“It was a murder,” someone else from the crowd offered.

“Shot?”  Although Lin felt ghoulish asking for specifics, she wanted to gather as much information as possible.

“Stabbed to death.”

Lin’s stomach lurched.  She took some deep breaths and then moved along the edge of the crowd.  She could see a man being questioned by one of the police officers and scooted as close to the barrier as she could manage.

“You said you saw someone near the boat this morning?” the officer asked.

An older fisherman with gray hair and a wiry build scratched his head.  “Yup.  It was early this morning.  It was that girl who runs the bookstore.  She was down here near Hammond’s boat.  I saw her run away.”

Lin suppressed a gasp as a cold shiver ran down her back.  Why was Viv near Hammond’s boat this morning?  Why did she run away?”

Chapter 5

Lin’s heart was hammering double-time.  She strained to hear what more the fisherman was telling the officer, but a couple of men next to her were loudly sharing opinions about the crime which hindered her ability to understand the fisherman’s words.  She watched as the police officer wrote something in a small notebook.  The officer stepped away from the gray-haired fisherman and the guy turned and started to move down the docks away from Lin.  She searched for a way to follow him, but the area was blocked off and only those who owned boats or had business near the docks were permitted to enter.

She lingered with the crowd for twenty more minutes listening to conversations.  The same facts were being rehashed and nothing new surfaced.  Lin could see the police questioning other people on the dock, but they were too far away to hear what was being said.

A sudden, chill breeze made goosebumps rise up on Lin’s skin and she rubbed her arms with both hands before she realized that the air was warm and there was no breeze.  Understanding what had caused the sensation made her breath catch in her throat and she froze, her fingers trembling.  Narrowing her eyes, afraid of what she would see, Lin turned her head slowly towards the boat dock.  Her chest tightened, sounds became muffled, and the movement around her seemed to slow.

A translucent figure stood on the dock next to Greg Hammond’s boat, an old man, wearing eighteenth-century clothes.  He made eye contact with Lin and her throat constricted.

The man from the photograph.

***

Lin whirled away, weaved through the cobbled streets, and jogged up Main Street to Viv’s bookstore.  Puffing, she stood on the sidewalk to catch her breath and collect herself.  When she entered the store, she didn’t want to appear as panicked as she felt.

The bookstore crowd had thinned considerably and now just a few people were sitting at café tables reading.  Approaching the counter near the back wall of the store, Lin saw Nicky still perched next to Queenie on the upholstered chair.  The cat gave Lin a knowing look.  The dog jumped down to greet his owner, wiggling and wagging.

“Good boy.” Lin patted the dog’s head.

      Viv’s eyes were wide with worry.  “What did you learn?”  She came around from behind the counter.  Viv could see the anxiety on her cousin’s face.  They took the table that was furthest away from the other customers.  “What is it?”

Lin told her what she’d heard the fisherman say and Viv’s face blanched.

She explained, “I went to the docks before coming to the bookstore to drop off some muffins to John.  He had left for work already so I left them on his boat.  I was running late.  I decided to leave the docks by going out on the west end of the wharf so that I could cut through the back way to get to Main Street quicker.”  Her face lost more of its color.  “When I was hurrying past some of the boats, I heard Greg Hammond’s voice.  I thought he was walking up behind me, but the voice was coming from inside his boat cabin.”  Viv’s face muscles drooped.

“What happened?  Did Hammond see you?  Did he come after you?”

Viv shook her head.  “I could hear angry voices.  It sounded like two men arguing inside the cabin.  I heard Greg shout, but I couldn’t make out the words.  I was afraid of him, Lin.  My instinct was to get out of there.  I broke into a run.”  She pressed her fingertips to her temple.  “Maybe I should have called the police.”  Viv’s wide eyes searched her cousin’s face.  “Is he dead because I ran away?”

Lin touched her cousin’s arm.  “Of course not.  You were just passing by.  You didn’t know what was going on.  Hammond had been harassing you.  It made sense to get away.”

Viv blinked several times.  Her bottom lip trembled.  “I’m glad you’re here.”

The corners of Lin’s mouth turned up.  “I’m glad I’m here, too.”  She took a deep breath.  “I think you should go tell the police what you heard this morning.”

“Really?”  Viv made a face.

Lin nodded.  “You don’t want them thinking you’re a suspect.  It’s better to be forthcoming.  Don’t give them the idea that you’re hiding anything.”  She gave an encouraging smile.  “Maybe go now, before they get the idea to question you.”

Viv’s eyes shifted to the center aisle of the store and her face muscles tensed up.  “Too late.”

Lin turned to see a police officer headed their way.

***

The officer approached the girls’ table.  “Vivian Coffin?”

“That’s me.”  Viv stood up.  Her dark golden highlights glimmered in the soft light of the ceiling chandelier.

“A word, please?”  The police officer’s face was serious.

The gray cat arched her back and hissed at the man in the blue uniform.

Viv gestured to Lin.  “This is my cousin, Carolin Coffin.  You can speak in front of her.”

“In private, if you don’t mind.”  The officer glanced around the space.  “Is there somewhere we can go to talk?  Do you have an office?”

Viv nodded.  “It’s this way.”  She gestured to the other side of the store.

As Lin watched them head to the office, she couldn’t remember ever seeing her cousin look so shaky or pale.  Nicky jumped down from the chair.  His claws clicked on the wood floor and when he reached his owner, he placed his chin on her knee and looked up at her with sympathetic eyes.  Lin reached down and patted his head.

While she waited for Viv to return, Lin absentmindedly flipped through a newspaper that someone had left behind on the table.  Wondering how long Viv would be with the officer, she kept flicking her eyes towards the aisle.  After more than thirty minutes had passed, Lin received a text from her cousin.

Come to my office.

Lin knocked on the office door and a tiny voice told her to come in.

Viv, her face red, was sitting at her desk in the cramped space.  “I’m flustered.”  She let out a long breath.  “I wanted to sit here for a few minutes before going back out to the floor.”

Lin sat in the office chair next to the desk.  “How did it go?”

“He asked what you’d expect,” Viv said.  “Why was I at the docks?  Why did I run away?  Do I know Greg Hammond?  How do I know him?”

“You told the officer about Hammond’s harassment?”

“I did.”  Viv rolled her eyes.  “And I guess it sounded pretty odd, too, because I got a disbelieving look and some mild berating for not reporting it since running into Hammond all the time bothered me so much.”

“Really?”  Lin shook her head disappointed at the officer’s reaction.

“If I decide to go off-island, then I’m supposed to let the police know.”  Viv’s jaw set and her eyes clouded.  “So now I’m a murder suspect.”

Lin’s hand flew nervously over her hair.  “How can they suspect you?  Hammond was the one who instigated contact.  You didn’t want anything to do with him.  You always tried to avoid him.”