Page 13 of Death By Llama (Friendship Harbor Mysteries #7)

The beam of light shone over me again as he turned in my direction. “Soph, could you get away from that wall like right now ? Especially in those shoes.”

He was right. I straightened up from where I still leaned on it and asked again. “Do you think it’s high or low tide?”

“I have no idea. My maritime knowledge is limited to “Blue moon at night, sailors take flight.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think even that is right.”

Oliver shrugged. “See, I know nothing.”

I didn’t either, which seemed like bad etiquette for living in a coastal town. “Let’s go down the steps to see. My light isn’t powerful enough to tell from here.”

He gaped at me. “Why would we do that?”

“To see if we can walk along the shoreline. There could be evidence down there.”

“Have you seen those steps? They’re uneven and slippery.”

“There’s a handrail, isn’t there?”

Oliver grimaced in disbelief. “Yeah, an ancient wooden one.”

“Better than nothing,” I said with a plucky smile as I headed to where there was a break in the rock wall.

As I passed Oliver, I heard him groan, but I also saw him start to follow me. I hesitated as I reached the opening. Now that I illuminated the steps hewn from the natural stones of the seawall, my light glistened off the damp rocks. I could see green algae growing in the cracks and crevices.

I glanced back at Oliver, who still looked as dubious as I suddenly was.

“What are the chances we’ll find anything down there even if the tide is out?”

I stared at the steps that looked like the winding back of a slick eel returning to the churning waters below.

I glanced back at my friend. “Well, you know me, I’m going to wonder.” And with that, I took my first step down the stony stairs.

“Better to wonder than plummet to our own deaths,” he muttered, but like the loyal friend he was, he also stepped through the break in the rock wall and slowly started his descent.

In one hand I gripped the rickety handrail and in my other I held out my cell phone. Even though I couldn’t see the water below, I could hear it crashing.

“That sounds like high tide to me,” Oliver called loudly over the thunderous waves.

“It does,” I agreed, but I kept picking my way down the steps.

My foot slipped once, my elf shoes not exactly made for rock climbing, but at least I couldn’t hear the jingle-jangle of the bells on them over the crashing of the waves.

And thankfully, the weathered handrail held my weight.

I only slipped down off of one rock and caught my footing on another.

“Are you okay?” Oliver asked.

I noticed he didn’t let go of the handrail or his phone to steady me. I couldn’t blame him. This climb was a little wilder than I had expected. I was concerned that once we got down, we wouldn’t be able to get back up the stairs but it was too late to worry about that now.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I secured my footing, then pointed my light down toward the black, turbulent Atlantic Ocean. “I definitely think the tide is high. We won’t be able to see anything.”

I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but I didn’t think I wanted to go any further down to check. Not my best plan, that was for sure.

“I agree,” he said. “Let’s go back up.”

I could tell from the muffled sound of his voice over the ocean that he had already turned to start climbing back up to stable ground.

I pointed my light back down at the water one more time. It definitely was high tide. I turned and started to follow Oliver. But as I did, I caught a glimpse of two people standing by the rock wall. It was just their silhouettes, but from the height and shape, I could tell it was a man and a woman.

Letting go of the handrail, I tugged on the back of Oliver’s windbreaker. “Do you see that?”

The second I distracted him, he slipped.

His foot came off one of the steps and his body nudged into mine.

For a split second we teetered on the edge of full blown disaster.

Then Oliver managed to catch himself before his full weight could fall against me and send me flying.

I did lose my footing, my elf shoes useless, but fortunately I managed to pitch my weight forward rather than backward.

I landed hard on my knee on the edge of one of the steps.

“Sophie!” Oliver immediately cried.

“I’m okay.” My heart was racing as I used the rickety handrail to lever myself up onto my feet. My knee hurt, but I refused to acknowledge it. Instead, my eyes returned to the edge of the cliff and the wall. The couple was still there.

“Do you see those people up there?” I said trying to be loud enough from him to hear but not so loud it got the attention of the couple.

I pointed past him up toward the cliffs.

I could tell even from this distance that the couples’ silhouettes appeared to be facing each other and they weren’t aware of us down below them.

“Yes,” Oliver said. “Though honestly, I’m not sure I care. We almost plunged to our deaths.”

“That could be the ones who wrote the message on the back of the business card.”

“Okay.” He glanced over his shoulder, clearly confused. “Or it could be any of the guests staying at the Inn.”

That was true.

“And even if it is,” Oliver added, “I still don’t understand how this has anything to do with Peanut falling off a cliff. And, frankly, I’m a little concerned we’re about to join him.”

Another good point.

“You’re right. This is just a wild goose chase.” A dangerous one.

Oliver shot me another glance, and I could see he was relieved by my response. Carefully, we made our way back up to the rock wall and the thankfully dry and stable lawn.

By the time we made it there, the couple had left the cliff’s edge and headed back toward the inn.

Oliver made a disgruntled noise in his throat as we saw them in better light. “See, it’s just that jerk, Nick, and the brunette woman. Nothing exciting there. They’re obviously a couple out for a little romantic stroll.”

