The stones from the boathouse were removed, the flat ones incorporated into a back patio that he built with them. The other boathouse stones were used in the wall Moriah had just finished with a good bit of help from Ben. There was nothing left to indicate there had ever been a boathouse or a shallow grave, which was just as well.
“You’re finished with the wall?” Nicolas walked over from the lodge, while she and Ben were admiring their handiwork. “Kathy’s going to love this.”
“I hope so,” Moriah said.
“I came over to tell you that I got a call back from my friend in Toronto, the forensic expert,” Nicolas said. “I thought you might want to hear his report.”
“Definitely,” Moriah said.
“His findings match the time period when Liam Robertson would have lived. We didn’t search his clothing, but my friend did. An inside pocket held a cheap pocket watch with Liam’s name engraved on the back. I don’t think there is any doubt that the skeleton was of your great, great grandfather, Moriah.”
“So, could your expert tell for sure how he died?”
“It looks like I was right in my original assumption. It was the head injury as far as he could tell. No one comes to my mind as a suspect except Eliza.”
“How very strange to think that Eliza might have done something like that,” Moriah said. “She’s always been a heroine of mine, taking over the duties of a light keeper after her husband disappeared. Raising her son out here alone.”
“Sometimes even decent women are driven to do bad things,” Nicolas said. “If she killed him, apparently, she lived a virtuous life from that moment on. There was never any suspicion about her when I was growing up here. It would be interesting to know what drove her to it, assuming she did.”
“About all we have are assumptions,” Moriah said. “I wish there was a way to know for sure. I wish we had the logbook.”
“I doubt the logbook would say anything along the lines of, ‘Oh, and by the way, I killed my husband today,’” Ben said.
“True,” Moriah said. “Well, regardless of what happened, I want to give him a proper burial when we get his remains back.”
“I agree,” Nicolas said. “He was your blood kin, one of the first light keepers on this island, and he deserves to have a dignified burial.”