Nate blinked. “Well, that’s a lot to take in. Not the murder part so much. Emma told me about that.” He took a deep breath. “She wouldn’t give me specifics, but apparently the ME said that the head injury he sustained was caused by a blunt object and not something that he would have come into contact with by falling off his boat.”
“Assuming it was his boat, since that is still missing,” Sully said.
“You think someone stole his boat?” Nate asked. His gaze was sharp.
Sully shrugged. “Until it’s found, we won’t know.”
Nate shook his head. “I’ve thought of nothing but who could have wanted him dead since Emma told me. My first thought was Mancusi. He was angry enough over being kicked out of their law practice. Or Jamie, since she was clearly unhappy in their marriage.”
“Not a lot of love lost there?”
Nate just looked at him, and Sully nodded. “Understood.”
Lindsey took this to mean no. She couldn’t really see Nate and Jamie having anything in common. She wondered if this was the time to mention what Robbie had told her about overhearing the two brothers argue. Knowing that Robbie had already mentioned it to Emma, she decided that she would err on the side of discretion and leave that information for the police to deal with. Nate had been very up front about he and his brother not being close, and with Steve’s boat missing, and boats being referred to as “she,” maybe it was the boat they’d been arguing about.
“I wish I knew more of what was happening in Steve’s life,” Nate said. “But as I mentioned, we just weren’t as close as we used to be. If he had enemies, he never mentioned them to me. Other than Mancusi, who I saw at the party, I didn’t know of anyone who wanted to do him harm.”
“You were very protective of Steve at the party,” Lindsey said.
“We may have grown apart, but he was always my older brother.”
“Nate, if you don’t mind my asking, what time did you and Naomi leave the party?” Sully asked.
Nate shrugged. “It’s no secret. We said goodbye to Steve and Jamie at about nine, shortly after I hustled Mancusi out. Our littlest one has been sick, so we didn’t want to keep her up too late, knowing that she was probably going to wake up with croup and have to be driven around, which she did.”
Lindsey looked at the dark circles beneath his eyes. This was definitely someone who was lacking in sleep.
“She had it last night, too?” she asked.
“Oh yeah. It’ll last for a week or two,” he said. “We have a very specific croup loop that we drive, usually about midnight. We take the road out of town, hit the Post Road all the way to Madison and then double back along the shoreline. Windows cracked, heat blasting, radio on jazz, she usually conks out about halfway and then is deeply asleep with her cough eased by the time I get her home, where I roll her back into bed for the night.”
Nate ran a hand over his face, as if he could wipe away his fatigue.
“Unfortunately, I don’t fall back asleep so easily, but what can you do?”
“You’re a good dad,” Sully said.
“Maybe. I wish I’d been a better brother.”
“Why do you say that?” Lindsey asked.
Nate looked uncomfortable. “It’s nothing. I just . . . the last conversation I had with Steve wasn’t great. We argued, and now that will forever be our last conversation.”
“That’s rough,” Sully said. “What did you fight about?”
“Nothing much. It was just a brotherly disagreement, but still . . .” Nate didn’t offer any more information, and Lindsey tried not to feel frustrated. The man had lost his brother, after all.
“Word of advice?” Sully asked.
“Sure.”
“Be prepared for the police to ask about it,” he said.
Nate looked alarmed.
“In a town this size, someone will know about it,” Sully said. “And they will tell the police. You want to be ready.”
Nate looked wary. “Do I need a lawyer?”
“It wouldn’t hurt.”
Nate put a hand on the back of his neck. “I don’t think I can swing that. The girls . . . Our oldest has a rare condition that our insurance is refusing to cover. Just paying for her upcoming surgery is keeping me strapped.”
Sully studied his friend. “I might know someone who can help. An old navy buddy who just got his law degree and owes me a few favors.”
Nate sagged with relief. “Anything you can do. I’d be forever grateful.”
Sully held out his hand. The men shook, and Lindsey impulsively stepped forward and hugged Nate. “I’m so sorry about Steve.”
He hugged her back and then let her go with a sad smile. His voice was tight when he said, “Me, too. I really don’t know what I’m going to do without him.”
His voice cracked when he said it. It made Lindsey think, again, about her brother, Jack. She couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to him, and she felt such deep empathy for Nate at the loss of his brother. It was a crusher.
“He is going to be sorely missed,” Sully said.
He and Lindsey turned to go when Nate called them back.
“Hey, wait,” he said. “Wasn’t Steve supposed to marry you two this weekend?”
They exchanged a glance, and Sully said, “Yeah. We weren’t sure we were going to go through with it—”
“You have to,” Nate interrupted. “Steve would have wanted you to. He was a big believer in happy ever after, even if he never managed to find his own.”
