Between Here and the Horizon by Callie Hart Page B

the benefactor of Ronan’s will, Ophelia. Sully Fletcher. He is Ronan’s brother.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

    Ghost

    Sully goddamn Fletcher.
      If Ronan had a brother here on the island, then why the hell had he asked his lawyer to make me the legal guardian of his kids? It made no sense. None whatsoever. And yet I could see his blocky signature, countersigning all of the documents Linneman had left behind, shouting at me like a voice from beyond the grave. Take them! Take them! Wherever he was right now, Ronan was probably having the biggest laugh about all of this. I’d barely known him at all, but I could picture that just fine.  
    “The coroner’s guys can’t get here until tomorrow either now,” Officer Hinchliffe said. I hadn’t heard him leave the study, and my heart jammed itself as far up my esophagus as it could go as a result of my surprise. “We’re going to have to leave him here.”
    “You aren’t leaving him here. You can’t .”
    “I know. Only joking, Miss. We already put him in the car.”
    I blinked at him. “How? I didn’t see you bring him out?” It wasn’t that I was desperate to get another look at Ronan, stiff and cold and blue, but it seemed impossible that they could have stretchered him out without me noticing.
    “Took him out the window,” Hinchliffe said. “Seemed like the best bet. Didn’t want Connor or Amie catching sight of him now, did we?” He gave me a look, like I was the inconsiderate one. Winching a dead man out of a window seemed far more insensitive to me, but I wasn’t going to argue.  
    “Where does Sully Fletcher live?” I blurted.
    Caruthers appeared through the front door, coughing into the crook of his elbow. “Down Kinkeel way, that one. Proper hermit. Bit of an asshole.”
    “I should go and see him with Connor and Amie. He should see his niece and nephew. Perhaps he should be the one to talk to the children about Ronan.”
    Both Caruthers and Hinchliffe began to violently shake their heads. “Not a good idea, Miss Lang. Sully won’t be pleased to see them. In fact, he’ll probably be crowing from the rooftops when he finds out what Ronan’s gone and done.” Caruthers got his notebook out and started scribbling in it. “He and Ronan haven’t spoken in years. You can bet your bottom dollar he’d rather claw his own eyes out than lay eyes on those children.”
    Such a brutal thing to say. How could this Sully hate a five and a seven-year-old so badly? By the sounds of things, he’d never even met them. I got the feeling Caruthers was painting the situation a little bleacker than necessary. He tore a piece of paper out of his notebook and handed it to me. “That’s Sully’s number there. He’s the best carpenter on the island. The only carpenter really. Everyone knows his number off the top of their heads. Anyway. Call before you go swanning over there, Miss. He isn’t too friendly at the best of times. If he thinks you’re connected with Ronan in any way, he’ll probably shoot you dead.”
    “He has a gun ?”
    “Probably. Who knows? Let’s get out of here,” Caruthers said, kicking at Hinchliffe with his steel toe capped foot. And to me: “We left you the letter after all. No one’s second-guessing this one after all, it seems. We did have a read, though, just to make sure there was nothing incriminating inside.”
    It didn’t seem smart to ask if they’d actually found anything. I just wanted them to leave. The longer they stood here, jabbering away, the less time I had to prepare myself for dealing with Connor and Amie. The two of them looked like they’d had enough of poking around in Ronan’s stuff, now, anyway.  
    “We’ll be on our way, Miss Lang. If you need anything, you just give us a call at the station, okay?” Hinchliffe tipped his hat to me in a very old fashioned way—was he hitting on me? Oh lord. That was all I needed.  
    “I’ll make sure to do that.”
    Hinchliffe smiled from ear to ear. “ Grand