“What proof?” Neale demanded.

Kelsey’s voice dropped. “Beth’s scarf. It was lying on his trunk, beside a knife with bloodstains on it.”

“A knife with…” Neale’s lips twitched in a humorless smile. “Of course, I see now. Solid concrete evidence.”

Skip threw back his head and hooted with laughter. “Fish blood! You girls are just too much!”

“It was hers,” Kelsey snapped, but her tone had grown less confident. “It was. The scarf. The one she had on in that picture…”

Justin was just staring, as if words had completely deserted him.

Neale studied the ground. The dunes. The brief glow of moon through passing clouds. “Yes…well…I imagine Beth was the only one in the world who had a red scarf.”

Kelsey heard Donna make a sound in her throat. Her own face began to burn. “I can’t believe you’re all being so cold about this. I thought you’d—”

Neale’s hand came out of the darkness so fast, closed around her arm so tightly that she gasped.

“You don’t know anything about this. Not anything. Maybe the scarf wasn’t even hers; nobody knows what she had on that night. Or maybe it was hers. Or maybe Isaac found it after she was already lying out on the rocks somewhere. Did you ever think of that?”

“Well…no…but—”

“And maybe you can tell the sheriff you went breaking and entering and trying to cause trouble for people—hell, I’m surprised you didn’t just take the scarf! Then they could have got you for burglary, too!”

Kelsey was shaking, partly from anger, partly from fear at his outburst. Donna hadn’t uttered a word. Kelsey wondered if she had fainted.

“I…thought…you’d at least…care,” she managed to stammer, and felt a jolt through her body as Neale shook her.

“You don’t know what I care about,” he seethed. “You don’t know what I feel or what—”A strange look crossed his face then, made him pause…stop…as if he had momentarily lost his train of thought. It was a look she couldn’t quite identify: Fear? Surprise? Regret at having said too much? He released her almost roughly and stalked away, but it was several more minutes before anyone spoke.

Skip began to chuckle, softly at first, then louder until he finally reached up to wipe his eyes. “You crazy girls—Kelsey Holmes and Doctor Donna—” He shook his head, still laughing as he walked away, and Justin looked down, his voice strangely tight.

“Look…Kelsey…”

“Oh, just go away and leave me alone.” She went over to Donna, refusing to look at him, and at last he turned and went back to the beach.

“Yeah, well, thanks for nothing, you jerks!” Donna kicked furiously at the sand, groaning as she stubbed her toe. Kelsey just stood there and watched her. “We should have known better—at least I thought Justin would believe us—but—oh, forget it, who needs them anyway?” She retrieved her empty can with one angry swipe. “Try to help, and this is what you get. What’s the matter with them, anyway—you’d think they didn’t want to know the truth! Like they’re all so protective of Isaac all of a sudden!” she sputtered. “Like they’re all so convinced that Isaac couldn’t have done it! And how would they know anyway?”