Barbara Phinney - Deadly Homecoming

It had been a decade since she was here, and yet the furniture was the same, the pictures the same, the same layer of dust everywhere. At the top of the stairs, she turned. Danny was probably still sleeping off some pre-birthday celebration.

“Danny? Wake up!”

She peeked in. With a grimace at the empty, unkempt room, she walked to the large window that overlooked the backyard and bay. Below there stood a glass-enclosed gazebo, a battered relic from the sixties, now at the very end of the eroding backyard, and looking as if it might topple over the cliff at any moment.

She didn’t like being this high up, seeing this much wide-openness, but she couldn’t shut her eyes.

Because down below, Danny lay on the floor of the gazebo, his unnatural pose and glazed stare telling her a horrible truth.

Her ex-boyfriend was very dead.

has lived in four countries in her life and never gets tired of traveling. But nowadays, you’ll find her in her rural New Brunswick home writing or planning some volunteer event for her church or her children’s school. The small town in which she lives provides much fodder for her stories, and she’s often threatening her friends and family that they’ll find a place in one of her books. Barbara has had six books published, five with Harlequin Books, and finds the Bible to be her greatest source of inspiration. She feels it has the widest variety of people, and every one of them made mistakes, yet God loved them all. That amazes her.

She would love to hear from her readers, either through her Web site, www.barbaraphinney.com or through the editor at Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279, U.S.A.

Bless those who persecute you;

bless and do not curse.

—Romans 12:14

Dedicated to my family and my friends.

Thank you, all of you. You’re the best!

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Northwind Island punctured the fog bank ahead. At the back of the motorboat, Peta Donald bounced on the slick wooden seat, gritting her teeth to ride out the short bumpy trip into the Bay of Fundy.

Coming home was going to kill her.

But she couldn’t turn around now. Besides, Danny had called her, quite out of the blue, and asked her to come to his thirtieth birthday party. Not many ex-girlfriends got such an invitation.

And, well, after what she’d done to Danny, she had to come.

The open ferry hit another cold wave, and she cringed in anticipation of the hard bump. Salt water sprayed her, stinging her eyes and chilling her more than the early July day should.

“Sorry,” the operator tossed over his shoulder. Peta swiped her face, knowing there was really nothing he could do. The choppy sea wouldn’t calm just because she was on it.

By now, she could make out the wharf and some bold herring gulls searching for a free lunch. At five miles in length, Northwind Island was too small for anything but one village and one wharf. Sustained years ago by the dulse and herring industries, and now by its retirees, the island still looked the same. The trees had thickened, but the steeple of the island’s only church still pierced the misty skyline.

Hopefully, she’d have time for Sunday service. Though it was Tuesday, Danny’s birthday wasn’t until Friday, and she’d be leaving Sunday afternoon. She should be able to manage it, and Danny wouldn’t care one way or the other.

He hadn’t talked to her in a year. Then, after all that silence, he’d called with his invitation. “I’m turning thirty. You’ve got to come and help me celebrate.”

Reluctance had washed over her. “I’m hardly welcome on Northwind.”

“Don’t sweat it, girl. They hate everything here.”

“Then why are you still there?”

Peta had felt Danny’s heavy silence all the way to her Toronto apartment. “It’s my parents’ house,” he’d finally said. “I didn’t want to leave it. Not to these people.”

Leave it? Peta had wondered what he’d meant by that comment, but said nothing. Instead, she’d changed the subject.

“Did you quit working for Gary Marcano?” She’d really hoped so, even after all this time. Guilt had a long memory. She should never have introduced the two men. Marcano was dangerous and manipulative, but she hadn’t realized that until after the introduction.

“Oh, yeah, sure.”

No, he wasn’t, she’d suspected, but she hadn’t felt like pushing the issue over the phone.

“Come on, Peta, girl. It’s only for a few days. And I’ve even started to learn about this island’s history. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve found out. I want you to come. I want to see you again.”

Danny had a way of coaxing. There was something in his voice and she hated what she knew would follow.

“You owe me,” he’d added.

She grimaced. If it weren’t for the guilt still eating at her, she’d tell him, no, thanks. But he’d remind her of how she’d introduced him to Marcano, and of how badly that had turned out.

Not much of a man, a little voice within her whispered. Danny should stop blaming her. She’d warned him that Marcano was no good a long time ago.

So why am I still letting Danny blame me?

Lord, do you want me to go home? To minister to Danny?

She’d sighed into the phone, waiting for an answer to her questions. Only long-distance silence lingered.

“Hey, Peta, come down and visit me. Take a few days off work for once. You owe me, remember?”

“Danny, don’t you think it’s about time you took responsibility for yourself?”

He’d ignored her question. “This is my over-the-hill birthday. You gotta come. Besides, you’re worried about me, right? Come and see how well I’m doing.”

Danny was intuitive enough to know that deep down, because she was now a Christian, she wanted to set things right with the people she’d hurt long ago.

“Come to my birthday party, Peta,” he’d coaxed. “You can ease that guilty conscience of yours.”

That last comment had cemented it.

Another wave knocked her back to the present. A minute later, the boat reached the public wharf.

The driver sideswiped one of the tires that lined the wharf, the impact shoving her against the hull of the boat. Grateful the horrible ride was over, she thanked the old man as he helped her out. At least she now knew why he’d asked for his money in advance. Hefting her knapsack onto her shoulder, Peta climbed the road that led to the village. The strap dug through her light jacket and blouse.

The café and the hardware store had been given face-lifts, she noticed, but not the grocery store, or all the simple clapboard houses.

At the crossroads, she turned right. Two people on the cracked sidewalk halted their conversation as she passed. Old Doc Garvey and Jane Wood, the crusty grocery store owner, both glared in shock and disbelief as she stepped out onto the empty street to circumvent them.

They recognized her, and had long memories, too, it seemed. Lord, was I wrong to come here?

Above the noise of the constant wind, which helped to drive the tides into the bay, Peta heard the boat’s engine rev up and then grow fainter again. It was clear that the ferry operator had no plans to stay on the island.