Harbour Falls (A Harbour Falls Mystery #1)(50)

After we left Adam drove me down to the dock. My father was still expecting me today, though I dreaded the visit. Adam must have noticed my solemn mood, because he offered to ride over with me on the ferry to Cove Beach. Without hesitation I took him up on the offer. Apart from it being an opportunity to spend more time with him, I was kind of secretly hoping Jennifer would be piloting us over. I couldn’t wait for her to see who was with me. I highly doubted she’d be her usual bitchy self in front of the owner of the island.

Unfortunately, though, the wrong Weston was at the helm today. As usual Brody said very little, and the ride over was uneventful. After we docked Adam instructed Brody to wait for him before heading back over to the island. We then walked over to where my car was stored.



Adam lifted the door to the garage and looking in, said, “Oh, Maddy, I see you’ve been holding out on me.” He nodded to my car. “A BMW, eh? And a pretty sweet one at that.”

Knowing that Adam could easily afford an entire fleet of the model I owned, the M6, I laughed. “This from a man who drives a Porsche. And not just any Porsche, mind you. Let’s see…” I furrowed my brow in mock concentration and began to list off the stats, the facts rolling off my tongue smoothly. “The 911 GT2 RS…620 horsepower…only about five hundred in the world.”

“I’m impressed.” Adam arched an eyebrow. “Someone must be reading their Car & Driver.”

“Not exactly,” I admitted. “I looked it up on the Internet.”

Adam chuckled. “Resourceful girl,” he said with a wink.

Oh, if only he knew…

I was reluctant to part, so I wrapped my arms around him. He held me tightly and said, “Just text me when you’re on your way back, and I’ll pick you up at the dock.”

“I’ll be back before dark,” I promised, pulling back.

Adam kissed me until I was breathless, and then he opened the driver’s side door for me. “Have a nice time with your father.”

“I will,” I replied, getting in.

In my rearview mirror, I watched as Adam walked away. And then I was off. Half an hour later, I was parked in front of my dad’s stately, white frame house in Harbour Falls. The home I’d grown up in.

My dad and I spent only a short time at the house—mostly I tidied things up for him—and then we headed over to one of the local steakhouses. I suggested it because I knew my dad’s beloved Patriots were playing, and that particular place had a big screen TV.

My dad appreciated the gesture, but he had no idea I had another, more selfish reason for suggesting the steakhouse. I was hoping that if the mayor was occupied with the football game, he’d be less likely to inquire about whether or not I was staying away from Adam.



And it went pretty well for a while, with no mention of Adam. Then at halftime he brought up the investigation. “So, sweetie, you finding all you need in those case files to work on that book of yours?”

“Mmm, yeah,” I muttered as I focused intently on cutting a piece of steak. “They’ve been really helpful,” I added, probably with more enthusiasm than was warranted.

I wasn’t lying though. The case files had been helpful. But not enough to prevent me from snooping around, and I knew that was what my father had hoped to prevent by giving me those files. No doubt my dad would kill me if he knew I’d already paid off a shady bartender for information the police didn’t even have.

“That’s good.” My dad took a drink of his soft drink and then setting the glass back down with a clink, continued, “I want you to stay under the radar, Madeleine, if you’re going to continue to live on that island.”

Huh? “What do you mean, Dad?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about those pay phone records.”

“And?”

“Ms. Hannigan didn’t once use her cell phone after leaving the hotel, but we know it was in her possession.” The mayor paused meaningfully. “However, as we know, she did make a call from the pay phone at the bank…to Mr. Ward.”

Uh-oh.

My dad eyed me curiously when I suddenly coughed. “Is something wrong, Maddy?”

“No, no.” I cleared my throat. “So you were saying.”

“Ms. Hannigan made that call and then attempted to make another in Cove Beach.”

“At the convenience store,” I added helpfully.

My dad nodded. “And we have no way of knowing how many other calls she made that night that weren’t caught by any surveillance cameras.”

“Exactly!” I agreed. “I thought the same thing when I read the files.”

My dad leaned forward, while looking around to make sure nobody was listening to our conversation. “I think it’s safe to assume Ms. Hannigan was calling people from these other phones because she didn’t want them traced back to her.” I nodded, and my dad continued, “I have two theories: One, the most obvious is that she was covering her own ass in case the authorities ever got ahold of her cell records. This way they’d show nothing damning.”



“Yeah, I’m sure her drug dealer wouldn’t have appreciated her calling from an easily traceable phone, like her cell.” I added. “Nor would Chelsea want that drug dealer traced back to her.”