The next morning she waited until ten o’clock to call.
“Don’t want to look too eager,” she told Winston as she punched out the number on the kitchen cordless. “Guys sense it if you’re too eager.”
Winston looked bored. He went to the door and looked back at her with an expectant expression.
“You’ve already been out twice this morning.” She listened to the phone ring on the other end. “I think you’re getting addicted to the beach.”
It was true, she thought. Winston’s approval of their new lifestyle was evident. He loved running around in Dead Hand Cove with its myriad smells and odd inhabitants. He clearly delighted in his off-leash freedom.
Rafe finally answered the phone.
“This is Madison.” He sounded impatient, as if his attention was on something vastly more interesting than a phone call.
She frowned briefly at the instrument in her hand and then held it to her ear again.
“Sorry if I’m interrupting anything important,” she said dryly. “I thought you were expecting my call.”
“’Morning, honey.” Rafe’s voice warmed measurably.
“I’m a little busy at the moment. Can I get back to—hang on a second.” He broke off abruptly and spoke to someone else. “Take a good look at the wiring in that panel, will you, Torrance?”
“Honey?” Hannah pondered the simple endearment. Rafe had never called her honey, not even last night in the middle of making love to her. Of course, he had not made a lot of conversation in bed.
“Hell, there should be insulation in that wall,” Rafe continued in a muffled voice. “Yeah, I can see the pipes. That’s why I want insulation in it. Who wants to listen to every flush and shower?”
“Pipes?” Hannah stopped trying to tease out the little nuances of “honey” and focused on the more disturbing word. “Rafe, what’s going on there? Is something wrong?”
“I’m getting an assessment of the condition of the plumbing and wiring,” he said casually. “The good news is that Isabel had it all brought up to code a few years ago.” His paused to speak to someone else again. “Is that copper?”
“Rafe, who are you talking to?”
“The Willis brothers are here,” he said into the phone. “I’m having them go over the place from top to bottom.”
“You’ve got Walter and Torrance Willis there?” She shot up from the kitchen chair. “Why?”
“Just getting together some preliminary estimates to see how much it will cost to put in the inn and restaurant,” he said with breathtaking innocence.
“You can’t do that.” She grabbed her keys and broke into a run, heading to the door. “Not without my permission, damn it.”
“We both agreed we wanted to open an inn here at Dreamscape.”
“We haven’t even decided how we’re going to deal with the legalities of ownership. Don’t you dare touch a thing until I get there.”
Winston saw her heading for the door. He started to bounce a little.
“I told you, I’m just getting some preliminary figures together,” Rafe said.
“I am coming over there right now. You listen to me, Rafe Madison. I own half of that house. Don’t you dare touch a single thing until I get there. And don’t let the Willis brothers touch anything, either.”
“It’s a little late to call them off,” Rafe said reflectively. “They’re already pretty deep into the plumbing.”
“I don’t believe this.”
She tossed the cordless phone down on the hall table and rushed outside to the car. Winston followed. He leaped into the passenger seat and sat back with an air of anticipation.
“I knew last night was all about Dreamscape,” she told him.
She sailed through the front door of the big house a short time later, ready for battle. Winston trotted in right behind her, greeted Rafe briefly, and began a tour of the kitchen.
Rafe glanced at his watch as Hannah came to a seething halt in front of him. “Six minutes and twenty-two seconds. You made good time.”
She planted her hands on her hips. “What is going on here?”
Rafe was saved the necessity of responding to the question by the small, neatly made man who chose that moment to wander out into the hall.
Compact and completely bald, Walter Willis had always reminded Hannah of an android. There was a mechanical precision about his movements that lacked the casual human element. His speech was clipped and crisp. The starched creases in his work clothes never softened. It was as if he had been designed and constructed under controlled, sterile conditions in a high-tech manufacturing plant.
“Hannah.” Walter wiped his hands on a spotless rag that dangled from his belt. “Good to see you again. Heard you were back in town.”
Hannah was amazed by her self-mastery. She managed to veil the fuming expression she knew had been blazing in her eyes. She even summoned up what she hoped looked like a genuinely pleasant smile of greeting.
“Hello, Walter,” she said. “It’s been a while.”
“Certainly has.” Walter turned his head and called to his brother over his shoulder. “Torrance, come on out here and say hello to Hannah.”
