Read Beachcomber for Free Online Page B

again.
    “Hey, like I said, I was looking for my cat.” Luke sounded so innocent he impressed himself. “He got out, and I don’t like leaving him out nights, especially in a strange place.” He glanced back at Christy then and tried to look penitent. “Sorry if I scared you.”
    “Well, lookee there, there’s his cat.” Mrs. Castellano pointed with the flashlight.
    Like everyone else, Luke looked around in surprise. Sure enough, she had a cat pinned in the light. Black and muscular, it was the one he’d seen sneaking around earlier. Oblivious to being observed, it was crouched in the tall grass at the foot of a nearby dune,tail twitching, ready to pounce, its attention solely focused on whatever it was apparently planning to have for a post-midnight snack.
    “That your cat?” Castellano asked, looking back at Luke.
    What were the chances of there being two cats wandering around in the vicinity of Christy Petrino’s patio in the middle of the night? Slim and none. Luke mentally clasped the feral-looking feline to his bosom.
    “Yeah,” Luke said. “That’s him. That’s Marvin.”
    “Looks like he was telling the truth,” Castellano said to Christy.
    “I guess,” she said, not sounding entirely convinced. But hey, there was the cat. Proof positive. What could she do?
    Luke almost grinned. Sometimes things just worked out.
    Flashing lights and a screaming siren unmistakably close now caused Luke to glance around. There was the fire truck, popping into view between houses as it raced along the narrow blacktop road that ran in front of this particular string of beachfront properties. As quickly as it appeared, it disappeared again. Christy’s house blocked his view, but he distinctly heard the squeal of brakes. He might not be able to see what was happening, but he had little trouble picturing the scene: the truck screeching to a stop, firefighters leaping off, rushing over the postage-stamp-sized lawn toward the house… .
    “Around back,” Castellano yelled, hands cupped around his mouth. Only as Castellano’s voice boomedthrough the sudden near-silence did Luke realize that at some point the siren had been turned off.
    “Gordie, you scared the danged cat,” Mrs. Castellano said. “Look at it go.”
    Luke watched as the cat leaped up the dune, bounding over the crest and vanishing into the night.
    Yeah, sometimes things just worked out.
    “Darn,” he said, folding his arms over his chest just as a quartet of firefighters in full battle gear burst into view around the corner of Christy’s house. At the same time, there was unexpected movement to his right. He glanced in that direction to discover a family with three or four kids coming toward them from the south, moving cautiously along the path that led through the dunes, drawn no doubt by all the commotion. A trio of teenage boys followed in the wake of the firefighters, having most likely chased the truck from town in search of whatever excitement they could find in this place where the lightning bugs and mosquitoes seemed to have pretty much cornered the market on nightlife. Behind the boys came two uniformed deputies, running to keep up.
    Come one, come all, Luke thought with disgust. Was there a hot time in the old town tonight or what?
    “Where’s the fire?” one of the firefighters called.
    “No fire.” Castellano shook his head as they drew near. “That was a mistake. What we’ve got here is a woman reported injured on the beach.” He turned to Christy. “You want to show us where now?”
    She nodded and he took her arm. Luke watched with interest as she seemed to flinch, then pulled freeand set off toward the beach without a backward look. Castellano stared after her with a gathering frown.
    “You come, too,” Castellano said over his shoulder to Luke as the whole group started over the dunes. “I got a few more questions I want to ask you.”
    Great. Now he would be on the radar screen of pretty much half the population,