Free The Lightkeeper's Bride by Colleen Coble

doctor is examining him.
    He’s unconscious. Does your father have any enemies? The break-in yesterday, Miss Eliza’s disappearance, the attack on you. Might they be connected?”
    She glanced at her mother. “I’d like to wait until my mother is under the doctor’s care before we discuss this further.”
    “Of course.” His keen gaze probed her face. “Do you fear his suicide attempt is connected with Miss Eliza’s disappearance?”
    “I–It’s possible,” she choked out. The doorbell rang. “That must be Dr. Lambertson. Could you get it? I don’t wish to leave Mama alone.”
    “Certainly.”
    Katie’s tongue was as dry as sand. Her eyes burned, and her throat convulsed with the effort to hold back the sobs building there. How much should she tell the constable? How could he find what had happened to Eliza if she wasn’t honest with him? Of course, her father was not responsible for Eliza’s disappearance, but if she kept anything from the constable, she wouldn’t be doing the right thing. When the doctor turned to tend to her mother, she slipped down the hall and beckoned to the constable to follow her.
    “Miss Katie, what are you hiding from me?” The constable’s voice was gruff but kind.
    She bit her lip. Her father had begged her to stay quiet, but what if he hadn’t tried to kill himself? “I realized why the man’s voice on the phone was so familiar,” she told him. “It was my father who argued with Eliza.”
    He took out a cigar and struck a match. “I see,” he said, drawing in a puff. “You feared I would assume your father was involved in her disappearance if you told me the truth?”
    “I didn’t realize it was his voice at first. I just knew it sounded familiar.” She sent him a pleading glance. “Truly, Constable, I wasn’t hiding it from you. I realized it after we talked.”
    “So you think your father came back and disposed of her?”
    “No!” She wetted her lips. “I think someone else came in. In fact, what if Papa didn’t try to do away with himself? What if that man attacked him?”
    “What would be the motive? I suspect Miss Eliza was blackmailing him.” His voice was heavy with disapproval.
    “I asked my father if he was Jennie’s father. He denied it and I believe him.” She knew her tone lacked conviction and put more force into it. “Papa’s a good man. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
    “Not even when he’s drinking?”
    Heat raked her face. “Not even then.”
    “When did you see him last? Did he seem despondent?”
    She hesitated. “I glimpsed him on his way back from the lighthouse last night.”
    “Why was he there?”
    “Mr. Jesperson told me he was looking for a pocket watch he left at Eliza’s. He thought perhaps Mr. Jesperson had picked it up with Jennie’s things.”
    “Why would it matter?”
    “His name was on it. I’m sure he didn’t want his relationship to become common knowledge. There’s something else you need to know, Constable. I received a threatening telephone call last night just before I left work.”
    “Did you recognize the voice?”
    She shook her head. “But the call came from the skating rink. I rushed there to see if I could perhaps catch the perpetrator, but he’d left for the Redwood Inn. When I went there, I was informed he’d left town. According to Mr. Wilson, the man called himself Joe Smith. A fake name, of course.”
    Brown puffed on his cigar. “Miss Katie, you need to let me do the investigating here. You’re going to get yourself in trouble. I told you— you need to watch yourself.”
    “I’m sorry, Constable. You’re quite right.”
    He continued to study her. “So that is why you offered to take Miss Eliza’s child. You suspected little Jennie was your sister.”
    She opened her mouth to say she didn’t consciously know why she’d wanted the child, but before she got out the words, she saw a shadow move.
    Her mother spoke from the doorway. “Child? What are you saying, Katie? That