A knock on Emma’s door interrupted whatever else she was about to say. Standing in the doorway in a dress shirt and tie, with his briefcase in hand, was Jim Britton, Sully’s attorney friend.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation,” he said. “I actually have proof that my client was nowhere near the scene at the time of the murder.”
Yes! Lindsey felt her spirits lift. She flashed Sully a relieved smile, which he returned. They were going to get Nate and Naomi out of this.
“I’m listening,” Emma said.
Jim walked into the office and closed the door behind him. Tall, thin and dressed in slim-fitting designer clothes, he was the sort of professional who inspired immediate trust with his air of competence and the fact that he seemed to be thinking four steps ahead of everyone else. Lindsey would bet he was an excellent chess player.
“Although my client disagrees, I need his confession to be thrown out,” he said. “I discovered prior to his confession that in addition to footage of him driving during the time of the murder gathered from several security cameras in town, he also has a tracker on his car that was installed by his insurance company. It’s to monitor how he drives in order to lower the rates. Well, it monitored him the night of the murder and puts him exactly where he said he was with the baby. His story that he drove to his brother’s house is a lie.”
A collective sigh went through the room. Then Emma glanced at Jim with a shrewd gaze and asked, “Was there a device on Naomi’s car, too?”
Jim looked away, clearly not wanting to answer.
“You can either tell me or I can find out for myself. Why don’t you save us both some time?”
“There is a device on her car,” he said.
Emma waited. He said nothing until she gave him a pointed look. “And?”
“It puts her at the Briggs house an hour before the time of death as determined by the medical examiner,” he said.
“So Naomi had motive, opportunity and means,” Emma said. She looked sick to her stomach. “I’ll have Officer Kirkland release Nate, but I’m going to have to formally arrest Naomi for the murder of Steven Briggs.”
“No!” Lindsey cried. “I’m sure she didn’t do it. We still don’t know where Mancusi is, and isn’t he the likeliest suspect?”
“Yes, he is,” Emma said. “But Naomi confessed.”
“So did Nate,” Sully said.
“Yes, but we can place Naomi at the scene around the time of the murder,” Emma said. “Listen, I don’t like it any more than you do, but what choice do I have? I can only hold her for so long before I have to charge her or let her go. I can’t let her go. Not when she confessed and, quite frankly, had plenty of reason to murder her brother-in-law.”
“How could she have gotten rid of his body?” Lindsey asked. “That’s where it all falls apart. She had to be home within an hour to meet Nate when he got home from driving the baby. There is no way she could have murdered Steve, driven his body around the islands in his boat, dumped his body, gotten back to shore and made it home before Nate and the baby. It’s impossible.”
Lindsey looked at Sully and asked, “Right?”
He nodded. “She’s right.” He glanced at Jim. “You could call me as an expert witness. I know the islands, I know his boat, and I know where he was found. To accomplish all that in an hour would be impossible.”
“Unless Naomi had an accomplice,” Emma said. She glanced at Lindsey. “Thoughts?”
“She didn’t.”
“Proof?” Emma asked.
“None . . . yet.” Lindsey tried to stare her down, but Emma was unflinching. Seconds ticked by and no one moved, like a standoff at high noon in the Old West.
Jim looked chagrined. “Am I to assume I’m representing Mrs. Briggs now?”
“Yes,” Sully said, adding, “please.”
Sully and Lindsey left the police station feeling as if they’d taken three steps forward and two steps back.
“Naomi didn’t kill him,” Lindsey said.
“I know.”
“He wasn’t the man I thought he was,” Lindsey said.
Sully sighed. “Agreed. I can’t believe he would willingly destroy his brother’s life just to get what he wanted when there were so many other ways he could have achieved it.”
“Do you think he loved Naomi all these years?” Lindsey asked. “It seems that Steve and Nate grew apart just as Nate was marrying Naomi. Maybe Steve was in love with her, or thought he was, and when the opportunity presented itself, he went for it.”
“Well, that’s just sad,” Sully said.
They were standing outside in the cold. Lindsey tightened the scarf around her neck. She stared out at the islands, thinking about tomorrow. A surge of panic went through her when she realized she’d been so caught up in Nate and Naomi’s situation that she still hadn’t found anyone to officiate their wedding.
“Tonight is our rehearsal,” she said. She looked at Sully with wide eyes.
“I know,” he said.
“We don’t have anyone to rehearse with.” She clapped a hand to her forehead. “We have to call it off. We can’t get married. How did this happen? Why can’t we find anyone? Do you think it’s a sign that we’re not supposed to get married? I mean look at Nate and Naomi. I thought they had it nailed down, but their marriage is a mess. And Steve and Jamie. You’d think they’d had it all, wouldn’t you? But in the end, they didn’t even like each other.”
“Darlin’, I think you’re panicking,” Sully said. He put his arm around her and began to lead her to the library, where she was supposed to meet Beth, who had a whole itinerary planned.
“You think?” she asked. “Just because we’re supposed to get married in a little over twenty-four hours and we don’t even have someone willing to marry us? We’re going to have to call your uncle Carl. The cold will probably kill him, and we’ll have another death on our hands.”
“Steady there, you’re going fully sideways now,” he said.
“Oh God, I’m going to have to apologize to my cousin Alice,” Lindsey moaned. “I swore I would never ever do that. She’s a mean girl. She put Anne of Green Gables at risk! I’m going to have to be married by a mean girl.”
“Breathe, darling, I’ve actually found someone, and I’m optimistic that it’s going to be just fine,” he said.
“Who?” she asked. “When? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s still in the works,” he said. “But I’m confident it’s going to work out, and if it doesn’t and we have to use my uncle Carl, well, that’ll be all right, won’t it?”
