When she didn't go on, J.B. prodded her. "Did you see the driver?"

She shook her head. She was still very pale, her stark expression a contrast to her pretty, ruffly clothes. "I think I was a little blinded by the explosion. I-I couldn't see much of anything except that car coming at me."

"What about Kyle?" Zoe asked quietly.

"I don't-" She turned away, still fighting her tears. "I didn't see him. It must have been him behind the wheel, but I can't say for sure. I don't know what happened to him. The police-the police want to talk to him." She sucked in an audible breath, let it out in a whoosh, as if she were trying to stave off a panic attack, keep fear and hysteria from overwhelming her. "We had a fight last night. Otherwise he'd have been down here helping me out. Most mornings he helps early on, so I don't have to hire a waitress or run myself ragged."

Zoe touched her sister's shoulder. "Chris, it's not your fault-"

She sniffled, nodded. Her hand was shaking now as she picked up her mug. She took the smallest of sips.

J.B. could feel the strong coffee, even with the sugar, burning in his stomach. He thought about Kyle Castel-lane and Teddy Shelton. Luke. Stick Monroe. These women's dead father. A police officer killed in the line of duty. "You and Kyle argued about him sneaking into your great-aunt's attic?"

"And other things. We covered a lot of ground." She seemed embarrassed, her emotional reserve as natural and intractable as her sister's. "He was such a jerk. He said he never asked for Zoe to rescue him."

Zoe hadn't touched her own coffee, and J.B. thought she looked ragged, cold, so different from last night. But she'd buttoned down her emotions. She was in control. "Did you two talk about Luke's fear that Kyle was involved in Dad's murder?"

"He thinks we're out to blame it on an outsider. Why not his family? Why not him?" Chris took in a sharp breath, her lingering distress over their argument evident. "They're not from Goose Harbor, so we locals will turn anything we can on its head and use it against them. He says that's why his father said what he did. He's worried we'll all somehow find a way to pin everything on Kyle. And Kyle says if not him, his father."

Zoe took a sip of coffee, set it down and dumped in both sugar and milk. "Chris, you know the police will follow the facts and the evidence. No one's out to pin the blame on anyone. I'm sorry Kyle and Luke feel-"

Her sister snorted. "They're both so selfish. This isn't about them! They're just worried about their own skins. They don't care that Dad's dead. They don't care that his murderer is still out there-he could kill again, he could get away with what he did!" She was furious now, shocked and frightened, but J.B. could feel her determination. "I know-oh, Zoe, now I know what you felt like last fall. I was in such a state of denial. I just wanted all this to go away. It won't."

"Chris, we don't know that any of this is connected to Dad."

"It is."

Zoe didn't argue with her. "Luke made his deal with the devil when he hired Teddy Shelton. The police will talk to him and get to the bottom of it. He could be covering up nothing, or he could have real information."

"I know. We have to be patient." Christina smiled, self-conscious. "I seem to recall people telling you that a lot last year."

"We'll get through it, Chris," Zoe said.

"Yep. We will."

"It's possible Kyle saw something," J.B. said. "That could be why he ran out."

Christina looked at him, her eyes as gray now as the horizon. "Then where is he now?"

Good question. J.B. didn't have an answer for her, so he left it hanging.

"Bruce got here before anyone else-I was already calling the police, although I think they heard the explosion." She breathed out, a hint of color high in her cheeks. "Bruce is a rock, I'll say that for him." She looked around suddenly, as if she were just now tuning into her surroundings. "Do you two want anything to eat? I didn't have a chance to make muffins, but I can whip up some eggs."

"Coffee's fine, Chris, thanks," Zoe said.

"Damn, Zoe, I'm sorry for going off on you yesterday. Don't think I don't want the truth to come out about what happened to Dad, because I do."

"I know that."

"Whatever it is, I can take it. It's one thing to live with not knowing who shot him because his killer's in Colombia or New Jersey or someplace and there's just no realistic chance we'll ever know. But if he's here in Goose Harbor, if we can find him, or her, or them-" She trailed off, leaving it at that. "I need to get back to work."

She took her coffee with her and swung off, more energetic and focused if not calmer.

"Hey, Agent McGrath," one of the lobstermen, a wiry guy somewhere between fifty and a million, called to him. "You going to find the bastard who tossed a grenade into your boat? We can't have some asshole running around town torching boats."

It was one thing to tease him-they knew they'd never act on their threats, that they were all in good fun. It was another to have someone come damn close to destroying all their livelihoods.

"The police are on it." He got to his feet and glanced down at Zoe. "I should go back down there. You?"

She rose, handing him his coffee. "Take it with you. I have an in with the owner. We can bring our mugs back when we're done. I don't know about you, but this stuff's burning a hole in my stomach, although I could use about a gallon of coffee this morning."

"Not much sleep last night?"

"As much as you got, Agent McGrath."

The drizzle had picked up, now a fine, bone-chilling, misting rain, but the cops didn't seem to notice. The firefighters were heading out, which meant they were satisfied there were no other explosive devices in the vicinity and the fire danger was over. Although he had an urge to hold Zoe close, keep her warm, J.B. just walked beside her down to the water.

Stick Monroe was hovering on the edge of the taped-off crime scene in his corduroy shorts and sweatshirt. "I heard what happened," he told Zoe. "What an asinine thing to do. What the hell was the point? It must have been Teddy Shelton. He's an idiot. I warned Luke."

Zoe stared at him. "You knew Luke'd hired him?"

"Not immediately. I thought about telling you but decided it would only upset you unnecessarily." He glared down at the lobster boat. "It was a judgment call."

"Not a very good one! Stick, what were you thinking?"

He settled his dark eyes on her. "I was thinking about you. So was Luke. He was concerned, not irrationally, I might add, that McGrath here would stir up trouble and you and Christina would get caught in the crossfire."

"Luke wasn't trying to protect me."

"You underestimate your importance to people, Zoe. You always have. You help them, you're there for them, but when they try to do the same, you question their motives."

Zoe didn't push. "Luke says he fired Shelton."

"Let's hope." Stick sighed, shifting his gaze back down to the ruined boat. "He had nothing to do with this little show. Shelton 's playing his own game now. Don't for one second think he's gone away. He knows Luke's rich. He'll find a way to try to blackmail him, extort money from him."

"What about you?" J.B. asked. "Do you think Shelton will come after you?"

The old judge snorted. "I hope he does. He'll land up in prison for an even longer stretch this time."

Zoe hunched her shoulders against the rain and the cold, and J.B. could feel her focus, her determination as she beat back her concern for her friends and family. "Kyle's BMW pulled out of here a minute or two after the explosion. It almost ran Chris over. She didn't see the driver. They both could have been blinded by the explosion, but who knows."

Stick frowned. "It wasn't Kyle?"