Page 76 of Proof

“Thanks for doing this.” Luna reached over and grabbed Gail’s hand.

“Of course! Such a good excuse for us to play! Depending on how the morning goes, we can grab some lunch there. It’s a bit too hot to hike in the afternoon, but we can take a stroll as the sun goes down.”

“Sounds divine.”

“Oh, we should also probably stop at the grocery store after lunch. There isn’t much at the B&B.”

“Only if you let me buy!”

“Deal!”

They sat until the moon was fully overhead. “This is paradise. Not a tropical one, but paradise nonetheless.” Luna looked toward the heavens. Even with the full moon, there were thousands of stars. She shouted when she spotted one shooting across the night sky. “Look!” The rest of the diners turned to stare at her. “Sorry. They don’t let me out very often.” Some of the other people smiled; some frowned. “I guess you have cranky people here, too,” Luna whispered.

Gail laughed. “And they’re not from around here, either!”

Luna made sure the waitress gave her the check. There was a little back-and-forth between her and Gail, but Luna won the tug-of-war.

When they returned to the B&B, Gail opened her laptop. “Let’s do some investigating, Miss Marple. What was Brendan’s last name again? Nelson?”

“Yes. His wife’s name was Eileen.”

Gail typed “St. Kitts newspapers” into the search engine. The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer came up. She clicked on the link. “When did this happen?”

Luna pulled out her phone and checked the notice. “January twenty-seventh.”

Gail scrutinized the online site and checked for obituaries. “Whoa!”

“What is it?”

Gail turned her laptop around to face Luna so she could read:

American couple feared dead in St. Kitts due to boating accident.

No other details are available at this time.

“But it doesn’t have their names.” Luna stared at the two sentences. “How can we find out more?”

“That I cannot tell you. Not because I don’t want to, but because it’s a Caribbean island. Lots goes on down there, and unless you’re going to hire a private detective, I don’t think you’ll get very far.”

“Maybe Anthony will know more.” Luna checked the time. It was past midnight on the East Coast. “This will have to wait until tomorrow.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it now, sweetcakes. Want to watch a movie?” Gail had decided to stay with Luna at the B&B so they could get an early start.

“Have you seen Bad Sisters? It’s a series, but we can probably binge-watch it while I’m here. It’s British and darkly funny. I’m up to the third episode but will start from the beginning with you.”

“Sounds like it’s right up my darkly funny alley.”

Chapter Fifteen

Sedona

The Next Day

Luna was up early. Her body was still on East Coast time. She checked her watch. It was five a.m. She couldn’t get back to sleep, so she powered up her laptop and did a little more digging for information about the two Americans who’d been killed in a boating accident. She swiped through website pages. Finally, three weeks after the accident was first reported, and in very small print, a headline read:

Boating accident victims identified as Brendan Nelson and Eileen Lovecraft.

There was nothing else. No cause of the accident, and this time, it didn’t mention they were Americans. Maybe the tourism board didn’t want bad publicity and kept it on the down-low. She didn’t remember any news coverage in the States, but then again, she hadn’t been looking. She went back to the Minnetonka local news website to see if there were any updates. Zip. Zilch. Zero. It was so peculiar. She sent a text to Anthony with what she’d discovered. He replied with a frowning emoji and a question mark. The question mark reminded her of her earlier drawing. Were they related? She knew there was still nothing she could do, so she closed her laptop and shuffled into the kitchen to make coffee. The sun was beginning to show its face, and she took her mug of java and retreated to the back patio, where she could watch the colors of the day emerge.

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