Chapter 4

Sully’s gaze followed the direction she pointed, and with a muttered oath, he broke into a run. Down the path, along the cliff’s edge, he sprinted flat out to the wooden staircase that led to the beach below. Lindsey was right behind him. They pounded down the steps. The deep sand at the bottom slowed their progress, but Sully resumed his run, and Lindsey tried to keep up.

As they drew closer, it was easy to see from the muscular build that the body was a man’s. He was facedown, wearing what looked like a green tunic over tights. Weird. Sully dropped to his knees beside him while Lindsey fumbled for the phone in her pocket. It was clear the man was in need of medical attention if not something more.

Sully gently shifted the body, easing him from his front to his back. As soon as his face was visible, Lindsey gasped. It was Steve Briggs, and he was still wearing his elf suit from the party the night before. His eyes were shut, but his mouth was slack. Sand was encrusted on his skin and in the blood surrounding the nasty gash on his head. More blood had soaked the collar of his costume. Sully ripped off his gloves and put his fingers on the pulse point beneath Steve’s jaw. Steve didn’t flinch at the contact. In fact, as Lindsey studied his chest, she couldn’t detect any movement at all.

All too soon, Sully’s hand fell away. He glanced up at Lindsey and said, “He’s dead.”

They stared at each other, their shock and confusion mirrored in each other’s eyes. Lindsey didn’t know what to say. She looked back down at the phone in her hand. “I’m calling Emma.”

Sully nodded. He glanced back down at Steve with an expression of shock and horror. He looked gutted, and Lindsey had no idea what to say to him about the loss of his friend. She reached out and squeezed his shoulder while Emma’s phone rang, and she willed the chief of police to pick up.


Twenty-five minutes later, Emma arrived on Bell Island with Officer Kirkland, a tall raw-boned redhead whom Lindsey had recently hooked into reading Raven Black, the first in Ann Cleeves’s Shetland Island mysteries, featuring police detective Jimmy Perez. Kirkland had doubled back for book two and subsequently plowed through the series.

The two of them arrived on the beach, out of breath from their run from the Sullivans’ dock. Wearing their winter uniforms, which included thick navy blue coats, they separated as Kirkland immediately began to mark off the area at the base of the stairs with yellow tape while Emma joined Sully and Lindsey where they were standing next to the body, not wanting to leave Steve in the cold all alone.

Sully had called his father and told him what was happening, but he’d asked them all to stay up at the house so that the scene of the accident wasn’t contaminated by too many footprints. As they’d stood waiting for Emma, Lindsey had found it difficult to look at the face of the man who was supposed to marry them in just a week.

The gash on his left temple was deep, caked in blood and sand. There was nothing on the beach that appeared to have caused the head injury. She glanced at the water. There was no indication of how he had arrived on the beach. No boat or tracks of any kind. How did he get here? When? Late last night? Early this morning? Did he swim? His clothes were soaked. Lindsey suspected that if the blow to his head hadn’t killed him, then hypothermia had. She wondered if he was alive when he arrived on the beach. Had he been too weak to climb the stairs and get help?

The thought of him dying on the beach alone was more distressing than she wanted to contemplate. She studied the sand at Steve’s feet. A trail coming up from the water was evident, plowed into the sand. The high tide hadn’t washed it away. The only question was, Had Steve managed to crawl up the beach by himself before collapsing, or had someone helped him? And whether he had been alone or with someone else, the bigger question was, How had he gotten here and why?

“Sully. Lindsey.” That was the only greeting Emma offered before crouching beside Steve’s body. Like Sully, she checked his pulse. Then she leaned back on her heels and studied the area. Her brown eyes narrowed as she took in the same markings in the sand Lindsey had noted.

“I don’t see anything on the beach that could have caused that head trauma,” she said. She glanced up at Sully and Lindsey. “I know the answer but have to ask anyway. You haven’t touched anything on the beach, have you?”

“I rolled Steve over,” Sully said. He swallowed as if the words were stuck in his throat. Lindsey put her hand on his back in a gesture of support. “He was facedown when we found him.”

Emma nodded. “That explains the sand in the wound.”

She carefully picked her way from the body, stepping in the same footprints that had brought her there. She pulled out her phone and started to take pictures. Lindsey noticed that she focused on the grooves in the sand that led to Steve’s body from the water. She was frowning.

“I can’t tell if he dragged himself up the beach or was carried,” she said. “We’re going to need some crime scene techs out here in case this proves not to have been an accident.”

Sully nodded. His face was set in grim lines as if he’d already considered the same, even though he and Lindsey hadn’t spoken of that possibility while they’d waited for Emma.

