our way to the coroner’s office right now,” he said. “I’ll call Tybee P.D. and get a local unit out there.”
“I’m going, too,” she said. “I need to see what’s happening.”
“Harper, don’t do that,” he said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“It’s my job,” she reminded him, although she knew Baxter wasn’t interested in this story. “I’ll call dispatch and let them know. I promise I’ll be careful.”
“The roads are a mess. Half the streets are flooded.”
“The Tybee highway’s still clear,” she said, stubbornly.
There was a pause. When he spoke again he’d clearly realized there was no point in arguing.
“For God’s sake, be careful,” he told her. “If it gets much worse they’ll close that highway. You could get stuck out there.”
“I will.”
As soon as she hung up, she switched to hands-free and called police dispatch to let them know where she was going. They directed her to a nearby street for an escort.
The next number she dialed was Miles’s. “Get out to Tybee,” she told him. “There’s trouble at Xavier Rayne’s house.”
“Ah, hell,” he complained. “They couldn’t wait until there’s a nice little hurricane to do this?”
“They just called me, screaming about a gun. I’m heading out there now.” He didn’t say anything, but she could sense his reluctance. “Something’s going to happen out there tonight, Miles,” she insisted. “I can sense it.”
He heaved a sigh. “Fine. I’ll head out there.”
Baxter, when Harper called her a minute later, was even less impressed. “We’ve got a dead FBI agent to deal with and you’re going to babysit a movie star?”
Harper was nearing the marshes by then and the phone began to break up, the signal crumbling from distance and bad weather.
“This is it, Baxter.” She raised her voice to be heard above the crackle. “I can feel it. Someone’s getting arrested tonight. Just hold the front page until you hear from me, okay? Baxter?”
The phone was dead.
Harper didn’t know if the editor had hung up on her or she’d lost the signal. The wind was blowing the car so hard it shimmied. Driving required all her attention now.
This time, no county patrol car met her on the marshes to escort her across. All the deputies were probably too busy dealing with the storm. The road was deserted. Water blew across it like shallow ocean waves. The car’s wide tires sent wide sheets of spray high in the air.
If anything, the weather grew worse as she neared the coast. Even with the wipers at top speed, she could see the highway only in flashes before it disappeared beneath streams of water again. She slowed to twenty miles per hour, and gripped the wheel so tightly her hands ached.
When she finally reached the bridge onto the island, she let out a long, relieved breath. At the first intersection, the traffic light had come loose and swung by a wire, buffeted by the wind. The light was flashing red.
Danger.
Her phone rang as she was navigating cautiously around a fallen tree that had blocked much of the road. She hit answer without looking at it. “McClain.”
“Harper, it’s Luke.”
He said something else, but the signal was terrible. The sound broke apart before she could catch it. “What, Luke?” she raised her voice. “I can’t hear you.”
“Tybee Police … busy … can’t … won’t…”
“You’re breaking up, Luke,” she said.
“Soon … careful.” His voice disappeared.
Harper hit recall, but the phone had no signal at all. She thought she’d got the gist anyway: The local police were tied up with storm damage and couldn’t get to the house right now. She’d be on her own. And she wouldn’t be able to call Savannah if she needed help.
The realization made her stomach tighten. If her suspicions were right, there was a killer in that house. But she couldn’t go back now. Not without knowing the truth.
When she neared the turn for Admiral’s Row, everything was strangely dark. Not a flicker of light came from any window. Every streetlight was out.
A power line must be down, she thought as she turned cautiously into the narrow street. Her headlights were blinding in the pitch-black night. The darkness gave the island an abandoned feel, as if everyone had fled in a panic, leaving behind cars and homes full of belongings. It was eerie.
The trees swayed violently, casting skittering shadows. A frond broke loose from a palm and shot across in front of her car, making her jump.
Harper pulled up behind number 6 and cut the engine. The century-old house sat in absolute darkness, its windows