shed door creaking open. He went very still, silently reassured himself that he couldn’t be seen from the door. If it was Ellis, returned from paying homage to his brother, he’d never come this far into the shed.
The door shut-Mattie could hear it, feel more than see the change in light.
“It’s me,” Linc Cooper said. “I’m alone.”
Mattie got to his feet, but stayed close to the little chicken door. “Ellis isn’t back yet, is he?”
Linc shook his head, making his way to the rear of the shed. “The cops have gone out to talk to him and my father. They’re looking for you. They think you attacked Abigail Browning.”
“I didn’t attack her-that’s not what happened.”
“Then tell that to Chief Alden. He knows you. He won’t want to believe you’d deliberately hurt anyone. Running just makes you look guilty. What about your bike? Mattie, they’ll find you-”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.”
He’d hid his bike in the woods, where no one would find it, but he had no intention of giving Linc that information-that much power over him.
Linc sneered at him. “Always innocent, aren’t you?”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Mattie felt a surge of impatience. “You’d better hope our Detective Browning doesn’t think you attacked her.”
“Me? Why would I?” The kid squared his shoulders and gave Mattie an icy, superior look. “I’m not playing your game.”
“This isn’t a fucking game.”
“Whatever.” Linc stepped closer to him, holding out an envelope to him. “Here’s another two thousand. That’s four thousand, total. Take it, Mattie, and get out of here. Before you go too far. What if you’d killed Abigail today? She’s the daughter of the director of the FBI. She’s a cop-”
“You’re a bastard, Linc, you know that?” Mattie kept his voice calm, never mind the lousy situation he was in. He hadn’t meant for things to go this way. “You’re just like your father. Don’t think you’re different, because you’re not. You’re a cutthroat son of a bitch just like he is. A chip off the old block.”
Linc’s cheeks flamed red. “Better than being a foul-smelling drunk who betrays his own friends.”
Mattie snatched the envelope from him and inspected the contents, the mix of green bills. A new beginning. But his eyes welled up with tears. He coughed, covering for himself. “I want the rest.”
“I can’t-”
“I have Abigail’s necklace.”
He relished watching the shock seize Linc, turn him ashen, force him to take a step back, stumble on a bag of cow manure. “Mattie…
“You remember her necklace. It was her grandmother’s. Abigail wore it on her wedding day. The ‘something borrowed.’ Pearls, with a cameo pendant. You grabbed it.”
“I didn’t.”
“You thought no one was at the house. I’ll give you that. But she was there, and you hit her on the head-”
“Show it to me.” Linc had recovered slightly, his cockiness, his natural arrogance, rising to the challenge. “If you’ve got the necklace, show it to me.”
Mattie shook his head. “I don’t trust you not to hit me over the head.”
“If I stole it, how did you end up with it?”
“I know where you stashed it.”
Linc looked as if he’d throw up any second. “I don’t know how you can sleep at night. A six-pack of cheap beer makes all the difference, though, doesn’t it?”
“You’re not helping yourself.”
“I don’t care. I’m not paying you another dime. If you’ve got evidence that ties me to Chris’s murder, take it to the police. I don’t care anymore.”
He cared. Mattie could see the fear-the self-loathing-in the kid’s eyes. “I’m not greedy.”
Linc snorted. “You’re such a creep, Mattie.”
“You should have thrown the necklace in the ocean. That’s what you’re thinking now, isn’t it? But you panicked.”
“I’m leaving.” Linc straightened, looking less green. “I’m not going to turn you in. Sink in your own slime. But I’m through, Mattie. Do what you want to do with the necklace. I didn’t steal it. I didn’t kill Chris. I don’t know who did.”
He spun on his heels and marched out of the shed, latching the door behind him.
Mattie sank back onto the cold concrete floor. He had four thousand dollars on him, in his possession. When had he ever had this much cash? Why not take it and go?
Let it be enough. Make it be enough.
He’d just attacked Abigail Browning. Chris’s wife. His friend’s true love.
But Mattie hadn’t been able to see beyond his outrage at his friend the FBI agent cutting him off.
Mattie got out his cigarettes, tapped one out and stuck it on his lip. He didn’t dare light it. He sank his head against the stack of lobster pots.
“Hell, Chris. I’ve done it now, haven’t I?”
And there was no going back.
CHAPTER 20
Owen stood on the rock cliffs where his sister had fallen to her death. A family of black ducks bobbed in the outgoing tide below him. Tall firs and spruces grew along the edge of the vertical rock face, their roots bulging out of the thin soil, some of them hanging over the water.
Linc stayed two paces behind him. “You’re not worried about falling?”
“No. It’s not slippery.” Owen grinned at him. “And I’ve got one hand on this tree.”
“I don’t like hanging my toes over the edges of cliffs.” Leaning forward, very tentatively, Linc peered down at the water, then pulled back, his cockiness-a cover for everything-returning. “I’ve never spent much time out here. What’s the point? There’s nothing to do. Maybe if I were into rock climbing.”
“Or bird-watching.”
“Bird-watching?”
Owen stepped back from the cliffs. “Never mind.”
“Oh.” Linc seemed slightly embarrassed. “Your sister. I remember Grace saying she was into birds. I wasn’t thinking about…” He grimaced. “I wasn’t thinking this is where she, you know, fell.”
“It was a long time ago.”
The five wooded acres of waterfront were included in the property Jason Cooper was selling, and presumably would go to the new owners. Linc, obviously, wouldn’t care. But he’d looked anxious and preoccupied since he’d arrived on Owen’s deck an hour ago. Owen had suggested walking out to the cliffs as much to burn up some of Linc’s nervous energy as to see if they could pick up the trail of Abigail’s attacker.
After dropping her off at her house, Owen had left the law enforcement officers and returned to his deck, dragging a chair close enough to the rail that he could put his feet up and stare out at the water and think. He’d gotten about two minutes of thinking done when Linc had turned up.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Mattie’s worked for my family for years. I can’t believe he’d hurt anyone. Abigail pushes his buttons, but she pushes everyone’s buttons.”
“Let’s see what Mattie says when the police catch up with him.”
“It’s not good that they can’t find him, is it?” Linc asked.
“Depends.” Owen noticed dark smudges under Linc’s eyes. “Are you sleeping okay? Did I push you too hard on our hikes?”
“No, no. I’m fine. I’m sleeping okay. It’s just-” He shrugged, looking out at the horizon, sky and water the same clear blue. “I guess with my sister and everything she’s got going on, and then Abigail showing up-I’m just on
