Twilight at Blueberry Barrens (Sunset Cove #3)(49)

She opened the pouch and dumped the contents out on the table. “It seems to just be jewelry and watches. A few hair items. It’s like some woman lost her travel bag, but the blueberry field seemed an odd place to be carrying it.”

Luke came to her side and went through the jumble of items. “Some of this looks old. This watch looks like an antique.” He showed her a delicate gold watch with a jewelry-style band.

“See if there’s anything on the back.” Claire flipped on the coffeepot and came to peruse the items with them.

Kate leaned closer to look when Luke rolled it over. “It reads Dixie on the back. The only Dixie I know is Drake’s aunt.” This was getting more and more strange. “I’ll go talk to her tomorrow and see if this happens to be hers. Maybe all these things are hers. Maybe there was money inside or valuable coins. It’s hard to say.” A hint of blue caught her eye, and she picked up a pair of earrings. “I have some just like these.”

Claire frowned. “Are you sure these aren’t yours? When did you last see yours?”

Kate thought back. “I was going to wear them to church on Sunday and couldn’t find them. I thought maybe I’d taken them off in the car or left them somewhere.” She looked at the earrings more closely. “One of mine has a scratch on the inside of the stone.” Her pulse kicked when she saw the same scratch. “I-I think these might be mine. Could someone have found them?”

“Or maybe this belongs to Paul, and he took them when he was here in the house,” Luke said.

The aroma of coffee began to fill the kitchen, and Kate didn’t want to think about danger any longer. For just a little while she wanted to sit with her family and forget the events of the past weeks. “I’m going to whip up some gluten-free peanut butter cookies, Luke. Your favorite.”

He yawned and put down the watch. “Honestly, I just want to crash.”

Claire’s gaze met Kate’s. “You go on up to bed, honey. I’m going to stay up and talk with Kate for a while. I haven’t seen her in forever.”

“Like a whole day.” Luke grinned and brushed her lips with his. “You sure you don’t mind if we take your bed, Kate?”

“I put clean sheets on this morning. I’m happy you’re here.” She went to the cabinet and got down the peanut butter. “At least you’ll have the cookies tomorrow.”

As Luke headed upstairs Claire got the eggs out of the fridge, then pulled down a bowl from the cupboard. “Okay, dish. I want to know all about the hunky Drake.”

“I knew that’s why you were staying up!” Kate grinned at her sister. How had they spent so many years apart and yet could read each other this way? “He’s not interested in me other than as a nanny. In fact, I think he was thinking about firing me when this all came out about Uncle Paul and Mom being in jail.”

Claire paused in the middle of cracking an egg and stared at her. “You’re kidding!”

“Nope. I told him I wouldn’t blame him if he fired me, and he paused before he told me the job was still mine. I saw the indecision on his face though. He’s worried about the girls. And to be honest, I am too. Paul is very unpredictable.”

“I don’t think he’d hurt a child.”

Kate looked at her. “Right. Like he didn’t hurt you at all.”

Claire put her hand to her mouth. “Well, yes, there’s that. But he was pushed into a corner.”

“And he’s not now? He’s even more cornered with the cops crawling all over the place trying to send him back to prison. He’s more desperate than he’s ever been.”

“But he doesn’t need you any longer. He got what he needed.”

Kate glanced at the jumble of jewelry on the table. “Unless that bag is important too. Maybe this is why he was in the basement.”

“He would have had to have left it here, and you found it in a field.”

Kate stirred together the peanut butter and eggs. “I guess that’s true. Unless he thought he might have dropped it here.”

Claire leaned on the counter and smiled at her. “So what’s Drake like, really? Is he all proper and reserved?”

“Well, he likes The Princess Bride, so that’s a mark in his favor.”

“You didn’t make him watch that!”

“It was his idea.”

Claire took the spatula and began to mix in the flour. “I knew I liked that guy.”

*

White clouds floated in a perfect blue sky. No storms today. Kate and Drake got the girls off Kevin’s boat onto the rocky shore west of Mermaid Point, then waved him off. In Drake’s backpack he had binoculars, lunch, swimsuits, and bottles of water. His flyboarding gear was in another bag. Each girl carried a sand bucket and shovel, though this area had more pebbles than sand. The dog was in his element, too, and could hardly be coaxed out of the water.

“I’ll be back at two,” Kevin called to them.

Drake waved to show he’d heard him before leading the girls closer to the rock face. He put his hand on Kate’s shoulder, then quickly pulled it back when a wave of attraction hit him. “This was a great idea. I think we all needed a little breather from what’s happened the past week. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a puffin.”