Written in Stone (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

her head, refuting the name he’d called her.
    Rawlings came to her side, gripping the side rail as he followed her gaze. “Who . . . ?” But he couldn’t grasp what he was seeing.
    “I saw him at the powwow yesterday too,” Olivia said, her eyes fixed on the figure. The man was now jogging along the bridge in order to keep pace with the Whaler. Harlan drove on, oblivious to the drama occurring onshore. In a few seconds, he’d increase his speed and leave the congested harbor behind.
    “Camille!” The desperate cry carried across the water.
“Camille!”
    Now even Haviland was paying attention. He barked a few times, warning the strange man that his passionate shouts were unwelcome.
    “I’m Olivia,” Olivia said in a near whisper and then she lifted her head and called out, “I’m Olivia Limoges! Camille’s daughter!”
    The declaration seemed to knock the wind out of the man. He stopped abruptly and placed a clenched fist against his chest as if experiencing the preliminary symptoms of a heart attack. Then, he dropped his arm, his whole body going limp as he stared at her.
    Harlan turned, studying his passengers. “Everything all right?”
    When Olivia didn’t answer, Rawlings put a hand on her arm. “Do we need to go back?”
    “No time,” Harlan said. “A storm’s coming in from the southeast. We’ll be lucky to get to Munin’s and back without getting hit.”
    He hesitated for a long moment and, when no one argued, eased the throttle up. The engine roared and the boat raced forward, its speed increasing as they moved toward the open water.
    The man, Willie Wade’s double, receded. Olivia watched over her shoulder until he was just a tiny smudge against the horizon.
    “That wasn’t your father,” Rawlings said, still holding on to her arm. “For a second, I thought I was seeing a ghost, but even I can spot the differences. Did your dad have a brother?”
    Olivia was silent for a long time, her brows creased in thought. Finally, she nodded. “That must be it. He had a brother and I never knew it. They look enough alike to be . . . twins.” And then, in a rush that knocked the breath from her lungs, she remembered everything Munin had told her. Staggering to the seat in the stern, she sank down and tried to draw in a mouthful of air.
    Rawlings squatted down next to her. “Focus on a point in the distance,” he said gently. “Keep staring at it until you can breathe again. There.” He pointed at a fishing trawler anchored offshore. “Concentrate on that boat.”
    She watched the vessel until it became a black dot in the distance and then disappeared entirely. Rawlings had returned to his seat but she could feel his eyes on her. Not wanting to shout over the rumble of the Whaler’s engine, she pointed at her lips and then at the approaching shore, indicating that she’d explain once they disembarked.
    Olivia drew in great gulps of salty air, trying to quiet her mind. But as the wind whipped her hair and tiny grains of salt flecked her skin, she felt more adrift than ever. If a siren were to break the water’s surface at that moment, Olivia would be sorely tempted to surrender to the creature’s seductive song.
    The engine noise suddenly decreased and Harlan steered the boat as far up creek as he could and then cut the motor. As they drifted toward the bank, the instant cacophony of bird and insect noise transported Olivia to her previous visit two weeks ago.
    She and Rawlings followed Harlan down the overgrown trail. He swatted at the tall grass with a stick and Haviland jumped at his side, enjoying a game of keep-away with the retired ranger.
    Olivia let Harlan get even farther ahead before she spoke. “When I was here, Munin made several cryptic remarks about my father. I gave her the carving he’d made me in exchange for information on my mother, and Munin recognized that the girl standing in front of the wooden lighthouse was supposed to be me. She guessed that I was looking for my father, wondering if he’d ever return.”
    “The
Gazette
ran stories about that for days,” Rawlings said. “The whole town knew about his disappearance and how you were found adrift in that dinghy. It would have been easy for her to glean that information.”
    Olivia didn’t want to dwell on that night of fear and endless fog, when she’d been left all alone on a vast and angry sea. “Munin said that I was wrong to believe that I’d found him. She said, ‘you think your search is