MURDER MOST QUIET (EBOOK)

Still stunned, I stared at the yellowed piece of paper we’d found in the sextant only moments ago.  My vision of some unknown sailor had led me to open it.  

I swallowed hard, my shaky fingers reaching for the paper.  

“Carefully,” Bill said, his voice just above a whisper. 

I bobbed my head, my heart hammering against my ribs as I gently tried to pry the paper loose.  

It lifted free of the sextant, and I set the instrument aside.  Biting into my lower lip, I eased the paper open, reading the writing scrawled across it in what looked like a shaky hand.  

Martha adjusted her glasses as she leaned over my shoulder. “What is it?”

“It looks like coordinates,” Duke said.  

“But to where?” I asked.  

“One way to find out,” Bill said, pulling his cell phone from his pocket.  “Read them to me. I’ll input them into my map app.”

I read them aloud, lifting my chin to glance at the screen as he typed them in. The vision had to mean something. Every one I’d had so far had brought us closer to uncovering the truth: about the treasures, the murders connected to them, and what had really happened to Becky. 

My stomach twisted into a tight knot as I waited to hear where these coordinates pointed.  I wondered if they would point back to the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse where I’d stumbled upon my first body.  Or maybe to the cave at Smuggler’s Cove.  Was there something else there?

I held my breath, waiting as a circle spun on Bill’s phone.  

A map popped up, a red marker giving us a location.  

“Where is it?” I climbed to my feet and peered at the coastline. 

Bill furrowed his brow as he squinted at the phone.  “I don’t know.”

We grouped around the phone, peering at the map as Bill manipulated it. 

“Zoom out,” Duke said.

Bill snapped his gaze sideways, his features twisting with annoyance.  “I know that.”

“So, do it,” Duke said. “What are you spinning it around for?”

“I’m trying to get it oriented. I want the water on the right.  That makes sense to me.”

“What’s the difference?” Duke retorted.

Martha huffed out a sigh. “Let the man put the water on the right.  What’s it to you?”

“I just want to see where this is.”  Duke ran a hand through his long hair.  

“And we will,” Bill said with a shake of his head. “Just give me a minute.”

With a heavy sigh, he squared his shoulders and held up the phone, using two fingers to zoom out.  

More of the coastline filled in as he shifted the map to a wider view.  I leaned closer, trying to figure out where it was.  

“Wider,” Duke said.

With a huff, Bill zoomed out further.  A few towns filled in, and Bill cocked his head, giving a confused glance at his screen.

“That can’t be right.  Read me those coordinates again.”

I lifted the paper and read the numbers out again.  

Bill typed them in, but the same location appeared.  He scratched his head.  “I really thought this would be something closer to where we are.”

“Where is this?” I asked.

“Near Castine,” Duke answered. “South of here, about two hours.”

Bill zoomed in and out on the map before he clicked his phone off.  “And it’s not just any location in Castine.  It’s the Dice Head Lighthouse.”

“Another lighthouse.”  I perched on the edge of the couch.  “I wonder what it means.”