She looked at Jack, who was frowning down at the floor. He’d pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants, but his feet were still bare. Amazingly, they were just as sexy as the rest of him. “I remember playing with a water pistol when I was little. Jessie had one too, I think hers was green.”
“This one’s green. Ish,” Marigold added. “With a lot of brown stains. Maybe you or Jessie buried it back in the day and forgot about it? Or maybe the tenants found it and hid it away from their kids?”
All were perfectly good theories, and yet Jack shook his head. “I still think she left it there as a message, I’m just not sure what the message is.”
“If she was going to leave a message, why not just leave a message?” Tina asked impatiently. “She had a whole house to work with. She could have hidden an actual piece of paper with an actual note just about anywhere.”
“Maybe she couldn’t,” Jack said slowly. “Or maybe she worried Seth would find something like that. The water pistol would probably look like it was already buried there, if he ever found it.”
That actually made sense, she supposed. Still, it was all so maddeningly cryptic. “Why that particular item, then? Best guess, Jack. Was she warning that he was armed?”
“The Bloodshot Eyeball shooting?” said Marigold. In the background, a crow gave a loud croak, and a distant seagull cawed. The sounds of Sea Smoke Island…almost nostalgic, Tina thought.
“It could be that, but I think there might be more to it,” said Jack. “Some incident that happened with those water pistols…I remember we had a wild full-on battle once, with a bunch of other kids. Someone even got hurt. She might be referring to that.”
Tina shoved a pad of paper—the Spotted Owl logo was printed at the top—and a ballpoint pen toward him. “Go into the bathroom and close the door. Try to recall every single detail about what happened. If you can, try to see it through Jessie’s eyes too. Write down every time you or Jessie ever referred to this incident in later years. What was said, where you were, everything.”
Jack lifted his eyebrows at her tone of command. They’d been operating as equals in this investigation so far, but right now, she wanted to talk to Marigold alone. And he’d remember more if he didn’t have the distraction of eavesdropping.
“You’re the only one who can decipher her meaning,” she added.
“Right. Bye, Marigold. See you back on the island.”
As soon as the door was securely closed, Tina took Marigold off speaker and strolled to the window, as far from the bathroom as possible. “It’s looking more and more certain that Seth Baker is Lloyd Mansfield. Now there’s a new twist. You ready for this?”
“Bring it.”
“Linette Mansfield may be the woman we know as Celine Carmichael.”
A stunned moment of silence, then, “Ho. Ly. Shit.”
“Yup. Naomi Martin’s little girl came back years later married to John Carmichael the Third. Do you remember ever seeing the man you knew as Adam with Celine?”
“No. I don’t think so.” The sound of Marigold’s truck stopped. “We went to the inn for drinks one night, but we didn’t see any Carmichaels.”
“Were you with him the whole time?”
“Not every moment. Bathroom breaks, you know.”
“I’m wondering…” She had to put this delicately. “Since Celine was busy with all sorts of scheming, do you think she asked her brother to be her inside man at the constable’s office?”
“You mean, was he spying on me and Luke for Celine?” Marigold let out a snort. “Sure, why not? I didn’t know much, and neither did Luke, but Adam would have been able to monitor what we knew and didn’t know.”
“Thank you. I’m not saying that’s what happened. But it is a possibility.”
“If he was Celine’s brother, and never told me, then he’s capable of anything. That’s just fucking wild. I mean, you arrested her, didn’t you? You took her into town on the police boat. Did she mention she had a brother she wanted to notify?”
Celine had said almost nothing during that trip, most likely based on legal advice. “She did not. Do you remember discussing her arrest with Adam?”
“Oh wow. Yes, I did.” Tina heard the drumming of her fingers on the dashboard. “He said something like, watch, she’ll be out in no time. It’s called ‘pretty privilege.’ Meaning, the fact that Celine is?—”
“I know what it means. So he didn’t seem worried at all?”
“No. I mean, why would he? As far as I knew, she was a stranger to him, and he didn’t act any different than that. But you know…Hey there! Slow down, we got some trees down up ahead.”
“Excuse me?”
“Sorry, I’m standing guard on the southwest road. We had a microburst last night that brought down some old pines. Waiting on the firefighters. There’s one new guy that…never mind. Back to what I was saying.” Tina could practically hear her blush. “A few days after that was when he suggested we spend our pre-wedding night in the Honeymoon Suite. I remember wondering if it was some rubbernecking type of thing.”
