Crowned and Moldering

“I don’t know.” I sat down next to Sean and put my arm across his broad shoulders. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

He took in a whopping gulp of air and let it out, but didn’t speak. Looking at the expression of shock and fear in his eyes, I wasn’t sure he could.

“Sean,” I whispered nervously. “You need to talk to Eric. If you recognize that bracelet . . .”

He groaned and fell backward slowly until he was sprawled on the porch. He laid his arm over his eyes.

Concerned, I glanced over and met Mac’s gaze, then Eric’s. “Just give him a minute.”

Looking down at Sean, I could see tears starting to leak and stream down the side of his face. I scrambled over to his side and knelt down. I’d known him most of my life but had no idea how to comfort him. He’d always been so big and strong, so easygoing. I’d never seen him this overwhelmed and upset before.

Except once.

Oh no. I was starting to feel sick myself.

I reached out and squeezed his arm. “Sean, honey, you can tell me what’s wrong.”

He sniffled, then whispered, “It was Lily’s.”

Oh God.

“What’d he say?” Eric asked.

“I didn’t know she was allergic,” I said, and mentally smacked myself. That had to be the dumbest thing I could’ve said. But having just received one of the biggest shocks of my life, a stupid comment like that was about all I was capable of uttering.

“Who’s Lily?” Eric demanded.

My heart was pounding wildly in my chest. I tried to swallow, but my throat was too dry. Lily Brogan had been a friend of mine back in high school. She was also Sean’s older sister. And fifteen years ago, Lily Brogan disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be seen or heard from again.

*   *   *

“I just want to talk to him.”

“Please give him a few more minutes,” I begged the chief as I watched Sean prowl the edges of the mansion property. “He’s not going anywhere.”

A few feet away, Mac leaned against the porch rail, silently observing us. Wade and Joh

“If Sean’s i

“I

“He should want answers, just like I do,” Eric countered, a stern, unyielding look on his face. “Look, I’m not going to arrest him, Sha

“I wonder.” I laughed softly. “I mean, because you’re always so open-minded.”

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against one of the porch pillars. “That’s right.”

“Oh please.” I couldn’t help but smile at his defensive posture. “You thought I was guilty of murder the first time you ever laid eyes on me.”

His frown was expected. “You have to admit the evidence was compelling. And, besides, I didn’t even know you yet.”

I wanted to argue, but he was right. The murder weapon had been one of my favorite work tools. “Okay, I’ll give you that. But look. You need to cut Sean some slack. He’s just had a terrible shock.”

“I understand that.”

“I’m not sure you do.” I wanted to make him understand. Would it be so hard to bend a little? The people of Lighthouse Cove already liked him, especially after so many years of dealing with the incompetent Chief Ray. So how could I make it clear to Eric that he didn’t have to play the hard-nosed cop all the time?

“Here’s the thing,” I continued. “Sean has devoted the past fifteen years of his life to finding his sister. I mean, he’s never stopped searching. When Lily disappeared, we were all upset, but Sean was flattened. His way of dealing with the loss was to dedicate every spare minute he had to finding her, tracking her down. It consumed him. And now to find out she never left town after all? That she was here all along? Dead, shoved inside a dumbwaiter shaft in the lighthouse mansion?” I rubbed my arms from the sudden chill. “He’s got to be devastated. I mean, what was she doing out here? Who was she with? And how did she get inside that dumbwaiter?”

“That’s for the police to figure out,” Eric said.

My mind flashed on the image of those bones I’d seen through the dumbwaiter shaft. There was something wrong with that picture, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Do you think she was already dead when someone put her in the dumbwaiter? Or did she die once she got inside? Maybe she was hiding from someone. Could she have suffocated? Oh God.” I had to rub away more chills from my arms. The thought of poor Lily being treated that way . . .

“Stop it, Sha

“Oh, that’s horrible.”

He seemed to regret planting that image in my head. “Look, anything could’ve happened. The last thing I need is for you to be dreaming up theories and motives on your own.”

“All right, all right.” This wasn’t the first time I’d heard him lecture me on this point, obviously.

“Tell me more about Sean’s relationship with Lily,” Eric said.

“Okay.”

“Mind if I take notes?”

“Not at all.”

He pulled out a spiral notepad and pen and turned to a blank page.

“Okay, there are three Brogan kids. Lily and Sean and their younger sister, Amy. They were always really close. I think it’s because their father was such a bad guy. The three kids protected each other.”

“Where was their mother?”

I hesitated, then admitted, “She was a big drinker.”

Mac had been listening silently, but now he jumped into the conversation. “How old were you when all this was going on?”

“I was a sophomore in high school. Sean and I were in the same grade. I’ve known him since kindergarten. So, when we were sophomores, Lily was a senior and their little sister Amy was a freshman. Same grade as my sister, Chloe.”

Eric looked up from his notepad. “You said Sean’s been trying to find his sister all this time. Do you know how he’s gone about doing that?”

“He’s tried everything. He’s got a private eye that he contacts whenever he has any extra cash. And whenever any new technology comes out, Sean learns how to use it to do more in-depth searches.” My heart hurt for my friend and I threw a quick glance over my shoulder to check on him before turning back to Eric. “To this day, he’s constantly online, checking new sources, thinking she’s got to be out there somewhere. He’s lived in hope of finding her one day, so now it’s like he has nothing. I’m worried he’ll slip into a depression, or worse.”

Eric frowned. “Does he have a girlfriend?”

“No. And, believe me, Lizzie has tried to set him up a dozen times.”

Eric smiled briefly. “Does he socialize at all?”

“He’ll go out after work for a drink or di

Mac nodded in understanding. “An obsession like that would put a damper on any personal relationships he tried to have.”

I sighed. “Most people in town thought Lily ran away because her father used to beat her.”

“Did he?” Eric asked. “Did he beat his children?”

I winced. I knew that giving information to a cop wasn’t the same as gossiping, but I really didn’t like talking about my friends. “Yeah. I mean, I think so. Everybody thought so. It was pretty obvious.”

“If he did,” Mac said, “then it’s reasonable to suspect she ran away.”

Eric wrote it all down, then looked at me. “Do you know the father’s name?”

“Hugh Brogan. He was awful. A mean, violent man.” I frowned, recalling some of the stories Chloe used to tell me. “One day Amy came to school with a black eye and a swollen jaw and told everyone she’d fallen down the stairs. Their homeroom teacher reported her injuries to the police, who must’ve gone to the house to question her parents. After that, Amy was out of school for almost a week, and when she came back she had a broken arm and was limping badly.”