“Inside where it’s cool, or outside in the shade?” the cheery hostess asked after greeting Beck.

“Cool. Definitely.” Beck turned to Mia. “Unless you’d rather sit out in the courtyard?”

“Inside. Please. If God wanted us to sit out back and sweat our butts off, He wouldn’t have invented air conditioning.”

“A table inside would be fine, Hannah,” Beck told the hostess.

“What’s good here?” Mia asked once they were seated and she’d scanned the menu.

“Any seafood is good. The specials are usually great. Lola buys right off the boats when they come in early in the morning.”

“There really is a Lola?” Mia folded her menu and placed it on the table.

“Right over there in the doorway.” Beck nodded his head slightly to the left, and Mia turned in her seat.

“The woman in the chef’s apron? Tall, thin, white hair?”

“Yes.”

“Not to be obnoxious, but she appears to be, oh, roughly, one hundred years old.”

“Close. She’s ninety-one.”

“Ninety-one! And she’s still running a restaurant?”

“Says she’s not retiring for another four years. And then,” Beck said, grinning, “she’s going on a world cruise.”

“I’m betting she makes it,” Mia said, a touch of awe in her voice.

“Oh, she’ll make it, all right. She still walks down to the docks every day, waits for the boats to come in, looks over the catch, picks out what she wants. The old guys give her first pick. If she’s late, they wait for her. The other restaurants don’t like it, but there’s not much they can do about it.”

The door opened and Mia looked up.

“Isn’t that your sister?” she asked.

Beck turned around.

“Yeah. And speak of the devil…” he muttered.

“The devil?” Mia frowned.

“Hi, Beck.” Vanessa waved and headed in their direction, a dark-haired man following in her wake.

“Hey, Ness. Who’s minding the store?” Beck greeted her, then turned to his sister’s companion and nodded. “Mickey.”

“Cindy came in early today. Hello, Agent…Shields, was it?” Vanessa smiled at Mia.

“Yes. It’s Mia. Nice to see you again.” Mia returned the smile.

“This is Mickey Forbes.” Vanessa introduced Mia to the dark-haired man.

“Good to meet you.” He showed a lot of very white teeth. “I heard the FBI was called in. Working with the chief here on that psycho killer we’ve got running around, right?”

“Ahhh…yeah.”

“So what’s the latest on that?” Mickey leaned toward Beck. “I heard you had a profiler looking over the case. Was that cool or what?”

“Cool. Yes, indeed, it was cool.” Beck nodded slowly.

“So what did she say? You get a bead on this guy?”

“More or less,” Beck told him.

“You have the coolest job, I always tell Ness, boy, if I could only be your brother-”

“There’s always the police academy, Mick,” Beck said.

“Yeah, I think about it, you know? But there’s child support and that sort of thing.” Mick shook his head side to side. “The timing isn’t good.”

“Doesn’t appear to be,” Beck replied. He turned to Vanessa. “I think Hannah has your table ready.”

Vanessa looked over her shoulder. “Oh. Right.” She turned back to Mia and said, “Don’t forget to stop in sometime. I’ll give you a great price on that bag I saw you eyeing in the window.”

“I might do that. Thanks.”

“See you later, Beck. Mia.” Mickey followed Vanessa to their table on the opposite side of the room.

“You don’t care for him much, do you?” Mia asked when they’d gotten out of hearing range.

“No. Didn’t like him before he started going out with my sister, don’t like him any more now that he is.”

“Any particular reason?”

“I think he’s a hothead and a lady’s man. He’s been separated from his wife for less than a year, and he acts as if he was never married. Vanessa needs a guy like him like she needs a hole in her head.” Beck crossed his arm over his chest. “And believe me, that’s the last thing she needs.”

“She seems pretty steady to me, not at all like an airhead.”

“Airhead might be too strong,” he conceded. “Let’s just say she doesn’t have very sound judgment when it comes to men. Her track record isn’t too good.”

“Well, we’ve all made mistakes in that area at one time or another.”

“Two disastrous marriages by the time she was twenty-two is one mistake too many in my book.”

“Two? Ouch.”

“Yeah. Big ouch.”

“Guess you didn’t think much of either of them.”

“I’m sure I wouldn’t have, had I met them.”

“You never met your sister’s husbands?”

“I didn’t even know I had a sister until about two years ago.”

“How could you not know?” Mia frowned as an elderly waiter stopped by their table to take their orders.

“What’s the catch of the day, Jim?” Beck asked.

“Best blue-claws this side of the bay. Lola says she’s ready to steam up a bunch of ’em just for you, Chief.”

“That’s a tough offer to resist, but I have a meeting in about an hour, and every time I eat crabs, I end up making a mess.”

“Well, I guess we can’t take you anywhere, can we?” The waiter chuckled.

“I’m afraid you’re right. Lola can save me some of those steamers for later, though.” Beck smiled.

“We can do that, and right now we can send out a big plate of crabs and spaghetti for you and your friend.”

“That sounds wonderful. I’m in,” Mia told him.

“Chief?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“You want a cold glass of beer with that?” Jim asked.

“Now, James, you know I’m working. What would people say if they saw the chief of police sitting here drinking in the middle of the day?”

“You have that big plate of spaghetti in front of you, they’ll say, Jimmy, bring me some of what he’s got.”

Beck laughed and handed over the menus.

“I’ll bring over some iced teas then, if that’s all right.”

“That’s fine for me.” Beck looked at Mia, and she nodded.

“Now, is he a contemporary of Miss Lola’s?” Mia asked after Jimmy disappeared into the kitchen.

“Nah. He’s just a young pup. Barely eighty.”

“Sounds as if someone in St. Dennis has discovered the secret to longevity.”

“Unfortunately, some life spans have been shorter than others,” he reminded her.

“How do you suppose Mickey found out about Annie being here this morning? I know some towns have a great grapevine, but that’s pretty fast even for a small town like this one.”

“I’m guessing his mother told him,” Beck said dryly.

“His…” Mia’s eyes widened. “You mean Mayor Pratt?”

“Right.”

“Different last name,” she said. “Divorce, remarriage?”

“You’re pretty quick for a fed.” He leaned back while their drinks were served. “Sorry. No offense intended.”

“None taken.” Mia looked across the room to where Vanessa was engaged in an animated conversation with Mickey Forbes. “Did you notice she was taking notes this morning?”

“Was she?”

“How discreet is she? I mean, is she the type who’d leave her notebook on the kitchen table for anyone to pick up?”

“I hope not. I’ll remind her, though.”

“Why is she so involved in this investigation?” Mia frowned. “I don’t remember the last time I saw an elected official sit in on a case conference.”

“Under our town charter, the mayor is in charge of public safety, which means the police department. Technically, we answer to her. Fortunately, she stays out of my way for the most part, but she does feel her position gives her the right to know what’s going on with any case at any time. I have no grounds to argue with her, so generally, I don’t. I think she’s more involved with this case because it’s caused such a firestorm and she’s gotten a lot of calls from residents. I guess they feel if the killer can get that close to the chief of police, no one is safe. And they’d be right.”

“What does he do for a living?” She watched Mickey Forbes from across the room. “And please don’t tell me he’s in real estate.”