Carla Neggers - The Harbor

J.B. nodded. "I'm sorry about the boat."

"So long as it wasn't some scumbag who followed you to town. If that's the case, we won't be letting any more vacationing cops in town, fed or otherwise." But his stab at humor didn't last. "I bet it's that dumbass Teddy Shelton. I gave the guy a break, and this is what I get. A torched boat. What if a spark'd touched off a fire? The boats in close like this, you'd get a chain reaction, they'd all go up in flames. It'd be my boat that started it, a guy I helped. I'd have to leave town."

Zoe put out a hand toward him. "Bruce-"

He gave a curt wave. "Forget it. Go talk to Christina."

They found her behind her counter. A half-dozen lobstermen had gathered at the tables by the harbor-front windows to drink coffee and watch the show. There was no teasing this morning.

Without a word, Christina filled three mugs with coffee, set them on a tray and carried them to a table away from the lobstermen. She pulled out a chair and sat down, then J.B. and Zoe did likewise.

Christina looked drawn and tired, but her hands were steady as she held her mug and stared at her steaming coffee. "Do you ever feel like bad things start happening and they just keep happening, and there's nothing you can do to stop them? You don't want to be along for the ride, but there you are. And there's just nothing you can do."

Zoe nodded. "I've felt that way a lot this past year."

Her sister bit off an angry sigh. "I hate being a whiner."

"What happened this morning?" J.B. asked.

"I was in here working. I heard Kyle go out, and then I looked up and there was this awful explosion and the harbor was on fire. That's what it looked like. It was still dark, that gray light you get just before dawn. I didn't even know it was your boat." She paused, but neither

J.B. nor Zoe interrupted her. "I ran out-I don't know why. I wasn't thinking." She stopped again, blinking back tears, and she had to set her mug down. "Kyle's BMW careered right at me. I thought it was going to run me over."

Zoe said nothing, but J.B. was becoming more aware of her reactions, her defenses. She was shaken by what her sister had said. He added sugar into his coffee. Normally he drank it black, but having a stun grenade explode in front of her must have made Christina heavy-handed with the coffee measure. It was almost too strong to drink.

When she didn't go on, J.B. prodded her. "Did you see the driver?"

She shook her head. She was still very pale, her stark expression a contrast to her pretty, ruffly clothes. "I think I was a little blinded by the explosion. I-I couldn't see much of anything except that car coming at me."

"What about Kyle?" Zoe asked quietly.

"I don't-" She turned away, still fighting her tears. "I didn't see him. It must have been him behind the wheel, but I can't say for sure. I don't know what happened to him. The police-the police want to talk to him." She sucked in an audible breath, let it out in a whoosh, as if she were trying to stave off a panic attack, keep fear and hysteria from overwhelming her. "We had a fight last night. Otherwise he'd have been down here helping me out. Most mornings he helps early on, so I don't have to hire a waitress or run myself ragged."

Zoe touched her sister's shoulder. "Chris, it's not your fault-"

She sniffled, nodded. Her hand was shaking now as she picked up her mug. She took the smallest of sips.

J.B. could feel the strong coffee, even with the sugar, burning in his stomach. He thought about Kyle Castel-lane and Teddy Shelton. Luke. Stick Monroe. These women's dead father. A police officer killed in the line of duty. "You and Kyle argued about him sneaking into your great-aunt's attic?"

"And other things. We covered a lot of ground." She seemed embarrassed, her emotional reserve as natural and intractable as her sister's. "He was such a jerk. He said he never asked for Zoe to rescue him."

Zoe hadn't touched her own coffee, and J.B. thought she looked ragged, cold, so different from last night. But she'd buttoned down her emotions. She was in control. "Did you two talk about Luke's fear that Kyle was involved in Dad's murder?"

"He thinks we're out to blame it on an outsider. Why not his family? Why not him? " Chris took in a sharp breath, her lingering distress over their argument evident. "They're not from Goose Harbor, so we locals will turn anything we can on its head and use it against them. He says that's why his father said what he did. He's worried we'll all somehow find a way to pin everything on Kyle. And Kyle says if not him, his father."

Zoe took a sip of coffee, set it down and dumped in both sugar and milk. "Chris, you know the police will follow the facts and the evidence. No one's out to pin the blame on anyone. I'm sorry Kyle and Luke feel-"

Her sister snorted. "They're both so selfish. This isn't about them! They're just worried about their own skins. They don't care that Dad's dead. They don't care that his murderer is still out there-he could kill again, he could get away with what he did!" She was furious now, shocked and frightened, but J.B. could feel her determination. "I know-oh, Zoe, now I know what you felt like last fall. I was in such a state of denial. I just wanted all this to go away. It won't."

"Chris, we don't know that any of this is connected to Dad."

"It is."

Zoe didn't argue with her. "Luke made his deal with the devil when he hired Teddy Shelton. The police will talk to him and get to the bottom of it. He could be covering up nothing, or he could have real information."

"I know. We have to be patient." Christina smiled, self-conscious. "I seem to recall people telling you that a lot last year."

"We'll get through it, Chris," Zoe said.

"Yep. We will."

"It's possible Kyle saw something," J.B. said. "That could be why he ran out."

Christina looked at him, her eyes as gray now as the horizon. "Then where is he now?"

Good question. J.B. didn't have an answer for her, so he left it hanging.

"Bruce got here before anyone else-I was already calling the police, although I think they heard the explosion." She breathed out, a hint of color high in her cheeks. "Bruce is a rock, I'll say that for him." She looked around suddenly, as if she were just now tuning into her surroundings. "Do you two want anything to eat? I didn't have a chance to make muffins, but I can whip up some eggs."

"Coffee's fine, Chris, thanks," Zoe said.

"Damn, Zoe, I'm sorry for going off on you yesterday. Don't think I don't want the truth to come out about what happened to Dad, because I do."

"I know that."

"Whatever it is, I can take it. It's one thing to live with not knowing who shot him because his killer's in Colombia or New Jersey or someplace and there's just no realistic chance we'll ever know. But if he's here in Goose Harbor, if we can find him, or her, or them-" She trailed off, leaving it at that. "I need to get back to work."

She took her coffee with her and swung off, more energetic and focused if not calmer.

"Hey, Agent McGrath," one of the lobstermen, a wiry guy somewhere between fifty and a million, called to him. "You going to find the bastard who tossed a grenade into your boat? We can't have some asshole running around town torching boats."

It was one thing to tease him-they knew they'd never act on their threats, that they were all in good fun. It was another to have someone come damn close to destroying all their livelihoods.

"The police are on it." He got to his feet and glanced down at Zoe. "I should go back down there. You?"

She rose, handing him his coffee. "Take it with you. I have an in with the owner. We can bring our mugs back when we're done. I don't know about you, but this stuff's burning a hole in my stomach, although I could use about a gallon of coffee this morning."