Eclipse Bay

down the hall to the next room. A quick glance revealed that Jed used it as an entertainment center. A massive television set took up a large section of one wall. Several thousand dollars’ worth of speakers and other electronic equipment were positioned around a large recliner cushioned in black leather.
    A wastebasket sat next to the recliner. Rafe glanced inside and saw a small heap of trash. A little square of yellow paper and a bit of foil clung to the side of the basket.
    Rafe aimed the penlight closer to the candy wrapper. It looked identical to the one he had discovered beneath the tree at the end of the Harte cottage drive. It wasn’t conclusive proof that it had been Jed who had kept watch on the house that night, but the evidence was mounting.
    “Rafe.” Mitchell’s voice echoed softly from the other bedroom. It was husky with urgency. “You better take a look at this.”
    Rafe swung around and hurried back down the hall. “What is it?” He rounded the corner and aimed the penlight at Mitchell, who was standing in front of a chest of drawers. “Find something?”
    “It’s what I didn’t find.” Mitchell waved a hand at three open drawers. “There’s nothing in here. Cleaned out.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Have a look for yourself.”
    Rafe went to the closet and yanked it open. Three shirts hung limply in the far corner. A pair of worn slippers sat on the floor. The rest of the space was empty. The door of a small safe built into the closet wall hung open. There was nothing inside,
    “Looks like he packed up and left.” Mitchell hooked his thumbs on his belt. “Maybe he figured out we’re on to him.”
    “How could he have known?”
    Mitchell shrugged. “Small town. He might have seen Arizona’s truck parked at Dreamscape this afternoon. Wouldn’t take much for him to put two and two together. He’s got to know you’re one of the few people who takes her seriously. Maybe he figured out that she was helping you look into the Sadler girl’s death. Wouldn’t be a real big leap for him.”
    “No.” Rafe thought about it. “Not if he was already paranoid about that possibility. Maybe he planned for the possibility that someone would come around asking questions someday.”
    “One thing’s for certain.” Mitchell turned toward the open wall safe. “If Steadman has cleared out for good, you can bet he didn’t leave those tapes behind for us to find.”

chapter 23
    Rafe was brooding again. Hannah tolerated it as long as she could stand it, but by ten o’clock that evening she was starting to climb the walls. She tracked her quarry down in the solarium, where he was sitting in the shadows. He had one hand on Winston’s neck, rubbing the dog absently behind the ears.
    “I vote we all take Winston for his evening walk on the beach,” Hannah said from the doorway.
    At the sound of his name included in the same sentence as the word “walk,” Winston moved smartly out from under Rafe’s hand and bounced toward the door.
    Rafe’s hand paused in midair over the place where Winston’s ears had been a second earlier. “It’s dark, in case you haven’t noticed.”
    Hannah lounged in the doorway, arms folded. “There’s no fog. The moon is out. All we need is a flashlight.”
    “It’s late.”
    She looked at the back of his head. “Just a little past ten. The first time you and I walked on the beach it was after midnight.”
    There was a short, stark silence. Without another word, Rafe levered himself up out of the lounger.
    They went out of the big house through the French doors that opened onto the lower veranda. Rafe clicked on the flashlight, but Winston ignored the beam. He bounded ahead, zipping down the steps and heading toward the shadowy beach path with the ease of a creature who relies on a variety of senses to get around.
    Rafe and Hannah followed in the dog’s wake.
    The evening was cool but not cold. The bay was a dark mirror beneath the icy white moon. A swath of silver streaked the surface of the deceptively still water. In the distance the lights of the pier and the streets of the small downtown section of Eclipse Bay glittered. Hannah could see the glow of Chamberlain College and the institute on the hillside.
    Everything about the night brought back memories of her first walk on the beach with Rafe. She wondered if he was remembering that same evening and if so, what he thought about it.
    When they reached the sand they followed Winston toward the rocky