Page 53 of Into the Light

“No. She called me and said she needed to talk about something. Made it sound really important. But she didn’t want to talk on the phone.” I shook my head. “I’m telling you everything I know. She said she’d come back to town the following week and would text me when she could meet up. I said okay.”

“Did she sound like herself?”

“I mean—” I started to talk, but stopped, my mouth hanging open as I thought about the question. “Like I said, I knew her a long time ago, so I can’t be sure. But no, she sounded off. Scared, maybe. Or sad. I don’t know. Her voice was strained.”

Theo nodded, thinking about it all. I thought about it too. I thought about why this happened, why I was involved, and how, once again, maybe I could have done more to help someone before they met an untimely end. The guilt never ceased.

The phone rang on Theo’s desk and he picked it up.

My mind wandered back to Ellie and if I’d even get to see her again. If I’d get to hold her again, or if she’d even want me to.

Theo slammed the phone down and grinned like the Cheshire Cat. This had better be good news, or I was about to go down for assault on an officer too.

“That was the M.E. Time of death was eight o’clock the night before her body was found. The night you were with Ellie.”

I sucked in the deepest breath I could and let it rush out.

“So you believe me? That I was at home with her all night?”

“Of course I believe you, but that part doesn’t matter. There’s no security cameras at the B and B, so that was a bust. But there are some in the surrounding area. You’re not on any of them all night long.”

“Holy fuck, man. Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

“I needed to confirm the time of death. Sorry for keeping you in suspense.”

“But what about that glass in her room? I don’t understand that.”

“Well I have a partial theory on that. When was the last time you were at the pub?”

I stared at him, confused, but he held up a hand and I thought about it.

“Uh, I was there with a couple of the guys from work, must have been last week. Actually, shit, it was when Annie called me.”

Theo nodded and made a note of that in a notepad on his desk.

“I recognized the glass as one from O’Reilly’s pub. Their pint glasses all have faded white O’s on them. Very distinctive. There’s no way it should be in that room, right? Unless you and she were at the pub and you left with it. Or, unless someone wanted it to be there.”

I just stared at him, dumbfounded, trying to take it all in.

He continued, “Her room at the B and B was clean. She hadn’t even slept in the bed. Her suitcase was mostly untouched. No food wrappers or anything. So why the fuck would she have a pint glass in there with someone else’s fingerprints? She hadn’t even touched it.”

I tried to put it all together in my head. What did Annie want with me, why did someone else want her dead, and how did my fingerprints end up in her room when I know I never set foot in there?

“You mean you think someone framed me.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I think.”

twenty-seven

ELLIE

I didn’t knowwhat to do. I spent the first thirty minutes without Raf up in my apartment, pacing like a caged lion. I finally realized that would do nothing helpful, so I texted the girls’ group chat and explained what happened. Alex said I shouldn’t be alone and that she’d be by to pick me up as soon as she could.

Sara was at work and told us to come there, but there was no way I could handle being around the public. Especially not small town, gossipy, Moon Harbor public. Ugh. I thought about what the rumor mill was already spinning about Raf and it made me sick.

I grabbed my phone and keys and ran downstairs to wait for Alex outside. But when I stepped outside, I realized the back door to the shop was ajar. I didn’t remember leaving it open, but sometimes Sam came by to drop off new products he made and sold there.

If he was working at a time like this when his best friend was in jail, I was going to lay into him. I threw the door open and walked into the store room, but he wasn’t there. The light was on in the showroom, so I pushed through the swinging door. Only there wasn’t anyone there.

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