In the other direction, she saw two police officers talking with a couple of the employees from GulfDaze, as a third one attached a trailer of WaveRunners to a fat-tired four-wheeler and towed it up the beach to Andy Rosse Lane. Corinne did not have to wonder what might be going on over there—a young woman, had died in the water. There would be no body for the coroner to examine, at least not yet, and if any of the dead girl’s body did show up, it would be in stomach-churning shape.
Corinne forced herself not to think about it.
She could not allow herself to think about it, because she could see no sign of Emma on that beach. She scanned the water, searching for the bobbing heads of swimmers. The only thing out on the water aside from the buoys the hurricane hadn’t uprooted was that shipwreck. She narrowed her eyes and strode down the sand. One of the stakes the police had put in the ground remained, but the tide had come in and washed the others away, along with all but a single streamer of yellow police tape that lay in the water, attached to that one stake, flowing back and forth.
The tide had come in. Of course it had. The police would have known that, should have anticipated that the wreck would be lifted off the sand. Perhaps they had expected it, or perhaps there had simply been no choice but to tend to more urgent issues. Marine historians and archaeologists would stamp their feet, Corinne assumed, but that shipwreck returning to the Gulf floor felt like the least of anyone’s concerns.
“Emma?” she called, feeling foolish.
Again she glanced either way along the shore, evaluating every person she could see, wondering who amongst them would have noticed Emma. She settled on the fisherman. If he had been there long enough, a man just standing on the sand seemed most likely to have taken notice of a girl on the beach by herself.
As Corinne started toward the man, she heard a cry. Or thought she did. It sounded far away, almost hushed, as if the wind had brought it to her from somewhere far away. She turned and looked back up the beach toward the police and the GulfDaze staffers, but realized the sound had not come from that direction.
She glanced out at the water, at the buoy, at the broken smoke stack and the rickety remains of the paddle wheel on the back of the shipwreck, but she saw no one.
Just her mind and her hopes playing tricks on her, she knew.
Emma had gone for a walk, that was all.
But she kept looking up and down the beach for any sign of her daughter, and dread gnawed at her gut.
Shark attack, she thought. A girl was dead, a girl they had seen on the beach all week. Corinne had always told her daughters that anything could happen in life, and they had to be prepared. She’d meant for them to be ready to embrace opportunity, but now her own words took on a much grimmer meaning. Anything could happen …
Even the worst thing.
CHAPTER 13
Rick watched Captain Len’s arm tighten across his little girl’s neck, watched him pull the black-handled knife from its sheath at his hip, and a dam silently burst inside him. He saw the gleam of that blade—a knife the captain probably used to clean fish—and he saw the glimmer of unshed tears in Kelsey’s eyes. It felt as if his consciousness lifted out of his body, as if he saw them all there for the first time. Matti and Jesse Hautala. The woman and her little boy, Emilio. Captain Jim Lennox. And his sweet girl Kelsey, who would never look at the world the same way again, would never truly put this day behind her. Every day at the beach, every unknown man, would be cast in shadow by this one moment. That much damage had already been done, no matter what came next.
“Daddy?” Kelsey said, her voice cracking, her eyes pleading with him. She was brave, but how brave should one child have to be?
“Let her go,” he said. No threats, no insults, no tough-guy profanity. He didn’t want to antagonize the captain. He just wanted his little girl. “Please. I don’t know you, but this can’t be what you want.”
Captain Len laughed, his voice as cracked as Kelsey’s. “Damn fucking right it’s not. We’re sinking, you asshole. We’re—”
An impact rocked the boat. The splintering noise from the starboard-side hull was louder than before and came with a terrible crunch. The ship listed hard to starboard.
“That’s a hole,” Jesse said, rushing to the railing even as the boat listed further. He looked down into the water, then turned to Matti. “Dad, there’s a—”
Little Emilio began to wail, the kind of child’s cry that carves a hole into the chest of anyone with a heart. His mother held him more tightly but said not a word, just waiting and watching to see what the rest of them would do. Waiting and watching to find out if they were going to die.
