“Just crossed the bridge,” she said. “Wait. Was that you going the other way?”
“Pull over,” he said. “I’m turning around.”
She drove onto the shoulder and put the car in park. As she waited, she hastily checked her face in the mirror, smoothing the tangles from her russet hair.
A minute later, Luke pulled up behind her and killed the engine.
She got out of the car to meet him.
He strode toward her like he was walking across a crime scene. At some point he’d ditched the jacket and tie. The top two buttons of his white shirt were open.
“You just heading home?” she asked.
“Yeah. You too?”
She nodded.
“Guess it’s been a hell of a day for both of us.” He glanced at his watch. “Look, I know it’s late. But do you want to grab a drink? I could use one.”
Harper hid her surprise. It had been a long time since they’d had a drink together.
“Sure,” she said. “Why not?”
He looked down the empty street. Not a single car had passed while they talked.
“It’s a bit late, I guess. You know any place that might be open?”
“How about the Shipwatch?” she suggested. “It’s the old white and blue hotel on the main street. It stays open late.”
“Sounds good. I’ll follow you.”
Harper got back into the Camaro and sat still for a second. What were the chances that they’d pass each other like that? There’d been a time when he would have been the first person she called tonight. He was a good cop and, despite everything, one she trusted.
Maybe this was fate.
He stayed behind her as the road curved around the edge of the island to where the Shipwatch sat, just off the main beach. With snow-white walls and nautical blue trim, the 1950s hotel was a blast from the past. Known to everyone in town as “the Shipwreck,” it was the island’s main late-night hangout.
The parking lot behind the building was half empty. Harper parked at the back, out of habit. Luke pulled up next to her.
“This place is a bit eccentric,” she warned him, as they walked across the asphalt to the hotel bar.
“I think I can handle it,” he said, with a slight smile.
They could hear the Eagles wailing from the jukebox even before they opened the door. Inside, the cool air smelled of spilled beer. It wasn’t crowded, but everyone who’d made it this far was in it for the long haul.
“Fresh blood!” a drunk man cried, pointing as they crossed the empty dance floor to the bar.
Luke gave Harper a raised eyebrow, but all he said was, “Beck’s?”
She nodded. “I’ll grab a table.”
She took a seat near the door and leaned back, scanning the room. There were about ten people left. Most of them were wasted. As the song shifted to another bouncy oldie, the drunk—a red-faced man in an Atlanta Falcons T-shirt—began to dance unsteadily, a beer bottle in his hand.
Luke was chatting with the bartender. She was tiny, with short black hair and a silver hoop in her nose. He said something that made her laugh as she popped the caps off the beers with quick, practiced moves and slid them across, making eye contact.
Harper couldn’t blame her. With his rangy good looks and country-boy smile, Luke could charm the fur off a cat.
God, she missed him.
When he reached her a few minutes later and handed her a bottle, he said, “I figured you didn’t want a glass.”
Shaking her head, she took a sip. The beer was ice cold. She hadn’t known how much she needed it until that moment.
“Oh, this was a good idea,” she murmured, leaning back in the unyielding wooden chair, and trying to clear thoughts of her father’s past from her mind.
“How’d it go at the Rayne house?” she asked.
He gave a slight shrug. “We didn’t find any bodies. It’s always harder when they don’t leave the corpses lying around.”
“So you didn’t arrest anyone?” She held up one hand. “Off the record, obviously.”
“No. The house was pretty clean.” He paused. “Got to say, though, I heard a lot about you tonight.”
“Me?” She didn’t hide her surprise. “From who?”
“Allegra and Hunter. They kept asking me to call you. Said they’d only talk to me if you were there, too.” He gave her a curious look. “What’d you do to convince them that you’re their champion?”
“Nothing,” she insisted. “I’ve only met them a couple of times.”
She was being disingenuous. After all, she’d spent the last two days trying to win