“You’re opening the bookshop on the harbor?”
She nodded, not surprised that the grapevine was so efficient.
“You stayed in Aquinnah after the fire, right? At Rex Winsted’s place?”
Her hand flew to her stomach, thanks to a weird instinct. “Yes. I actually found the first note there. The rest came to Menemsha once we moved back to the cottage. Whoever delivered them clearly knew where I was.”
He gestured to the notes. “Does Rex know about these?”
“I didn’t tell him yet. He just got back from California …”
“Good. Yeah, I heard about his accident. Horrible. How’s he doing?”
“He was well enough to fly home,” Maddie said, then added that she planned to see him after she left the station. “I guess he’ll be at Windemere a little while.”
The chief glanced at his watch. “Visiting hours there don’t start until eleven.”
She wanted to roll her eyes, but held the impulse back. “Right. I learned that the hard way. Rex texted me during the night. I immediately went to see him, but they wouldn’t let me in. He must not have known what time it was. Anyway, that’s why I was out at that ungodly hour when the fog rolled in and the strange vehicle bizarrely followed me up State Road to the cut-off to Edgartown.”There, she thought.Now the police have the whole story. And maybe I can get some sleep.
The chief nodded, as if putting the pieces together. “We’ll do some digging around,” he said. “Do you mind if we keep these?”
“Of course not,” she said. “But will you make copies for me? In case I decide to show them to Rex? It might give him something to think about while he’s in rehab.”
“Good idea. He knows a lot about the Vineyard and the people.”
Maddie nodded and the men stood up.
The chief handed the notes to Officer Lindstrom again. “Copy these, please. As for you, Ms. Clarke, I’m glad youbrought this to our attention. But try not to worry. They’ve been so sporadic, after, what is it now, five months? Which suggests the sender probably isn’t violent.”
The wordviolenthadn’t crossed her mind, and she wished he hadn’t said it. But Maddie thanked him.
“Be sure to tell your grandmother that her favorite constable says hello,” Chief Lawrence added with a smile. “She still thinks I’m twenty-one.”
“Some days she still thinksshe’stwenty-one,” Maddie replied and returned the smile. Then she left his office with the junior officer and waited while he made the copies.
In a few more minutes, she was back in Orson, heading toward Vineyard Haven, and wondering how she’d kill two more hours before she could see Rex.
Chapter 27
“Maddie.”
She teared up. She’d spent the past hour and a half in the waiting room; it made her feel better to know he wasn’t far from her. And now, she heard him say her name.
“Come closer. You look so beautiful.”
His voice was no longer coarse. But he was pale and looked like he’d lost a lot of weight. He was half sitting up, half lying on his back.
She stepped closer. She’d expected that whatever hair he had would have grown, but someone had shaved his head to newly bald before sending him home. Maybe Annie had.
He reached up and took her hand. “I feel like I’ve been gone a year.”
She nodded, struggling to convince herself that this time, he wasn’t a dream.
His touch was warm.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Rex,” was all she could manage.
