There were some—like Archie Brandley and Mrs. Bridge—who knew him but didn’t like him much, and their reaction to the news of his death was one of slight guilt, as if their dislike had somehow played a role in his death. Moreover, townsfolk wouldn’t even be able to learn more about him at a funeral because he wouldn’t be buried in Sea Harbor. All things being equal, the news might have fallen off people’s radar within a day or two or three. But all things were not equal. • • • The tide began to change late Tuesday afternoon. Ben was at the yacht club when he got the call from Chief Thompson. Nell was standing in front of a room of well-dressed women at a late-afternoon library meeting, having finished a talk on writing grants, when she glanced down at her phone and read Ben’s succinct text. Birdie received Nell’s text while at the Ocean’s Edge Restaurant with a small group of white-haired women having tea, although the term tea was a holdover from the days when the matriarchal group really did have tea, instead of the afternoon sherry they were drinking today.