“So long as he doesn’t die on us,” Lindsey said. “I’m even okay if he takes a nap in the middle of the service. We all could. It might be a nice meditation.”
Sully laughed and hugged her. “See? It’s going to be just fine. Let me handle getting a person to marry us, and you just focus on saying yes.”
“Well, that’s the easy part,” she said.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“What about Nate and Naomi?” she asked.
He looked concerned. “We’ll do what we can, but you know they’d both want us to forge ahead with the wedding.”
“Right,” she said. She looked at him in surprise. “This time tomorrow we’ll be almost married.”
She had known the day was coming for months. It had consumed hours of her life to plan even the small stripped-down wedding of her dreams. But now that it was here, she felt blindsided, as if it had crept up on her unawares.
“There you are,” Beth said as they approached the library. “I was just going to call Emma and ask if she’d seen you. Come on, kiss the groom-to-be goodbye because we have an appointment for mani-pedis in twenty minutes.”
“Is this required?” Lindsey asked. “I’m not really a mani-pedi gal.”
“It is,” Beth said. “You need to relax and be pampered a bit. Don’t worry, I loaded up some good listens on my audiobook app. We can listen while we get polished and buffed and discuss during chapter breaks.”
“My God, we really are book nerds of the first order,” Lindsey said.
“I think it means we’re the new cool,” Beth said.
Lindsey laughed and hugged her friend. “Only you would see it that way.”
“What? Reading is cool,” Beth said.
Lindsey turned to Sully. “All right, when do I see you again?”
“At the rehearsal,” he said. “I’m going to be taking people to and from the island in the larger boat, but I had the marina guy bring the second water taxi out of storage so that Charlie could have it just for you and Beth when you’re done with your girl day. He’ll be waiting for you two at five o’clock.”
“That’s so nice,” Lindsey said. “Thank you.”
He leaned down and kissed her, lingering for just a bit. When he pulled back and left them with a wave, Beth was staring at Lindsey with her hands clasped over her chest and a delightfully sappy look on her face.
“You two are going to be so happy,” she cried. “I just know it.”
“Me, too,” Lindsey said. “I know it, too.” Beth looped her arm through Lindsey’s and led her down the street to the only salon in town, Putting on the Glitz. Shanna, the owner, was expecting them, and it didn’t do to keep Shanna waiting.
As they walked, Lindsey tried to keep her mind on her wedding and off Nate and Naomi, but it was tough. She was anticipating the best day of her life while friends of hers, good friends, were struggling with their own worst nightmare. It didn’t seem right or fair, and she hated that she couldn’t do a thing about it.
Lindsey and Beth met Charlie promptly at five. He was waiting for them in Sully’s office as promised. Tonight’s rehearsal and dinner were just for the people participating in the ceremony. Charlie was going to perform a song, Violet was doing a reading, and Nancy had volunteered to be a greeter, while Ian was Sully’s best man and Beth was Lindsey’s matron of honor.
Lindsey and Beth had both worn dresses, the better to practice their aisle walking, and while this had seemed liked a good idea at the time, Lindsey’s legs were freezing even though she was wearing thick tights and knee-high boots. As they climbed onto the small boat, Charlie took the captain’s seat while Lindsey and Beth huddled under a heated blanket on the bench seat behind him.
Beth sniffed the air and frowned. “The tide didn’t turn recently, did it?”
Lindsey glanced at the waterline. It appeared to be mid-tide, but even so, in winter the low tide didn’t carry the briny fishy smell of a summer low tide. It was just too cold. Still, there was no denying the pungent smell of something really awful in the air.
She glanced over the side of the boat, looking for a dead fish or something that would explain the stench. “Hang on,” she said. “I’m going to ask Charlie what it is.”
“Please do,” Beth said. She looked a bit green. “I’m afraid I might be sick.”
Lindsey climbed out from under the warm blanket and joined Charlie at the front of the boat. Even though he was maintaining a no-wake speed, there was enough of a breeze that there was no smell up here at the bow. Lindsey thought that if they couldn’t figure out what it was, she and Beth could always stand up here for the duration of the trip.
“Charlie, did anyone use this boat for fishing recently?” she asked.
“No,” he said. He glanced at her. “Why?”
“There’s a really bad smell back there,” she said. “It smells as if something died. It’s making Beth sick.”
Charlie frowned. He cut the engine and the boat slowed. The small craft bobbed as the short waves rocked it from side to side.
“I’ll check it out,” he said. He walked toward the back. He smelled the air and made an expression of disgust. “Gah, what is that?”
“It’s stronger over here,” Beth said. She pointed over the side of the boat. “I keep thinking we’re dragging a dead fish or something.”
“I think it’s below you.” Charlie gestured for her to move and Beth rose from her seat, taking the blanket with her. She stood beside Lindsey in the center of the small boat and shared the blanket. Lindsey gratefully wrapped it around herself.
Charlie knelt in front of the padded bench they’d been seated on and undid a latch on the front. Hooking his fingers beneath the top, he lifted the lid and propped it up. The horrible smell that unfurled from inside the bench was like getting punched in the nose repeatedly.
Lindsey gagged and covered her nose with the blanket, and Beth did the same. Only in her case, she turned a deep shade of green and looked as if she was going to vomit for real.
A blue plastic tarp covered whatever was in the bench and Charlie reached in and pulled it aside. “Ah!” he yelled and stumbled back.
“What is it?” Lindsey asked.
Charlie was panting and with a shaking finger he pointed at the bench and said, “Body!”
“What?” Lindsey dropped the blanket and hurried forward.
She glanced past the blue tarp and saw the bloodless face of a man staring up at her with unseeing eyes. She turned to Beth and said, “Call Emma. We found Tony Mancusi.”