“She’s given me a hint. Apparently Antonia is on an island somewhere off Cape Cod, and Carine’s worried she’ll be stuck there if Hurricane Hope doesn’t turn out to sea—or she’ll ride it out, because she doesn’t have access to weather reports or doesn’t know any better.”

Ty grunted. “She’d know better, but she’d ride out the fires of hell if she thought she had to. Both of them would.”

“Yeah. Carine did almost marry you.”

“We’re not going there, Major.”

Tyler only called him major nowadays when he wanted to distance himself. Hank had put him on the spot. “She knew I’d call you.”

“Carine did?” His tone changed, becoming more serious. “Then you damn well know there’s something wrong. I’m the last person Carine would let you turn to for help. Hank? What the hell’s going on?”

“That’s why I’m here—to find out.”

“Carine’s okay? She’s safe?”

Hank’s pulse pounded in his temple. He couldn’t figure out what had happened to Ty. One day, Hank was making plans to attend his friend’s wedding in Cold Ridge. The next day, the wedding was off, and Tyler had taken off into the White Mountains with not much more than a jackknife and a pair of crampons.

“She’s fine,” Hank said. “She’s standing here watching the Weather Channel and pretending she doesn’t realize I’m talking to you. I’m guessing she thinks you know where Antonia is.”

Tyler sighed. He’d known these women all his life—in many ways, they were the only family he’d ever had. “Shelter Island. You’re a Cape Codder. You must know it.”

Hank was confused. “Of course I know it—it’s a tiny barrier island off Chatham. But it’s a national wildlife refuge. I thought there weren’t any cottages on it anymore, and it’s illegal to camp there.”

“You wouldn’t get Antonia in a tent, anyway,” Ty said. “There’s one cottage left on the island. Antonia has this friend in Boston—she’s like a hundred or something. She has a life-lease to the last cottage on Shelter Island. When she dies, it goes to the birds, literally. Antonia used to go there to study for exams when she was in med school.”

She had never mentioned her friend or her cottage, another reminder, Hank thought, of just how much he still had to learn about her.

“You’re going down there?” Tyler asked.

“Yes. As soon as possible. I have a feeling there’s more going on than just a hurricane that might or might not hit. Antonia was on edge when I saw her last on Saturday.”

“Carine knows more?”

“Almost certainly.”

“Want me to drag it out of her?”