“Do you think it could have been . . . ?” Lindsey’s voice trailed off. This was one of those moments in her life when she was concerned that because she read far too many murder mysteries, perhaps she saw foul play in things that were just horribly tragic accidents.

“Murder?” Emma asked. Her voice was flat, as if she’d seen so much darkness in her time as a cop that nothing surprised her anymore, except perhaps an absence of malice.

“Yes,” Lindsey said. She felt Sully get tense beneath her hand, but she wanted to know what Emma was thinking.

“I hope I’m wrong,” Emma said. “I really do, but what the hell is he doing here on Bell Island, on a deserted beach, in the dead of winter, still wearing his elf costume from the party last night? None of it makes sense unless you consider the possibility that someone caused this to happen. Someone who wanted him dead.”

A snowflake fell, landing with a cold sting on Lindsey’s cheek. She wiped it away, but it was swiftly replaced by another and another. She glanced up. The snowstorm had begun.


The Sullivans’ house became an outpost while the police and the crime scene technicians struggled against the elements to gather all the evidence they could before the beach was covered in a thick blanket of snow. A temporary canopy had been put up over the body, and the team members took turns returning to the house to warm up with Joan’s homemade clam chowder before going back out into the bitter cold.

Shock was the initial reaction to the news that Steve Briggs was dead. Both Violet and Nancy were undone by the tragedy. Nancy, because she had known Steve since he was born, and Violet, because Steve had been a regular performer in her community theater actors’ troupe. The absence of his larger-than-life personality was going to be sorely felt in their small community.

No one spoke of contacting Nate, his brother, but it was on all their minds. Since their parents had passed away several years ago, Steve and Nate were the only Briggses left in Briar Creek. Lindsey didn’t envy Emma the task of delivering the news. Of course, Emma was also going to have to break it to Jamie Briggs, Steve’s wife. Given Jamie’s propensity for high drama, Lindsey couldn’t imagine how that was going to play out either.

It was a subdued group gathered at the Sullivans’ house while they waited for the investigators to wrap up. Lindsey sat on the hearth in front of the fire. The chill in her bones from standing outside while keeping vigil over Steve’s body wouldn’t loosen its grip, and even the roaring fire couldn’t warm her.

Steve was dead. It was incomprehensible. He was supposed to marry them. How could he be gone? Just like that? When she’d hugged him goodbye last night, it had been with the understanding that he’d see them at their rehearsal. Lindsey felt her throat get tight. She was nowhere near as close to Steve as Sully had been, but she’d liked him. She’d trusted him. She’d known he would treat their wedding with the respect and care that a lifetime commitment warranted.

When Sully had introduced her to Steve, she had known right away that he was the perfect one to marry them. He always had a twinkle in his eye, and he lived life on a large scale, but it was clear that he knew what mattered. He loved Briar Creek and had opted to never leave even though he had other homes in other places. This small shoreline town was where his heart had resided and so had he.

“Hey, you all right?” Sully asked as he sat down beside her.

“No, you?”

“No.”

He put his arm around her and pulled her close. It was the first time all afternoon that Lindsey felt warm. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he rested his chin on her hair.

“How is everyone else doing?” she asked.

“About as well as can be expected,” he said. “Nancy and Violet are helping Mom feed the team. The temperature has dropped into the single digits, and it’ll be getting dark soon. I think they’re going to keep the area cordoned off, but with the six inches of snow that’s predicted, half of which has already accumulated, I don’t know what good it will do. Everything is going to be under a blanket of white.”

“But when the snow melts . . .” Lindsey trailed off.

“Which may not be until spring,” he said.

She glanced out the window. The snow was coming thick and fast, and the light was the pale gray half-light that came from the sun trying to shine through clouds that were too thick.

The back door to the kitchen blew open, letting in a swirl of snow as Emma Plewicki entered, followed by Officer Kirkland. They were both covered in snow, from their fleece-lined police hats all the way to their thick black boots.

They stamped their feet in the mudroom, trying to get off as much as they could. Lindsey and Sully rose to their feet and moved aside as Joan ushered the two officers into the front parlor to stand in front of the fire.

“I don’t want to get your carpet wet,” Emma protested. The snow that covered her was already melting into a puddle at her feet.

Joan waved her hands in a dismissive gesture. “That carpet has seen plenty of snowmelt. Don’t fret about it. I’ll bring you both some hot coffee?”

Emma looked like she’d drop where she stood. “Thank you. That would be lovely.”

Officer Kirkland nodded. “Yes, please, ma’am. I think I’m about frozen solid.”

