Page 8 of Eclipse Bay

For one horrifying instant Hannah had a vision of Rafe lying sprawled on Bayview Drive, the victim of a hit-and-run. He’d had an even longer walk home last night than she’d had.

She went to the table and gripped the back of the empty chair. “What happened?”

“Kaitlin Sadler was found dead at Hidden Cove this morning,” her father said in somber tones.

“Oh, my God.” Not Rafe, then. He was safe. Hannah sank down into the chair. Then the name registered.

“Kaitlin Sadler?”

“Looks like an accident,” Yates said. “Apparently she fell from the path above the cliffs. But I’ve got to ask you a few questions.”

Something in his voice got Hannah’s full attention. Rafe was okay, but his girlfriend was dead. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why Chief Yates had come here today. When a woman died under mysterious circumstances, the cops always came looking for the boyfriend or the husband first. Her brother had told her that.

Hamilton studied her with a troubled look. “There seems to be some confusion, Hannah. Phil says that Kaitlin was on a date with Rafe Madison last night. But Rafe told Yates that he was with you last night at about the time that Kaitlin died.”

“We explained to Phil that that was not possible,” Elaine said crisply. “You were with that nice young man from Chamberlain College. Perry Decatur.”

Yates cleared his throat. “Well, now, I talked to Mr. Decatur. He says that’s not quite true.”

Hamilton flicked an irritated glance at Yates’s broad, patient face. “We also told him that even if you hadn’t been with Decatur, you were highly unlikely to have been anywhere near Rafe Madison.”

“I’m well aware of the fact that Hartes don’t socialize with Madisons,” Yates rumbled. “But young Rafe swears he was with Hannah here, and I got to check out his story.”

The full implications of what he was saying finally hit Hannah. “I don’t understand. You just said Kaitlin’s death was an accident. Is there some question about how she died?”

“Can’t rule out the possibility that she jumped.” Yates wrapped one ham-size fist around a mug of coffee. “That girl always was kind of high-strung.”

Elaine frowned. “She comes from an unfortunate family situation, but I never heard anyone suggest that she might be suicidal.”

Yates sipped his coffee. “There’s another possibility.”

They all looked at him expectantly.

“There may have been an argument,” Yates said quietly.

“My God,” Elaine whispered. “Are you saying she might have been pushed off the path?”

Hannah planted her hands on the table “Wait a second. Are you suggesting that Rafe Madison killed Kaitlin?”

“Could have been an accident,” Yates said. “Like I said, maybe they got into a fight.”

“But that’s crazy. Why would Rafe do such a thing?”

“Word around town is that he didn’t like the fact that she was seeing other men,” Yates said.

“Yes, but—”

Hamilton looked at her. “Rafe is trying to use you for an alibi, honey. I don’t like him dragging you into this one damn bit. But I’ll deal with that later.”

“Dad, listen to me—”

“Right now you just need to tell Yates where you were last night between midnight and two this morning.”

Hannah braced herself for the explosion she knew would follow. “I was with Rafe Madison.”

Kaitlin Sadler’s death was officially ruled an accident three days later. It took a lot longer for the firestorm of gossip to fade. The news that Hannah had been with Rafe Madison the night Kaitlin died swept through the small community with the force of a tsunami. Few believed for a moment that the pair had engaged only in casual conversation.

The one person who seemed genuinely happy about the fact that Rafe and Hannah had spent two whole hours together on a moonlit beach was Hannah’s great-aunt Isabel Harte.

---