and she could be heard talking to a café customer.  When she returned to the conversation she asked, “And another pressing question is who was sneaking around the yard last night?”

Lin sighed.  “Only one question per day, please.”

Viv had to get back to work so the girls ended their conversation just as Lin turned the corner to Viv’s house so she could get Nicky and take him home.  Her eyes widened and her heart jumped into her mouth when she spotted two police cars parked at the curb next to her cousin’s house.  Several police officers clustered near the property boundary between Viv’s home and the neighboring house.

A small group of people stood on the opposite side of the road.  Lin picked up her pace and as she passed Viv’s Cape house, she could see the small faces of Nicky and Queenie in the living room window peering out at the commotion.

Lin joined three of the neighbors.  “What’s happened?”

A young mom who lived across from Viv looked pale and nervous.  “The Walkers.”  She pointed at the house next to Viv’s.  “Mr. Walker couldn’t sleep last night.”  She couldn’t finish her sentence.

A gray-haired, trim-looking man took up the story.  “Andy Walker couldn’t sleep.  He thought he heard some noise outside.  He got up and looked out of the bedroom window, saw what looked like two guys scuffling in the bushes.  He came downstairs and looked out the dining room window, but didn’t see a thing, everything was quiet, so he went back to bed.  Early this morning, he got up and came out to walk along the property line where he thought he saw something last night.  He noticed a foot sticking out from under the bushes.  When he got closer, he saw a guy under the rose bush.”

“His face was bloody,” the young mom said.  Lin wondered why the woman was able to chime in at that point in the story.

“The guy is dead?” Lin questioned.

“No.”  The gray-haired man continued.  “When Andy turned to go inside to call the police, the guy pulled himself up off the ground, limped across the front lawn and down the street.  By the time, the police came, he had disappeared.”

Lin’s heart pounded.  The altercation was what she and Viv had seen and heard last night.  Her throat constricted.  Did the injured guy ring their doorbell for help last night?  Lin’s head buzzed with guilt.  The man must have been under the bushes all night.

A surge of anxiety flooded her body.  Were the two guys fighting over what they think was supposed to be hidden on Viv’s property?

Lin wanted to stay longer to hear if any more information would come to light, but she was already way behind schedule on her gardening jobs for the day.  She jogged to Viv’s house to pick up Nicky.  When she hurried through the front door, Lin stopped short as an idea flashed in her brain.  What if it wasn’t two guys fighting last night?  What if it was a guy and a woman?

Lin called to the dog so that they could hurry home and get the truck.  “Come on, Nick.  We have an important stop to make.”

Chapter 20

Lin stopped the truck a block away from her intended destination.  She and the dog got out and walked down the street.  Lin carried her gardening tool bag in case they were found out and questioned.  They stopped one house away from Anton Wilson’s home.

“You need to stay quiet.”  Lin held the dog’s eyes.  “We need to approach slowly.  I don’t want anyone inside to see us.  We’ll go around back and I’ll try to peek in some windows. Try to see if Anton Wilson is hurt inside.”

The two made their way to the house and slipped around to the back.  Just as Lin was about to press her face to one of the windows, a voice spoke behind her and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

“It isn’t polite to peer into people’s windows, Carolin.”

Sweat trickling down her back, Lin turned slowly to see Libby Hartnett standing next to her.  Lin babbled. “I rang the bell.  No one answered and I….”

Libby’s eyes narrowed.  “It isn’t polite to lie, either.”

The two women stared at each other for a few moments, and then Libby sighed and started toward the back door of Wilson’s house.  “Come inside.  There are some things that I need to talk to you about.  I hoped to have this conversation later, but you need to know some things.”

Lin hesitated.  She was about to whirl and run away when Libby said without turning around, “Don’t bother to run, Carolin.  I’m faster than you.”

Anton Wilson was sitting at the kitchen table when the women entered and he jumped up out of his seat.  “Carolin.”  He gave Libby a look of surprise.

Libby waved her hand in the air.  “We need to talk to her.  She needs to be told some of it.”

Anton looked from one to the other.  “But….”

“There aren’t any buts.  Miscommunication is causing problems.”  Libby sat at the table.  She gestured for Lin to sit.

Lin eyed Wilson.  “I see you haven’t been stabbed.”

Wilson’s jaw dropped.  “What?”

“You don’t know?  I’m surprised.  I thought the two of you knew most everything that went on in town.”

“There’s no need to be snippy.”  Libby looked at Lin with kind eyes.  The corners of her mouth turned up in a soft smile.  “I can see how you might feel distrustful of us, but honestly, we’ve had your best interests at heart.”  The woman sighed.  “We’re thrilled to have you here on the island, Carolin.  Truly.”

Wilson said, “I hate to interrupt, but what’s this business about being stabbed?”

Lin explained about the altercation in the tree line between Viv’s property and her neighbor’s land.  “I thought it might have been you two fighting.”  She looked at Wilson.  “I wondered if you had been stabbed by Libby.”

“Why would we be fighting?”  Wilson eyed Lin.

“Because you know that there might be something valuable on Viv’s land.  You must know that I saw the hand-drawn interior of Viv’s house that you had.”  Lin wanted answers.  “What do you think is hidden there?  Part of the old bank heist from hundreds of years ago?”

Wilson snorted.  “That isn’t what we care about.”

“What do you care about?”  Lin faced Libby.  “And why are you so happy to have me on the island?”

Libby paused for a few beats, and then she reached out her hand to the young woman sitting next to her.  “Take my hand.”

Lin was about to scoff at the odd request, but something stopped her.  Gingerly, she lifted her arm, hesitated for a moment, and then placed her hand on top of the older woman’s palm.

A rush of calm and ease flooded Lin’s body.  She experienced a feeling of safety, of being protected.  A picture formed in her mind and it was like she was watching a movie or was peeking in on someone’s life through a window.  The edges of the images were ragged and unclear, but she could make out the scene.

The rocking motion of a boat caused her to feel slightly unsteady.  A man stood at a small stove moving a fork over something in the frying pan.  The smell of onions and garlic reached her nose.  Footsteps approached.  A man’s voice.  Angry words.  A shout.  The thrust of a hand holding something sharp.  A grunt.  The man falling to the floor.

Lin shuddered and pulled her hand loose from Libby’s grasp.  “What was that?”

“I’ll tell you what you probably saw.”  Libby recounted the images that had flashed through Lin’s brain.

“How?”  Lin’s eyes were wide.  Her hands trembled.  She was ready to bolt from the house.

Libby folded her hands in her lap.  “You and I are related, although very distantly.  We are both descended from the Witchard family.  Some of the Witchard women have special gifts.  It took us a while to determine if you had skills.”  Libby made eye contact with Lin.  “You’re one of us, Carolin.  You’re not alone.  Not anymore.”