I blinked. So the deaths of Max’s friends had been related to these murders. Very indirectly, but the connection was undeniable. I made a mental note to never tell him, not ever, and went back to listening to Hal.

But the rest of what he said was old information to me, and I soon found myself yawning, whereupon the sheriff glanced at the wall clock and stood. She picked up her desk phone. “Is he here? Good. Send him back.”

While she’d replaced the receiver, she’d looked at me, told me Rafe was here to take me home, and now here we were in the houseboat, all comfy and cozy.

“Hey.” Rafe nudged me. “Come on, you need to get to bed. You fell asleep mid-sentence.”

“Did not—” But I couldn’t finish the sentence because a massive yawn swallowed the rest of it.

“Up you go.” Rafe tugged me to my feet, led me down the hall, supervised the brushing of my teeth, averted his eyes like a gentleman while I pulled on the long T-shirt I used as pajamas, and tucked me into bed.

“Eddie?” I called sleepily. “Where are—oh, there you are.”

With my cat in the crook of my elbow and my beloved’s kiss on my lips, I fell asleep and, thankfully, because for a moment or two in that backyard I’d been terribly afraid a gun would go off and someone would die, I didn’t dream at all.

*   *   *

The next morning, after a quick shower, a rebandaging of my hands, and a hearty breakfast of oatmeal topped with blueberries (yes, Mom, I’m eating plenty of fruit), I scurried to be on time to meet Tabitha, an event we’d arranged the night before by text.

And “scurry” was the right word, because the windy bluster of the day before was hanging around and cranking itself up a notch. I zipped my coat all the way, put my head down against the wind, and told myself that having to move twice inside of two months wasn’t that bad. Plus, there was undoubtedly a silver lining in there, even if I couldn’t see it now.

“There you are!” Tabitha, already seated in a booth, waved at me wildly. Both the call and the waving were unnecessary, as Corner Coffee’s interior was empty except for the two of us, but her enthusiasm was contagious and I found myself smiling for the first time that day.

Because though my sleep had been dreamless, the five hours I’d ended up with wasn’t enough, especially on the heels of a traumatic night. What I needed was a couple of quiet days followed by a quiet weekend, all of it filled with reading coziness. I wasn’t going to get it, of course, as I needed to start packing, so I tried to absorb as much of Tabitha’s boundless energy as possible.