Page 26 of Dauntless

Eddie dug into his porridge.“So, what’s the plan for today, Red Joe Nesmith?”He snickered.“God, that’s such a pirate name, isn’t it?”

“Not a pirate,” I said mildly, pouring myself a mug of coffee and sitting opposite him.

He rolled his eyes.“Not a pirate, not the king of the island.You just want to destroy all my dirtiest role-playing fantasies this morning, don’t you?”

I almost choked on my coffee.“Uh…”

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to work a sexy-as-fuck lighthouse keeper into my repertoire, won’t I?”

I swallowed with difficulty.“I guess you will.”

“Hmm.”He glanced at the oilskin coat hanging on the back of the kitchen door.“Have you got another one of those?”

I tried to look stern even though he could feel my face burning.“That is for work purposes only.”

Eddie laughed at my embarrassment.“So, what is the plan for today?Are we going to Miss Marple our way around the island again?”

“Well,” I said, “I thought we might go down into the village square tonight.Everyone comes into the village on Saturday night, so someone there might know who attacked you.”

“Everyone comes into the village?”

“There’s not much else to do on the island,” I pointed out.“So we all go down there with a casserole dish each, and we set up in the old church and we eat and talk and drink until it’s time to go home again.It’s a tradition.”

“That sounds amazing!”Eddie exclaimed, and then his face fell.“Except, you know, that everyone here hates me.”

“Everyone here hates George Hawthorne, not you.”

“Like there’s a difference,” Eddie said, raising his eyebrows.His expression grew serious.“Joe, someone bashed me over the head.”

“You’re with me,” I said firmly.“If you want to come, you’ll be fine.I’ll make sure nobody gives you any trouble.Otherwise, we can stay in.It’s up to you.”

“Well, as much fun as it would be to stay in with you and explore my new lighthouse keeper fetish, I think we should go.I mean, even if we don’t learn anything about who attacked me, it sounds like it could be fun.And safety in numbers, right?It’s not like every single person on the island is going to gang up and murder me.”Then he wrinkled his nose.“Huh.I wonder if that’s what George Hawthorne thought.”

“Okay,” I said.“I’m banning all talk of George Hawthorne for the rest of the day.”

“That’s fair.”Eddie set his spoon down.He wiggled his eyebrows, making his glasses dance.“Want to not talk about him in bed?”

“Yes,” I said, heat rising in me.“Hell, yes.”

It turned out to be the right decision.

* * *

Eddie wore his beanie pulled down as we walked into the village late in the afternoon.It covered the cut on his temple, but not the purple bruise that extended down to the corner of his eye.He carried the potato bake I’d made that afternoon, and I carried two glass flagons of homebrewed beer.

The square outside the church was already full of people when we arrived, and I didn’t miss the way that Eddie stuck close.I couldn’t blame him.

We went into the church first.It hadn’t had a priest attached to it in my lifetime, so the community used it as an all-purpose hall.We held weddings and funerals there too, which Short Clarry officiated.He was not only the mayor and the head of the Tourist Board, but also the marriage celebrant and Justice of the Peace.Everyone on Dauntless wore at least a few different hats.Nothing would ever get done otherwise.

The pews were full of casserole dishes and baking trays.Eddie set the potato bake alongside Katrina Finch’s quiche, and I added my flagons to the collection on the altar.

I nodded at a brass plaque screwed into the wall under one of the windows, and Eddie went over to inspect it.

It was dedicated to the memories of three mutineers who’d died in the early days of the settlement on Dauntless: Foley, Pritchard, and Jessup.

Eddie reached out and traced Jessup’s name with his index finger.“Henry Jessup made it to Sumatra, Joe,” he said in an undertone.

“Maybe,” I said.“Maybe not.”

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