Shirlee McCoy - The Lawman's Legacy

He snapped a photo of the cliff’s edge. Snapped another of the scene, Olivia’s splayed body on dark gray rock. Nothing else but a fist-size rock that lay a foot from the remains. He crouched next to it, used his flashlight to turn the heavy stone. A few long strands of blond hair clung to it, glued on by dark clotted blood.

And he knew what he was dealing with.

Not a horrible tragic accident.

A murder.

TWO

Kindhearted, sweet Olivia. Gone.

It didn’t seem possible.

Couldn’t be true.

But no matter how much she wanted to wipe the image out of her mind, Merry couldn’t shake the picture of Olivia’s body lying lifeless as waves crashed just feet away. She rubbed her arms, but there was no easing the icy chill that had settled in her heart.

Sadness.

Anxiety.

Fear.

Heart-pounding, breath-stealing fear.

Her blood flowed cold with it, and she couldn’t shake that. No matter how hard she tried.

Police milled around the lighthouse grounds searching for clues that would help them figure out how Olivia had ended up at the base of the cliff. All Merry could do was stand still, stay quiet, pray that she didn’t call any undue attention to herself.

“Merry? Are you okay?” Keira Fitzgerald hurried toward her, black hair gleaming in the hazy sunlight. The youngest of the Fitzgerald police officers, Keira was the least intimidating of the group, but she was still an officer of the law. Not someone Merry wanted to spend more than a few minutes talking to. Better to talk to her than Douglas, though. Douglas who tempted Merry in a way no man ever had. Tempted her to say things she shouldn’t, believe in things she shouldn’t. She should never have agreed to have lunch with him once, let alone twice. But she had. She’d sat across the table from him, looked into his blue eyes and known how dangerous a game she was playing. Two shared meals, and she’d wanted to confess everything. So, she’d told him what she had to, that things weren’t working out, and she’d done her best to avoid him ever since.

“Are you okay?” Keira repeated, and she nodded.

“Fine. I just wish Olivia was, too.” Her voice broke, and she swallowed back tears.

“You and Olivia were close, weren’t you?”

“We were friends.”

“You were going to meet her for lunch?” Keira scribbled something in a small notebook, and Merry nodded.

“She had the day off, and my landlady offered to watch Tyler. We thought it would be the perfect opportunity to spend some time together without kids. Not that Olivia didn’t like being with the twins. She did, but…” She pressed her lips together, forced back the avalanche of words.

Short, simple, to the point. That’s what she needed to be when it came to dealing with the police.

“When was the last time you spoke to her?”

“Yesterday afternoon when we confirmed our plans.”

“Did you notice anything unusual during your conversation?”

“No.”

“She didn’t seem upset? Worried? Anxious?” Keira pressed, and the words shivered along Merry’s spine. Too many questions being asked about the tragedy, and there had to be a reason.

“No. Why?”

“What time did you arrive at the lighthouse?” Keira sidestepped the question.

“Twelve-thirty.”

“Did you see anything out of the ordinary?”

“What’s going on, Keira?”

“Look, we don’t want this spread around yet, but it looks like Olivia didn’t fall. The evidence suggests she was dead or unconscious before she hit the rocks.”

“She was murdered?” Merry’s heart jumped, her stomach churning.

“That’s what the evidence is pointing to.”

“Who would do such a thing?”

“That’s what we’re hoping you can help us with. Olivia arrived in town three months ago. Now she’s dead. Probably murdered. She brought some kind of trouble with her. That’s what we’re thinking. You were her closest friend in town. Maybe you know what that trouble was.”

“Like you said, she’s only been in town for a few months. It’s hard to get close to someone in such a short amount of time.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing pulse. Stick as close to the truth as possible. Give the police as much information as she could. Go home and pray that she wouldn’t be pulled any further into the investigation. That was the plan. All she had to do was stick to it, and she’d be fine. Tyler would be fine.

Please, God, let him be fine.

“Funny, Fiona has mentioned you and Olivia getting together on a fair number of occasions. You don’t consider that close?”

“I liked Olivia. She was very sweet and easy to get along with, but we hung out together because we were both new to town and we both had young children with us all the time. We didn’t share much about our lives outside of work and kids.” Not much, but they had shared some. At least, Olivia had.

More secrets.

Too many secrets.

“I see.” Keira scribbled something else into the notebook, and Merry was tempted to yank it from her hand, read what she’d written.

“I wish I could tell you more, Keira. I really do.”

“Did Olivia mention any—”

“Have they brought up her body yet?” Dr. Charles Fitzgerald interrupted as he walked toward them, his expression grim, his eyes dark with sadness. Though he’d treated Tyler for ear infections several times in the past year, Merry didn’t know him well. Olivia had spoken highly of him though. Called him a gentleman, a great father and a wonderful employer.

“Not yet. It should be soon, though. You know you’re not going to be able to examine her body, right? That’s going to have to be left to the medical examiner,” Keira responded.

“I know, but I need to be here anyway. She was the kids’ nanny. She loved them, and they loved her.”

“Was she in her apartment when you left this morning?” Keira asked, all her attention on her brother.

Good.

Maybe Merry could get in her car, drive home to her son. Hide away until everything blew over.

Only she didn’t think this was going to blow over.

There would be questions. Lots of them.

And, that could mean trouble.

Merry moved away from the siblings, their conversation swirling on cold January air and following her as she walked to the edge of the path that led to the cliff. She didn’t want to go back, didn’t want to see Olivia’s body pulled up from the rocks, but she had to.

Three months wasn’t a long time to be friends, but it had been enough time to know that Olivia was alone. A transplant from Ireland, she had a cousin in the States, but no other family close by. Someone had to stand vigil as her body was retrieved. Since Charles was being interviewed, Merry was the only one left.

She followed the path, bypassing the lighthouse and winding her way toward the cliff’s edge. Gulls screamed, their banshee cries piercing the air. She shivered, pulling her coat tight against cold wind as she ducked under the tape.

“The tape is there for a reason.” The deep baritone cut through her thoughts, pulled her back to the present and the problem at hand. Douglas Fitzgerald blocked her path, his broad, muscular chest at eye level.

She had to look up to meet his gaze.

Way up.

“Someone needs to be there when Olivia is brought up. She doesn’t have family around, so…” Her voice trailed off as he studied her face, his eyes so intensely blue that she wanted to look away. She was sure he could read her secrets, see all the things she’d spent four years keeping hidden.

That was why things hadn’t worked out.

That was why two dates had been two too many.

That was why she avoided the man like the plague.

Only she couldn’t avoid him now, couldn’t turn and run in the other direction.