Joan retreated back to the kitchen, and Lindsey debated whether to say anything or not to Emma about Steve. Technically, she assumed that Emma couldn’t answer any questions they might have, but it never hurt to ask, or so she told herself.

“Did you discover anything of interest on the beach?” she asked.

“Do you mean did we find whatever caused Steve’s head trauma?” Emma clarified. Lindsey didn’t say anything, just waited. “No.”

“Any idea how he got there?” Sully asked.

“Judging by the drag marks up the beach, a completely unsubstantiated guess would be that he either crawled or was carried,” she said. “But there are so many questions as to why he was here, how he got here, and what happened to him that anything I’m thinking about any of this is complete conjecture at this point.”

Joan returned and handed Emma and Kirkland hot mugs of coffee. They both sighed as they inhaled the bitter steam coming off the tops of the cups. Nancy was right behind Joan, carrying a small tray with a pitcher of milk and a sugar bowl. Only Kirkland bothered to doctor his coffee. Emma drank hers black.

Joan and Nancy disappeared back into the kitchen, and Sully turned to Emma.

“I need to take both Nancy and Violet back to town, and it’s getting dark,” he said. “Is it all right if we leave soon?”

“Absolutely, the medical examiner has already left with . . . Steve’s body,” Emma said. She glanced down into her cup as if trying to avoid everyone’s gaze. She winced as she sipped. Whether it was from the heat or the unfortunate circumstances, Lindsey couldn’t tell. Emma glanced back up and met Sully’s gaze. “If you and Lindsey could stop by the station and fill out a statement, that’d be great.”

Sully turned to Lindsey, and she nodded. They could collect Heathcliff from home and bring him back to the station with them. He’d been cooped up much longer than she liked since they’d been gone most of the day. It was bad enough that he wasn’t going to forgive them for going to Bell Island without him, and, yes, he’d know. That dog’s olfactory senses were unparalleled. Plus, he loved boat rides, and Sully’s parents were two of his most favorite people. The betrayal for him was going to run deep.

“We’ll be there,” Lindsey confirmed.

“Excellent,” Emma said. She glanced at Sully. Her expression was concerned. “I’m trying to get your parents to consider going off-island for a few days.”

Sully nodded. “Let me guess, they didn’t go for it.”

“Nope. They seem to think they’re perfectly safe even though we have no idea how Briggs ended up here,” she said. She looked grim. “We could be dealing with a murder, and I really don’t like the idea of your parents and the other residents of Bell Island putting themselves in harm’s way by staying here.”

“Do you really think there’s a murderer out there?” Lindsey asked. She desperately wanted Emma to say no, but she didn’t.

Instead, she shrugged and said, “I don’t know, but if there is and they’re worried that someone saw them, where do you suppose they’d go?”

“Here,” Sully said. “To make sure they didn’t leave any loose ends.”

“Precisely. Help me to convince your parents and the others to leave,” Emma said.

“We can try,” Sully said. “But they’ve ridden out hurricanes, nor’easters, and power outages that lasted weeks. This is their home, and they won’t leave it easily.”

“Damn.”

They were all silent, contemplating the fire. Kirkland drained his coffee and said, “What if I stay?”

They all turned to look at him. He shrugged and said, “Someone has to keep an eye on the beach and make sure no one tampers with the scene until we can get a better look. I can stay out here tonight and keep an eye on everything. Wilcox can come out in the morning and take over if need be.”

Emma gave him an approving glance. “Thanks for volunteering, Kirkland. With the storm, I expect things will be quiet in town, and having someone out here will ease my mind.” She turned to Sully. “Do you think your parents would be willing to put up Kirkland for the night? He’ll have to patrol, so he’ll be coming and going all night.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine with it,” Sully said. “Anything to help the local law enforcement.”

“All right,” Emma said. She looked at her officer. “Let’s go talk to them and make sure you have what you need. I’m going to want you to check in every hour on the hour so I know that things are okay out here.”

“No problem, Chief,” Kirkland said. “I wouldn’t want you to worry.”

Emma frowned. “I’m not worried.”

“Whatever you say, Chief,” he said. He glanced away before she caught him smiling.

Emma looked irritated, but no one said anything. They all knew she worried like a nervous mother hen over her officers, but she hated that everyone knew she worried. She tried to make it seem all business, but the truth was, she took it very seriously that she had men and women under her command who willingly put their lives on the line to keep their community safe. It was that concern and care that made her an excellent chief of police.

Sully’s parents were happy to put Officer Kirkland up for the night. Mike even volunteered to join him on his rounds, an idea that was soundly discouraged. Sully didn’t say as much when they climbed back onto the boat to head back to town, but Lindsey could tell he was relieved to have someone watching over his parents.

