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Sean shook his head "And…Katie is the one who showed you the area where she thought that Stella had been killed"

"Yes"

"She didn’t say…or do…anything weird, did she?" Sean asked

"What do you " Sean stared at David He was still frowning

"Sean, I have never felt about anyone the way that I feel about Katie," he said flatly

"That was fast," Sean said, his tone dubious

"You’re her brother"

"Remember that fact"

"Fast, slohatever, it’s the truth"

"So, you suddenly love her and you’re going to give up a life of fame and fortune to come home and live the easy life of an islander and raise a passel of little conchs?" Sean mocked

"I don’t knoill happen in the future," David said "I’htly, and that we are e like a best-friends-with-benefits deal"

Sean looked away and nodded "Sorry She is ood friend-and a suspect in a murder-in a towel indown the stairs "So, do you know everything that’s happened on the island since you’ve been gone?" she asked hione for a decade-I was here at Christuess I’ about Stella Martin," Katie said lah of aggravation "Katie, I told you to stay out of it all"

"Sean, you’re not o all protective on er?" Sean asked David

"I’ to stay with her as much as I can to make sure that she’s not alone," David said

"Well, I’m home now," Sean said

"Hey!" Katie protested "Hey, I did fine onthe testosterone thing going and try to e me, either of you!"

She stared at the two of them

Sean looked at David

"I’ll make sure I’m with her when you’re not," he said

"She shouldn’t be alone And there will be tiht be worried about her," David admitted

"Hey!" Katie protested

David’s phone started to ring again He snapped it open "David?"

The voice eet and fe

"David, you are here And you haven’t been by"

Alice and Esther were actually his great-aunts They had never been anything but patient and kind, and he knew that they loved hi had hurt them and that he had been a selfish ass not to have taken the tienarians noith Esther closing in on ninety

He loved them both

They were incredible storytellers; they knew the island far better than any teacher he had ever had in high school

"David?"

"I know I know I’m so sorry," he said

"Well," Alice told him, "we’ve heard all about that dreadful business with another poor woman murdered Your cousin Liam has been terribly busy, and he’s said you’ve helped out with talking to folks, but…ere hoping you could stop by for so at him, curious As he looked at them, they looked away, e a few old friends?" he asked

"Well, of course, David! When haven’t elcoht that Sean was going to refuse the invitation to David’s aunts’ house, but he was determined at the ood that her brother cared, she thought

And irritating

He had rented a two-seater convertible in Miami