Page 74 of The Summer Guests

“We?”

“Or have you managed to do that on your own?” said Ingrid.

“Not yet,” Jo admitted.

“Thenweshould work together, don’t you think?”

“Okay.” Jo sighed. “Tell me howweshould proceed.”

Maggie said, “Let’s start with Vivian Stillwater, the woman who went missing from the pond in 1972. Did you ever locate her file?”

“Oh, that.” Jo shrugged. “Her case was closed within forty-eight hours. I had to dig through dozens of boxes in the basement to find it. It was misfiled.”

“So Vivian Stillwaterwaslocated?”

“I assume so.”

“You don’t know for certain?”

“The last entry in her file simply said the case was resolved and the woman was no longer missing.”

Maggie looked at her friends. She could see they were as dissatisfied as she was about this vague resolution. “And there were no other details?”

“I can show you the file, but there’s not much in it. Just the initial report from the sister’s phone call. Look, I don’t know why you’re fixated on this Vivian Stillwater case. It was half a century ago, and it sounds like the woman was found.”

“We have a theory,” said Ingrid. “About what brought Vivian to Maine. What brought all of them to Maine.”

“What do you mean,allof them?”

“The Conovers. The Greenes. Arthur Fox. They all showed up here within a year of each other, which made us think there’s a connection between them.”

“Maybe they knew each other before they came here.”

“That’s possible, but we have no evidence of it. Thereissomething that could link at least two of them. Dr. Greene was a research pharmacologist. And George Conover worked in pharmaceutical sales.”

“And Arthur Fox?”

“We’re still digging into his background. His reported occupation was ‘energy consultant,’ but prior to that, he was with the US Army, stationed at Fort Holabird, Maryland. Which is, in itself, quite interesting.”

Jo shook her head. “I’m not seeing the connection.”

“Why don’t you just send us the Vivian Stillwater file,” said Maggie. “We’ll take it from there.”

“In the meantime,” said Ingrid, “I suggest you take a look at Zoe’s Facebook page.”

“I already have,” said Jo. “I didn’t see anything significant.”

“Look again.”

Chapter 35

Jo

No one could put away food the way her brother Finn could. Jo watched in disbelief as he polished off his fifth slice of sausage pizza, washed it down with a third bottle of Shipyard ale, and then reached for the plate of chocolate chip cookies that their father had just pulled out of the oven.

“Whoa, boy, slow down,” said Jo. “You give me a stomachache just watching you.”

“Missed lunch,” said Finn. “Making up for it.”