Twilight at Blueberry Barrens (Sunset Cove #3)(22)

It all sounded a little far-fetched to Kate. And why come here to investigate anyway? Surely there were people to watch the kids in Boston. But maybe he’d wanted peace and quiet to look things up.

He frowned. “I can see the doubt in your eyes, but you’ll need to trust me on this and take extra care with the girls in case the danger isn’t over. Can you do that?”

She nodded. “I have good instincts and I’ll watch them well. What are my hours?”

“You might need to be flexible with the schedule. Sometimes I might need to check on something at night, but you’re right across the road. I’ll pay you well.”

He named a sum for the six weeks that made Kate catch her breath. It was more than she usually made in a year from the blueberries. “I’ll take it.”

Keeping her head when she was around this guy would take some effort, so she didn’t feel a bit bad about accepting that amount of money.





ELEVEN


Drake dropped into the chair opposite Sheriff Colton’s desk. “Thanks for seeing me, Sheriff.” Colton’s small office held the stench of desperation. How many suspects had sat in here under the sheriff’s stern gaze? Drake felt a rising sense of impatience to get this over with and get back to the girls, who were with Dixie this morning. Kate would start on Monday when the cottage was ready.

Colton was a big man, easily six feet seven inches. He wore his height well. “I’m not sure what I can do to help you, Mr. Newham. I’m wicked sorry about your loss though.”

“Thanks.” Drake pulled out his iPhone and pulled up a blank note screen. “Can we talk about that day? I’d like to understand the events as they unfolded.”

The sheriff glanced at the big watch on his wrist. “I only have about ten minutes before my next meeting.”

“So you still believe Heath killed Melissa, threw her off the top of the cliff, then jumped himself?”

The chair squeaked as the big man shifted. “Ayuh, I do. One of the employees out at the Tourmaline heard them arguing the night before. The employee reported that Mr. Emerson said, ‘I could kill you for this, Melissa. I don’t know how I can live with this.’ ”

Drake reined in his initial flinch. He couldn’t see Heath ever saying something like that. “Lots of people argue and say things they wish they hadn’t, Sheriff. It’s hardly grounds for suspecting my brother of something so heinous.”

Sheriff Colton folded his huge hands in front of him. “I understand how you don’t want to think your brother could do this, Mr. Newham, but it happens. Law enforcement sees this kind of thing every day across the country. Passions get stirred and someone does something stupid.”

Drake shook his head. “Heath loved Melissa. And he’d never willingly leave his girls orphaned. Someone else killed them both and threw them over the cliff. Have you looked into that at all, or are you just content to take the easy road?”

The sheriff’s face reddened. “Ayuh, I always look at the full picture. Family usually doesn’t want to face facts.”

Drake took a deep, calming breath. He’d get nowhere by antagonizing the sheriff. “Can we go over how you got the call and what you saw when you arrived?”

His softened tone deflated the sheriff’s belligerent stance, and he nodded. “Be glad to.” He perched some reading glasses on the end of his nose and pulled out his notebook. “My office got a call at 8:11 a.m. telling us that two bodies were lying by the puffin burrows out on the cliff by Mermaid Rock. The Coast Guard was called first since they were close by. I headed there with one of my deputies immediately.”

Drake jotted down a note to talk to the Coast Guard. “Is there a Coast Guard crew member I can speak with about this?”

“Luke Rocco.” The sheriff reached for the desk phone and punched in a number. “Yeah, Luke, you in town at the café by any chance?” He glanced at Drake and nodded. “Appreciate it if you could come by for a minute. Thanks.” He dropped the phone back onto the stand. “He’ll be right here. He and his fiancée are next door paying for breakfast.”

And the sheriff was leaving shortly. Drake read the relief on his face. “In the meantime, could you tell me what you found when you arrived?”

“The Coast Guard had secured the scene and checked to make sure they were dead. The bodies were still on the rocks when we got there. Both showed signs of soft-tissue damage from the rocks.”

Drake’s control began to slip at the mental image, and he pulled his emotions back. “Then what happened?”

“We called in more help and searched the scene up top. We found your brother’s car parked down the hillside a bit, as though he wanted to catch her unawares. The area at the top of the cliff was scuffed, and the grass was matted down as if there had been a struggle.”

“Which is why you called it a murder/suicide?”

The sheriff rose as footsteps came down the hall. “No, we didn’t call it until we got the autopsies back.”

“What was in the autopsy?”

“Enough. I’ll send you a copy.” The sheriff opened the door, and a dark-haired man about thirty ushered in a pretty blonde woman. She wore a denim skirt and ruffled white top that showed off her slim figure. The guy wore a Coast Guard uniform. She looked familiar, and he tried to think of where he’d met her. “Thanks for coming. Luke, Claire, this is Drake Newham. His brother and sister-in-law were the Emersons, that couple who went over the cliff. Drake, this is Luke Rocco and Claire Dellamare.”