His eyes raised slowly, meeting hers for a brief instant, then glancing away. “It’s good you’re here.”

Kelsey nodded, squeezing past him into the living room. Justin’s T-shirt smelled of salt and sand; his damp jeans clung tightly to his narrow hips. As he went to get their bags, Kelsey noticed a family photograph on the mantel—Eric, Justin, another boy half hidden in the shadows, and—she supposed—Beth, a pretty girl with dimples and long hair and a long red scarf around her neck.

“I’ll show you your room if you want,” Justin said behind her.

“Well…I don’t know if we’re staying—”

“Sure you’re staying. Dad needs privacy for his work, so we have the cottage next door. Follow me.”

He carried her suitcase across the yard and gave her a quick tour of the house.

“Neale and I are in here,” Justin pointed to the first upstairs bedroom as they went past. “I guess he’ll be coming back, now that it’s getting dark… Anyway, here’s your room. You can use this first bed.” He flipped on the light, and as she stepped across the threshold, her heart sank.

Beth was everywhere—in the decor, the clothes in the closet, the shoes under a chair. Kelsey swallowed hard and stared at the French doors next to her own bed, almost a whole wall of floor to ceiling glass.

“I don’t think I can stay here.”

Justin looked sympathetic. “Beth was really looking forward to meeting you. She’d thought up all kinds of things for you to do.”

Kelsey walked slowly over to her bed, then saw something which made her stare. Propped against the pillows was an envelope with her name on it.

“What’s this?” she asked softly.

Justin shrugged, a sad smile crossing his face. “Who knows…Beth was always leaving little surprises around for everybody.”

Kelsey reached out and took the envelope between her fingers, sliding out the paper inside, staring down at the message for a long time:

Welcome, Kelsey! So glad you’re here!

Love, Beth

“She didn’t even know me,” Kelsey murmured at last. She glanced up at Justin, who looked away. “Oh, Justin, I can’t believe this is happening—”

“I can’t, either.” Justin shook his head, bewildered, like a child who didn’t understand. “I keep waiting for her to walk in…”

Kelsey sat down. “Do you…want to talk about it?”

“There’s not much to tell,” he sighed. “I didn’t see Beth that day, but Neale saw her going home around three-thirty. She was supposed to meet a friend of mine that night…”

Skip Rochford… “You and Neale are lifeguards?”

“My friend Skip’s one, too. There’s two beaches on the island for swimming. West Beach is just down the hill from here. It goes about a mile along shore before it runs into the cliffs. The cliffs go another two miles—nobody’s allowed to swim there—it’s all sharp rocks and really deceiving. The cove’s the most dangerous spot on the whole island. East Beach is on the other side of the island from here, but it’s private.”