Mitch realized that Piper was in her running clothes. “Where exactly do you think you’re going dressed like that?”
Piper held up a neatly folded set of athletic clothes. “To get Uncle Ryan. He promised to run with me this morning. I got his running stuff from the laundry room last night so he’d have it.”
Mitch hesitated. Ryan was at Seabird because of the break-in. They’d told Piper someone had gotten into the cottage, which was why Ryan was sleeping there to keep watch. But it was broad daylight now, and Ryan was literally just across the yard.
“All right,” he said. “But come straight back with him.”
“I will!” Piper started for the door, then paused to grin at Marcus. “Are you staying? How long are you here?”
“We’ll see,” Marcus said, ruffling her hair affectionately.
“Do you want to come for a run, Uncle Marcus,” Piper asked, heading for the front door.
“I would love to,” Marcus told her. “But I think I’d just conk out as I’ve been traveling most of the night.”
“Okay, maybe tomorrow then,” Piper said.
“Sure,” Marcus said with a nod.
“I just want to watch her get over to Seabird Cottage,” Mitch said to Marcus.
They followed Piper out into the cool morning air. The sun was climbing higher now, burning off the early mist that clung to the water. The bay was calm, the ocean beyond it a deep blue-green. Gulls wheeled overhead, their cries sharp in the quiet morning.
At the edge of Mitch’s property, where the grass met the gravel drive that separated the two cottages, Mitch and Marcus stopped. Piper ran across to Seabird Cottage’s front door and knocked. It didn’t take long before the door swung open and Ryan appeared.
“She knows about the break-in?” Marcus asked quietly, his eyes on the cottage door.
“We told her someone got into the cottage. That’s why Ryan’s staying there.” Mitch watched the door close behind his granddaughter. “She knows to be careful, to not go to the beach alone, to make sure an adult is always with her.”
“Smart kid.”
“Too smart sometimes.” Mitch turned to Marcus. “So is this file filled with information about Sally Lane?”
Marcus glanced back at Sunrise House, then started walking slowly in that direction. Mitch fell into step beside him.
“Yes,” Marcus said with a nod as they entered the house and walked through to the kitchen, where Mitch poured Marcus some coffee.
“How well do you know Sally?” Marcus asked, sitting on a chair at the kitchen counter.
“We dated for a couple of months,” Mitch told him, handing over a mug of coffee, then sitting in front of Marcus on the opposite side of the counter. “We spoke about the usual things. Her late ex-husband was originally from Nantucket. When her ex-husband passed away, she came back here to be closer to her older brother.”
Marcus nodded and stirred sugar into his coffee before reaching for the folder Mitch had put between them.
“Did she tell you how her ex-husband died?” Marcus asked, his brows going up, and Mitch didn’t like the look in his friend’s eyes.
“No,” Mitch said. “I don’t believe she did.”
“Well, he was found dead in the woods having been stabbed,” Marcus’s words alarmed Mitch. “He and Sally were at their hunting cabin when it happened.”
“But why would they be there if they were divorced?” Mitch asked, confused.
“Something about splitting assets,” Marcus said, sipping his coffee.
“Who stabbed him?” Mitch asked, but feared he already knew the answer.
“Well, Sally was found with his blood on her hands and fingerprints on the hunting knife,” Marcus told him, making his alarm intensify. “She was the prime suspect until the case was suddenly dismissed and she was cleared of all suspicion.”
“What do you mean it was suddenly dismissed?” Mitch asked.