Torrance stepped out of the laundry room. His expression brightened instantly. He hoisted a pipe wrench in greeting. “Hey, there, Hannah. Welcome back.”
The Willises were identical twins, but it was easy to tell them apart because, sartorially speaking, they were polar opposites. If Walter had been engineered to precise specifications on a futuristic computerized assembly line, Torrance had been someone’s home garage project.
Rather than shaving off what little hair he still possessed as Walter did, Torrance wore his thin, scraggly locks in a ponytail that stuck out through the opening at the back of his cap. The trailing end of a snake tattoo slithered out below one sleeve. His coveralls were stained with what looked like several eons’ worth of grease, grime, and pizza sauce. The only things that were clean and shiny about him were the tools in the wide belt that he wore low on his hips.
“Isabel always said the two of you would come back for good someday.” Torrance turned to Walter. “Didn’t she say exactly that?”
“She sure did,” Walter agreed. “If she said it once, she must have said it a hundred times. I believe the last time was the day she had us out here to install the washing machine in the laundry room.”
Torrance nodded. “Believe it was.” He winked at Hannah and Rafe. “Told us she wanted to leave everything in good working order for you two.”
Willis shook his head indulgently. “That Isabel. Always did have a real romantic streak.”
Hannah narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you two have some plumbing you should be looking at?”
“Plumbing. Whoa. Almost forgot. You heard the lady,” Torrance continued. “Reckon we better get back to work.”
“Right.” Walter’s head jerked once in a mechanical nod. “Plumbing. Listen, you two, don’t pay any heed to the talk that’s going around town these days. Bound to be some for a while, given what happened the night the Sadler girl died and all and now this business with Isabel leaving you the house. But it’ll fade quick enough.”
“Let’s hope so,” Hannah said.
Torrance clapped Rafe on the shoulder. “Just want you both to know that me and my brother here never once thought you’d had anything to do with Kaitlin Sadler’s death.”
“I appreciate that,” Rafe replied.
Walter pursed his lips. “Torrance and I always suspected that she got killed by some sex maniac from Seattle. Isn’t that right, Torrance?”
Torrance bobbed his head several times. “Yup. That was how we figured it, all right. Not that Chief Yates paid any attention to us.”
“Yates just wanted to close the case as fast as possible,” Walter said somberly. “He was getting ready to retire. Last thing he wanted to do was leave behind a nasty unsolved murder. Would have spoiled his record.”
“Murder.” Hannah met Rafe’s eyes for a few seconds. He gave her an enigmatic look. She turned back to Walter. “Are you serious? Do you really think Kaitlin was murdered by a sex maniac?”
Walter traded glances with Torrance. “Can’t blame us for wondering, given what we found the day we fixed her washer. Right, Torrance?”
Torrance’s head went into nodding mode again. “Right. Gotta wonder.”
Rafe looked at Walter “What exactly did you find the day you fixed her washer?”
To Hannah’s astonishment, Walter blushed a bright shade of red.
“Kinky stuff,” he muttered.
“What kind of kinky stuff?” Rafe asked.
Something in his voice made Hannah glance sharply at him. But she could read nothing in his expression.
Torrance rolled his eyes. “You know. Frilly undies.”
Hannah thought about the little demi-bra she had lost on the stairs last night. When her gaze collided with Rafe’s, she knew he was thinking about it too.
“What’s so kinky about a woman wearing frilly underwear?” she demanded
“Well, the stuff we found wasn’t exactly little,” Torrance said. “Big enough to fit a man.”
“Definitely a heck of a lot bigger than Kaitlin,” Walter confided. “She was real petite, if you recall.”
“There was also a sexy nightgown that was much too big for her,” Torrance continued. “And some really large sparkly high heels.”
“Don’t forget those videotapes,” Walter added.
Hannah stared at him. “You found all that stuff inside her washer?”
“Not exactly inside the washer.” Torrance hesitated. “Well, see, once we got goin’ on the washer, we realized that her dryer exhaust hose probably hadn’t been cleaned in a long time.”
“Dangerous things, exhaust hoses,” Walter put in seriously. “If they get clogged with lint, they can cause fires. Anyhow, we figured we’d do Kaitlin a favor, so after we finished with the washer, we pulled out the dryer to check the exhaust hose. That was when we found the large-sized undies and the videos and all.”
