On Fire Read online

  Her father poked his head into her office. “Busy?”

  She smiled. “Just pretending.”

  If anyone fit the stereotype of the hyperfocused scientist, Riley thought, it was Richard St. Joe. He was tall and thin like Sig, but with none of her sense of style. He was oblivious to his typically ragged appearance. Today he had on jeans, a navy thermal shirt and water sandals with thick socks. His scruffy beard was grayer than she remembered. He hadn’t been aboard the Encounter when it caught fire and sank last year. Instead he’d been aboard a university research ship, conducting a seminar on right whales, when the first distress calls came in. He’d had to wait hours before he learned that his daughter and father-in-law had survived.

  “Your mother called—she told me about Sam.” He looked as if he’d been fighting off panic, irritation, trying to figure out how to confront an adult daughter and colleague. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to see Emile?”

  “I didn’t think of it.”

  “You didn’t have to sneak off. I know he’s your grandfather. It’s not as if I’d forbid you to see him.”

  “But you can caution me against it,” she said, knowing that was exactly what he’d have done.

  Richard pushed his bony hands through his salt-and-pepper hair as if he’d like to pull out every strand. “Only because I think he’s become insanely reckless and selfish. Sam—you can’t think there’s no connection between his death and Emile. There must be.” He almost trembled with exasperation. “My God!”

  “I’m trying not to jump to any conclusions.”

  “I’m not talking about conclusions, I’m talking about logic.” But he checked his raging emotions and softened, giving her a quick hug. “Thank God you’re all right. Let’s hope the worst is over for you. At this point I don’t give a damn anymore about Emile, but you…” He tousled her hair as if she were seven. “I care about you, kid. I’m sorry you had to go through what you did.”

  “At least I didn’t know it was Sam. If I had…” She shuddered, leaving it at that.

  “I know. Let’s hope the police make quick work of this. Riley, you know I have no desire to see anything more happen to Emile—”

  “It’s okay, Dad. I understand. He shouldn’t have taken off the way he did.”

  “Yeah. Keep me posted, will you?”

  She promised she would. Her father, her mother, Sig. Emile. In their own way, they were a family, and they cared about each other. As tough as her parents were on Emile, Riley knew it pained them to see what they believed had become of him. And it frustrated them that she disagreed with their assessment. She was the only one who still refused to believe Emile Labreque had become a dangerous disgrace to his work, his reputation and himself.

  Not two minutes after her father left, her extension rang.

  “Don’t you have your own secretary?”

  Straker. “Where are you?”

  “I’m on break.”

  “From what?”

  “I’m learning how to feed sharks.”

  “What?”

  “I signed up for the volunteer-training program for people with PTSD. Abigail Granger happened to be in the volunteer office when I stopped by. I understand this program was her idea. Get them to connect with nature, toss a few fish to the sharks and they feel better about what they’ve been through. She walked me through the paperwork.”

  “You’re shameless. There’s a hot poker in hell with your name on it, I swear. That program is for people with a serious psychological disorder.”

  “I went to an island for six months. I connected with nature. I feel better.”

  Riley gripped the receiver so hard her hand hurt. “You went to an island for six months because you can’t get along with anyone.”

  “I’ve made friends with a couple of Vietnam vets this morning. Now, they’ve got real demons to fight. I didn’t want to lie to them, so I told them the score. They liked it when I told them you had a Beanie Baby sitting on your computer. You have quite the tiger-lady reputation.”

  “You’re the most obnoxious man on the planet. You conned Abigail.”

  “Nope. I told her I’m shadowing you because I don’t trust you to mind your own business and I needed a cover story, and she showed me to the sharks.”

  “You did not.”

  He laughed.

  “I hate you, Straker.”

  “You hold that thought. You staying in for lunch?”

  “I’m not telling you.”

  “Okay, I’ll find out on my own—”

  “Yes! Yes, I’m staying in for lunch.” She hated him, hated him, hated him. But his laugh still resonated, low and deep. He was a very dangerous man. “You?”

