Summer Island, twenty-three years later

AIDAN WYTHE NOTICED the rental car parked in front of the house where he'd be staying for the next three weeks, but at first he didn't think anything of it.

Twenty minutes ago he'd driven off the ferry, officially starting his first real vacation in several years. Now he pulled his convertible into the driveway, cut the engine and just sat for a moment.

Here he was, back in Canada, on Summer Island. He closed his eyes and focused on the scent of the ocean and the feel of the gulf breeze in his hair. Memories, both good and bad, teased his mind like the wind. No matter how many times he returned as an adult, it was always his childhood that came back to him first.

Most of his recollections were of happy hours spent beachcombing, swimming and picnicking with his friends. The five of them had had their disagreements, but they were always minor and had been patched quickly and with little resentment.

All that had changed, however, the summer they turned sixteen — when Simone DeRosier joined their circle. It was that summer that innocence had been lost and the seeds of obsession and evil that would tear the group apart were planted.

Aidan rubbed his forehead, opened his eyes. Just thinking of the famous jazz singer — dead now, murdered by one of their own — stirred up his old resentments. He didn't want to hang on to them, but still…

Everything had been so easy before Simone arrived on the scene. Unfortunately, Aidan had been the only one to see that she was trouble. He wasn't sure what had tipped him off. Her uncommon beauty, a certain look in her eyes, the st