Annie had to admit this thought had passed through her mind.

“And what would be his reason for that?”

“To get her out of the way!” said Emily. “Distract her with a holiday and then bam!” Emily smacked her hand down on the table, making Annie jump in her seat. “Get her to sign away her house. Good-bye, historical gem. Hello, overpriced boxy beachside apartments, sports cars, and The Real Housewives of Willow Bay!”

“Now, now, Emily,” said Pam.

Pam set Annie’s wine and water down on the table. Annie swigged gratefully from first the water, then the wine, and then the wine again. Emily was rather an intense welcome party.

“Emily runs the Willow Bay library, just down the road. And the local history society,” said Pam.

“We can kiss our history good-bye if Granger gets his way!” said Emily.

“Don’t you be filling Annie’s head with your conspiracy theories,” said Pam. “John’s a good man.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that a massive piece of Willow Bay history will be lost!” said Emily.

“I don’t say it won’t be a tragedy,” said Pam. “But it’s not in our hands.”

“Isn’t the building listed?” asked Annie.

Bill arrived with Annie’s dinner. Curls of meaty steam rolled up from the plate, and Annie’s mouth watered.

“Mari never applied for ‘listed status’ because she didn’t want local government to have an opinion on things she might want to do to her own property,” said Pam.

“Which means whoever she sells it to can knock it down without repercussion,” said Emily. “The plain fact is that history should belong to everyone, not just one person. Our campaign is to have Saltwater Nook turned over to the historical society. We will maintain it for generations to come and turn it into the Willow Bay Museum.”

“Is there much call for a Willow Bay Museum?” Annie asked.

Emily eyed her like a tiger about to pounce on a deer, and Annie got the distinct impression she had managed to make an enemy on her first day of residence. Pam stepped in quickly.

“Oh my goodness, Willow Bay is full of history, absolutely riddled with the stuff,” Pam said jovially. “We have a long history of shipwrecks and smugglers, even some sunken treasure! They say British soldiers were living in the tunnels beneath the cliff and your new home during the Napoleonic Wars, gathering intelligence from boats in the night. If the walls of Saltwater Nook could talk . . .”

“But they can’t,” broke in Emily. “Which is why we have to be their voice and protect it from villains like John Granger!”

“I don’t think you give John enough credit,” said Bill.

“Dad!”