Eclipse Bay

that?”
    “She sure did,” Walter agreed. “If she said it once, she must have said it a hundred times. I believe the last time was the day she had us out here to install the washing machine in the laundry room.”
    Torrance nodded. “Believe it was.” He winked at Hannah and Rafe. “Told us she wanted to leave everything in good working order for you two.”
    Willis shook his head indulgently. “That Isabel. Always did have a real romantic streak.”
    Hannah narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you two have some plumbing you should be looking at?”
    “Plumbing. Whoa. Almost forgot. You heard the lady,” Torrance continued. “Reckon we better get back to work.”
    “Right.” Walter’s head jerked once in a mechanical nod. “Plumbing. Listen, you two, don’t pay any heed to the talk that’s going around town these days. Bound to be some for a while, given what happened the night the Sadler girl died and all and now this business with Isabel leaving you the house. But it’ll fade quick enough.”
    “Let’s hope so,” Hannah said.
    Torrance clapped Rafe on the shoulder. “Just want you both to know that me and my brother here never once thought you’d had anything to do with Kaitlin Sadler’s death.”
    “I appreciate that,” Rafe replied.
    Walter pursed his lips. “Torrance and I always suspected that she got killed by some sex maniac from Seattle. Isn’t that right, Torrance?”
    Torrance bobbed his head several times. “Yup. That was how we figured it, all right. Not that Chief Yates paid any attention to us.”
    “Yates just wanted to close the case as fast as possible,” Walter said somberly. “He was getting ready to retire. Last thing he wanted to do was leave behind a nasty unsolved murder. Would have spoiled his record.”
    “Murder.” Hannah met Rafe’s eyes for a few seconds. He gave her an enigmatic look. She turned back to Walter. “Are you serious? Do you really think Kaitlin was murdered by a sex maniac?”
    Walter traded glances with Torrance. “Can’t blame us for wondering, given what we found the day we fixed her washer. Right, Torrance?”
    Torrance’s head went into nodding mode again. “Right. Gotta wonder.”
    Rafe looked at Walter “What exactly did you find the day you fixed her washer?”
    To Hannah’s astonishment, Walter blushed a bright shade of red.
    “Kinky stuff,” he muttered.
    “What kind of kinky stuff?” Rafe asked.
    Something in his voice made Hannah glance sharply at him. But she could read nothing in his expression.
    Torrance rolled his eyes. “You know. Frilly undies.”
    Hannah thought about the little demi-bra she had lost on the stairs last night. When her gaze collided with Rafe’s, she knew he was thinking about it too.
    “What’s so kinky about a woman wearing frilly underwear?” she demanded
    “Well, the stuff we found wasn’t exactly little,” Torrance said. “Big enough to fit a man.”
    “Definitely a heck of a lot bigger than Kaitlin,” Walter confided. “She was real petite, if you recall.”
    “There was also a sexy nightgown that was much too big for her,” Torrance continued. “And some really large sparkly high heels.”
    “Don’t forget those videotapes,” Walter added.
    Hannah stared at him. “You found all that stuff inside her washer?”
    “Not exactly inside the washer.” Torrance hesitated. “Well, see, once we got goin’ on the washer, we realized that her dryer exhaust hose probably hadn’t been cleaned in a long time.”
    “Dangerous things, exhaust hoses,” Walter put in seriously. “If they get clogged with lint, they can cause fires. Anyhow, we figured we’d do Kaitlin a favor, so after we finished with the washer, we pulled out the dryer to check the exhaust hose. That was when we found the large-sized undies and the videos and all.”
    “ Behind the machine?” Rafe asked carefully.
    Torrance nodded violently. “Someone had cut out a big chunk of drywall and stuffed the videos and the ladies’ things into the space between a couple of studs.”
    “Knew right off the female stuff didn’t belong to you, Rafe,” Walter assured him hastily.
    “What was your big clue?” Rafe asked. “Wrong size?”
    Torrance guffawed with laughter. “Heck, everyone knew you’d been seein’ a lot of Kaitlin that summer. But me and Walter never figured you for one of them transistors.”
    “Transvestites,” Rafe corrected mildly.
    Torrance nodded. “Never figured you for one of