Reading Up a Storm by Eva Gates

agreement. “It gets pretty quiet here in the winter, I guess.”
    â€œGives us a chance to catch our breath,” he said with a laugh. “And restock the stores.”
    I’ve been coming to the Outer Banks my whole life, but I’ve never spent a winter here. My mom and her sister, Ellen, Josie’s mother, were born and raised in Nags Head. Mom moved to Boston when she married my dad, but Ellen stayed and convinced her own husband, my uncle Amos, to open a law practice here rather than return to his native Louisiana. Mom brought my siblings and me down here every summer when we were young. She stopped coming once I was old enough to travel on my own, but I continued to visit for at least a couple of weeks every year. Those long glorious summers on the Outer Banks, wrapped in the loving embrace of Ellen and Amos’s chaotic family, were the best times of my life.
    When I broke off with my long-long-long-standing boyfriend, Richard Eric Lewiston III, son of my father’s law partner, and impulsively quit my job, where else would I go but to my favorite place in all the world and into the welcoming arms of my beloved aunt?
    And so, here I was, making a new life for myself on the Outer Banks. I turned and looked at Connor. I’d first met Connor the summer I was fourteen and he was fifteen. A walk along the beach. A stolen kiss. We’d gone our separate ways after that, but neither of us had totally forgotten the other. He’d gone to Duke and UNC, became a dentist, and was now the mayor of Nags Head. I’d gotten a master of library science from Simmons, and had worked in the libraries at Harvard.
    â€œSo, Dr. McNeil,” I said now, “do you have any thoughts on who might have killed Will?”
    â€œNot a one, but I scarcely knew the man.”
    â€œWhat about that Ralph guy we met last night?”
    â€œI’ve known Ralph Harper a long time. He’s pretty much a fixture around here. Him and his
Old Man and the Sea
persona. He wouldn’t care if Will threatened to sue him, but to imply that Ralph had made a mistake on the water? Yeah, that would get him mad. Mad enough to kill? No. I don’t see it. Ralph’s a gentle soul, never been in any trouble. That I know of anyway.
    â€œWhere the body was found is puzzling. It’s unlikely to be a random sort of attack, if he or his killer went to the bother of stealing a boat.” The car slowed and turned into the long driveway. Emergency vehicles were still at the far end of the parking lot, near the boardwalk, and I could see Officer Franklin standing guard beside the yellow police tape.
    Farther away, a smaller collection of cars was pulled up near the path to the lighthouse. As well as Bertie’s I recognized Ronald and Charlene’s, but there were several I didn’t know.
    I checked my watch and was startled to see how late it was. “Oh, my gosh. It’s after ten. I’m late for work.”
    â€œI think they’ll forgive you this one time,” Connor said. He pulled up to the side of the lot, making no move to take a parking spot. “But the budget committee might not forgive me. I hope you don’t mind if I don’t come in.”
    â€œI’m good,” I said. I gave him a smile. He smiled back but I got the feeling his mind was already sorting through numbers and balance sheets, moving on to that budget meeting. This morning, I’d had the most amazing, incredible, wonderful, burst of insight. I wanted to shout it to the world, or at least to Connor.
    But the world didn’t seem all that interested. And I didn’t know if Connor even was.
    â€œHave a nice day.” I got out of the car and went to work.
    Inside, everyone stopped what they were doing as I came in. What they were doing, I guessed, was speculating about the murder. The main room was packed. Nags Head is a small community, and news travels mighty fast. I wasn’t surprised to see