In broad strokes, the East End’s population was largely a blend of three distinctive communities: the city people with second and third homes, the multigenerational old-timers like the Hodges, and the more recent influx of Latino immigrants. None of them could exist without the others, given the realities of the home building, landscaping, agricultural, and service industries that drove the local economy. But the divisions and resentments among the factions always simmered beneath the surface.

Alex was what too many of the people she knew would still casually call “a brown guy,” but he wasn’t a handyman or a landscaper or a day laborer that they could treat as the help. He didn’t even speak Spanish. He simply showed up in Montauk last year as the new owner of Reel Deal Fishing. There must have been ten long-term guides who would have killed to make a deal when Frank announced he was finally retiring to Florida. But Frank had sold the operation to an outsider. A stranger. And a brown one at that.

She explained all of this again to the detective.

“Seems pretty shaky as a motive to harm him,” he said.

“Racism’s not rational.”

“There’s a lot of Latino business owners on the East End. Most of them don’t go missing.”

He isn’t merely missing anymore, is he? Just tell me. He drowned. “Well, only one of them was dating me. Trust me: some people were upset.”

“Our department had received two anonymous tips claiming Alex was involved in the drug trade.”

“That’s bullshit. Alex is the last person who’d get wrapped up in anything illegal.”

“Well, the tips came in, I assure you. Whether they were true or not’s another question. Do you know Ed Young?”

Of course she did. Everyone did. Former chief of East Hampton Police. “Sure.”

“Apparently your father told him a few months ago that he thought Alex Lopez was dealing cocaine and speed to the usual suspects. He said the guide business was just a cover for the drug dealing. Your father was pressing the department to look into it. Is it possible he was behind those anonymous tips?”

Was it? She realized she couldn’t rule it out. “My father wasn’t exactly cheering on my relationship with Alex.”

“Because he was a fishing guide?” Decker asked.

“Please. You know that wouldn’t be the reason.”

“So it was a race thing? Just how angry was he?”

She shook her head. Why was he asking all these questions when Alex had drowned? Hadn’t he drowned? Or was Decker trying to suggest that someone drowned him?