He shrugged. “I brought you food, didn’t I?”
I laughed. “It’s good to see you, Ellis.” It still amazed me that he and Ozzie were brothers. The two men looked alike, but their personalities were vastly different. Where Ozzie was more stoic and serious, Ellis smiled all the time, and his serious side only came out when it was necessary.
“You too.” A small frown creased his brow. “Who’s the dude?” His expression suddenly cleared. “Wait. Are you the boyfriend? Claire said you were seeing someone.”
Luke walked forward, hand outstretched and a friendly smile on his face. “Yes, that’s me. Luke Decker.”
“Ellis Quartermaine.”
“So, what kind of food did you bring?” I stooped to pick up Pebbles. “Claire promised to feed us.”
“Fresh fish.” He tipped his head toward the kitchen. “I was just cleaning it up. I’m gonna fire up the grill.”
“I had spaghetti planned, but Ellis brought enough to feed a small army.” Claire shot an aggrieved look at him.
“Fish is fine with me.” I glanced at Luke, who nodded.
“Awesome. Come talk over here, so I can finish getting it ready to cook.” Ellis stepped back into the kitchen.
Luke and I followed Claire. I set Pebbles on the floor, gave Betty a quick scratch on the ears, then took up residence on a barstool at the island.
“So, what did you find that you couldn’t wait to share?” I propped my elbow on the island and turned to look at my friend.
“Interesting things. It’s actually good Ellis is here. This might pertain to some things he’s heard.” Claire reached for a stack of paperwork and slid it closer.
“Oh?” Ellis twirled a knife between his fingers and looked up with a raised eyebrow.
She nodded. “You told Ozzie you overheard a conversation at the docks about a woman who was asking about property, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, Imighthave convinced Ozzie to give me the coordinates he got from Toren McCrae, so I could research the area.”
He frowned. “What does that have to do with the woman at the docks? She was asking about waterfront property.”
Claire held up a finger. “I’m getting there.”
Ellis gestured toward her with his knife. “My apologies. Go on.”
“Thank you. So, I looked up the coordinates and found the property records for that patch of wilderness. You’ll never guess what I found.” Claire’s gaze bounced between the three of us.
“Walter owns it?” I asked.
“No. Sarah Cole does.”
“Who’s that?” Ellis asked, pausing as he skinned the first fish.
“She’s the woman who was supposed to inherit a waterfront property from the elderly woman she cared for. An elderly woman who was also Walter’s aunt. I think that’s the property Moira was asking about. And it got me thinking. What if she learned about the other property when she was digging into the waterfront one?” She held up a finger. “Remember, I found other property sales that had amended deeds that switched the property from Sarah to Walter. Maybe Moira discovered Walter’s misdeeds and he silenced her for it.”
“Whoa. Yeah, that’s—that’s quite a coincidence.” He went back to skinning the fish.
“That’s what I thought. Now do you see why I couldn’t wait to tell someone?”
“But why would Walter go to the property of someone from whom he stole property?” Luke propped his arms on the counter and leaned forward. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What do we know about Sarah Cole?” Ellis asked.
Claire blinked, then looked between him, Luke, and me. “I don’t know. I haven’t checked.”
