A Timely Vision Read Online Free Page A

made to look like a fisherman holding his fishing pole with a dog yapping at his heels.
    Now that was a treasure I’d like to get my hands on. I could feel it from where I stood in the front yard. My fingertips itched for it. But there was no way it would ever go anywhere as long as Miss Elizabeth was alive. The house and the lightning rod had been a fixture in Duck for longer than my thirty-six years. It was nice to know that some things didn’t change.
    I knocked on the front door, but there was no answer. I peeked through one of the ivory lace curtains. There wasn’t enough room to see inside. I walked around back, looking at the whitecaps growing on the gray ocean not so far from the house. My storm knee might not feel it, but the weather was getting angry.
    There was no sign of Miss Elizabeth around back either. A large pot of red geraniums sat near her neat, wrought-iron patio set. I looked in the kitchen window, pounded on the door and called her name. There was no answer except for the wind rushing through the old eaves.
    I thought seriously about breaking a pane of glass in the kitchen door and opening it. But that wasn’t something that sat well with the part of me that had taken the mayor’s oath of office. Especially since Chief Michaels was only a cell phone call away. He could break a window or do something to get into the house. It was important to delegate to the right individuals, something I was still struggling to learn.
    I turned back to take out my cell phone and almost walked into a man who’d been standing right behind me. I dropped my phone on the pink patio stones and watched it break into two pieces. It seemed to happen in slow motion. The whole slow-motion thing always took place right before an important find.
    “You aren’t trying to break in, are you?”

Chapter 2

    “No. Of course not.” As I spoke, the feeling passed. I looked around, but I couldn’t see anything that even vaguely resembled my usual type of treasure. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you standing there.”
    “You were focused on getting in the house, I think. The lady who lives here hasn’t been home for a few days.”
    I looked at him. He seemed fairly ordinary. Maybe late thirties, like me. Darker hair and bluer eyes. Maybe not blue, more dark gray, like the ocean after a storm. I didn’t recognize him, but this time of year, there were plenty of people renting for the summer. “How do you know?”
    “I live next door.” He nodded, not taking his eyes off of me. It was an uncomfortable sensation. “I see her come and go all the time. A few days ago, she went out but she never came back.”
    His mouth was set in a firm line, giving him a kind of tough expression, as though he’d seen hard times. He was taller than me, maybe six feet, like Gramps. I could see the muscles of his chest beneath his Blue Whale T-shirt. “Oh, you must be the new man.” I put out my hand. “I’m Dae O’Donnell, mayor of Duck. I’d heard the inn had a new owner.”
    I wondered for just a breath if he was going to take my hand. Gramps was right. He wasn’t from anywhere around Duck.
    Then he put his hand in mine. “Sorry. Force of habit, I guess. It’s hard to get over all of you people being so friendly down here. Where I come from, we don’t shake hands unless we know we’ll get our fingers back. Kevin Brickman.”
    Despite the tough expression, he had a nice face. Plenty of smile lines around his eyes. Maybe the slightest hint of sadness there too. “Where are you from?”
    “I’ve lived in Washington, D.C., for the past few years. It’s very different there.”
    “And what brings you to Duck?”
    “I was looking for a career change. I saw the inn for sale in the paper. It sounded like the right place for me.”
    “You must be a do-it-yourselfer to take on the inn,” I joked. “I think it was originally built by pirates in the 1600s and has never been restored.”
    “I like a challenge.”
    I bent down to pick up