Page 6 of Murder in the Lighthouse

“I would’ve still used it to paint, though. But that’s not what Logan did. He deeded the entire lighthouse to the town, including the keeper’s cottage,” Birk added.

The next level was the living quarters, where every inch of space was used to complete the apartment layout. The five-hundred square feet of living space held a king bed, a couch, and a small forty-inch television screen attached to the wall. There was another powder room, a half bath with a sink and toilet cordoned off by a pocket door next to the adjacent bedroomarea. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Each floor looked in pristine condition.

A fact Theo pointed out. “I told you there’s nothing out of place here. I got this far in my initial response.”

“Except for that terrible odor,” Brogan muttered, waving a hand in front of her nose. “It stinks in here. I can’t be the only one who smells that.”

“It’s getting worse the closer we get to the top,” Jade acknowledged. “Birk?”

“Yeah, hard to miss. The dogs recognize that smell, and so do I. Decomposition.”

Feeling slightly sick to her stomach, Brogan turned to Lucian. “I’m heading back to ground level. I need to get outside in the fresh air.”

Jade nodded. “Same here. I’ll go with her. I’m not keen on finding out where that odor originates. Hopefully, it’s a dead squirrel or possum. You guys can tell us all about it later.”

Lucien watched the women head back down before pivoting toward Theo. “If this is as far as you got that day, do you remember it smelling like this?”

Grudgingly, Theo shook his head. “The air was a little musty maybe, but nothing that reeked decomp.”

The dogs began to whine, especially Journey, as she climbed the stairs to the top. A small room opened up, offering a panoramic view of the surrounding woods and ocean. But what lay scattered on the floor caught the dog’s attention. A backpack lay forgotten in one corner. The contents spilled out and scattered along the concrete flooring.

Theo took out his camera phone to snap a picture. “No one touch anything. Got that?”

But Journey and Brodie were not finished. The dogs continued up the staircase to the beacon above, reaching the lantern room ahead of anyone else.

The source of the smell became evident as the dogs sat beside a decaying body crumpled against the wall in an unmistakable hit for search dogs. Lucien’s breath caught in his throat, a mixture of horror and sorrow washing over him as he studied the scene before looking away. With his heart sinking, he froze in the doorway, unable to take another step forward. The group stood back in stunned silence for a few seconds, unable to comprehend that they’d found the source of the putrid smell.

Theo moved first, his instincts kicking in despite the grim sight. The stench of decomposition had Lucien backing up. Not wanting to pass out in front of everyone else, he saw Theo bending down over the corpse, gingerly checking for ID in the man’s pockets. Lucien stumbled backward about the same time he spotted the man’s sickly shade of gray. He saw his eyes wide open in a frozen expression of horror. He fixated on the large patch of dried blood caked on the man’s shirt.

The room began to spin when he heard Theo curse under his breath as the cop immediately radioed for backup, his voice laced with urgency. “Eastlyn, I’m on the top floor of the lighthouse. I think we’ve found Sam Heywood. Notify the county coroner. I need a crime scene unit. I’m securing the scene. Wherever Del Rio is, could you ask him to get here as soon as possible? Thanks.”

Theo angled toward the group. “I need everyone to back out of here. Take the dogs with you.”

Lucien had no problem with that. But before he spun around, he thought he saw Theo’s hands shaking as he continued to film the area with his camera phone around the body for evidence.

The dogs whimpered as they descended the stairs, clearly distressed by the gruesome sight. The smell of death hung heavy in the air, suffocating and oppressive.

“How could he have missed that?” Birk grumbled to no one in particular as they made their way to ground level. “Big city detective or not, he had a chance to find that body three days ago at the same time he discovered the car and didn’t. He’s the one who didn’t even want to go inside today until we insisted on it.”

“He did say the door was locked,” Lucien pointed out. “I’m not defending his actions, but…”

“Locked or not, Woodsong didn’t check out the top,” Birk accused. “He admits he didn’t. If not for the dogs—”

“I know,” Lucien said, shoving open the door and sucking in fresh air. He spotted Brogan. Without saying a word, she seemed to already know what they’d found.

“He was up there, wasn’t he? Sam Heywood was up there all this time, and no one knew it.”

Lucien cleared his throat. “From what I saw, he’d been up there at least three days, maybe longer. But I don’t think he’s been up there for two weeks. Beckett, what do you think?”

“Nah. Not two weeks. Birk?”

“I would agree with that. But the body still should’ve been found three days ago.”

Lucien shifted his feet. “We still don’t know what happened to Bethany Heywood. Which means we should search the woods anyway.”

“Someone should check out the keeper’s cottage as part of the process of elimination,” Brogan suggested.

Jade nodded. “She’s right. We could clear it while you guys take the woods. It would save time.”

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