Overbaked people were staggering up from the beach toward the village for lunch. She could never figure out what possessed a human being to flop itself down and broil like a trout in the sun. Besides the discomfort, the sheer boredom of it would have driven her wild inside an hour.

Ripley wasn’t one to lie down if she could stand.

Not that she didn’t enjoy the beach. She jogged along the surf every morning, summer and winter. When weather permitted, she finished off her run with a swim. When it didn’t, she often ducked into the hotel and took advantage of its indoor pool.

But she preferred the sea.

As a result she had a tight, athletic body that was most often clad in khakis and T-shirts. Her skin was tanned like her brother’s, her eyes the same vivid green. She wore her straight brown hair long and most often pulled through the back of her baseball cap.

Her features were an odd mix—a wide, slightly top-heavy mouth, a small nose, and dark, arching brows. Her looks had made her feel awkward as a child, but Ripley liked to think she’d grown into them, and grown out of worrying about them.

She strolled into Café Book, waved at Lulu, and headed for the stairs. With luck, she could get a look at this Nell Channing and avoid Mia altogether.

She was still three steps from the café level when she saw her luck wasn’t going to hold.

Mia was behind the counter, looking slick as always in some floaty floral dress. Her hair was tied back and still managed to explode around her face. The woman working beside her looked tidy, nearly prim in comparison.

Ripley immediately preferred Nell.

She jammed her thumbs into her back pockets and swaggered toward the counter.

“Deputy Todd.” Mia angled her head, looked down her nose. “What could possibly bring you here?”

Ignoring Mia, Ripley studied Nell. “I’ll have today’s special soup and sandwich.”

“Nell, this is Ripley, Zack’s unfortunate sister. As she’s come in for lunch we can safely assume hell has frozen over.”

“Kiss ass, Mia. Nice to meet you, Nell. I’ll have a lemonade to go with that.”

“Yes. All right.” Nell shifted her gaze from face to face. “Right away,” she murmured and ducked into the kitchen to put the sandwich together.

“Heard you scooped her up right off the ferry,” Ripley continued.

“More or less.” Mia ladled the soup. “Don’t poke at her, Ripley.”

“Why would I?”

“Because you’re you.” Mia set the soup on the counter. “Notice anything odd when you stepped off the ferry yesterday?”

“No.” Ripley replied too quickly.

“Liar,” Mia said quietly as Nell came back with the sandwich.

“Can I take this to a table for you, Deputy Todd?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Ripley tugged money out of her pocket. “Why don’t you ring me up, Mia?”