The Light Keeper's Legacy (A Chloe Ellefson Mystery) Read Free Page B

or on a village dock, bullies didn’t like being shamed.

Five
    Chloe’s breath was ragged by the time she climbed back to the top of the cliff. She walked a few paces, trying to catch her wind, but the urge to run was too strong. Heart hammering, she jogged past the lighthouse and back toward the boat landing.
    She was gasping long before she reached the main compound. She stared at the channel. What the hell should she do now? She’d watched the last employee of the day leave on the Karfi. Then she remembered: two kayakers were on the island. The passage back to Washington Island might still be too rough to paddle, but she wouldn’t know until she asked.
    Forty secluded campsites were sprinkled across the southern end of the 900-acre island. The young couple was in one of the remote sites, but where were those ? She set off in what she hoped was the right direction.
    Chloe searched for what seemed forever before hearing voices. A tent was pitched in a small clearing at the edge of the trees. The campers were on the beach just beyond. A blonde guy was sharpening a long stick with an army knife while a dark-haired young woman laid out the makings for s’mores: marshmallows, graham crackers, Hershey Bars.
    Both of them scrambled to their feet as Chloe burst from the trees. “Um, what’s up?” the guy said.
    Chloe leaned over, hands on knees, feeling lightheaded. She took a deep breath before straightening and introducing herself. “I came to spend a week at the lighthouse, doing research.”
    “I’m Tim Brown,” the guy said. “That’s Natalie.”
    They were … what, twenty? Maybe twenty-two? Tim was a good-looking kid in a low-key kind of way, short but powerfully built through the upper body. Natalie seemed a less-likely paddle rat, with hair that probably—when clean—fluffed in floppy layers.
    “I was down at the beach below the lighthouse a little while ago,” Chloe began, “and I found a … a body.”
    “A body? ” Tim took a step backward.
    Natalie’s eyes went wide. “Oh my God! Who is it?”
    “I have no idea. A woman’s body is sort of tangled up in a fish net.”
    Tim’s mouth twisted. “Grody.”
    “Yeah,” Chloe agreed, “but here’s the thing. There aren’t any park employees on the island tonight, and the phone isn’t working. So I’m really not sure what—”
    Natalie gestured toward the kayaks pulled up on the beach nearby. “We can go for help.”
    “Really?” Chloe asked. “Garrett told me conditions weren’t good for paddling the channel.”
    “That was this morning,” Natalie scoffed. “The wind’s been dropping all day.”
    “Are you sure?” Chloe asked, thinking, Please be sure. Please be sure.
    “No problem,” Natalie said.
    Tim shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
    Natalie and Tim packed away the food and fetched paddles, a compass, and flashlights from their tent. They donned dry suits and life preservers, and shoved the two kayaks into the shallows. Chloe splashed in, the water biting like ice at her ankles, and helped push them off. “Be safe,” she called.
    Natalie took the lead, angling her kayak to loop around Rock Island’s east shore before cutting south and west toward Washington Island’s Jackson Harbor. Soon they had disappeared from sight.
    Chloe returned to the trail, hiked back across the island, and down to the dock. She could see the kayaks in the distance. Natalie’s was green and easy to miss, but Tim’s bright yellow boat shone like a beacon. The two paddlers appeared to be crossing without difficulty. Chloe found a picnic table where she could see the channel, and settled down to wait.
    _____
    Sometime later Chloe watched as a rescue squad wrestled the body up the last of the steps from the beach. The men lowered the stretcher to the ground, no doubt relieved to have managed the climb. The sun hadn’t set, but it was gloomy beneath the cedar trees. As Chloe tugged her jacket’s zipper closer to her chin, she recognized one of