“That’d be fine,” Beck told him.

“Mr. Sinclair, Chief Beck was telling me the property’s been in your family for over a hundred years,” Mia said as they walked toward the row of cottages.

“Almost two hundred years,” Sinclair corrected. “My ancestor, Harold Sinclair, built the house, pretty much the way you see it today. It’s been added to a bit here and there over the years, and we’ve kept up with modern conveniences, but I feel confident old Harold wouldn’t have much trouble recognizing his home.” Sinclair smiled. “Actually, there are some who say he’s never left.”

“Are you saying the place is haunted?” Mia asked.

“Depends on who you ask.” He shrugged. “Some claim to have seen a couple in nineteenth-century dress, dancing on the lawn. Could be Harold and his second wife, Felice, could be his son Daniel and his wife Cordelia. She was an English beauty, her portrait hangs in the Blue Room, if you’re interested in taking a look.”

“I’d love to. Maybe on my next trip out.” Mia smiled.

“Ah, all business.” Sinclair nodded. “I understand. And here we are.”

He pointed to a cottage directly ahead. It was small, clapboard painted white with dark green shutters to match the main house. A brass number three was nailed to the center of the door. Daniel Sinclair knocked several times before it was opened by a sleepy young woman who stifled a yawn.

“Oh. Mr. Sinclair. Sorry.” The girl appeared embarrassed. “Am I late?”

“No, no. Nothing like that, Elise.” He stepped back and introduced Beck and Mia.

“Chief Beck and Agent Shields would like to ask you a few questions about Holly.” He turned to Beck and said, “I’ll get that list for you now.”

“Thanks, Dan.”

“Did something happen to Holly?” Elise clutched both hands in front of her.

“We’re not sure,” Mia told her. “Have you heard from her over the past week?”

“No.” Elise shook her head, her ponytail swinging from side to side. “I haven’t, not since she left for Colorado.”

“Do you know what route she took?”

“I don’t, sorry. We roomed together, but we weren’t real close, if you know what I mean. We shared the space, not much else.”

“You wouldn’t have a picture of her, would you?” Beck asked.

“Actually, I do.” Elise looked over her shoulder into the room beyond, as if debating with herself whether or not to let them come inside. Finally, she shrugged and said, “Come on in. Sorry if the place is a little messy, but I’ve been putting in a lot of hours.”

“We understand Holly did, as well,” Mia said as she followed the girl into the small front room, which was fitted with a sofa and one armchair.

“Yeah, we all do. It’s great experience, you know? Mr. Sinclair is really good about letting us see how the place is run. He teases us about how he’s training his competition, but you know there’s no place around that can compete with this place.”

“Why’s that?” Mia asked.

“They have a great chef, they have activities for all ages here, they have boats, the bay. And the guest rooms are gorgeous. All original furniture, fireplaces, balconies overlooking the bay. Gorgeous views, a wildlife preserve right here on the property-I don’t know what else you’d look for at an inn.”

“I might have to book a room for a night,” Mia said.

“You’d have to talk to Mr. S. about that. I think he’s pretty much booked solid.” Elise headed for the door that opened off to the right. “If you’ll give me a minute, I’ll get that picture.”

She was back in an instant, the photo in hand.

“This is Holly.” She held the photo up and pointed to a tall, thin young woman with blond hair. The camera had caught her in a moment of laughter, her head tossed back. Holly Sheridan looked as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

“She’s very pretty,” Mia said softly.

“She really is. And nice, too. She wasn’t stuck on herself the way some really pretty girls are.”

“Do you know if she was dating anyone? Here or maybe at school?” Mia asked.

“She mentioned a boyfriend, Eric. He’s working someplace out west for the summer. She kept pretty busy here. She was in her last year of school and took this opportunity very seriously. There aren’t too many places like this that offer paid internships, and she seemed to want to get everything she could out of the experience.”

“Do you know what she did on her time off?”

“Not really.” Elise shrugged. “She went into town a couple of times a week, but she really spent most of her time here.”

“What about her days off?”

“Mostly slept, did her laundry, read. Maybe take out one of the kayaks, swim, relax on the dock,” Elise told Mia. “That’s pretty much all any of us do. There’s no real nightlife in St. Dennis-not that you have a lot of energy left at the end of the day-so you just relax when you can.”

“Did she get to know anyone in town, do you know?” Mia asked.

“I wouldn’t know, but really, I doubt it. She’s only been here since the middle of May, and like I said, she kept herself pretty busy.” Elise leaned against the doorjamb. “What happened to her?”

“We’re not really sure,” Beck told her, looking beyond her to the bedroom. “I guess you share a room, right? The cottage is pretty small, so I’m guessing there’s only one bedroom. Would you mind if we took a quick look around?”

Elise’s eyes darted from Beck to Mia, then back again.

“What are you looking for?” she asked.

“Anything that might help us to know Holly a little better,” Mia replied.

Elise shrugged. “I guess it would be okay. All her stuff is on the left side of the room. The right side is mine.”

Elise stepped aside to permit them to enter the bedroom, but stayed in the doorway, slumping against the molding to watch. When Mia took a plastic bag from her purse and slipped a comb into it, Elise straightened up.

“You’re taking her hair for DNA, aren’t you?” The young woman’s eyes widened. “You think she’s dead? You think she’s the girl in the plastic wrap?”

“We really don’t know,” Mia said calmly. “But we do need her DNA, yes, hopefully to rule her out.”

“I watch TV, I know about these things.” Elise’s words came in an excited rush.

“Look, Elise, let’s not jump the gun, okay? Right now, we’re just-”

“You’re looking for evidence.” It sounded like an accusation.

“We’re looking for whatever will help us find out where Holly is and what happened to her.” Once again Mia’s voice soothed. “If we knew anything for certain, I promise I’d tell you. Right now, all we know for sure is that Holly left Colorado over a week ago and hasn’t arrived here yet. Let’s just leave it at that for now, all right?”

“But there’s that girl they found in the car-”

“She hasn’t been identified yet,” Mia told her, then turned back to the room. “We’ll just be another minute, then you can have your room to yourself.”

She went past Beck to the stack of magazines that sat on the floor next to Holly’s bed. She knelt down and skimmed through the pile, which consisted mostly of food magazines, with one or two fashion magazines and the local newspaper open to the classified ads. A paperback mystery lay half under the bed.

“Any idea what she was looking for in the want ads?” Mia asked, skimming the ads. The page listed everything from ads for bait-Night crawlers our specialty!-to real estate to pets to livestock and boats.

“No.” Elise shook her head.

“Mind if we take this photo?” Beck held up the picture Elise had handed him earlier.

“Sure.” She shrugged.

“Was I supposed to ask you if you have a warrant?” Elise asked out of the blue. “They do that on TV all the time.”

“We had your permission to look around, as well as the permission of the owner,” Mia told her as she checked the paperback for a sticker with the name of the store in which it was purchased, but there was none.

She could have added that if a person is deceased, no warrant is necessary, but didn’t want to upset the roommate any more than she already was.