Page 64 of Eclipse Bay

“Maybe he didn’t like the fact that she had those videos,” Walter said. “Could be they were films of him dressed in the lingerie.”

Rafe’s gaze went to Hannah. She saw the glint of curiosity in his eyes. She didn’t blame him. She was reluctantly fascinated, herself.

“You think this guy from Seattle went back to Kaitlin’s house after he murdered her and stole the lingerie and videos?” Rafe asked.

“Makes sense, doesn’t it?” Walter asked. “He wouldn’t want to leave any evidence around that might point back to him.”

“It’s certainly an interesting theory,” Hannah allowed cautiously.

“That’s all it’ll ever be now,” Walter said. “Kaitlin’s been dead and buried for a long time. No one’s going to reopen that old case. Probably for the best.” He turned with military precision. “Well, you’ll have to excuse us, we’ve got work to do. Don’t we, Torrance?”

“Yup.” Torrance’s head bobbed up and down half a dozen times with great enthusiasm. “Turnin’ this place into an inn with a restaurant attached is gonna be a big project. But you know, it makes a lotta sense. What with the institute and the college and the plans to renovate the old pier and put in more shops, Eclipse Bay is attractin’ a lotta visitors these days. Don’t have many nice places for ’em to stay. Just the motel out on the highway. Way it is now, folks have to drive on up the coast to find a classy place.”

He swung around and lumbered off after his brother.

Hannah waited until both Willises were out of sight. Then she looked at Rafe.

“A sex maniac from Seattle?” she said softly.

“I have a hunch that everyone in town has a personal theory of what happened that night.”

“Frilly lingerie in sizes big enough to fit a man?”

“Don’t look at me.” He held up both hands, palms out. “I never saw any of that stuff.”

“What about the videos?”

He shook his head. “Nope. No videos. Hannah, I only went out with Kaitlin a few times before it became real obvious that she was just amusing herself with me while she hunted for her real meal ticket. I never got to know her well enough to learn about her little quirks and eccentricities.”

“Hmm. You do realize what this means, don’t you?”

He leveled a finger at her. “Nothing. It means absolutely nothing. We only have the Willis brothers’ word on what they found in the wall behind her dryer. And no offense to either Torrance or Walter, but they’re not the most sophisticated guys to come down the pike. I doubt if they’ve been any farther than Portland in their entire lives. What looked like kinky clothing and dirty videos to them might be nothing more than a little late-night entertainment to other folks.”

“Kaitlin wasn’t exactly shy about her own sexual activities. I can’t see her going out of her way to protect the reputations of the men she dated, either. If she went to the trouble of hiding that lingerie and those videos to protect a boyfriend, she must have had big plans for the poor guy.”

Rafe hesitated. “Kaitlin’s supreme goal in life was to marry someone with enough money to help her escape Eclipse Bay.”

“So, maybe this particular boyfriend had money. Maybe she saw him as a hot prospect for marriage.”

“Why hide the undies and the tapes?”

“Who knows? Maybe he was already married. Maybe she wanted to protect him because she was hoping he’d get a divorce and marry her. Maybe—”

“Whoa,” Rafe said. “Lots of maybes here.”

She made a face and planted her hands on her hips. “You’re right. Got a little carried away there for a minute, didn’t I?”

“Imagination is a wonderful thing. But in this case it’s wasted. It’s been eight years. We’ll never know for sure what happened to Kaitlin that night. Like Walter said, that’s probably just as well.”

Reluctantly she pulled her thoughts back to the matter at hand. The instant she refocused on her chief problem, her irritation returned.

“Let’s get something clear here,” she said. “You’re not going to do anything to Dreamscape until you and I have come to some agreement about how to handle the legal aspects of Isabel’s inheritance.”

Rafe pondered the view of the hall. “I could open the restaurant in my half of the house.”

“That’s crazy. There’s no way you can turn half of this place into a restaurant. How would we divide the kitchen? What about all the people who would usemyhalf of this hall to get toyourrestaurant? And who gets the solarium?”

“I thought it would make a nice dining room. In the summer I’ll set up tables outside on the veranda, too.”

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