Eclipse Bay

hear the crackle and hiss of the fire. She could see the flames leaping into the night quite clearly.

    Should have taken the cell phone with me, Rafe thought as he raced toward the house. But the possibility that the fire could still be handled with the garden hose was too tempting to allow for a detour into the house to call 911.
    He leaped the steps and ran the length of the veranda. Winston was a short distance ahead of him. The dog was in full charge mode. He was no longer sounding the alarm with short, warning barks. The porch lights glinted on bared teeth and flattened ears.
    He had been right about Winston the first time he saw him, Rafe thought. Definitely not a froufrou pooch.
    “I’ll call the fire department,” Hannah shouted.
    “Right.” He did not look back as he rounded the corner of the veranda.
    Winston’s growl was the only warning he got before he glimpsed the figure silhouetted by the flames. The man was attempting to flee, but the dog had closed his jaws around a pant leg.
    Rafe saw Winston’s victim raise the gasoline can in his hands and prepare to smash it down hard on the Schnauzer’s skull.
    “Goddamn dog,” Jed yelled.
    Rafe slammed into him. The can sailed out onto the grass, away from the flames. Jed went down hard on the wooden boards. He opened dazed, angry eyes. Hatred and rage flared hotter than the crackling fire.
    Winston tried to get a better grip on Jed’s leg.
    “Let go, Winston.”
    The dog released the trouser cuff and looked at Rafe.
    “You sonofabitch,” Jed roared. “I had it all planned. Waited all this time. But you had to come back and ruin everything.”
    He heaved himself upward, hands stretched out for Rafe’s throat.
    Rafe saw the madness in his eyes and moved back out of reach. “It’s over, Jed.”
    “Why did you have to come back here and screw up everything? Why, goddamn you?”
    “It’s over,” Rafe said again.
    In the distance sirens wailed. Winston pranced in agitation and started to bark again. Hannah rounded the corner, the fire extinguisher from the kitchen cupboard in her hands.
    “Oh, my God.” She halted at the scene in front of her.
    “I had it made until you came back.” Jed’s face crumpled in fury. “Everything was in place. After all these years, everything was in place. And then you came back.”
    He launched himself wildly across the short space that separated him from Rafe.
    Rafe sidestepped the charge and stuck out one foot. Jed tripped over it and fetched up against the wall of the mansion. He clung there a few seconds and then slid slowly to a sitting position.
    When he opened his eyes this time, the rage was gone. In its wake was a bleak awareness of abject failure.
    “I had it all planned,” he whispered.

chapter 24
    “Winston was the hero of the hour.” Hannah looked proudly at her dog, who was gnawing on a chewing bone. “Thanks to him, the fire damage was minimal. The Willis brothers assured us they could have things in great shape in a couple of weeks.”
    “I’d allow more like a couple of months, if I were you,” Mitchell said. “Construction work never gets done on time, especially when the Willis brothers are handling things.”
    “Maybe it’s just as well,” Hannah said. “We wanted to make some major modifications to that wing, anyway. We can incorporate them into the repairs.”
    “Makes sense.” Mitchell leaned back in his chair and cast an assessing glance the length of the veranda. “Got your work cut out for you here. But I think, in the end, you’ll have yourselves a nice little inn and restaurant.”
    “Five stars,” Rafe said. His voice was soft with certainty.
    “Don’t doubt it for a minute.” Mitchell chuckled. “Al ways knew you could do anything you set out to do. Just a matter of applying yourself.”
    Hannah grinned. “Gee, what a coincidence. I once told him the same thing.”
    Rafe stacked his heels on the railing and took a swallow from the beer bottle in his hand. “How could I miss with both of you telling me what to do with my life?”
    “Took you long enough to live up to expectations, but you finally made it.” Mitchell cradled his beer in one fist and squinted into the dying light. “Any more news on Jed Steadman?”
    “Just that everything went down pretty much as we figured.” Rafe looked out over the bay. “Except, of course, that Jed is claiming through his lawyer that Kaitlin’s death was an accident.”
    “The result of a quarrel over the