The ride back to shore was brutally cold. The snow was coming in fast and thick, and visibility was reduced as they wound their way through the smaller islands to the pier. Lindsey jumped out and tied the boat while Sully cut the engine and then helped both Nancy and Violet up onto the pier before covering the boat for the night.

The ladies were headed to the Blue Anchor for an early dinner, and Nancy promised to tell Mary, Sully’s sister, about the situation on the island. Sully and Lindsey hurried to get Heathcliff and double back to the police station to give their statements.

The restaurant sat at the base of the pier, and the smell of fried food filled the air as they got closer. A glass of wine and a plate full of fried clams with a baked potato on the side sure would hit the spot. Lindsey envied her friends their upcoming meal. With hugs and a promise to be in touch with any news, she left them at the front door and continued on to the parking lot with Sully.

His pickup truck was already covered in snow, and he reached into the cab and handed Lindsey a long-handled snow scraper with a brush on one side. She attacked one side of the truck while he cranked the engine to let it warm up before he worked on the other side.

The snow was light and fluffy and easy to dust off. In no time, they were climbing into the truck and setting out across town. The seats were icy cold, and the windows immediately began to fog. Sully put on the defrost, cranking cold air across the windows. Lindsey hunkered into her coat, trying to conserve her body heat.

“All right, darlin’?” Sully asked.

“As much as can be expected,” she said. “You?”

“Same.”

They were silent as he navigated the deserted streets. At the edge of town, they passed Nate’s Garage, the auto repair shop owned by Nathan Briggs. It was closed for the day, the doors on the big bays pulled shut and the windows dark.

Lindsey thought about how Nate had defended his brother from Tony Mancusi the night before, and she felt her heart clench. She’d always been close to her brother, Jack, and she couldn’t imagine getting the sort of news Nate was about to receive. She glanced at Sully. He was studying the building, too, and a heavy sigh left him as they continued past.

“Poor Nate,” he said. “Steve is the only family he’s got.”

“Well, except for Naomi and the kids,” Lindsey said. “He still has his family.”

Naomi Briggs, Nate’s wife, was one of Lindsey’s favorite patrons. With their five children, all girls from ages six months to thirteen, she was one of the heaviest users of their children’s section, and she was always happy and laughing, thoroughly enjoying her role as a wife and mother, despite the challenges.

“Thank goodness,” Sully said. “He’s going to need her now more than ever. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I lost Mary. I can’t even think about it.”

“I know. I feel the same way about my brother,” she said.

Sully reached across the seat and squeezed her gloved hand with his. She studied his face and noted the tightness around his eyes and mouth. While Steve hadn’t been one of Sully’s closest friends, he was still an incredibly important part of his personal history. Both Briggs brothers were. Steve had been someone Sully respected and trusted enough to marry them, and now he was gone. Just like that.

Heathcliff was ecstatic to see them. When Lindsey opened the door, he dashed past them, out into the snow, running circles around the backyard at top speed, kicking up the snow as he went. When he finally wound down, they loaded him into the car and headed back into town to the police station.

The town was even quieter as they drove through the snow-covered streets. The snowfall was lessening, but it glittered in the overhead lights, giving the town the magical look of a storybook village under a blanket of white. Lindsey couldn’t help but think that given the events of the day, this fairy tale was definitely more like one from the Brothers Grimm before they were rewritten and made nicer.

Sully pulled into the lot behind the police station, and they climbed out—well, Heathcliff jumped—before trudging into the building through the back door.

No one was there except Molly Hatcher, the station’s desk clerk, coffee brewer, paper jockey and all around girl Friday. At the moment, the place was quiet, but Lindsey knew that wouldn’t last for long once the news got out.

“Hey there, Heathcliff. Who’s my good boy?” Molly said. She bent down, and a dog biscuit appeared in her hand. Heathcliff wagged and then sat, his eyes trained on the biscuit. Molly laughed. She was a robust brunette, all dimples and curves, who seemed to manage life with a big heart and a generous nature.

“Such good manners,” she said. Molly gave Heathcliff the biscuit, and he chomped it up and then nuzzled her hand in thank-you. She patted his head and then straightened up to look at Lindsey and Sully. The twinkle in her eye dimmed and her lower lip quivered.

It was then Lindsey knew that Molly had been told. She opened her arms and hugged Molly tightly. Lindsey wasn’t a hugger by nature, but she and Molly had been through some stuff, and she felt a kinship with the woman that went beyond just having her work at the police station. When Lindsey released her, she held Molly’s upper arms and studied her face.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

Molly nodded, even as a tear coursed down her cheek. She brushed it away with her fingertips. “Am I all right?” she asked. “It’s me who should be asking you, since you found him.” She blinked away her tears and focused on both of them. “How are you both? Can I do anything for you?”