I nodded, watching them disappear back into the inn. “Is that who that is?” I sighed. “Okay. I guess this was a worthless search.”

“Not worthless.” He gave me a reassuring smile. “I have a renewed love of dry land and my own life.”

I laughed, appreciating him being good-natured and supportive of my crazy antics.

“And that’s why you are my best friend.”

He looped an arm over my shoulder. “Because I’m a land-lover without a death wish?”

“No, well, that’s good too. But you don’t judge me.”

He shot me a sidelong glance as we strolled across the lawn. “Oh, I judge you.”

I lightly elbowed him.

By the time we started up the stairs of the front porch of the inn, we were emboldened by the fact that we hadn’t fallen in the ocean. We were both a little giddy about our adventure. Or stupidity, if that’s how you wanted to look at it.

“Man against nature,” Oliver said grandly. “The classic conflict.”

I laughed at him. “Or at least our sad version of it.”

Oliver laughed too. “Yeah. You’re never going to find either of us skydiving or ricocheting down mountains.”

I laughed harder. “I think you mean rappelling.”

“Whatever. I’m never doing it, whatever it’s called.”

The front door whipped open right as we reached it. Appearing in the doorway were the worried faces of Cameron and my mother.

“Where have you been?” my mother demanded.

I immediately felt like a teenager being caught after curfew.

“You said you were going to the restroom and then just disappeared. We were getting really worried,” Cameron said, his face stern.

If this were a movie, I would expect that he was playing the role of my father.

“We just went for a walk,” I said, truly surprised at their reaction.

Though I suppose it was a little rude.

Cameron regarded me closer as if he didn’t quite believe me. Ah, so he was upset because he suspected I’d been doing a little investigating. Which to be fair, I was. But I didn’t understand why he should be so distressed about it.

“Why didn’t you text me?” I asked them. “If you were worried.”

“Why would I do that when you’re supposed to be in the house with us?” Cameron shook his head like he didn’t understand me.

“What is going on with you, Sophie?” my mother demanded. “You look like you’re out to lunch half the time and now you’re wandering around the coast at night?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have let you know where I was going. Oliver and I just ate so much that we decided it would be nice to get some fresh air and take a little walk.”

“It’s really my fault,” Oliver added, coming to my aid like the bestie he was. “I caught her when she was coming downstairs after using the bathroom and I dragged her along with me.”

“Well, I might have liked to have taken a walk too,” my mother pointed out.

Now I felt bad for thinking it was insensitive not to be included in the Bar Harbor plans. Apparently, I was guilty of the same thing. Though I seriously doubted my mother would have wanted to take a walk.

Then my mother’s eyes focused on my knee. “Sophie, you’re hurt.”

I looked down, realizing for the first time that not only was there a little bit of blood on my—actually mom’s—pants, but there was also a tear.

“Oh,” I said, bending down to inspect the damage. “You know how clumsy I can be. Especially in these elf shoes. I slipped and took a bit of a fall.”

“Are you okay?” Cameron asked.

I nodded quickly. “It looks worse than it is. I’m sorry about your pants, Mom. I’ll pay you for them.”

My mom pursed her lips, studying the hole. “They were new, but I’m just glad you’re not badly hurt. You don’t need to pay me back—you can’t afford that price tag.”

I smiled at my mother. That was such a typical response for her—trying to be a mom, but also tallying up the price of things. In the end, she always came through on the mom part, but it was a bit of a battle for her.

I glanced back to Cameron and realized that he still looked grim. I suddenly noticed he wasn’t just worried—he was also irritated. Irritated that I might have been doing a little sleuthing? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but it seemed like this was a good time to call an end to the evening.

“I’m sorry again to have worried you,” I said, focusing on my mother. “I’m sure you and Dad are totally exhausted, and we have a full day planned for tomorrow.”

My mom nodded. “I am tired, and your father has already gone to bed.”

I smiled at that, how classically Dad. He wasn’t worried about what I was doing, and I knew that was because he trusted that I was just fine.

I slipped out of the windbreaker Oliver had lent me and handed it back to him.

I moved to give my mom a hug goodnight. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I have to go check on Jack and then get some sleep myself.”

I said goodnight to Cameron, who gave me a hug that was accompanied by a deep heartfelt sigh that made me uncomfortable.

“Where’s Henry?” Oliver asked Cameron.

Cameron shrugged. “I don’t know.”

It was Oliver’s turn to look grim. I tried to catch his eye, but he just started up the stairs at a fast clip.

I waved to Mom and Cameron, glad that I’d actually left my keys in my car. I still lived under the notion that Friendship Harbor was a very safe place, even though we did have an inordinate amount of murders. But I hadn’t heard of any car thefts, so there was that.

As I got into my car, I considered that Peanut’s death could still be a murder.

And I had only one suspect if it was—narcissistic St. Nick. That man really rubbed me the wrong way. But that was only my own suspicion. I had no facts. I knew I needed more than a gut reaction.

Though my gut was highly accurate, it wouldn’t hold up in court.