Captain Len moved toward the wheelhouse, half-dragging Kelsey with him. The tears she’d been fighting back began to spill down her cheeks. Rick started to follow, and Captain Len pointed the knife at him.
“Really? You’ve seen too many movies, Mr. Scully. You’re not some action hero. Let’s all just follow captain’s orders and all will be well.”
Jesse shouted something about the sharks, but Rick barely paid attention. His only focus was Kelsey.
“You!” Captain Len shouted to Jesse. “The goodies of mine you found below. Go and get them and bring them topside before we sink to the fucking bottom.”
“Mister,” Jesse said, hands up, moving toward him, “you don’t need to do any of this. Don’t you see the sharks out there? Something’s going on. We’ve all got to get off the boat and nobody here cares if you stole a bunch of stuff.”
Rick shot a hard look at Jesse. “Just do what he says!”
“But—”
“Jesse,” Matti said. “Please. Just do it.”
Rick saw the indecision in the kid’s face, but then Jesse nodded and went below.
“Good. We’re all working together here,” Captain Len said.
Matti went to sit with the woman and her crying son, but watched the captain the whole time. “My boy’s right, you know.”
The boat listed further. The aft end tilted so hard to starboard that waves began to dump water onto the deck. Rick saw no sign of the sharks now, but little Emilio’s mother held her son even more tightly and began to cry along with him. She spoke in quiet Spanish, something that might have been a prayer or a curse, and suddenly Rick remembered that he knew her name after all: Paola. He’d heard her husband use it while they were ashore, and suddenly Paola and little Emilio were more than just people on the periphery of Rick’s own story, of the damage being done to Kelsey and the danger she was in. Paola loved Emilio as much as he loved Kelsey, had probably been a better parent than he’d been. The woman had anguish in her eyes, but also a brilliant light, intelligence, identity.
“Paola,” he said, and she snapped her head around, surprised to be named. Their eyes met. “It’s going to be all right.”
She gripped her son more tightly still, raised a hand to point at Captain Len, and spat her words in perfect, sharp-edged English. “Not if that motherfucker keeps wasting our time.”
Captain Len actually laughed. Something seemed to give way in him, as if he had been working from only confusion and Paola had given him clarity with that single, pointed finger.
“Scully,” the captain said, “get to the wheel. I’ll tell you what to do. We’ll get to shore before we go under and the rest of you can do what you like. If you feel like going for a swim, that’s up to you.”
Paola stood up, holding her son. “There are sharks in the water. Crazy fucking sharks.”
Her son wiped at his tears, blinking in surprise at her. “Bad words, Mami.”
“Bad men bring out the bad words, Yo-yo.”
Captain Len ignored her, gesturing for Rick to get into the wheelhouse. Rick watched the knife, tried to reassure Kelsey with his eyes, and did as the captain wanted. He had never piloted a boat before, but if Len instructed him, he was sure he could do it, and he would do it.
Jesse came up the steps from below with two heavy-looking bags in his hands. “Now what?”
/> “You just wait on deck,” Captain Len said, the knife approaching Kelsey’s throat again. “I’ll let you know when I need you.”
He made Rick go first, then followed him into the wheelhouse with Kelsey at knifepoint. Rick thought about lunging then, but could not bring himself to risk it. Kelsey began to breathe in little sips of air.
“Just let me go,” she pleaded. “I promise I won’t run. I just need to—”
“Stop,” the captain said, jerking her against him. “I don’t like this. Never wanted this. A few minutes, that’s all, and then you’ll never see me again.” He gestured to Rick. “Okay, Mr. Scully. North Captiva’s off to starboard. We’re taking on water too fast to make Captiva itself, but I ought to be able to steal a little boat from one of the residents there. No choice. It’s that or sink.”
