disappointment as a boy, they’d been closed up before I was born. Mom threatened to do the same with parts of the basement. I used to sneak down here with my friends. God knows why.”
“I did the same thing.”
“You think I didn’t know?” Rob chuckled, slapped Eli on the shoulder. Then stopped again when they reached the old section.
“Christ almighty. I know you told me how extensive, but I didn’t fully believe it. What kind of madness is this?”
“Treasure fever, I think. Nothing else makes sense.”
“You can’t grow up in Whiskey Beach and not come across treasure fever, even catch a mild case.”
“You?”
“I believed—feverishly—in Esmeralda’s Dowry as a teenager. Scoured books, hunted up maps. I took scuba lessons in preparation for a career as a treasure hunter. I grew out of it, but there’s still a part that wonders. But this . . . this is senseless. And dangerous. The police have no leads?”
“Not so far, or not that they’re sharing with me. Then again, they have a murder on their hands.”
Eli had considered this, had weighed the pros and cons of laying it all out for his father. He hadn’t known until that moment, he’d decided to do so. “I think they might be connected.”
Rob studied his son. “I think we should take those dogs of ours for a walk, and you can tell me why. And how.”
Inside, Abra sat with Hester in the morning room.
“This is nice,” Abra said. “I’ve missed this.”
“You’ve kept the house beautifully. I knew you would.” She gestured to the pots of flowers on the terrace outside. “Your work, I’m told.”
“I got some limited assistance. Eli’s not much of a gardener.”
“That can change. He’s changed since he’s been here.”
“He needed the time, the space.”
“It’s more than that. I’m seeing glimpses of who he used to be, mixed with who he’s becoming. It does my heart good, Abra.”
“He’s happier than when he came. He looked so sad, so lost and so angry under it all.”
“I know it, and it’s more than what happened in the past year. He let too much of himself go before that because he’d made a promise, and keeping promises is important.”
“Did he love her? It doesn’t feel right to ask him.”
“I think he loved parts of her, and he wanted what he thought they could make together, wanted it enough to make the promise.”
“A promise is a fearsome thing.”
“For some, yes. For people like Eli. And for you. If his marriage had been happy, he might’ve become someone else yet, some other combination of himself. Someone who could have been content with his work in the law, his life in Boston, and he’d have kept the promise. I would have lost the boy who once thrived in Whiskey Beach, but that would’ve been fine. The same could be said about you.”
“I guess it could.”
“Is he seeing people?”
“He likes his solitude, but that goes with the work he’s chosen. But yes. He and Mike O’Malley seem to have hit it off, and he’s reconnected with Vinnie Hanson.”
“Oh, that boy. Who’d have thought that half-naked, surf-riding, pot-smoking layabout would end up a county deputy?”
“You always liked him, it shows.”
“He was so damn affable. I’m glad Eli’s reconnected with him, and is friendly with Mike.”
“I think Eli makes friends, and keeps them, easily. Oh, and he spent the best part of an evening tossing them back with Stoney at the pub. They really hit it off.”
“Good God. I hope someone drove him home, and I don’t mean Stoney.”
“We walked.” Abra realized the implications of “we” the instant Hester’s brows lifted.
“I wondered.” With a curve to her lips, Hester lifted her martini glass. “Lissa seemed very excited you’d join us for the weekend.”
“I don’t want it to be awkward. Hester, you mean so much to me.”
“Why would it be awkward? When I asked Eli to stay here, I hoped he’d find that time and space, find those pieces of himself. And I hoped the two of you would . . . start walking home together.”
“Did you?”
“Why wouldn’t I? In fact, I intended to meddle, if necessary, once I got fully back on my feet. Are you in love with him?”
Abra took a deep sip of wine. “You move fast.”
“I’m old. I can’t waste time.”
“Old, my ass.”
“But not so old I don’t notice you haven’t answered the question.”
“I don’t know the answer. I love being with him, and watching him become the way you talked about. I know things are complicated for both of us,