She nodded and leaned over to get a look. "These are amazing. Your friend should open a bakery."

I laughed. "Yeah."

"Where are you from?" Harold asked. "We don't get many new people here."

I nodded. "Maine. About an hour from the Canadian border."

Ramone laughed and slapped me on the back before sneaking another cookie. "You'll love it here. No more snow."

"Right." My smile slipped. I wasn't a huge fan of the snow, but it didn't bother me that much. Fall would close in on us soon, and I wasn't sure how I felt about not having proper seasons.

I didn't think palm tree leaves ever turned colors.

Harold stole another cookie before I closed the lid and gave everyone a wave as I backed out of the small postal shop with a quick good-bye. A blast of summer heat hit me as I left the central air. Yeah, not having seasons was going to be an adjustment. When did the temperature drop?

On the sidewalk in front of the post office, I stopped as a ... stretch limo... no... my brain struggled to make sense of the scene in front of me. A black stretch golf cart with four rows of seating drove past. A woman in her late sixties with a bob haircut sat behind the steering wheel.

My head shook from side to side as I watched. Rich people, man.

The stretch cart-I had to figure out what they called them-swerved to the side of the narrow roadway and slammed to a stop.

"You're new to the island?" the woman asked me as she got out and approached.

I nodded and took a step back. "Hi."

"Are you a tourist, hired help, or planning to stay?"

My lips parted. "Planning to stay?" Or did my affiliation with Broadrick put me in the hired help category?

She narrowed their eyes at me. "You're staying at the resort and touring homes with Larken. Correct?"

Another step away. "Umm. Yes." Why ask if she already knew?

A quick nod. "That's what we thought."

Who was we? And why did this feel like an interrogation?

"Welcome to the island. We don't like newcomers, so don't cause any trouble here, or you'll be on our watch list," she said with a smile that had to be fake but looked real.

My chest tightened, and I hugged my box of cookies to it. "Right. I'll be on my best behavior."

"See that you are." With those parting words, she turned on a heel and marched back to her ridiculously long golf cart. The machine beeped as she backed into the street and took off again.

So that just happened.

I stood on the sidewalk processing everything for another moment. And to think that in the past, people had the nerve to call me pushy. I'd never been that bad. Had I? Was this how I came across to new people in Pelican Bay?

Naw.

People loved me.

Two tall guys in matching black polo shirts-they really had to find a new favorite color for the island uniform-turned the corner ahead of me and walked in my direction.

I waved at Broadrick and then gave his walking mate, Dalton, a narrowed-eyed glare, just for good measure. He wasn't my favorite person in the world, especially since he'd met a brilliant girl in Pelican Bay, but when she ran off home to fix a work problem, he didn't chase after her. How ridiculous.

"What are you two up to?" I asked as we met one another on the sidewalk. "Probably trouble, I assume."

Broadrick chuckled. "I think that's more your department. We're sweeping downtown. You want to stop in the bakery and get a cupcake?"

I raised the pink box between us. "No thanks. We have cookies. Fresh from Anessa, but missing a few in post office tax."

Dalton cocked his head. "Do we even want to know what that means?"

"Probably not," Broadrick answered.

Look at those two. What funny guys. Not.

"Well, now you two don't get any," I said and pulled the box to my side. "They're all for me." A cloud covered the sun, and I opened my eyes wider. I hadn't realized I was even squinting from the sun. Odd.

Dalton gave Broadrick a quick good-bye, and then he walked past us to finish up the sweep of downtown. Broadrick wrapped his arm over my shoulders and turned me back toward the resort. "I have good news."

"What's that?" I asked as we walked. "Is it as tasty as a box of cookies?"

I highly doubted it.

"No," he said, squeezing my shoulder. "I put an offer in on the murder home after you left this morning."

"Wow, that was fast." I'd only been gone an hour, tops.

My big SEAL shrugged. "Larken told us she works fast. The condo owners are off island, so they have forty-eight hours to get back to us with an acceptance, rejection, or counteroffer, but Larken thinks they'll take it since the condo has been on the market for a while."

Jealousy reared its ugly head in my stomach at hearing him say Larken repeatedly. Was I jealous of our realtor, or was it my gut telling me something was off about her? Like maybe she was a murderer. Her cries in the condo seemed so real, but what if she took us to that property so we'd find the body she left there earlier in the day? It wasn't a farfetched idea. Killers loved returning to the scene of their crimes.

But when would she have had time since we spent the entire morning looking at houses?

She could have killed Melissa the night before and just waited for us to tour the condo.

"Vonnie?" Broadrick asked. "Is everything okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, sorry." I'd just have to let the police figure it out. That's what they did. Right? Solve murders.

Or not since they'd already marked the death as an accident.

"Larken seems nice. Doesn't she?" I asked as we turned the corner of the resort's street. The tall building served as a hotel, resort, and now security offices and also efficiency apartments.

Broadrick grinned. "Is that what has you so quiet? I swear I'm not in love with our realtor."

"Of course not. That would be silly." I laughed. Interesting. He said that quickly. I made a mental note. "You'll let me know as soon as we hear about the condo. Right?"

A little bubble of excitement grew. If the condo's owners accepted Broadrick's offer, we'd be official island residents. The bubble burst. If we became official island residents, this entire thing was real, and I no longer lived in Pelican Bay. Was I really ready to leave everyone behind and start a new life here?

Broadrick kissed the tip of my ear before holding open the front door to the resort. "Let's put the cookies away and see what other trouble you can get into while we take NB for a walk. I put him back in our room, and he was not happy about it."