Eclipse Bay

left with a stack of leveraged debt, and the firm was suddenly out of business.”
    “And you and Sullivan were at each other’s throats,” Octavia mused.
    Mitchell looked at her across the fence, squinting faintly against the weak sun. “I was sure he had somehow seduced Claudia into doing what she did. He figured I was working with her. Sullivan and I cornered each other outside Fulton’s Supermarket one day, and the rest, as they say around these parts, is history.”
    “Did you love her very much, then?”
    Mitchell shrugged. “She was my passion. Naturally, I made a fool of myself over her. Making fools out of themselves over females is something Madison men do.”
    “Is she still your passion?”
    Mitchell examined the dead rose he had just pulled off a bush. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. When you find yourself within spitting distance of ninety, you start viewing things from a slightly different perspective. If Claudia Banner walked back into my life today, I’d ask for my money back.”
    “And that’s all?”
    “Yep.” He smiled slightly at the dead rose. “That’s all. I’ve got other passions these days. That’s another thing I’ve learned over the years. If he gives himself a chance, even a Madison can develop a little common sense when it comes to his passions.”
    Octavia was quiet for a while, watching him work. Eventually she stirred. “You know, if you leave some of the dead blooms on the bush you’ll get rose hips. They make a very healthy tonic.”
    “I can’t stand rose hip tea,” Mitchell said. He snapped off another dead bloom and stuffed it into his sack. “I’ve got some good ten-year-old whiskey I use when I need a tonic.”

chapter 10
    At eight-thirty the following evening, Rafe stood with Jed Steadman at the edge of the crowd and watched Hannah dance with Perry Decatur. Decatur, he was pleased to note, did not appear to be enjoying himself.
    The whole scene bordered on amusing. Rafe could almost feel sorry for Thornley and his retinue. The reception was ostensibly in the politician’s honor, but most of the guests were too busy sneaking covert glances at Hannah and Rafe to pay much attention to Thornley. That was due to the fact that most of those present were locals, including the mayor and his wife, all of the members of the town council, and the owners of several Eclipse Bay businesses.
    Rafe recognized a lot of faces. He knew that the majority of these people had been around long enough to be familiar with the legend of the famous Harte-Madison feud, and virtually all of them had been living in Eclipse Bay eight years ago when Hannah had provided him with his alibi for the night of Kaitlin Sadler’s death. In addition, the entire town was no doubt aware of the terms of Isabel Harte’s will.
    When Rafe and Hannah had walked into the reception together shortly after eight, they had caused any number of heads to swivel and jaws to drop. A ripple of murmurs had spread through the crowd. An amazing number of people had found an excuse to cross the room to greet them and make conversation.
    Definitely not a banner night for Thornley, Rafe thought. How could his staff have known that their man’s forthcoming announcement of his intention to run for the U.S. Senate seat would take second place to the latest development in the Harte-Madison feud?
    Jed munched a cracker slathered in cream cheese and smoked salmon. “Thornley might be the next senator from the great state of Oregon, but he’s having a hard time getting anyone’s attention tonight.”
    “Only so far as the locals are concerned. The out-of-town crowd hasn’t got a clue about the reason for the buzz.”
    “True, but almost everyone here is from Eclipse Bay.” Jed eyed Perry and Hannah with an assessing gaze. “Decatur certainly doesn’t look thrilled. Probably didn’t expect you to show up with Hannah.”
    Rafe watched Perry and Hannah come to a halt on the dance floor. “I’m not real concerned with Decatur’s feelings.”
    “From what I hear, he’s got a lot at stake tonight too. Word is he’s trying to position himself to take over the institute next year.”
    “Not my problem.” Rafe picked up a feathered toothpick that had an olive, a bit of cheese, and a mushroom impaled on it. He put the tiny skewer in his mouth and removed the edible portions with his teeth.
    Jed shot him a curious look. “So what’s up with you and Hannah, anyway?”
    “We’re conducting