Page 44 of Tide and Seek

“I agree,” I murmured.“I really have no idea why she thought it was worth the trip.There are plenty of other nice beaches.”

“Do you remember who told you Mrs.Brownstone still felt entitled to use this beach, Dr.Thornton?”Hartley looked up from his pad, pen poised.

James had been the one who’d mentioned Mrs.Brownstone still used the private beach, but I worried that naming him as the source might steer Detective Hartley back toward him as a suspect.Keeping things vague seemed harmless enough.I was positive James wasn’t capable of murder, and I didn’t want to do anything that might put him in Hartley’s crosshairs.

“I don’t recall,” I lied, cheeks warming when I felt Royce’s gaze.

“No?”Hartley frowned.

“Not at the moment,” I said, making sure not to look at Royce.

“Okay.”He hesitated.“Tell me, what do you think of Luke Westbrook?”

Relieved at the change of subject, I said, “He’s a bit of a free spirit.”That was the nicest thing I could think of to say about Luke.

“He uses narcotics, correct?”

I blanched.“Er… yes.”Apparently Luke’s reputation preceded him.

“Would you say he’s a trustworthy type of guy?”Hartley continued to appraise me with his keen gray eyes.“For example, would you trust him to housesit for you?”

“Probably not,” I admitted guiltily.“Luke was always eccentric, but he seems even more so than when I lived here before.”

“So you’ve seen Luke since you’ve been back?”

I nodded.“Yes, briefly.He dropped by yesterday.He was definitely on something.”

“Any idea what sort of drugs he takes?”

I shook my head.“You’d have to ask him.I believe he mixes things.”

Clearing his throat, Hartley glanced down at his notes again.“Let’s see… while you were away, you had Margie the cleaning lady come by on a regular basis, and who else?”

“When you say ‘come by,’ what do you mean?”I frowned.

“Service people.”

“Ah, I see.Well, there was Margie, as we discussed.”I rubbed my chin, trying to remember all the various people I hired to keep my beach house in good shape.“Harris, the security officer for this community, checked on the place from time to time and let me know everything was okay.I have a pool guy who comes every two weeks, and the pest control company sprays once a month.”

“Any of them ever come inside?”

“Just Margie,” I said, then corrected myself.“Wait, every few months the pest control guy has to come inside to spray.Otherwise, we end up with an ant problem.”

“So it’s not a regular thing?”Hartley asked.

“I think he sprays inside every three months?I’m sorry, I’m not exactly sure of the duration.He’s going to spray inside when we leave next week.”I grimaced.“I’m sensitive to the bug spray chemicals, so I asked him to hold off.”

“He was here recently?”

“Yes, yesterday morning.One of my neighbors—Luke, actually—asked him to visit because he’s being invaded by ants.”

“I see.”He tapped his pen on the pad, looking thoughtful.“Anyone else you can remember who would need to come inside your home?”

“Not that I can think of.”Hopefully I wasn’t forgetting anyone.

“Pool guy ever come inside?”

I shook my head.“No.Why would he?”