  “Abigail’s bringing us clam chowder.”

  He hung up, and Riley had to pry her fingers off the receiver.

  She raced down to the volunteer office, where, indeed, Abigail Granger had ordered clam chowder lunches for her volunteers.

  “Would you like some?” she asked. “We always order extra.”

  Riley smiled stiffly. “No, thanks. I was just checking out a rumor.”

  Straker was there. He hadn’t lied. Abigail wasn’t the sort who’d see through him. She was thirty-nine, fair-haired and fine boned, with striking blue eyes and a well-honed sense of style and grace. She never griped about anyone or anything, although she was divorced and the mother of two teenage boys away at school.

  Like Bennett Granger, her deceased father, she wasn’t a scientist, but her dedication to the Boston Center for Oceanographic Studies was total. She’d taken his place on the board of directors. If she wanted to fall for John Straker’s phony sob story, she could.

  “I heard about your terrible ordeal this weekend,” Abigail said. “I’m so sorry. How are you doing?”

  From her tone Riley guessed she hadn’t heard that the body had been identified as Sam Cassain. Abigail had never said what she believed happened to the Encounter. Matthew Granger—her brother and Riley’s brother-in-law—was the one who knew. Emile was responsible, period, never mind that he’d been like a second father to Bennett’s two children, showing them how to tie knots and sing to the periwinkles. His downfall had left a void in their lives, too, even if Abigail repressed it and Matt raged against it.

  Riley decided she didn’t really want to tell Abigail it was Sam’s body she’d found. “I’m okay.”

  Abigail frowned. Her expensive navy suit, although simple, looked out of place amid the stripped-down furnishings of the volunteer office. The center had a policy of putting its funds into research, public displays and facilities that benefited its marine and aquatic population—not into plush furnishings for staff and volunteers. “I understand you were visiting Emile.”

  “I spent Monday night at his place on Schoodic.”

  “Riley? Are you all right?”

  She attempted a shaky smile. “It’s just been a tough few days.” There was no way around it. She had to tell her. “Abigail, I heard this morning—the body I found. It was Sam Cassain.”

  Abigail clutched a stack of papers with her long, thin, manicured fingers. “That’s awful. Does Henry know?”

  Henry Armistead was the center’s executive director, handpicked by Bennett Granger. He’d won the board’s gratitude for his impeccable handling of the public relations nightmare the Encounter tragedy had presented. Sam’s death would give the gossip and the center’s critics fresh life—reason enough for Riley to have gone straight to him first thing that morning.

  “I don’t know,” Riley admitted. “I haven’t told him.”

  “I think you should,” Abigail said with certainty. “I imagine the police will want to talk to him about Sam. And reporters…” She took a breath, regaining her poise. She would think of the center first. She always did. “We need to put a strategy in place for handling the inevitable questions. Oh, Riley, this is horrendous. You know Sam was in Maine over the weekend, don’t you?”

  Her head spun. “He was?”
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  “Yes, I thought you saw him. He stopped at the house on Friday before the cocktail party. He said he just wanted to see how we were doing.” She faltered, suddenly awkward. “Oh, dear. What if we were the last people to see him alive? How on earth did he end up on Labreque Island, of all places? It must have been an accident.”

  Riley half wished she’d taken her grandfather’s cue and cleared out for a few days. Then people could have jumped to the wrong conclusions about her, too. “I have no idea, and I’m trying not to get ahead of myself with questions I can’t answer. I should have talked to Henry sooner. I’ll go see him now.” She hesitated, debating. “Will you be talking to Matt? Sig knows about Sam, but I doubt she—”

  “I’ll get in touch with him,” Abigail said, briskly polite. Whatever her opinion of her brother’s marital problems, she would never say.

  Riley ducked out without bringing up the topic of oddballs who might have shown up that morning for the PTSD volunteer program. She went out to the exhibits. No sign of Straker. The low lighting gave the sense of being underwater as tourists, school groups and businesspeople on their lunch hour intermingled, checking out exhibits that ran from small aquariums to the huge, multistory saltwater tank.

