Killer Summer by Lynda Curnyn (e book reading free .txt) 📗

uncomfortable. Of course, I knew why. Sage had told me every gory detail of her ill-fated night with Chad. Right down to the “I have a girlfriend” routine he’d pulled on her. And though I felt a little guilty using it against him—he did, after all, seem like a sweet kid—I was desperate.

“I know Sage remembers you,” I continued, “in fact, she pointed you out to me just a couple of weeks ago. I think you were playing Frisbee with your girlfriend at the beach.”

I saw him swallow hard.

“I don’t suppose your girlfriend knows about Sage, does she? And she’d probably be pretty unhappy if someone happened to tell her about the little tumble you took with Sage that night, right?”

Yanking his sunglasses off the top of his head, he quickly slid them back over his eyes. “Come with me.”

I followed Chad to a small wooden structure, which looked a bit like a shack, near the ferry dock, waiting just outside the door while he fished around inside, since the shack didn’t look big enough to accommodate the both of us.

He came out moments later, handing me a clipboard thick with papers. “That’s July on top. June is right beneath it,” he said.

“Thanks,” I said, watching as he folded his arms across his chest and glanced around nervously.

After I located the page for June, I quickly scanned the list of names and registrations until I came to Saturday, June 12th.

Running my finger down the line of boat owners who docked that night, I nearly bit through my tongue in frustration when I discovered Donnie Havens’s name wasn’t there. I even scanned the week prior to June 12th, only to learn that Donnie had docked the Friday night before. And left on the Sunday before.

“Can I see the list of private slip owners?” I asked, handing back the clipboard. Though I was quickly losing hope, I figured there was no harm in looking.

He scowled. “What do you need to see those for? I thought you said—”

“Chad, can I see it please?” I said, smiling sweetly. “I’d hate to think you’d lose such a great girlfriend. Especially after all you’ve sacrificed to keep her.”

He stepped into the shack again, returning moments later with a separate list, which wasn’t quite as long.

I quickly ran my finger down the list, my stomach plummeting to my feet when I discovered Donnie’s name wasn’t there, either. Dammit.

The only thing clear to me now was that Donnie more than likely had lied to his wife about his whereabouts that night, but apparently he hadn’t lied to me. He hadn’t been on Fire Island that night.

Which left me right back where I had started. With nothing.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Sage

What are friends for? Don’t ask me. I haven’t a clue.

“So Donnie Havens didn’t murder Maggie. I don’t understand why you’re so depressed about it, Zoe.“

“I’m not depressed,” she said, slumping even lower on her bar stool.

We were at The Inn, where we were supposed to be seeing a band that was due to come on at ten, though it was edging on ten-fifteen and they were still setting up. Which was good news for Nick, who for some reason or another wasn’t here yet. But bad news for me, since I’d been sitting here listening to Zoe’s half-baked theories for the past twenty minutes. The only thing I had to be grateful for was that she had absolved Tom, though I was surprised to learn Tom had finally let loose the tight rein he’d been keeping on his emotions. And with Zoe, of all people.

“I don’t understand why you can’t accept the fact that the woman just drowned, plain and simple,” I said now.

Zoe shook her head. “I’m sorry, Sage, but it just doesn’t add up.”

“What, exactly, doesn’t add up?”

She sat up straight on the bar stool again. “For one thing, she had an awful lot of Valium in her system.”

“Trust me, the woman needed Valium. I worked for her, remember?”

“Well, she also told Tom she was going to Fair Harbor Market that night, and the market was closed.”

“So? She made a mistake and came home.”

“I don’t think she even went, Sage. For one thing, her cell phone records indicate that she called the market, so she probably knew it was closed. For another, Nick told me she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt when he left the house at seven-thirty. But a dress had been found on the beach with her body. She wouldn’t change into a dress to hike all the way to Fair Harbor Market.”

“Maybe she stopped at a friend’s for drinks—”

Zoe shook her head. “No one saw her that night. At least no one who will admit it. She had to have had a lover. I thought that lover was Donnie Havens—and he might very well have been. I mean, he could have taken the ferry, though that seems like a stretch, considering how puffed up he is about that boat of his. And even if he did take the ferry, I have no way of proving it. They don’t keep records of ferry riders.”

I took another healthy sip from my drink. “I still can’t believe what you said to Chad,” I said, feeling a flash of fresh annoyance. Zoe had been surprised to learn that I hadn’t appreciated her using the personal details of my life to manipulate Chad. Clearly she still didn’t get it, if the way she was looking at me right now was any indication.

“Sage, you’re not, like, still into him, are you?”

“No!” That was even more irritating. I sometimes think my best friend doesn’t understand me at all. Or doesn’t listen to me. “I told you about my date with Vince last night. What would I want with that little boy if I could have a man like Vince?”

Zoe smiled. “You really like Vince, don’t you?”

I looked at her, feeling my msides warm just at the thought of Vince.“I do. 1 mean, I