Safe Harbor

Description

The light is supposed to keep ships off the rocks. On this stretch of coast, the keeper uses it to steer them onto the rocks — and walks the shoreline at dawn to gather what washes in.

On a scatter of islands too small for a coast guard post, vessels keep breaking up in fair weather, drawn wrong by a beam that sweeps where no light should sweep. The keeper has tended this light alone for years, and the cellar beneath his neat little quarters is not empty.

Insurance investigator Briar Coelho takes the ferry out to explain away three wrecks and a spike in missing crews. The keeper meets her warmly, offers her the spare room against the coming fog, and mentions — kindly — that the last boat off the island already left.

Salt-scoured and isolating, this is gothic slasher horror at the literal edge of the map, where help is a long cold swim away. Walton makes the sweep of the light feel like an eye looking for you. By nightfall, the only door out is the water.

Watch for the light. Pray it’s pointing you home.