  The PTSD volunteers, she knew, stayed in the bowels of the center, away from any hint of crowds. But she didn’t see Straker there, either. Maybe his clam chowder had arrived. Riley had no desire to disturb the rest of the group’s lunch. With a huff of exasperation, she stormed outside to collect her wits before she ventured up to see Henry.

  A stiff breeze gusted off Boston Harbor, bringing with it the feel of autumn. She wanted to be out on the water now, in her kayak, paddling with the wind. Just imagining it helped calm her.

  Straker materialized at her side, his impact like a hot gust. “Nice fountain. Dolphins, whales, otters, seals. I like the walrus, myself. A fountain with a sense of humor, which is more than I can say about most of the people who work here. You’re an intense group.”

  “What did I do to deserve you on my case?”

  His gaze cooled. “You found a dead body on my island.”

  “I thought you were having lunch with your PTSD friends.”

  “It was yuppie clam chowder. Now, a good haddock chowder with a pat of butter and a sprinkle of black pepper—that would have had me.” He laid on his downeast accent, but Riley could see the tightness in his jaw, the hint of tension in his eyes. They were good eyes. Alert, expressive, as cool and impenetrable a gray as a Maine fog. She shook off the image, wondering what had got hold of her. He went on, “I expect I owe Abigail Granger an apology.”

  “For what?”

  “I was pretty much a jerk to her. I lied, and I put her on the spot.”

  “You’ve never apologized before for being a jerk.”

  He scowled. “You’re smart, Riley. But you’re not sweet.” He started off without a word.

  “You aren’t really going to apologize to Abigail, are you?”

  “I might.” He glanced back at her, a spark of humor lighting his face. “You know, she’s a hell of a lot nicer than you are.”

  “Sam Cassain stopped in to see the Grangers on Friday,” Riley blurted.

  He stopped. She could see his FBI-trained mind clicking into gear. This wasn’t the mind she knew. She knew the mind that wanted to drown her. She had to remember this wasn’t the boy she’d known on Schoodic Peninsula.

  “On Mount Desert?” he asked.

  He said it, dessert, the way the locals did, as in the French Mont Desert, or barren mountain, for its hills of pink granite. She nodded. “Abigail told me.”

  “Where did Cassain live? What’s he been doing the past year?”

  “Last I heard he was working on the docks in Portland, but he still had his place down here—out in Arlington, I think. He hadn’t settled into a new job, so far as I know.”

  Straker continued on his way without comment. Riley sighed. The man could drive her to the brink if she let him. She turned back to the fountain. More people had drifted over for a bit of fresh air during their lunch hour. Suddenly the idea of going back to work, trying to concentrate, didn’t appeal to her. She was restless, frustrated, still absorbing the potential ramifications of Sam Cassain turning up dead on Labreque Island. She wanted to find Emile—and she wanted to know what Straker was up to next.

  “Riley? I thought that was you.”

  Hell, she thought. Henry Armistead. He’d got to her before she could get to him. From his grim expression, she guessed he’d heard the news. Bennett had lured him east from California three years before to serve as the center’s executive director. He was fifty-one, handsome and polished, and Riley, oblivious to such things herself, had heard rumors of a budding relationship between him and Abigail Granger.

  “I was just coming to see you,” she said lamely.

  “A little late, I’d say. Maine State Police investigators are on their way. They want to talk to Abigail, Caroline Granger, your father and me about Sam’s death. They said they might want to ask you a few more questions, too.”

  She nodded. “I understand.”

  “I wish I’d known about this before the police called.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve been preoccupied.” She stopped, picturing the body lying facedown in low tide. “I didn’t recognize him. It never occurred to me…”

  “It must have been a terrible moment for you,” Henry said softly. “Riley, Sam’s body turning up on an island your grandfather owns…” He inhaled. He was gray haired, formal in his dark gray suit. His dress and manner, his sensibilities, fit with the Grangers more than they did the Labreques and St. Joes. “I can only imagine what the police must be thinking.”

