On Shadow Beach Read Free

compartment and pulled out a jacket. “You might want to put this on. It will get colder outside the bay.”
    She accepted with a grateful nod, relieved with both the change in subject and the warm jacket. She’d left San Francisco straight from work, wearing a navy blue skirt, silk blouse, thin sweater, and high-heeled pumps that were perfect for her job but offered no protection against the elements. Shane’s big coat enveloped her like a warm hug, reminding her of the way she’d once felt in his arms.
    She quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. “So, this is a nice boat,” she said into the increasingly awkward silence. “Is it yours? Or is it part of the Murray charter fleet?” Shane’s father had run a charter fishing business for as long as Lauren could remember.
    “It’s mine. I picked it up last year when I came back,” he said shortly.
    “Came back from where?”
    “Everywhere,” he said with a vague wave. “Wherever there was water and fish and a boat to run.”
    “Sounds like you got the life you always wanted.”
    He shot her a look that she couldn’t begin to decipher. “Is that what it sounds like, Lauren?”
    Her name rolled off his tongue like a silky caress. She’d always loved the way he’d said her name, as if she were the most important person in the world. But that wasn’t the way he’d said her name now. Now there was anger in the word, and God knew what else.
    She sighed. “I don’t know what to say to you, Shane. I guess I never did.”
    His gaze hardened. “You knew what to say, Lauren. You just wouldn’t say it.”
    Thirteen years ago he’d wanted her to say that she believed in him, that she trusted him, that she knew in her heart that he hadn’t killed her sister.
    All she’d been able to say was good-bye.
    “I don’t want to talk about the past.” The words had barely left her lips when she found herself compelled to speak again. “You lied to me, Shane. I trusted you more than I’d ever trusted anyone, and you lied to me.”
    He gave a little nod, his eyes dark and unreadable. “Yeah, I did.”
    “And you’re still not going to tell me why, are you?”
    “I thought you didn’t want to talk about the past.”
    She debated that. There were so many things she wanted Shane to explain, but what was the point?
    “You’re right; it won’t change anything. In the end, Abby—Abby will still be gone.” A chill ran through her, and she glanced at the coastline. It wastoo dark to see the Ramsay house, where her sister had been found murdered, but she could feel its presence even if she couldn’t see it.
    “Someone set fire to the house about nine months ago,” Shane said, following her gaze. “One wing was destroyed.”
    “It’s too bad the house didn’t burn to the ground.” She’d never understood how her father could stay in Angel’s Bay, could wake up every day and see the house where her sister had spent the last violent minutes of her life. But there were a lot of things she couldn’t understand about her dad.
    Lauren grabbed hold of the back of the captain’s seat as Shane increased their speed. On the open sea, waves slapped against the boat and the wind increased, lifting her hair off the back of her neck. Her nerves began to tingle with fear. She could handle being on the water when the day was sunny and bright and she could see the shoreline, but she’d never liked going out at night, or being hours away from land, where she’d be vulnerable, at the mercy of the unpredictable sea.
    “Where is my father?” Panic made her voice rise. “I don’t see any lights. How are we going to find him out here? Maybe we should go back.” She hated being a coward, especially in front of Shane, who had never felt a fear he didn’t want to meet head on.
    “Your father didn’t disappear. He’s just around the bluff.” Shane pointed to the GPS on his console. “See that dot—that’s him. We’ll catch up in a coupleof minutes.”
    “Okay.