“Let me go get my father so we can get out of here. Let’s let Dad have a good day,” Kat said.
“Good idea,” Amanda agreed. “Sean? Are you ready? It’s time to go,” she called, her voice rising.
Sean appeared, zipping up his waterproof Windbreaker. “This is it? Let’s roll.”
He took it in stride that Tom and Clara were joining them as Tom opened the rear door of the black sedan, and Sean and Amanda slipped in.
Kat wedged in next to them. She wasn’t leaving her father. “Caer, sit up front with Tom and Clara,” Kat told her.
Amanda giggled and squeezed closer to Sean. Kat was tight-lipped. Caer saw Tom exchange glances with his wife. They both smiled, but they looked wary.
They reached the wharf and started loading the boat. With that many people, it was quick work. Caer was in the galley with Kat and Amanda when Marni came down the steps into the cabin. “She’s ready to go as soon as Cal gets here. But you know how he is. He ducked into the office the minute we got here and got hung up on a call. He’ll be a few minutes, so I say, let’s break out that whiskey. We’ll toast Eddie, and by then Cal should be back and we can get under way.”
“Where’s the whiskey?” Kat asked.
“Topside,” Marni told them. “So come on up.”
“I’ll get the glasses,” Amanda said.
On the deck, Sean was seated at the helm. He had on sunglasses, so it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. “Not a lot of wind, but enough,” he told Marni as she approached. “Besides, we always have the motor, and it’s not like we’re actually going anywhere.” He looked at her and frowned. “Where’s Cal?”
“That guy from the flotilla committee called. He said he’d be right along.” She appeared to be struggling with the seal on the bottle of whiskey.
“I can do that for you,” Kat said, coming up on deck, followed by Amanda, who had a tray of glasses.
“It’s okay, I’ve got it,” Marni said. “Caer, would you pass the glasses?”
Clara came over from where she’d been standing by the rail, offering to help, but Caer smiled and shook her head. “I’ve got it, Clara, thank you. Here, take a glass.”
“Oh, I need to watch out for the whiskey,” Clara said.
“This is for Eddie,” Marni said. “One drink won’t hurt you.”
Birds screeched, and Caer looked around, almost dropping the glass she was holding. It seemed as if the flock of black-winged demons had left the O’Riley lawn and followed them to the boat. A chill went through her as the whiskey was passed out.
Marni lifted her glass. “Down the hatch in one big gulp, everyone. Just like Eddie took it, ‘neat and hard as an Irish whore,’ as he liked to say.”
“For Eddie. A friend like no other,” Sean said, and downed his whiskey.
“For Eddie,” Kat said, then swallowed and winced.
“Eddie,” Clara whispered.
“Eddie,” Tom echoed.
Caer downed her own glass of whiskey. It seared down her throat like fire, and seemed to light a fire in her blood.
The birds took flight. Unease, like black lava, burned through her with an even greater fire than the whiskey.
“Stop. Something’s wrong,” she said suddenly. “Something’s wrong. We can’t go out today.”
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket, her movements awkward, as the others stared at her in shock and confusion. “Kat, Sean, we have to get off this boat. Now. I know it. I…”
She couldn’t dial. Her fingers were going numb.
The phone fell to the deck, and she looked around, her vision hazy.
The birds seemed to join together to form one monstrous black shadow-beast and descend over the boat.
Zach talked to the forensic tech who had examined Eddie’s clothes, but, as he’d expected, there were no clues for him there. He thanked the man, left and called Aidan from the car.
“Is it Eddie?” Aidan asked, before Zach could speak.
“Yes. He was stabbed in the chest. The M.E. thinks he was stabbed and went overboard pretty much simultaneously. The body is a hell of a mess.”
“To be expected, after that long in the water,” Aidan told him. “I have some interesting information for you.”
“Shoot, please, and quickly.”
“Where are you?”
“On my way back from Providence.”
“Good. I’ve checked out Morrissey. He’s spotless. More than spotless, actually, and there’s no way he’d kill anyone for money.”
“Why?”
“He’s the grandson of Cornelius Sharp.”
“Who’s Cornelius Sharp?”
“Well, he’s dead, but he was one of the richest men in the state. Morrissey has a ton of money in trust. He doesn’t even have to work, but he’s one of those men who don’t want to live off family money. He made it through the academy with flying colors, and he’s never had so much as a parking ticket.”
“And that’s so interesting because…?”
“That’s not interesting, but I’ll tell you what is. Mrs. O’Riley.”
“What about her?” Zach asked sharply, acutely aware that Sean and Kat—and Caer—were out with the woman even now.
“She was born Amanda Marie Jenkins.”