Page 32 of Trick of Light
Sea glass on the beach turned out to be correct. Gabby parked her bike in the meadow grass where sand met land, and hurdled across driftwood logs and piles of flat stones to reach the pair.
“Gabby!” Heather looked up from the sparkling sea jewels cupped in her hand. “What’s wrong?”
“The police searched Tamara’s cottage and now she’s been arrested. They’re taking her to the lockup in Luke’s office.”
“Oh my—” She bit off the last word with a glance at Izzy. The little girl, a chubby blond curly-haired angel, was too engrossed with the hermit crab she’d found to pay much attention. “They think she killed Amelia?” she whispered.
“It sure looks suspicious. They must have found something in their search, some toxic plant.” Gabby squatted next to them, regretting her choice of footwear. Her suede boots didn’t need to be anywhere near this clammy sand.
“Does Barnaby know?”
“He ditched me in his rush to get to her, so I’m sure he does. I don’t believe Tamara had anything to do with it.”
“Of course I don’t either, but I’m sure Barnaby will do whatever he can for her. What can we do?”
Gabby had been thinking about this and come to the obvious conclusion. “We can show them her piano student notebook. That would give them another suspect to look into.”
“That’s pretty flimsy evidence. Besides, it will make us look bad for messing with the crime scene.”
Gabby made a face. “Kind of you to say ‘us.’ I was the one who did that.”
“We’re in this together, babe.” Heather turned to her possible future step-daughter, who was peering intently at the tiny claws emerging from the shell the crab was occupying. “Izzy, why don’t you give that little guy a break and try your hand at a sandcastle.”
Izzy pouted, but released the hermit crab, which immediately half-buried itself in the wet sand. “Will you help me?”
“Of course. I’ll be your construction crew. Anything but painting.” She made a face at Gabby, who laughed. They all moved to the slightly drier sand higher up the beach, while Heather launched into teacher mode, explaining how the sand had to be dry but not too dry, and not too coarse or too fine.
When Izzy was settled into her new project, Heather said, “Here’s an idea. Let’s ask Tamara if she knows anything about Keith Garner. Maybe Amelia said something about him recently.”
“You mean visit her in jail?”
“Sure, why not? It’s just a room in the back of the constable’s office. I don’t even think it has bars on the window. The view is pretty, according to my mom. It looks out on the dock that goes into that inlet.”
Gabby felt her anxiety over Tamara’s arrest ease a bit. At least the poor woman wouldn’t be horribly uncomfortable. If she had to go to a real jail, or a real prison, that would be a different matter, but a casual island lockup was probably no problem. “Okay, I’ll see if they’ll let me visit her.”
“Hang on. I got this.” Heather took out her phone. Seeing Gabby’s texts, she murmured, “Sorry. I actually didn’t mean to turn my ringer off. Carrie wouldn’t like that either.”
Carrie was Izzy’s mom, and also a childhood friend of Heather’s. That was life on a remote island, thought Gabby. All the crisscrossed connections went way back. Was that also the case with Keith Garner, Amelia, and Tamara? Connections that went way back?
Heather clicked on Luke’s number. “Hey babe. I’m here on the beach with your angel child and Gabby. Yes, Gabby’s an angel too,” she added. Gabby rolled her eyes. “We’re wondering if we could visit Tamara Brown while she’s in your guest suite at Chez Constable.”
Heather’s cheery expression sobered as she listened to Luke’s answer. “Okay, understood,” she murmured. “Love you. I’ll give Izzy a kiss for you.”
After hanging up, she shook her head. “The Harbortown police are temporarily in charge of the lockup and they’re being very protective. Apparently Barnaby talked them into staying on the island instead of taking her into town, so they don’t want to take any chances.”
“Well, crap.” Gabby heaved out a sigh, then scooped up a handful of sand to add to Izzy’s under-construction palace. “Maybe I could tap on her window and mime through the glass?”
“That would be fun to witness, but please don’t do anything that’s going to get Luke in trouble.”
“Oh, it’s Luke you’re worried about,” she teased. “I see how it is.”
Heather made a face at her. “Luke lets me play with this little cherub here. What have you done for me lately?”
“Um, painted your mom’s coffee shop? Doesn’t that count for anything?”
But even as they laughed, something Heather had said snagged in her mind. Something about getting Luke into trouble. And then it clicked. “I know how I can talk to Tamara.”
As it turned out, it wasn’t as easy as Gabby had hoped, getting herself arrested on Sea Smoke Island. She tried walking out of Sea Scoops without paying for her double scoop cone, but the teenager running the cash register didn’t even notice. Then she walked off with someone’s box of groceries that they’d left on the dock. But it was too heavy and no one was following, so she sheepishly brought them back.
