J.B. smiled, trying to ease some of Christina's obvious tension. Zoe's return to Goose Harbor wasn't easy for her little sister, either. "Did you know Zoe eats Toaster Strudels sprinkled with flax seed?"

"Oh, God. Is that the worst?"

But Christina had smiled, even laughed, and J.B. headed outside, the sun so sharply bright as it rose up over the harbor that it gave him an instant headache. He had no deep sense of belonging here. None at all, no matter how many of his ancestors were buried in Goose Harbor cemeteries. To him, at that moment, it was a strange and beautiful place, and he understood why his grandparents had cleared out and headed west.

Twelve

Zoe was aware of J.B. easing in behind her, then beside her, as she made her way along Ocean Drive. He'd prodded and poked at her for information and reactions, and maybe he'd needed to because of Teddy Shelton and the break-ins-and maybe she'd let him because she wanted his fresh take on what had happened here last year. But it'd been difficult for her, even just that much questioning.

Because all along, deep down, she was convinced she'd said something, done something, that had caused her father to be shot dead early on a beautiful autumn morning.

"You okay?" J.B. asked.

She nodded. "It's different when it's your father lying there."

He said nothing, for which she was grateful.

"Zoe! Hey, wait up!"

It was Kyle Castellane, running to catch up with them. He jumped off the sidewalk onto the street and came up on her left. He was out of breath, his longish hair pulled back in a ponytail. "Wild night last night, huh? Looks like we have a serial thief on the loose in Goose Harbor."

"Let's hope that's all."

"Ooh," he said, grinning, "always the doom-and-gloom cop."

She wanted to hit him. "What's up, Kyle?"

"Nothing-just wanted to say hi. Chris tell you we stayed up until all hours brainstorming on my documentary?"

"Sounds like you're making progress."

He shrugged, still out of breath from his run up from the docks. "I run into the occasional stone wall."

Like Chris's big sister, he seemed to imply. Zoe didn't bite. "That's the way it goes, I guess."

"Chris tells me you don't want to get involved. That's okay, but maybe you can point me in the right direction on something." He paused, walking a few steps, but Zoe didn't take the bait and say yes before she knew what he wanted. "Did Olivia ever tell you about her best friend when she was growing up? Posey Sutherland. She lived across Ocean Drive, about a half mile from Olivia."

J.B. stiffened noticeably next to her and Zoe assumed Kyle's intense, self-absorbed manner got on his nerves. It was a beautiful morning, she was just back in Goose Harbor since her father and her aunt's deaths, and Kyle Castellane wanted to pick her brain for his documentary.

Zoe shook her head. "I know the Sutherland name, of course, but I don't recall Aunt Olivia ever mentioning, at least to me, a Posey Sutherland, friend or otherwise."

Kyle nodded, frowning as he considered her answer. "Posey was the youngest daughter of John Lester Sutherland. All kinds of bells and whistles went off when I saw his name. That has to be where Olivia got the Lester for Mr. Lester McGrath, Jen Periwinkle's evil nemesis."

As if he had to tell her who Mr. McGrath was. Zoe slowed her pace, dropping just slightly behind J.B., but enough for her to get the full brunt of a gust of wind blowing up off the water. But she could feel the temperature rising now that it was midmorning. "It could just be an innocent coincidence."

"I don't think so. The more I learn about her, the more I think Olivia was deliberate about everything she did. It's my guess she didn't think much of her friend's father and this was her private revenge."

"But if you have no proof-"

"I can raise the question without answering it. But I want to know what she thought of Posey's father-I want to know what happened to Olivia West's best friend from childhood. What happened to Posey Sutherland? I can't find a thing. Not yet, anyway. I'll keep looking."

"I can't help you," Zoe told him.

"I checked town records. Posey was a year younger than Olivia. They grew up together. I'm checking with the local school district to see if they have pictures of them in their archives. I imagine they already gave everything they had on Olivia to the town library."

J.B. picked up his pace, and Zoe imagined he'd had his fill of Kyle. She tried to smile at him. "You are into this documentary, aren't you?"

Kyle hardly paused. "Zoe, this is all so fascinating. You find the answer to one question, and it leads to another. This Sutherland connection to Lester McGrath- no one else has that. It's new material. She named one of the most famous villains of the twentieth century after someone she knew."

"For whatever reason," Zoe added.

He hunched his skinny shoulders against another cold, hard gust of wind, which tangled the ends of his longish tawny ponytail and made Zoe think twice about kayaking today. But Kyle was into his topic now. "I talked to Bruce Young's grandmother. She's in her nine-ties-she remembers hearing something about a scandal involving Posey Sutherland, but no one would discuss the details. That's provocative, don't you think?"

Zoe wondered how bored J.B. was, but, to his credit, he didn't try to change the subject. She angled Kyle a look. "Is this why my sister was out of sorts this morning, because you kept her up talking about the mystery of Posey Sutherland?"

Color rose to his cheeks, whether from the wind or self-consciousness Zoe couldn't be sure. "Yeah," he said. "She's a good sport when I get going. You know, this would all have been easier if I could have started when she was still alive-"

Zoe inhaled sharply. To his credit, Kyle realized what he'd said. "I'm sorry-I didn't mean to imply it was inconvenient of her to die when she did. I-" He stopped, peering across Zoe and looking sideways at J.B. "There must be a reason Olivia named her evil nemesis McGrath, too."

"McGrath's not an uncommon name," J.B. said.

"Yeah, but I'm thinking if Lester's from a real person, so is-"

"Stop!" Zoe groaned but tried to keep any sting out of her voice. "Kyle, I just had a huge breakfast that I need to walk off. I have no idea where Aunt Olivia came up with the name for Mr. Lester McGrath. I can see you're serious about this documentary, but I loved Olivia-I still miss her and think about her every day. This is all fun and interesting for you, but for me-"

"I understand," Kyle said quickly, almost sheepishly, and dropped back and shoved his hands into his pants pockets, his nose red now. But he was sullen, too, insulted. "I don't pretend I had the connection to her that you do, but she knew my family for decades-"

J.B. cut him off. "You've got a famous grandfather. Why don't you do a documentary about him?"

Kyle shook his head, taking J.B.'s question seriously. "That'd be taking on too much too soon. I'm not ready to touch my grandfather." He seemed to have no idea that anyone might consider his comment offensive and moved along. "There's something else. Christina said I'd have to ask you-she's unbending on the subject and won't give me permission herself. She says it's your house now. If you'll let me, I'd like to take a look in Olivia's attic."

"There's nothing up there," Zoe said, refusing even to glance in J.B.'s direction.

"Maybe as far as you're concerned, but she died only last year." Kyle's tone was formal, as if he were in a real negotiation and not just asking a favor of a friend. "Given the circumstances, I'm guessing you haven't had a chance to go through all her belongings yet. The house has been sitting empty for the better part of a year. If I can just go through-"