Page 61 of Light of Day
Luke narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m going to need more, Lily. Think. Try to remember.”
She lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut. “Okay, think, think, Lily…Hmmm…the words were, ‘that Black girl is going to be a problem. We need to do something. Stall until it’s done.’ Something like that.” She lifted her head with a relieved grin. “Yes, that was it. Andy knew they were talking about Gabby. He thought of her as a friend, and he would do anything for a friend. Oh!” She remembered something else and snapped her fingers. “I asked Andy why he didn’t go to you, because I know he likes you. He said the people who were talking were both Carmichaels.”
Luke’s gut tightened. He wasn’t surprised, necessarily, but it was hard to hear nonetheless. He knew how ruthless his father could be, since Luke had been on the receiving end of his anger for years now. But his siblings? “Did he say which Carmichaels?”
“No. I’m sorry. I…well, I assumed it would be your father. He’s in charge of everything over there, isn’t he?”
Luke didn’t answer, but they all knew it was true.
It was time for his father to answer some questions. But that might be a job for the Harbortown police. Not only were they running the Simms case, but it would be a conflict for him to do it.
“What else, Lily? Can you think of anything more that might help?”
“My poor boy is terrified. That’s why he shut down. He’s been having nightmares lately, waking up screaming.”
Luke shared a quick glance with Heather. “Do you know what they were about?”
“He said they were about school. Which is odd, because he always enjoyed school, despite his challenges.”
“Maybe they weren’t about his school,” said Heather gently. Luke nodded to her to continue. “Did he describe the school at all?”
“He said it was full of zombies. Feeble-minded zombies.”
“Feeble-minded?” Luke said sharply. That phrasing couldn’t be a coincidence. “Are those the exact words he used?”
“Yes. Odd, right? That’s not a phrase people use very often. I don’t know where he got it. Except from one of those old history buffs he’s been hanging around.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “Tell me more about that.”
“Oh, well, I doubt it’s relevant.”
“You never know. Sometimes the tiniest, most random thing can crack a case. I do a true crime podcast with my friend,” Heather explained when Lily looked at her, puzzled. “Well, it’s more a ‘expose the bad guys’ podcast. And my friend’s been being doing most of the work, but anyway, my point is that you literally never know what the key piece of information ends up being.”
Lily got to her feet, and for a moment, Luke feared that she was ending the interview. “I love podcasts. I’ve been thinking of starting my own, all about life on an offshore island. Do you think people would be interested?”
“Oh, definitely. I can even help you get it going.”
Heather had pushed the right button. Looking thrilled by her offer, Lily beckoned them to follow her. “I guess I should show you Andy’s latest obsession then.”
They trooped through a set of French doors, down a path lined with rhododendrons and tiger lilies, to a small cedar-shingled guesthouse with tidy blue trim.
“This is where Andy stays,” Lily explained. “He can’t live away from home, but this way he has some independence. That’s why we let him do that lobstering job too. He has no need for money, but it makes him feel self-sufficient. Normally I would never come in here without his permission. I feel very strongly about that. But if it will help keep him out of jail…”
If Luke had had his own guesthouse at the age of nineteen, it would have been littered with pizza boxes and Blue-rays. But Andy kept his space immaculate and orderly—books arranged by the color of the spine, for instance. Not a single dish had been left in the sink to be washed, not a single piece of fruit sat on the counter growing mold spots.
Heather whistled. “Does he ever take on cleaning jobs? Can I send him to my mother’s house?”
Lily managed a pained smile. “He has a touch of OCD. He can’t sleep if something’s out of place. He definitely didn’t get that from me. Anyway, when Andy gets interested in something, he can’t let it go. He’s like a dog with a bone. Lately he’s been spending time at that beach with all the shells.”
“Shell Beach?” Heather’s eyes widened.
“Is that the name? Can’t we come up with a more imaginative name? For such a beautiful place, this island can be very prosaic. But yes, that’s the one. He was spending hours and hours out there. I even got a call from Gary asking me to remind Andy that he has a real job. When he wasn’t at the beach, he was hanging out with those gossips at the historical society. But he was very secretive about it all. Every time I asked, he told me to butt out.”
“So you don’t know what he was up to?”
“I didn’t say that.” She stepped to a worktable set up in one corner, with a gooseneck lamp in Andy’s favorite color, orange. Luke was already familiar with Andy’s obsession with orange. Pulling out her key chain, she unlocked the bottom drawer. “Take a look at this.”
Luke set aside his squeamishness at invading Andy’s privacy. His mother had invited them in, after all. The drawer was filled with what looked like beach flotsam. A weathered scrap of rope, the base of a hurricane lantern, handfuls of sea glass…and buttons.