“Behind the machine?” Rafe asked carefully.
Torrance nodded violently. “Someone had cut out a big chunk of drywall and stuffed the videos and the ladies’ things into the space between a couple of studs.”
“Knew right off the female stuff didn’t belong to you, Rafe,” Walter assured him hastily.
“What was your big clue?” Rafe asked. “Wrong size?”
Torrance guffawed with laughter. “Heck, everyone knew you’d been seein’ a lot of Kaitlin that summer. But me and Walter never figured you for one of them transistors.”
“Transvestites,” Rafe corrected mildly.
Torrance nodded. “Never figured you for one of them.”
“You were right about my taste in underwear. I’m a pretty traditional kind of guy.”
Torrance’s laughter faded. “Anyhow, after Kaitlin died, Walter and I remembered that stuff we found in the wall. That’s what made us think she’d been done in by some out-of-town sex maniac.”
“From Seattle,” Walter concluded.
“Why Seattle?” Hannah asked.
Torrance snorted. “Not the sort of thing they do in Portland.”
Hannah looked at Rafe.
He shrugged. “The man has a point. You know what they say about those folks up in Seattle.”
She turned back to Walter and Torrance. “You said you told Chief Yates about the videos and the lingerie?”
“Yup, figured it was our civic duty,” Torrance said. “But he told us to keep our mouths shut. Said there was enough gossip goin’ around as it was. Town didn’t need any more.”
“Besides, the stuff was gone when we took the chief to Kaitlin’s house to show it to him,” Walter added. “I don’t think he believed us.”
Rafe frowned. “The lingerie and videos weren’t there when you went back?”
“Nope.” Torrance sighed. “That’s the main reason Walter and me didn’t talk too much about what we’d found. Didn’t have any proof, and Chief Yates said we could get in a lotta trouble if we started spreadin’ false rumors. Right, Walter?”
“Right,” Walter said crisply. “We’re not blabbermouths. But we always thought Kaitlin was murdered by that sex maniac she must have been seein’.” He looked at Rafe. “No offense, but everyone knew she was fooling around with other men.”
“Yes.” Rafe did not look at Hannah. “Even I figured it out. Why do you think the guy who was into the lingerie murdered her?”
“Who knows?” Torrance said.
“Maybe he didn’t like the fact that she had those videos,” Walter said. “Could be they were films of him dressed in the lingerie.”
Rafe’s gaze went to Hannah. She saw the glint of curiosity in his eyes. She didn’t blame him. She was reluctantly fascinated, herself.
“You think this guy from Seattle went back to Kaitlin’s house after he murdered her and stole the lingerie and videos?” Rafe asked.
“Makes sense, doesn’t it?” Walter asked. “He wouldn’t want to leave any evidence around that might point back to him.”
“It’s certainly an interesting theory,” Hannah allowed cautiously.
“That’s all it’ll ever be now,” Walter said. “Kaitlin’s been dead and buried for a long time. No one’s going to reopen that old case. Probably for the best.” He turned with military precision. “Well, you’ll have to excuse us, we’ve got work to do. Don’t we, Torrance?”
“Yup.” Torrance’s head bobbed up and down half a dozen times with great enthusiasm. “Turnin’ this place into an inn with a restaurant attached is gonna be a big project. But you know, it makes a lotta sense. What with the institute and the college and the plans to renovate the old pier and put in more shops, Eclipse Bay is attractin’ a lotta visitors these days. Don’t have many nice places for ’em to stay. Just the motel out on the highway. Way it is now, folks have to drive on up the coast to find a classy place.”
He swung around and lumbered off after his brother.
Hannah waited until both Willises were out of sight. Then she looked at Rafe.
“A sex maniac from Seattle?” she said softly.
“I have a hunch that everyone in town has a personal theory of what happened that night.”
“Frilly lingerie in sizes big enough to fit a man?”
“Don’t look at me.” He held up both hands, palms out. “I never saw any of that stuff.”
“What about the videos?”
He shook his head. “Nope. No videos. Hannah, I only went out with Kaitlin a few times before it became real obvious that she was just amusing herself with me while she hunted for her real meal ticket. I never got to know her well enough to learn about her little quirks and eccentricities.”
