Dawn in Eclipse Bay

the desert, too.”
    “I like it just fine here in Eclipse Bay.” Mitchell rested his head against the back of the chair. “You figure to drive back to Portland tonight?”
    “Had enough driving for one day. Knees stiffen up when I sit in a car for a long period of time.”
    “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Mitchell absently rubbed one of his own knees. “Occurs to me that if you’re gonna hang around town for a while, you might as well stay here with me.”
    “Why would I want to do that?”
    “If you stay at the cottage you’ll get in the way of Gabe’s courting.”
    “Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer. Don’t want to interfere with the lovebirds.” Sullivan chuckled.
    Mitchell eyed him suspiciously. “What’s so funny?”
    “Just thinking about what the folks in town will say when they find out that I’m your houseguest.”
    “Huh.” Sullivan grinned. “Probably figure we’ll try to knock each other’s teeth out.”
    “Probably.”
    “Now that’s settled, maybe I should fill you in on some of the stuff that’s been happening around here.”

    Fifteen minutes later Sullivan was ready to explode. “Why the hell wasn’t I told about the break-ins? I didn’t have a clue that Lillian was in danger.”
    “Take it easy. Like I just said, everything is under control. Gabe took care of Flint for you.”
    “I should have been informed.”
    “Gabe put the fire out before anyone realized just how big it was.” Mitchell heaved himself up out of his chair.
    “Bryce will have dinner ready in a while. I generally have a glass or two of something beforehand. As I recall, you used to do the same.”
    “I haven’t changed.” Sullivan watched the darkness close in over the bay. “A little something at this time of day helps a man relax.”
    “That it does.”
    Mitchell went to a cabinet, hauled a bottle out of a cupboard and splashed whiskey into two glasses. He brought the two drinks back across the room and handed one to Sullivan without comment.
    They drank their whiskeys and watched the darkness thicken outside the window.
    After all these years, Sullivan thought, it was good to sit here and share the twilight with the one other person in the world who understood why this was such a bad time of day.
    “They say the memories fade as you get older,” Mitchell said after a while.
    “They lie.”

chapter 25
    Lillian parked her car in the driveway behind Claire’s red compact, got out and walked across the graveled drive toward the porch steps. All four doors and the lid of the compact’s trunk were open wide. Two suitcases and a file box occupied the trunk.
    The front door of the house banged open just as she reached out to knock. Claire lurched forward, head down, onto the porch, struggling with an oversized suitcase. She was dressed in sweats and running shoes. Her hair was anchored in a ponytail.
    The loud, strident voice of a radio talk-show host holding forth on politics poured out of the doorway behind her.
    “Need a hand?” Lillian asked above the hammering of the radio pundit.
    Claire jolted to a stop, breathing hard. She looked up quickly, startled.
    “Lil.” She let go of the suitcase. “Sorry, didn’t hear you drive up. What are you doing here?”
    “You told me you were leaving town today. I came by to see if I could help with the packing.”
    “Thanks.” Claire looked at the compact’s trunk and then down at the suitcase that she had angled through the doorway. “I underestimated the job. Guess I hadn’t realized how much stuff I had accumulated here in Eclipse Bay. I’m taking the essentials with me in the car. The moving-van people will be here at two o’clock for the rest.”
    “Point me in the right direction.”
    “I finished my office. I was just getting started on the bedroom and bath. If you want to take the kitchen, I would be forever grateful.”
    “No problem.” Lillian moved through the doorway.
    Claire followed her. She went to the table where the radio blared and turned off the political hot talk. The sudden silence left an uncomfortable vacuum.
    “You’re a good friend,” Claire declared. “Unlike some others I could mention. You will notice how none of the other members of the team bothered to show. Turns out they all had something unexpected come up at the last minute. Why am I not surprised?”
    “Claire—”
    “Getting fired from a political campaign staff endows you with instant invisibility. Did you know that? Like being in