Lindsey felt her heart squeeze. She and Sully had thought as much, but it was nice to hear it confirmed by the person who knew him best.
“That’s what we thought, too,” Sully said. “But thanks, it’s good to hear you say so.”
Nate nodded. He looked as if he was about to say something, but a shout sounded from the garage behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder. One of his mechanics was waving to him, and he signaled that he’d be right there.
“Sorry, I have to go,” he said. “Listen, I know you’re tight with Emma and the police. If you hear anything about what happened, loop me in?”
“Of course,” Sully said.
“Thanks.” A look of sadness passed over Nate’s face, and he turned and left, striding back into the garage with an air of relief that at least broken cars were something he understood and could fix, unlike the mystery surrounding his brother’s death.
Sully and Lindsey left the garage. The cold winter air was like a punch in the face after the toasty office. Lindsey burrowed into her coat, trying not to think about Steve during his final hours, freezing to death on the beach in that ridiculous elf suit. The thought of it made her sad, and she reached for Sully’s hand.
His response was immediate, as if he had been just about to reach for her, too. His gloved fingers wrapped around hers, letting go when he opened the truck’s door for her. She shivered against the cold seats while he walked around the front and climbed into the driver’s seat. Thankfully, the truck heated up quickly, and they were halfway through town when Lindsey felt a stream of warmth glide over her cold toes.
“What do you think about Nate’s story?” she asked.
“I believe him,” Sully said. “I can’t picture him harming Steve no matter how at odds they were.”
“Agreed,” Lindsey said. “But I’m worried about his alibi. I doubt if anyone saw him driving the baby around in the middle of the night other than Naomi.”
“Does he really need an alibi?” Sully asked.
“Robbie heard the brothers arguing,” Lindsey said. “Just like you told Nate someone would, and he’s told Emma, so she knows, too. It may have just been brother stuff, but since the medical examiner declared this a murder, everyone is a suspect.”
“I just can’t see Nate having anything to do with Steve’s death,” Sully said. His tone was stubborn, and Lindsey knew that he was digging in his heels where his friend was concerned. He simply refused to consider Nate capable of harming Steve. Lindsey thought his loyalty spoke well of him.
“I can’t see it either,” she agreed. “But we have no idea what was happening between the two brothers. They were estranged, they did argue, and none of that is helping Nate.”
“But Mancusi actually threatened Steve,” Sully said. “And he’s missing. Plus, Jamie.”
“What about her?” Lindsey asked.
“Don’t they always look at a spouse first?” Sully asked. “She stands to inherit millions.”
“Which is undoubtedly why she was talking to a lawyer at the Blue Anchor last night,” Lindsey said. “She has to know she’s a suspect.”
“And she was very open about not being happy in her marriage,” Sully said.
“She was,” Lindsey agreed. She pursed her lips, thinking about their conversation with Jamie on the night of the party.
Sully steered the truck into the library parking lot and pulled up to the back of the building by the staff entrance. He put the truck in park and turned to face her. “What are you thinking?”
“That her obvious unhappiness makes her seem like less of a murderess,” she said.
Sully frowned. “How do you figure that?”
“If she was plotting his death, she would have been much more careful with what she said, don’t you think? She wouldn’t want to bring suspicion upon herself.”
“Fair point,” he agreed. “Unless it was a crime of passion and she didn’t think it through.”
“Nate said she’s not one to get her hands dirty,” she reminded him.
“In a rage, she might not have noticed,” he countered.
They sat quietly for a moment.
“We still need someone to marry us.”
“We’ll find someone,” he said. “Even if it is my ancient uncle Carl.”
Lindsey leaned across the seat and kissed his cheek. “I don’t care who marries us as long as I’m Mrs. Sullivan at the end of the day.”
Sully grinned. It was the first real smile she’d seen out of him since they’d found Steve’s body.
“I like the sound of that,” he said. “Pick you up after work?”
“Yes, please,” she said. She opened the door and stepped out of the warm cab and back into the cold. The chill went right into her bones, and she hurriedly shut the door and sent Sully a quick wave before racing up the walkway to the back door.
She tapped in the key code on the number pad, and when the lock clicked open, she slipped into the library. The building was already bustling with staff and patrons. Lindsey pulled off her gloves and unwound her scarf as she walked down the short hallway and into the workroom. It was empty as she passed through to her office.
The door was ajar, and she could see someone was inside waiting for her. A quick glance at the fiery head of hair, and she recognized Robbie Vine. He was reading a magazine with a pot of hot tea steeping beside him. Lindsey would have been annoyed, but the tea was too inviting to pass up.