“Hmm. You do realize what this means, don’t you?”
He leveled a finger at her. “Nothing. It means absolutely nothing. We only have the Willis brothers’ word on what they found in the wall behind her dryer. And no offense to either Torrance or Walter, but they’re not the most sophisticated guys to come down the pike. I doubt if they’ve been any farther than Portland in their entire lives. What looked like kinky clothing and dirty videos to them might be nothing more than a little late-night entertainment to other folks.”
“Kaitlin wasn’t exactly shy about her own sexual activities. I can’t see her going out of her way to protect the reputations of the men she dated, either. If she went to the trouble of hiding that lingerie and those videos to protect a boyfriend, she must have had big plans for the poor guy.”
Rafe hesitated. “Kaitlin’s supreme goal in life was to marry someone with enough money to help her escape Eclipse Bay.”
“So, maybe this particular boyfriend had money. Maybe she saw him as a hot prospect for marriage.”
“Why hide the undies and the tapes?”
“Who knows? Maybe he was already married. Maybe she wanted to protect him because she was hoping he’d get a divorce and marry her. Maybe—”
“Whoa,” Rafe said. “Lots of maybes here.”
She made a face and planted her hands on her hips. “You’re right. Got a little carried away there for a minute, didn’t I?”
“Imagination is a wonderful thing. But in this case it’s wasted. It’s been eight years. We’ll never know for sure what happened to Kaitlin that night. Like Walter said, that’s probably just as well.”
Reluctantly she pulled her thoughts back to the matter at hand. The instant she refocused on her chief problem, her irritation returned.
“Let’s get something clear here,” she said. “You’re not going to do anything to Dreamscape until you and I have come to some agreement about how to handle the legal aspects of Isabel’s inheritance.”
Rafe pondered the view of the hall. “I could open the restaurant in my half of the house.”
“That’s crazy. There’s no way you can turn half of this place into a restaurant. How would we divide the kitchen? What about all the people who would use my half of this hall to get to your restaurant? And who gets the solarium?”
“I thought it would make a nice dining room. In the summer I’ll set up tables outside on the veranda, too.”
“Not without my permission, you won’t. Rafe, you just can’t run roughshod over the legal technicalities of this inheritance. We’re talking several hundred thousand dollars worth of mansion here. We have to settle things first. You know that as well as I do.”
“Well,” Rafe said a little too casually, “speaking of settling the minor details, I’ve got a suggestion.”
Sensing danger, she went very still. “What is it?”
“How about a partnership?”
She stared at him, momentarily speechless.
“You?” she managed at last. “Me? Partners in Dreamscape?”
“You don’t think it would work?”
“What about last night? Are you just going to pretend it never happened?”
“What’s last night got to do with it?”
Suddenly she could no longer breathe. “Everything. How can you talk about a business partnership after—” She waved a hand, unable to finish the sentence.
“Ah.” Understanding lit his eyes. “You’re worried about us mixing business with pleasure?”
There was a distant ringing in her ears now. Was that all it had been to him? A pleasant interlude? She struggled to regain her composure.
“Aren’t you?” she asked in as cold a voice as she could manage.
“Well, sure,” he said far too readily. “Naturally I’ll have a problem with it because I’m a Madison. Madisons always have problems when they get their financial affairs mixed up with their sexual affairs. But it shouldn’t be a stretch for you. You’re a Harte. You can compartmentalize.”
He was goading her, she thought. She had to get out of here before she lost it. Hartes did not do that kind of thing. Not in public, at any rate.
“You’re right,” she said. “I could probably handle it. But as you just pointed out, you’re a Madison. You’d screw it up for sure.”
She spun on her heel and walked swiftly outside. Winston, ever faithful, trotted out of the kitchen to follow her. Together they went down the front steps without a backward glance.
She yanked open the car door. Winston bounded inside and took up his post on the passenger seat. She got in behind the wheel and slammed the door shut.
The last thing she saw in her rearview mirror was Rafe lounging against the porch railing watching her roar out of the driveway. He had enjoyed seeing her come so close to the edge, she realized. He had deliberately pushed her, just to see what would happen.
A wave of uncertainty swept through her. All of her grandfather’s warnings about Madisons flashed through her mind. What kind of game was Rafe playing?