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Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse
Thursday, September 6
6:32 a.m.
“Someone cover her up,” Ty whispered. No one moved. He shoved back the hood from his poncho. “I said someone cover her up! Cover her up!” No one needed to see her like this—exposed and exploited. “Please!” He went into child’s pose, his head on the boardwalk. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Cam.” Tears mingled with rain. He hadn’t even known her name was Camellia or that it was a flower.
Cami had been their mama hen at twenty-six. Tough and hilarious and full of sass. Their Tinkerbelle—nicknamed by Fiona, and though it hadn’t been a compliment at the time, it’d stuck.
“Somebody cover her up,” he shouted. “I’ll kill him. I will kill him. I swear I’ll kill him.”
Owen’s heavy hand rested on his shoulder, and he peered up through blurry eyes at his best friend. Owen didn’t hide his tears. “We can’t, Ty. Not yet. She might have—” his voice cracked “—she might have evidence to recover. Covering her up will compromise her.”
The last thing she told him before she left for two weeks of vacation was she’d bring him back something fun. That was almost two weeks ago. She’d saved up time to take the whole enchilada at once, which he’d told her was dumb. Once vacation was burned, it was the rest of the year with nothing to look forward to.
She’d laughed and reminded him of Barbados. That one crazy time a hurricane hit. He only wished they were caught in one together now. This kind of storm wasn’t one he was prepared for.
No wonder she hadn’t texted him back when he dogged her hotel booking skills after seeing the beach house earlier in the week. She hadn’t been on a beach ignoring him. She’d been in the clutches of a killer all this time.
“Why did she come here? How did he find her?” he asked with a hoarse voice, his throat raw and burning.
Fiona and Violet took the lead and examined her body, without moving her. Still felt intrusive and too personal. Too wrong.
“Tiberius,” Fiona said, “there’s a note you need to see.”
“I can’t look at her, Fi. It’s wrong.” Like this. In this way.
Violet backtracked and knelt in front of him. “Tiberius, she would want you to do your job. To find her killer. And when we do we’ll make sure he pays.”
She meant justice to the fullest extent of the law.
Ty wanted vengeance.
The killer had said he’d pick someone close to Ty. How had he known? Ty and Cami had kept that week a secret. Cami never once mentioned being in a hurricane.
Cami would want him to find this man. He stood and wiped his eyes, inching toward her. He read the note card nailed into her palm.
She tasted sweet as honey. Sassy and stubborn, but you know this. What will you tell her family? And what will you tell Bexley when it’s Ahnah’s turn? I’m running out of lighthouses. Maybe I’ll put her on her sister’s doorstep. I’m not done. You haven’t suffered enough. Paid enough for your sins. I will not rest until you’re destroyed. Secret’s out now, though, isn’t it?
“What secret?” Owen asked.
Ty’s hands shook, and he formed them into tight fists as he processed as quickly as he could. “I think he’s been tracking me for a very long time. At least two years. He said in the last letter that I cared about her, and I thought he meant Ahnah. But he’s had Cami too, and that’s who he actually meant.”
“Why?” Fiona asked as the ME approached.
“Because Cami had gone through a hard time with her boyfriend—remember, Asa? You about did a beatdown on him, then helped her get straightened out?”
“I remember,” he said in a raspy tone.
“We were just talking and I mentioned she could come to Barbados with me. Take a week. Come out a day or two after me. Just us.”
“And she did,” Asa said. “You think the killer knows you were in Barbados with her?”
“I know he knows. I don’t know if he was targeting flower names and chose Cami. Or maybe it was icing on the cake, either way. He knew we were close. Nothing super romantic. It heated up a little but...we were cool when we got back.”
“She was in that hurricane with you,” Violet said.
He nodded. “Never said a word. We didn’t want rumors flying, and it was that one time. She must have told him or posted something. I don’t know how he found Ahnah or how he lured Cami here. It makes no sense.”