“It’s a bit early in the day for tea, isn’t it?” she asked. She strode into the room, hanging up her coat on the rack inside the door, along with her scarf. Then she dumped her handbag in one of the lower drawers of her desk before taking her seat.
“Once the temperature drops and stays in the thirties, it’s teatime anytime you have a chill in your bones,” Robbie said. He flipped another page in the gossip magazine, not looking up at her.
“What are you reading?” she asked.
“The latest scandal involving the royals,” he said.
“Do they have scandals still? I thought it was all beautiful weddings and adorable babies,” she said.
“There’s tension betwixt the brothers,” Robbie said, his accent making it sound more serious than it was. “Whose wife has the queen’s favor. You know, that sort of rubbish.”
“Hmm, brothers.” Lindsey sat in her seat and swiveled to face him. “Funny you should mention brothers.”
Robbie tossed aside the magazine and reached for the teapot. “This is about the Briggses, isn’t it? What did you learn?”
“Nothing absolute, except that Nate admitted that he did argue with his brother,” she said. “Also that he left the party early because their youngest was sick. He drove her around in the middle of the night so that she could sleep.”
“A baby is not the world’s greatest alibi,” Robbie said.
“No, but there might be another way to prove it if it becomes necessary, which I doubt it will, because neither Sully nor I believe he harmed his brother.”
“I like Nate,” Robbie said. “It seems unlikely to me, too, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. We have no idea what skeletons are lurking in their family closet.”
Lindsey hated that he was right. “Has Emma had any luck finding Mancusi?”
“Not that she’s shared with me,” he said. “Actually, if she had found him, I think she would have told me, so I believe that’s a solid no. Given that he’s missing after threatening Briggs, he does seem like the more likely suspect, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, although Jamie Briggs appears to be the one with the most to gain,” Lindsey said. “So that makes her very suspicious to me.”
“Any chance the two of them could have been working together?” Robbie asked. “What sort of relationship did Mancusi and Jamie have?”
“No idea, but she must have known him somewhat if he was partners with her husband, right?”
Robbie handed her a cup of tea. Lindsey took a sip of the steaming brew. It was almost too hot to drink. Almost. The heat poured into her, and she sighed, feeling warm for the first time all morning.
“Any luck finding someone to perform the ceremony?” he asked.
“Not yet,” she said. “But we have Sully’s uncle Carl, a pastor, as a backup plan.”
“Why a backup?”
“He’s in his nineties and tends to nod off in the middle of sermons,” Lindsey said.
Robbie tried not to laugh. Obviously not hard enough, as he tipped his head back and hooted. Lindsey waited it out. “I really don’t think it should be that hard for you to find a person who could stay awake.”
She shrugged. “It’ll work out. I hope. In the meantime, we have permission to get married on the island, so I’ve got a list of things to do on my lunch hour that could make me cry if I had time.” She glanced at the clock. “But I don’t have time. And now Sully is determined to find out who murdered his friend. I think he doesn’t feel as if he can get married with a clear conscience if he doesn’t discover what happened. Does that make sense?”
“Yes. He doesn’t want anything to taint your very special day, and having a murderer on the loose could definitely damage the day. In fact, given that you don’t have someone to marry you, one could argue that it already has.”
“I suppose,” she agreed. She bit her lip, trying not to think about what a catastrophe her wedding was turning into right before her very eyes. Of course, she immediately felt terrible for even thinking of the wedding. Steve’s death was a real tragedy, whereas her wedding . . . Well, it wasn’t something that couldn’t be fixed, even if she wasn’t quite sure how at the moment.
“Everything will be fine,” Robbie said. “You have a bride, you have a groom, the rest is just details.”
“Says the man who is no longer married,” she retorted.
“That doesn’t mean I’m wrong,” he said. He leaned back with his own mug of tea, and they drank in companionable silence. Lindsey wondered if most brides spent the week before their wedding trying to solve a murder. Somehow she doubted it.
A commotion from the library turned her attention to the window in her office that overlooked the main floor. A horde of children raced by, looking as if they were fleeing from a monster or possibly trying to run down an ice cream truck. Hard to say. Shrieks and squeals sounded from the floor, and Lindsey knew that there would be a knock on her door in five, four, three . . .
“I am trying to be better, really I am, but this is just too much.” Ms. Cole stood in the doorway with her index finger jammed into her eyelid, as if applying pressure would stop it from twitching.
“Problem, Ms. Cole?” Lindsey asked. She took a sip of her tea, bracing herself for the tirade that she was certain would follow.
“She has set up a scavenger hunt,” Ms. Cole said. “And she did not contain it to the children’s area. I don’t think I’m overstating it to say the entire building is under siege.”