“Try telling that to the police.”  Viv put her elbows on the table and placed her chin in one hand.  She moaned.  “What am I going to do?”

Lin’s worried eyes flicked about the room and then she looked back at her cousin with resolve.  “We’re going to find the killer.  Together.”

Viv blinked at Lin and then she nodded.  “We know the island.  We know lots of people.”  She looked hopeful.

“You’ll hear people talking in the bookstore.  Listen for possible clues.”  In a half-second, Lin’s expression shifted from eager to serious.  “I have to tell you something.”  She proceeded to relay the information about the disappearing man in her photograph and how she spotted him standing near Greg Hammond’s boat.  “I haven’t seen ghosts for twenty years.  I was always able to keep them from appearing by thinking of myself surrounded by an impenetrable fog, but it doesn’t work anymore.  I can’t stop them from showing themselves.”

Viv’s forehead scrunched.  “What does it mean?  Why can’t you stop them anymore?  Why is a ghost showing up now?  What does this old man have to do with the murder?”

Lin held her hands out palm side up and shrugged.  “I don’t like it,” she whispered.  “Why can’t I make him go away?”

Viv bit her lower lip.  “There are a lot of strange happenings going on.”

Lin looked at her watch and jumped from her seat.  “Oh.  I have a carpenter coming to the house for Nicky’s doggy door.  I need to go.”

The girls made plans to meet for dinner at Viv’s house so that they could put together a plan of action about how to figure things out.

Lin rushed from the office, called Nicky to come with her, and the two hurried out of the bookstore and ran up Main Street to their cottage.

Chapter 6

Tearing down Vestry Road, Lin could see a man getting into a truck that was parked in front of her house.  She and the dog picked up speed and reached the vehicle just as the engine started.  Sweat clung to Lin’s skin and a small bead of perspiration rolled down the side of her cheek.  Leaning towards the truck’s open window and gasping, she tried to speak.  “I’m … sorry I’m late,” she puffed.

The carpenter opened the door and stepped out.

“I got tied up in town.”  Lin’s legs felt rubbery from the run home, but getting a look at the man standing before her made her even weaker.  She cursed herself for being late and arriving drenched in sweat.  Staring at the handsome carpenter, she couldn’t keep a sigh of regret from slipping from her throat.

The man was tall and fit and his muscles showed clearly under his T-shirt.  His dark brown hair was well-cut and he wore it slightly longer showing a bit of wave.  Lin was surprised at her reaction to him.  Since her boyfriend broke up with her, she’d had no interest in dating.

“It’s okay.”  He gave her a warm smile.  “I left your number back at my house, so I couldn’t call to see if you were running late.”

“Well, I’m glad I caught you.”

“Jeff Whitney.”  He extended his hand and shook with Lin.  She nearly swooned at his touch, but managed to remain upright.

“Carolin Coffin.”  She didn’t know why she introduced herself with her full name.  “Everyone calls me, Lin.”  She wanted to run into the house, shower, change, and fix her hair.

Nicky wagged his little tail.  Jeff bent to pat the dog.  “So.  A doggy door.”

Lin nodded as she unlocked the cottage’s front door and led the man and dog into the living room.  “I thought it could go here.”  She indicated the door leading to the deck.

The carpenter looked it over and then noticed the door in the kitchen.  “Why not place the doggy door in the exit leading from the kitchen?  If you’ll be living here in the winter when things are wet and messy, it might be better to have all the mud and muck contained in the kitchen rather than in your living room.”  He looked down at the dog.  “What do you think, buddy?”  Jeff turned his warm brown eyes to Lin.  “Just a suggestion.”

Lin considered and then she nodded.  “It’s a good suggestion.  It makes sense.”  At least one thing makes sense, she thought, because a lot of things that have happened recently don’t make any sense at all.

The trio walked into the kitchen so that Jeff could take some measurements.  Nicky supervised the proceedings by watching the man’s every move.

“Would you like some coffee or tea or some seltzer?”  Lin offered, hoping a drink might cause the good-looking carpenter to stay a few minutes longer.

“Some seltzer would be great.”  Jeff wrote some numbers on an invoice and did some calculations.  He circled the total cost for supplies and labor and turned the paper for Lin to see.

She smiled.  “That’s very reasonable.  I’m relieved that it’s in my budget.”

Nicky had turned and was focused on something in the living room.  He let out a low whine.

“What’s up, buddy?  You want your door in the living room?” Jeff asked.

Lin crossed to the threshold and followed the dog’s gaze across the room.  Her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.  She let out a gasp and then masked it by coughing a few times.

The eighteenth-century man was standing in the living room next to a shimmering woman who wore a long dress with a high collar.  Her hair was neatly done up in a low bun which sat at the back of her neck.  A few wavy tendrils fell softly around her face.  She was in a sitting position floating a foot above the floor, a kind look on her face.

If Nicky can see the ghosts…. Lin’s head swiveled to Jeff, back to the ghosts, and then turned to Jeff again.  He seemed unaware of the uninvited guests.  Relieved, she gave him a goofy smile trying to cover her shock at having two ghosts in the living room.

“Everything okay?” Jeff asked.

“Uh, huh.”  Lin hurried back to the kitchen.  “Let me get you that cold drink.”  She bustled in the refrigerator, her mind going a mile a minute.  Now what?  Who are they?  Why can’t I stop ghosts from appearing?  Her stomach felt cold and tight.  She wouldn’t look back into the living room.  Just as she was pouring the seltzer into a glass, the ghost-woman floated into the kitchen and hovered close to the carpenter looking at him with interest.

Lin’s heart sank.  Go away.  She put a slice of lemon on the rim of the glass and passed the drink to Jeff.

The ghost-woman eyed the man from top to bottom and then gave Lin a nod.      Lin’s eyes were like saucers.

Jeff asked, “So should I schedule the doggy door for the end of the week?”

“What?”  Lin pried her eyes away from the floating ghost.  “Yes, the end of the week is good.”  She gave the man a sweet smile.

Jeff drained his seltzer and rinsed the glass in the sink.  “I’ll see you then.  I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

Lin’s face brightened.

“I’ll let you know what time and if the installation will be Thursday or Friday.”  He shook her hand.

Walking Jeff to the door, Lin thanked him for his time and told him she looked forward to having the door installed.  As soon as the cottage door was shut, she whirled to confront the ghosts who were both floating near the threshold to the kitchen.  “Who are you?” Lin demanded.  She took several steps forward.  “Why are you here?”

The man and woman’s shimmering atoms began to swirl and fade and then the man was gone, but just before the woman disappeared she gave Lin a little wave.

The room was empty.  Nicky wagged his tail still staring at the spots where the ghosts had stood.

Lin stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips.  “Arrghh,” she roared in frustration.

Chapter 7

With Nicky at her heels, Lin opened the gate beneath the trellis of the white picket fence and stepped along the stone walkway to the front door of Viv’s Cape Cod style house.  The shingles on the cottage, a Nantucket tradition, had weathered to a soft silver-gray.  Pink roses spilled over the fence.  The front door and the shutters on each side of the windows were a soft shade of robin’s-egg blue.  Flowers overflowed from the window boxes.  Lin stepped to the door and rang the bell.