Tidewater Inn (32 page)
Alec swept his light around the room. “Looks like it was a root cellar. There are old jars of canned food down here.” He moved to a shelf that held Ball jars. “Looks like pickles.”
Libby followed him and peered at the contents. “I think they're still good.”
“I wouldn't eat them,” he said, his voice laced with disgust.
“Me neither.” She followed him, sloshing through the water to explore the rest of the cellar. Bree was examining the walls.
Old barrels, tools, and items from yesteryear floated in the water or hung on the walls from rusty hooks. She didn't recognize some of the tools and glanced at Alec.
“One of the keepers was a doctor,” he said.
Whale-oil casks bobbed in the water. She paused at an overturned case of shelves. There was less water here. Her foot struck something and she looked down to see what it was. Horror froze her in place when she realized a human skeleton lay partially submerged at her feet. Uttering mewling noises, she grabbed Alec's arm. Her muscles finally obeyed her, and she turned and ran for the ladder. She thought Alec called her name, but she didn't stop until she was crouching in the sand and heaving. Samson whined by her ear as if to commiserate with her distress.
A few moments later Alec's hand was on her shoulder. “It's okay,” he said, his voice soothing in her ear.
She shuddered. “That was a person.” Details she hadn't noticed at the time came back to her. “A woman. I saw a blue sundress.” She sat back and swallowed hard, then allowed Alec to help her to her feet.
“I think I know who it is,” he said, his voice grim.
Bree clambered up the ladder and stood beside her. “Are you okay?”
“Did you see the skeleton?”
Bree nodded. “It's not Nicole.”
“No, no, of course not.” She stared into Alec's face, noting his pallor. This hadn't been easy for him either. “Who was she?”
“I think she was Ray's wife, Tina,” Alec said.
Libby stared back at the opening. “Tina? I don't understand. She was murdered? I just heard she died.”
Alec turned to look at the cellar hole too. “She went out on a boat ride and never came back. Her skiff was found broken up and half submerged, but her body was never found. So it was assumed she hit a rock and drowned.”
“What does this mean?” she asked, trying to take it all in. “How do you know it's Tina?”
“She always wore a dress. And there was a picture of this dress all over town.”
She looked at the yawning hole in the ground and shuddered. “D-Do you think someone killed her and threw her down there?”
“That was my first thought. I suppose it's possible she went exploring and got trapped.”
“But the boat . . .”
He nodded. “Exactly. Someone would have had to deliberately scuttle the boat.”
She hugged herself. “I don't like this.”
“Neither do I.”
She looked away from the dank hole. “When did she die?”
“Three years ago. The news caused Ray's first stroke, a small one. He loved her very much.”
Pity stirred for her father. “I'm glad he's not alive to see this. If she was murdered . . .”
“The press is going to have a heyday with this.” He took her arm and turned her toward the boat. “One good thing is that it might deflect attention from your friend's death for a while.”
She stopped and clutched his arm. “I want attention to stay on her. That's the only chance we have of finding out who killed her.”
“You don't suppose there could be any connection between Tina's death and Nicole's, do you?” Bree asked.
He frowned. “I don't see how.”
“Nicole came out here,” Bree said. “What if she saw something? Something that put her in danger?”
“Maybe. But she didn't get into the cellar. It was covered over until the storm surge.” He stared back at the cellar. “I need to let Tom know about this. I saw a passageway when we were down there. It looked like it went toward those rocks.” He pointed to a rocky point of land jutting into the sea. “I've seen a cave there, but I always thought it was shallow and not very big.”
He took Libby's arm and led them all to the cave. They waded into the water and out to the rocks, where he pointed out a small opening.
Stooping, she peered into it. “It's bigger than it looks.”
Bree glanced into the cave, then glanced at Libby. “Any chance Nicole would have gone exploring?”
Libby nodded. “Oh yes. She explores caves every chance she gets. Last summer she went on a spelunking vacation with some friends. She mentioned finding one here on the island.”
Alec's lips tightened. “We might have a connection, then.”
T
he palm tree provided a little shade. Nicole had been out since morning watching for a boat, any boat, but the sea remained empty. Her stomach growled, and she worked on ignoring it as best she could. The bread was soggy, and the thought of plain peanut butter wasn't appealing. Besides, she had no idea if the boy would even come back. Her eyes grew heavy, so she propped up her head with her arms and closed her eyes for a few minutes.
A gull cawed and she sat back up, rubbing her eyes. When she stared back out to sea, she saw the reason for the gull's displeasure. A boat skimmed the tops of the waves as it headed for her tiny beach.
Scrambling to her feet, she dusted the sand from her legs and hands and went down to meet the boy. He was wary as he dropped anchor and splashed ashore. It was going to take all her persuasion to convince him she wasn't crazy.
“Got your supplies,” he said, dropping a sack onto the sand. “See ya.”
“Wait!” She ran to catch him.
When he held out his hands to shove her back, she stopped. “I won't touch you. Just talk to me for a minute, okay? It's lonely out here by myself.” Tears sprang to her eyes and she sniffled.
