Donovans 01 - Amber Beach

for bones. “That’s it. Great piece, isn’t it? It has clarity for radiance and smoky tendrils of cloud for mystery.”
    Neither agent looked impressed.
    “This is all he sent?” Mather asked Honor.
    “No. There were twelve other pieces.”
    “Raw or worked?” Ellen asked.
    “Raw, like that one.” Honor pulled mayonnaise out of the refrigerator and reached for a spoon. “Faith works the amber herself, just like the other gemstones.”
    “What else did Kyle send you?” Mather asked.
    “When?”
    “In the last month.”
    “Nothing. Not a card. Not a letter. Not a phone call. Not one damned thing.” The spoon rang against the side of the salmon bowl as Honor knocked off the mayonnaise with unnecessary force. “But I don’t expect you to take my word for it. So do everyone a favor. Look for whatever you hope Kyle sent me and let me eat my lunch in peace.”
    “You don’t mind if we search the house?” Ellen asked.
    “You won’t be the first,” Honor muttered.
    “What?” Mather said.
    “What kind of a search are you talking about?” Honor asked quickly. “The kind where everything bigger than a matchbox is turned inside out?”
    “No.”
    “Bigger than a breadbox?” she asked.
    Mather looked at Ellen.
    “Yes,” Ellen said.
    “Bigger than a computer?” Honor persisted.
    “What is this, Twenty Questions?” Ellen snapped.
    “No,” Honor said, “it’s me trying to figure out how much of a mess you’ll make in your search.”
    “Two feet by two feet is the smallest size we’re interested in.”
    “Fine,” Honor said. “Search the house. Search the garage. Hell, search the barbecue. Search the boat while you’re at it. Save the Coast Guard a few steps. On second thought, forget the boat. I’d really like to see Captain Conroy dance on and off the Tomorrow ’s swim step in this weather.”
    Surprisingly, Mather smiled. It didn’t last long, but it gave Honor hope that he was human underneath the pinstripes and tie.
    “Unless you really object,” Mather said to her, “I’ll search the boat.”
    “Go ahead. But if you find anything, I get to see it.”
    Mather turned to leave.
    “Wait,” Honor said.
    He looked back.
    “You didn’t answer me,” she said. “If you find anything, I get to see it. Otherwise you can go out and get official pieces of paper telling me that I have to let you be on my brother’s property. Do we have an understanding?”
    He looked at Ellen, who shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “Start in the kitchen. I doubt if there’s anything in the boat.”
    Mather began opening kitchen cupboards. He was quick, thorough, and neat.
    Ignoring him, Honor started chopping up celery and green onions for the salmon salad. Before she was finished, Mather moved on to the living room.
    “How did you meet Jake Mallory?” Ellen asked.
    Honor’s knife hesitated for a fraction of a second and then sliced on through the last of the green onions. “He answered my ad for a fishing guide.”
    “Is that what he told you he was? A fishing guide?”
    “Pretty much.”
    “And you believed him?” The amusement in Ellen’s voice was just short of outright sarcasm.
    The knife whacked through the celery with savage speed. “He can run the boat and we caught a fish,” Honor said. “That’s good enough for me.”
    “Miss Donovan . . .” Ellen began.
    “That’s me,” Honor said, dumping celery and onions into the bowl. She reached for a lemon, sliced it in half, and started squeezing it over the salmon as though something more interesting than a lemon was in her grasp.
    “Are you hostile to us because of Jake?” Ellen asked.
    “Nope.”
    “Why, then? If you have nothing to hide . . .” Ellen smiled and waited expectantly.
    From the living room came the sound of desk drawers opening. Honor’s breath caught; those were the same noises that had awakened her the night before. She paused in the act of slicing through a second lemon, hardly able to believe it was only last night that she had gone screaming down the path and into Jake’s arms.
    So much had happened, so quickly, so completely, nothing would ever be the same again. Yet it seemed like Kyle had always been missing, she had always been afraid, she had always known Jake.
    You’re losing it, Honor told herself. Get a grip. The smiling blue-eyed lady waiting for your answer isn’t a Barbie doll. She’s real bright, twice as ambitious, and she wants the panel from the Amber Room.
    Mather moved on