“Thanks, Molly,” Sully said. He stepped forward and hugged her just like Lindsey had. “I don’t think there’s anything that can fix this except finding out what happened, and even then . . .”

“It’s a blow, a body blow,” Molly said. “Steve was so much a part of life in Briar Creek. I mean just last night, he was standing right there in that ridiculous elf costume, and I . . . I . . .”

She broke down into shoulder-shaking sobs, and Lindsey patted her back while she cried it out. She knew exactly how Molly felt. It was hard to imagine never seeing their gregarious friend again.

“Did you stay at the party long?” Sully asked.

“Yes.” Molly sniffed. She pressed the backs of her hands to her cheeks as if she could stop the flow of tears. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, in and then out. When she opened her eyes, a small smile played on her lips. “You know me, I’m always the last to leave a good party. When my friends and I left, it was winding down, and it was just Steve, his wife, the DJ and a handful of other party guests, who were also headed to the door.”

“Do you remember anything about the party that struck you as odd?” Lindsey asked.

“If you mean other than the altercation between Tony Mancusi and Steve, then no,” she said. “That was the capper. Although there was one woman who struck me as being out of place.”

“Really?” Sully’s eyebrows went up, encouraging her to keep talking.

“Yes, I went to use one of the bathrooms on the first floor, but of course, they were clogged with lines that were at least five deep,” Molly said. “Steve told me to go ahead upstairs and use one of those, so I did. When I reached the first one on the second floor, it was locked. I decided to wait. Finally, the door opened, and this woman came out. She was dressed all in black, including a dark veil, like some sort of ghoulish bride. She scared me so bad I yelped, and she hurried away down the hallway toward the bedrooms.”

Sully and Lindsey both stared at her. Of all the things Lindsey had been expecting her to say, this was not it.

“What?” Molly asked. “It’s true, I swear.”

“How many glasses of that cider did you have?” Sully asked.

“Not so many that I’d imagine seeing a woman dressed all in black like that,” she said. “Truly, I thought she was the Ghost of Christmas Future or something. Maybe Jamie has a crazy aunt that they keep in the attic. Wouldn’t surprise me coming from that one.”

“Did you mention her to Steve?” Lindsey asked.

“I did,” Molly said. “When I got back downstairs, I told him he had a party guest leftover from Halloween. Then I described her, and he got the weirdest look on his face.”

“Fear?” Sully asked.

“No,” Molly said. “More like eagerness. Does that make sense?”

“None,” Lindsey said. “But I assume he must have known her.”

“I suppose,” Molly said. She shrugged. “He certainly didn’t seem alarmed. But still, that’s weird, right? Being dressed all in black at a Christmas party?”

“Definitely,” Lindsey said. She glanced at Sully, wondering what he made of this. He looked as bewildered as she felt.

“All right, Emma will have my head if I don’t get your statements started,” Molly said. “I put a pot of coffee on in the break room, and we also have some banana bread, homemade from Mrs. Redmond to thank us for finding her dog. Third time the little mongrel has taken off on her this month. I swear, it’s a good thing her banana bread is so delicious, or I think the officers wouldn’t look so hard for that sweater-wearing rat.”

Lindsey glanced at her, and Molly had the grace to look abashed. “Sorry, but in my defense, it peed on the corner of my desk—twice.” She glanced down at Heathcliff. “You would never do that to me, would you, handsome?”

He barked and wagged. Lindsey was sure he was just looking for another biscuit, but Molly seemed satisfied that he was agreeing with her.

Sully and Lindsey took seats at the scarred wooden table in the center of the break room while Molly poured two cups of coffee and plated two slices of banana bread. The room was warm, so they shed their coats before reaching for the pens and paper that had been left out for them. Lindsey had filled out more than her fair share of official statements, but she was dreading writing up this one.

There was no way to describe finding a man dressed in an elf suit dead on a beach with the severity it deserved. No matter how she thought to phrase it, it just sounded ridiculously comical when it was anything but.

She picked at her bread and drank a sip of coffee. She glanced at Sully and noticed he had yet to write down anything other than his name. Their eyes met, and his looked shadowed with sadness. It was the worst sort of grief, losing someone in the prime of their life like this. There really wasn’t anything she could say, like at least he was no longer in pain or he was in a better place, because the truth was, Steve Briggs should not be dead. Period.

She opened her mouth to say something, anything, that might ease the look of grief on Sully’s face when her words were interrupted by an ear-piercing shriek coming from the direction of the lobby.