Written in Stone (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

tell him so. With the words sticking in her throat, she kissed him and let him go.
    * * *
    Harlan was more than willing to ferry Olivia, Haviland, and Rawlings across the harbor. He’d been eager to search Munin’s place himself, but hadn’t had the heart to return to the site of her death.
    Both he and Olivia were eager to leave as early as possible, but Rawlings had stayed up most of the night and needed a few hours of sleep, so Olivia and Haviland decided to grab a bite at Grumpy’s and fill Dixie in on all that had happened over the weekend.
    Olivia settled in at her customary window booth, surprised to note the amount of empty tables.
    “Folks are either at church or out fishin’,” Dixie said when Olivia asked what Dixie had done to scare away her customers. “We’ve got a big storm comin’ in this afternoon and it’s supposed to last through ’til tomorrow. I already told Grumpy to whip up some chowder. A heavy rain makes people crave soup.”
    “Michel made us creamy tomato for our meeting last night,” Olivia said. “It was the best part of my day.”
    Dixie poured Olivia coffee and then perched on the end of the vinyl booth cushion while Olivia recounted her tumultuous Saturday. When she was just about finished, she noticed Fred Yoder seated toward the back at the
Starlight Express
booth. He looked up, caught her eye, and waved.
    A minute later, he made his way to her booth, coffee cup in hand. “Howdy,” he said with a cheerful smile. “I’m not even going to pretend that I didn’t come over here to pry.” He put his cup on the table and reached down to greet Haviland. “About the mystery jug. Did you make any progress?”
    Olivia motioned for Dixie to slide over. “Join us.”
    Fred hesitated. “What about your other customers? I don’t want to pin you in.”
    “Handsome fellow such as yourself? Feel free to pin me anytime you want,” Dixie teased. “And don’t worry about that couple in the
Cats
booth. They’re cuttin’ coupons from the paper. They’ll be there another hour and I’ve already topped off their coffee twice. I give ’em any more and they’re going float away.”
    “Where’s Duncan?” Olivia asked once Fred was comfortably seated.
    “He’s worn out. He and I hit the beach at first light. He’ll be in a canine coma until lunch after all the seagull chasing he did this morning.” Fred smiled. “How about you? Has Haviland gotten his paws wet already?”
    Olivia shook her head. “There’s no playtime for us today.” She filled him in on recent events and then pulled the bag containing the pottery shards from her purse and showed him the safety deposit key. Fred examined all the pieces with a collector’s curiosity, but didn’t comment on any of them.
    “The only thing that the Locklears had going for them was their land,” Olivia said. “That’s why we’re assuming that the casino deal somehow triggered the murders.”
    Dixie whistled. “And some white supremacist whacko’s involved? An ugly business, Olivia. I hope you’re watchin’ your step.”
    Olivia ignored her friend and traced the outline of the Klan token.
    “What about the ring?” Fred asked. “Did the year hold any significance?”
    “It says nineteen seventy-something, but we can’t read the last digit. It’s not the year Fletcher or Annette graduated and it’s way too old to have belonged to Willis or Talley.”
    Fred reached for the piece containing the old key. He stroked the metal with his fingertips and pivoted it toward the light. “Maybe it’s not about the land. Maybe it’s about a house. Perhaps there’s something inside this house—the danger that Munin warned you about.” He glanced out the window, unseeing. “The Battle of Hayes Pond started a chain reaction. Therefore Munin selected the token and the pennies for the jug. The land and the house were sold to the Locklears for next to nothing. And two kids were going to become wealthy from selling it to others.” He slid the key over to Olivia. “What’s on the other side of the door? Why does the house matter?”
    “You’re a genius, Fred,” Olivia said. “I never thought about the house itself. None of us did. We were so focused on the land because of the casino deal.”
    “The house might be torn down to make room for a shiny new buildin’. Maybe that idea has the killer seein’ mad-bull red.” Dixie pointed at the ring. “Someone who went to Littleton High School.”
    Olivia’s cell