Free Love Inspired Suspense December 2015, Box Set 2 of 2 by Margaret Daley Page A

the memorial service on Wednesday.” Rachel waved goodbye to Charlie at the harbormaster’s office and stepped outside into the bright sunlight.
    Although a chilly wind blew off the water, the rays warmed her. She paused at the railing and scanned the various sizes of boats in port. Spying the Blue Runner tying up to its slip, she strolled toward the trawler. She was not looking forward to talking to Tom Payne. She’d gone over what she was going to say, only to discard it. Tom had made no bones that he loved Aunt Betty, whereas she wasn’t eager to marry again. Rachel certainly understood not wanting to marry after having an abusive husband. She didn’t want to marry after seeing her mother go from one husband to the next, as though she were sampling an array. She’d seen few examples of a loving marriage.
    As she neared the Blue Runner slip, she felt eyes boring into her. She looked around, her gaze skipping from one boat to the next. Finally, it lit upon the Tundra King maneuvering out of the harbor. On the deck she caught sight of Beau dressed in the common yellow outerwear that protected fishermen from the bitter cold wind and water. He brought the binoculars he’d been using down to his side, but she still felt the singe of his perusal. She shuddered.
    Rachel shook off her apprehension about Beau. He’d once asked her out on a date, and she had turned him down. Ever since then, he’d been standoffish and almost hostile, which only confirmed he wasn’t the type of man she wanted to go out with. She rarely dated, even though there were over twice as many men in Port Aurora as women, but if she did, it wouldn’t be someone like Beau.
    She stepped down onto the Blue Runner and called out, “Captain Payne?”
    A tall man with bright red hair poked his head out the back door into the cabin. “Good to see you, Rachel. If you hadn’t been here, I was going to find you at your office. Come in. While the men are finishing up, let’s talk in the wheelhouse. It’ll be quiet there.”
    When she entered, Tom’s stoic expression evolved into a look of sorrow. “I almost came in early, but that wouldn’t be right for the crew. They count on the money they get, and that depends on the catch.” He indicated the captain’s chair. “Take a seat. I’m too agitated to stay still. What happened to Betty? She was fine on Wednesday when I left.”
    As Tom paced the length of the wheelhouse and back, Rachel told him about Friday and finding Aunt Betty’s body in the woods. “The police are investigating it as a murder. What you might not know is that the next day someone set fire to her cabin. Aunt Linda and I were over at her place trying to straighten it.”
    â€œYeah, Betty...” His voice faded, and he swallowed hard several times. “She would have hated the mess.” He stopped at the front window and stared outside. “What I don’t understand is why anyone would kill one of the sweetest women in Port Aurora.”
    â€œI agree. We don’t understand why, either. Earlier that day she’d told me she needed to talk to me. She looked afraid. She’d wanted to talk to Jake, too. I tried to get her to tell me what was wrong when I saw her at the processing center after she left me a message on my phone, but she just said ‘later.’ I figured she didn’t want to talk until we were alone, so that was why I stopped by on the way home from work. Do you have an idea why she would put this photo—” she passed him the one of the Blue Runner “—along with photos of the Tundra King and Alaskan King and a storage area in the shipping warehouse in her hiding place, or why she would be afraid?”
    He shook his head, tears welling into his eyes. “I didn’t know she had a hiding place. At the house?”
    â€œYes, in the kitchen, but the cabin was nearly burned to the