Concern replaced the wariness on his face. “Hey, don't cry. I can stay a minute. Just don't try anything, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay. I'm sorry about before. I was just scared.” She searched his gaze. “Is anyone back on Hope Island looking for me?”
“Why would anyone there be looking for you? You're from Raleigh.”
She shook her head and decided to go ahead with her plan. The truth. “I live in Virginia Beach. My partner and I have a restoration business. We were hired to restore some buildings in the downtown. My partner's name is Libby Holladay. I'm Nicole Ingram.”
He gasped and took a step back. “How'd you hear about that? Did you talk to the Ingram girl sometime?”
“I
am
the Ingram girl. My birthday is July 4. I'm twenty-five. Libby is Ray Mitchell's daughter, but no one on Hope Island knew about her.”
His eyes narrowed. “You're lying.”
“I'm not.” She reached out toward him, but he flinched and stepped back. “Please, check it out. Ask to see a picture of me. You'll see I'm telling the truth. I don't know what all those men told you, but it wasn't true. I was at the boardwalk by Tidewater Inn, and two men kidnapped me. Is Libby in town?”
She was sure of the answer to that. Libby would leave no stone unturned until she stood on this beach and rescued her.
“You don't know anything,” he said. “Nicole Ingram is dead. They found her belongings on the beach.”
The revelation made her take a step back and gasp. “I fought them. My pink cover-up came off in the struggle. One of them tossed it. And I lost my flip-flops when I jumped overboard. That's all they found, right?”
“I don't know what they found. Just that Nicole's clothes were on the beach.”
“Libby didn't believe it, did she? She's still on the island?”
“She's still there. Poking around to try to find out who kidnapped her partner. But I'm not convinced you're the one she's looking for. Your brother told me you were wily and not to believe any story you concocted.”
She managed a smile. Even if she didn't get off the island today, he would go back and investigate. He'd find out she was telling the truth. “So don't believe it. Check it out for yourself. Then tell Libby where I am. I'll make sure the police know you were duped, that you weren't an accomplice.”
As soon as she said the word
duped,
she knew she'd made a mistake. No guy liked to look foolish.
“I'm not stupid,” he said. “You're the stupid one. Trying to snow me with a crazy story like this.”
“Look, I know it sounds crazy. But it's even crazier that someone would kidnap me and stick me here in this place. Think! What would be the motive? Locking up a crazy sister? There are places for that. His story makes no sense, and you'd know it if you had any brains at all!” She was past caring if he was mad. Past worrying about hurting his feelings. “You've got to see the truth.”
“I'm out of here,” he said, turning on his heel. He stomped off toward the boat.
Nicole ran after him and grabbed his arm. “Check it out,” she said desperately. “That's all I ask. My picture has to be in the paper. Or online. You'll see I'm telling the truth.”
He brushed her hand off. “I'll check it out, and then I'll let you know how crazy you are.”
She tried on a winning smile. “What's your name?”
“Zach,” he said.
“You have a nice boat.”
“Yeah. My uncle likes to fish.”
“He's a commercial fisherman?”
He shook his head. “Works for the Coast Guard mostly. Fishes in his spare time.”
“And your parents?”
“Dead.”
A common bond. “I'm sorry. My dad has cancer, and I'm afraid he won't make it. It's hard.”
“What about your brothers?”
She saw where he was going with that. “No brothers. Only two sisters, and they both live in California.”
He stepped into the waves. “I gotta go. I'm going to be late.”
She wanted to scream and beg him to take her with him, but she forced herself to smile and wave. “Thanks for the supplies, Zach. Don't forget to look up my picture.”
Alec held the door to the sheriff's office open for Libby. He knew by her expression that she dreaded being interrogated by his cousin. “I'll do the talking,” he whispered, guiding her toward Tom's office with his hand at the small of her back.
She held her head high as several workers glanced at her curiously. Her courage impressed him. Not many women would have gone into that cellar hole with him. Not many women would hold up under the suspicion she'd been under.
They found Tom at his desk scowling at the computer. He straightened when he saw them. “Hey, what's up?”
“We found something out at the old lighthouse ruins.” He pointed to the first chair. “Have a seat, honey.” He nearly bit his tongue off when he realized he'd called Libby
honey
. She smiled and didn't seem to take offense, though, so that was good. He sank into the chair beside her. “We could both use something to drink. Got any bottled water?”
“Yep.” Tom reached into a small refrigerator behind his desk and extracted two bottles. “You both look pretty puny. I don't think I've ever seen you so white.”
“Thanks.” Alec uncapped his bottle and took a swig of water. “It was a rough day. The storm surge uncovered a cellar out at the ruins.”
“A cellar?” Tom frowned. “I didn't know about a cellar.”
“It's been there all along. Remember that pile of bricks toward the back? It was under there. The force of the water moved the bricks and uncovered the trapdoor. Libby, Bree, and I went down to explore.”
“And?”
In answer, Alec pulled out his smartphone and pulled up the picture he'd taken. “We found this.” He handed the phone to his cousin.