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Barrows?”
    “What? Umm … it wasn’t that long ago.” My answer was intentionally vague.
    Hale’s brows pulled further inward. I got a nervous feeling that he was about to interrogate me, and was wondering why he seemed so concerned about when I’d last seen Evangeline when a younger cop came up and interrupted us, much to my relief.
    The new guy was a refreshing change from Hale. He was about my age. Tall, with a full head of hair, and dressed in a much more flattering outfit of blue jeans and police issue T-shirt—navy blue with the word ‘police’ on the front in big, white letters.
    His face was just short of handsome. Maybe his nose was a little too big and his jaw a little too square, but somehow it all seemed to work. His eyes were a striking, deep gray which stood out on his tanned face. Not that I was looking. I wasn’t in the market for a man.
    “I think we’re about done,” the new guy said to Hale, his eyes drifting over to me, probably wondering how much information he should let out in front of me.
    “Callie Justice, meet Detective Tony Royce. Tony is new with the department.” Hale gave Tony a knowing look. “Callie is a private investigator.”
    Tony stuck his hand out and we shook. His was a firm, warm handshake. Rather pleasant.
    “Justice?” Tony’s brow puckered. “That sounds familiar.”
    A sigh escaped my lips. Most everyone in law enforcement had heard about what had happened with my parents. It was embarrassing and I hated it being the first impression anyone ever got of me.
    “You probably heard about her dad,” Hale said. Was there a smirk on his face?
    Tony’s eyes widened. “Ohhh. Right. Well, nice to meet you.”
    He sounded uncertain, like he was really thinking ‘nice to meet you even though I don’t want to have anything to do with you or your family’. Whatever. I didn’t really care because I had a bigger problem right now.
    I had come to give Evangeline back the envelope, but that probably wasn’t a good idea now considering the circumstances. I was almost certain her husband wouldn’t be at work given the fire in their backyard, and I was sure Evangeline would have more pressing concerns than the money. But that meant I needed to hightail it out of there before she noticed me. Or worse, her husband did and started asking questions about who I was and why I was there.
    I was just turning to leave when a familiar figure came walking up towards us. January Frederick, the medical examiner.
    What was she doing here?
    I jerked my head in the direction of the boat again. Was there a body on it?
    As if to answer my question, January waived a little black device in her hand, nodded to me and turned to Hale. “I’ve got an ID. Turns out the deceased had registered titanium cheek implants. I was able to trace the numbers.”
    “So, who is it?” Hale asked.
    “One of the homeowners. Evangeline Barrows.”

Chapter Five
    M y stomach plummeted .
    Evangeline was dead?
    A wave of guilt washed over me. I hadn’t believed her when she’d claimed her husband was trying to kill her, and now she was dead. What if I’d taken her more seriously and followed her husband like she wanted? Would I have been able to stop him?
    I felt like a heel. And responsible. I glanced down at my tote bag with the white envelope inside. Still full of money. Money she’d wanted to pay me to prevent this very thing.
    But now I was in a weird position. I had to tell Hale that Evangeline had wanted to hire me, even though just a few minutes earlier I’d said she was my friend , not my client. That was going to make me seem even more suspicious and unreliable than Hale already thought I was.
    Hale looked back to the boat and shook his head. “What an unfortunate accident.”
    My heart skidded. Accident? “What makes you think it was an accident?”
    He turned back to me. “The boat was an antique model. An old Chris Craft, made before everything went solar. It was powered by gasoline. As you