  “We shouldn’t jump to any conclusions just because there was bad blood between Emile and Sam. For all we know, Sam could have been on his way to tell Emile he’d changed his mind about the Encounter and wanted to mend fences. There’s just no telling.”

  “I know Emile’s your grandfather, but…” He sighed. “Well, never mind. It’s obvious you have a blind spot where he’s concerned, which is understandable. I just hope Emile hears the news that the police want to talk to him, and comes in.”

  “I’m sure he will. This isn’t the first time he’s taken off without telling anyone. Since he’s retired, he doesn’t have to answer to any of us.”

  Henry tilted his head back slightly and gave her a long look, the kind that reminded her who was boss and who wasn’t. “That’s true. He doesn’t. But you, Riley—I want to make sure your priorities and obligations are clear.”

  “Of course they are.”

  He looked dubious. “Your sister is estranged from Matthew Granger. Sam Cassain placed responsibility for the deaths of five people, including Bennett Granger, on your grandfather’s shoulders. Now he’s dead and Emile’s disappeared.”

  “I was there, Henry.” She kept her voice low, under control. “I know what happened.”

  “Perhaps you should take the afternoon off,” he continued more gently. “We can see where things stand in the morning. With any luck, this will all have sorted itself out by then.”

  Riley stood rock-still, not certain where this was leading. “Henry, I have work to do. Is this a suggestion or a request?”

  “You’ve been walking the razor’s edge for a year. I know it’s difficult for you to accept Emile’s culpability with regard to the Encounter. It’s difficult for all of us. I’m being very straightforward with you, Riley. You’re not neutral. If you were, you wouldn’t have been on Labreque Island in the first place.”

  “I took a vacation day and kayaked over for a picnic. It’s not as if—”

  He held up a hand, stopping her. “I know, I know. I’m not criticizing you. You’re in a difficult position. I ask you to keep in mind how important the Grangers are to this institution. Bennett’s death and the Encounter controversy were tough blows to absorb. I’m not sure what else that family can stand before they turn their atten
tions elsewhere.”

  And their money, Riley thought bitterly.

  It was as if Henry read her mind. “It’s not just their financial support we can’t afford to lose. It’s their enthusiasm, their passion for the center’s work.”

  “Abigail’s, you mean. Caroline doesn’t seem that interested in oceanography, and Matt—”

  “Take the afternoon off,” Henry interrupted sharply. “And take tomorrow off if you need to.”

  She nodded. Her throat was tight, dry, her voice strangled. If Henry knew about Straker and his shark-feeding, he’d probably fire her. He’d only worked at the center for three years. He didn’t understand the connections between her family and the Grangers, that losing Bennett Granger was tantamount to losing a second grandfather.

  “What about the dinner tonight?” she asked.

  He winced, obviously having forgotten Abigail’s bimonthly dinner for the center’s staff. “You’ll have to attend, I suppose. It would be awkward and obvious if you didn’t. Abigail understands your torn loyalties. We all know you were nearly killed on the Encounter yourself.”

  “So was Emile.”

  “Emile doesn’t place the same value on human life that the rest of us do. That’s the problem. That’s what led to the Encounter disaster. We all see it, Riley, even if you can’t.” Henry straightened, squaring his shoulders as if he knew he’d gone too far. “Well, I’ve been as brutally honest as I can be. Forgive me. I’ll see you this evening.”

  He started out across the plaza, and Riley shook her arms and hands to loosen up the tensed muscles. Was she that blind to Emile’s faults? Her mother, her father, her sister, her boss—everyone believed his passion and dedication to his work had turned pathological. She was his last defender.

  What did Straker think?

  “You don’t care what Straker thinks,” she reminded herself out loud.

  She went back to her office, packed up her leather tote and made it out to the parking garage before she remembered she’d come in his car. Well, fine. She’d take the T home.