Before Amy had a chance to get anything further out of Chloe, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She held her breath and spun around, nervous it might be the strange man, but she was greeted with a familiar face instead.

“Ryan!” she said, happily surprised. “Wait, you’re still here?”

“I am,” he answered, smiling back.

“How come? Is everything okay?”

Ryan hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with an excuse. “It’s my truck,” he said at last. “Cursed thing won’t start again.”

“Oh no . . .”

“She’ll be fine. Probably just needs a moment to cool down.” He gave a casual shrug of the shoulders before shifting his attention to Chloe. “Hello, you.”

“Um, hi,” Chloe replied.

“This is quite the surprise.”

“What is?”

“Seeing you in here.”

“It is?”

“Yes.”

“Wait a second,” Amy said as she waved her finger back and forth between them. “You two know each other?”

“We certainly do.” Ryan ruffled Chloe’s hair affectionately. “This one was with me at the ranch this morning. She’s the girl I was telling you about earlier—my student—and a great one at that. Isn’t that right, Chloe?”

Chloe nodded while averting her eyes, appearing to be a little rattled by this turn of events.

“That’s odd,” Amy remarked. “We ran into each other this morning too, just as I was on my way up to see you.”

“Oh?” An uncertain silence followed. Ryan looked at them both. “You two know each other as well?”

“I wouldn’t say we know each other, but what’s weird is that just now she came rushing in to find me, saying there was something she had to tell me.”

“Really?” His frown sharpened. “And? . . . What was it?”

“Beats me. You’ll have to ask her. I have yet to find out myself. But she did say it had something to do with the lighthouse.”

Chloe looked down at her shoes and began twirling one of the loose buckle strands of her dress around her fingers. Ryan could see she looked uncomfortable. He hadn’t a clue what it was, but it was obvious she was hiding something.

“Is something going on, Chloe?”

“Nothing’s going on.”

“Nothing?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Are you sure? Because you look a little nervous.”

“I’m sure.”

Ryan fixed her with a stare. “The lighthouse, huh? This wouldn’t have something to do with what happened last night, would it?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said in an innocent-sounding voice.

“I’m sure you’ve heard.”

“Heard what?”

“Apparently, the lighthouse switched on. Some people think they saw a beam. Can you believe that?”

Chloe’s eyes began skipping about the room.