Long Shadow (Veiled Intentions #2) - Elle Keaton Page 0,3

stood with his mother, holding her up while she cried. Mat hadn’t cried. He felt guilty about that, but he was also angry with Sean.

After the shady stuff his brother had been up to before he’d been killed, Mat wouldn’t have been surprised if no one had come to see him laid to rest, but most of the island residents had come to say their farewells and offer Mat and his family condolences.

“That’s what friends are for.”

“Well, it’s appreciated. I’ll let you get back to work. Unless you need me to stay?”

Mat was tired. It had been a long week—month, year—and he was feeling worn down. He had a brief fantasy where everyone on Piedras behaved long enough that he was able to catch up on his sleep. Then he laughed because it would never happen.

Devon looked sideways at him. Mat shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Get out of here. I’ll send you the report. We can meet in the morning?”

Mat agreed, knowing a few hours’ sleep would help his thinking.

On his way back down Merle’s long driveway, Mat kept his eyes out for anyone who looked out of place, someone who didn’t belong. What would that look like on an island the size of Piedras? Most of the population was probably lined up along the side of the road rubbernecking. If it was one of them—and likely it was—it was going to be difficult for Mat or Devon to catch them until they made a mistake. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a mistake that cost lives.

It was nearly ten at night. There were fewer rubberneckers than he’d expected, and, Mat thought, scanning the crowd, all of them lived close enough that they could be worried. He stopped and got out of the cruiser.

“Everything is under control. You can all head home and let Chief Flynn finish up here.”

There was some grumbling, but most of the bystanders wandered back to their cars or their homes. Only a few of the stubborn remained, and as long as they didn’t interfere with the firefighters, Mat couldn’t force them to go home. Still, he’d sit here for a while to make sure none of them caused any trouble.

A loud one-sided conversation woke Mat the next morning. For a moment he was disoriented, but then the voice resolved into his mother’s; she was on the phone arguing, again, with Mat’s youngest sister, Fiona.

Rolling over onto his back, Mat pinched the bridge of his nose, reaching for patience he didn’t feel at that moment—especially before any kind of caffeine. He hadn’t gotten home until after midnight, and he’d had trouble falling asleep, images of the Wainwrights’ burning barn playing on repeat in his head.

He loved his family; he did not love family drama. His role had always been the peacemaker, the fixer, but he didn’t know if he could fix the relationship between Fiona and his mother.

After Sean’s funeral service, his two sisters had fallen into a screaming match about their brother. Mat had agreed with Ella—not that he’d said as much, not until Fiona had outright asked him. Weeks later, the ripples from the fallout were still flowing outward. The Dempsey family was falling apart, and there was nothing Mat could do about it.

Mat hadn’t sugarcoated the truth: Sean had been up to no good, and no good had gotten him killed. When he’d told her that, Fiona had stormed to her room and stayed there until the next day, when she’d made a dramatic departure. Why she refused to believe the evidence when it was clear as glass, Mat didn’t know.

“Sean always told me you never liked him, never backed him up.” Fiona’s enormous suitcase had thumped down the staircase one step at a time, punctuating each word she spat out. “I told him he was wrong, but it seems he wasn’t.”

“Fi.” Mat had wanted to at least try to reason with her. Not that it had ever worked before.

“Don’t call me that. I hate that nickname.”

At the bottom of the stairs, she’d righted her suitcase and continued rolling it toward the front door.

Mat had tried again. “Fiona, among other things, Sean was trying to coerce island residents to sell their property at a loss so he could buy it and make a profit off of it. He was in way over his head. He was also involved in Chastity Reynolds’s death. Am I upset that he was murdered? Of course. Sean was my brother too. You’re right that we didn’t always see eye to eye,