Read Last Day for Free Online Page B

way, the society-approved path as a woman.
    Although she’d never said it out loud, Kate knew that Mathilda hadn’t truly believed that Beth had attained excellence.
    But Kate believed it. She always had—her sister had been excellent in more ways than anyone knew. Anyone but Kate. Because they were sisters. Forever. Even now. Especially now. Kate climbed out of the cockpit and took a deep breath. It was time to go find her niece.

5
    The state police helicopter landed at the Martha’s Vineyard airport, and a police officer from West Tisbury drove Detectives Conor Reid and Jennifer Miano to Coast Guard Station Menemsha. An American flag snapped on a tall flagpole outside the USCG’s big white red-roofed building on the hill above the harbor.
    Reid stood on the dock, watching a forty-seven-foot boat coming through the inlet. His brother, Tom, a Coast Guard commander, had been on his cutter in Woods Hole, across Vineyard Sound, about fourteen miles away. As a courtesy to the Reid brothers, Menemsha Station had deployed one of its forty-seven-foot motor lifeboats to pick up Tom, and the vessel had met Huntress in Vineyard Sound to escort it to the USCG pier in Menemsha Harbor.
    The Coast Guard boat docked, and Reid watched Tom and a crew member jump onto the dock to help cleat off Huntress ’s lines. When the sloop was secure, Reid walked toward Tom. It didn’t happen often enough, but because he worked in coastal towns, Reid’s investigations sometimes intersected with the Coast Guard.
    “Thanks for getting the husband here,” Reid said, shaking his brother’s hand.
    “Husband, not suspect?” Tom asked.
    “Remains to be seen,” Reid said.
    “I can’t believe it’s Beth Woodward,” Tom said. “Shit, Conor.”
    “I know.”
    “Have you talked to her sister yet? What’s her name again?”
    “Kate. And yeah, I talked to her. She found the body.”
    “Jesus.”
    “What do you think of him?” Reid asked, gesturing down the dock toward Pete. “First impression.”
    Tom glanced over his shoulder. Pete and his friends were clustered by the stern of the boat, all talking on cell phones. “Arrogant, that’s for sure,” Tom said. “Just now, when they were docking, I heard him giving everyone else orders. You know—‘You take the bowline; you stay in the stern.’ Does he own the boat?”
    “No.”
    “He’s a dick,” Tom said.
    “Sounds like it,” Reid said. “Can you hang around? I want to speak more after I interview him.”
    “Yeah. I’m off for the weekend. Heading home.”
    “Great, you can ride back on the chopper. Thanks for helping with this.”
    “No problem,” Tom said.
    “There’s something else,” Reid said. “The painting was stolen again. Cut right out of the frame.”
    “Which painting?” Tom asked.
    “You know the one.”
    Tom stood there, obviously shocked. He had played a role in catching the girls’ father’s accomplices and, therefore, helping to bring Garth Woodward to justice. Of the several paintings stolen the night Kate, Beth, and their mother were tied up, Moonlight was the most valuable and the one that captivated the jury. Tom shook his head now and clapped his brother on the shoulder.
    Reid walked toward Huntress . Jennifer Miano stood by the sleek sailboat’s stern, speaking to each man and taking notes. He saw herwriting down their names in her notebook. As he approached, he noticed a very tan, very blond man standing off to the side, his posture straight.
    Reid recognized Pete. He’d seen him often enough over the years, and earlier that day, he had examined some framed photographs around the Lathrop bedroom. One, next to the window with the air conditioner, had shown him in a tuxedo, standing beside Beth in a black gown, surrounded by old and valuable-looking paintings. The thing that had struck Reid then was the fact that the monogrammed sterling-silver frame had been coated with frost. The air-conditioning had been that cold.
    “Mr. Lathrop,” he