I was positive I’d misheard her. Or at least misunderstood. “What’s all still there?”
“Declan owned one of the houses on the water. He left a trust. His belongings remain in the house.”
“That can’t be right. Galen told me property on the water is at apremium. Wouldn’t someone have claimed the house by now if it’s on the water?”
“We can only claim it — or could only claim it under the old rules — if it was rundown,” Marjory replied. “As I said, Declan had a house manager. The house is being maintained. He has to be missing for thirty years before the house can be seized through eminent domain.”
“Where is the house?”
“I can give you the address. It’s locked up tight, though, and the caretaker won’t let you in. Trust me, we’ve all tried.”
“Who’s the caretaker?”
“Edward Mosley. He’s what’s called a house manager. He has several clients on the island.”
“Are you one of them?”
Marjory emphatically shook her head. “I find him creepy.”
“You don’t think he’ll let me into the house?”
“Not a chance in hell.”
I stood.
Confusion had Marjory knitting her eyebrows. “Where are you going?”
“To break into his house,” I replied.
“What if you’re caught?”
“I guess it’s good I’m engaged to the sheriff.”
“And if you find something evil in that house?”
I shrugged. “It won’t be the first time.”
Marjory rose. “You’re not going alone.” She seemed both resigned and excited. “Galen would never forgive me, especially if you go missing.”
“Why would I go missing?”
“Declan disappeared from that house, and if he is the individual on the other plane there might be a door there. We both know that you can’t seem to avoid plane doors.”
She wasn’t wrong. “Fine. But I’m in charge.”
Marjory laughed. “If you say so.”
11
ELEVEN
We had to take my golf cart to the house. Marjory was rich, but like most islanders, she didn’t have a car. She had her own cart but wasn’t keen on driving. I climbed behind the wheel as she navigated me through the remote streets near the water. All the while, she sat in the passenger seat flipping through Declan’s file.
“You know,” she said after a silent five minutes as I absorbed the breathtaking views while also silently admonishing the mega mansion owners on this part of the island for being such land hogs. The overblown show of wealth was garish. “You’re right about them not having much evidence against Declan.”
“I don’t think the murders stopping the same time he disappeared is enough to definitively say that he’s guilty,” I said. “But that was obviously good enough for the sheriff at the time.”
“Yes, well, before Galen, I never got the feeling that our law enforcement was all that committed to law and order,” Marjory said. “That’s why, when Galen announced on his eighteenth birthday that he was going to become a police officer, I didn’t take the news all that well.”