“How do I—”
Captain Len interrupted him, barking sharp commands, and moments later they were headed for North Captiva. Rick steered the boat, controlled the throttle, kept adjusting for the water they were taking on and the way it listed. Off to the port side, just ahead of them, he saw one of the shark fins surface.
“It’s headed right for us,” he said.
They were dragging now. The engine coughed and sputtered and would not get up to full speed, but they churned toward North Captiva. The island looked much like Cayo Costa, with the same mix of fallen, skeletal trees and the local greenery that seemed almost primordial.
“Dad,” Kelsey said quietly, “do sharks do this? Do they attack boats? I didn’t know—”
“They’re doing it,” Captain Len interrupted. “Never seen it before. What does it matter?”
In Rick’s pocket, his phone buzzed. His heart ached. He knew it must be Corinne, wondering when they would be back, but he could not answer. Captain Len would never allow it.
“Coming up on North Captiva,” Rick said.
“Throttle down and back away,” Captain Len answered, a snarl on his lips.
As he did, the boat rocked from another impact. This one seemed less direct, as if the shark had only grazed them. Rick stepped back from the wheel, hands in the air. Captain Len kept his grip on Kelsey as he took the wheel and guided it toward the shore of North Captiva. Rick felt as if he might have overpowered the man then, when the knife was away from his daughter’s throat, but he still did not want to take the risk. Letting the captain get away with his ill-gotten gains was the safest path for all of them.
“It’s going to be okay, honey,” Rick told his daughter.
Kelsey had been gnawing her lip, fighting her tears, and now she looked at Captain Len. “I hope the sharks eat your face.”
“I can’t say I blame you,” Captain Len replied.
He backed away from the wheel, taking Kelsey with him, and stared at Rick as they made their way out of the wheelhouse. Out on deck, he turned, knife still hovering near her throat, and focused on Matti and Jesse, Paola and Emilio.
“Folks, we’re gonna run aground. Brace yourselves.”
Waves splashed over the starboard side. The boat listed so hard now that in moments the aft end would dip underwater completely, and Rick wondered if that would drag them down before they even hit the sand. How deep was the water here? Not very, surely. He looked out toward North Captiva as the boat limped toward shore, and they all heard the engine choke and a grinding of metal as the water that had poured through the holes in the hull finally swamped it, seawater mucking up the works. With a pop and then the quiet thump of an underwater explosion, the engine quit.
They all looked at one another, the fear tangible, but the boat continued to glide toward the sand. Long moments passed during which Rick watched the twitch of every one of Captain Len’s muscles, praying he would be as good as his word, that he would not harm Kelsey.
The boat ran aground. They all cried out, stumbled, nearly fell. Paola crashed to her knees, alarming little Emilio, and she grabbed the boy and hushed him as the water finally swamped the aft section of the boat, a wave splashing over them.
Captain Len dragged Kelsey to the edge. They were a good thirty feet from the sand when the captain turned toward Jesse. “Kid, you’re coming ashore with me. Just long enough to get those bags onto the sand. Then you and the girl will come back aboard and you’ll all wait till I’m out of sight.”
Rick wanted to call him on poor strategy. Once Jesse and Kelsey were back on board, how could he make them do anything? But he had higher priorities. “You’re not taking my daughter off this boat. Go, take your bags. Nobody will stop you. None of us care.”
This last was a lie. The man had held his daughter at knifepoint. Had terrified them all and given Kelsey a lifetime worth of nightmares. They were all reeling from what the sharks had done, from the blood in the water and the screaming and the terror of that splintering sound in the hull, but they would all have been on shore already if not for him.
Jesse went to the railing, knee deep in water, moving at an angle on the tilted deck. He turned to look at Captain Len.
Then he threw the bags over the side, into the water.
“No!” Captain Len screamed, lowering the knife. “What the hell is wrong with you? You stupid fucking kid! Jesus Christ!”
Rick started toward him, but now the captain changed. His face lit with fury, eyes welling with his own tears. He touched the knife tip to Kelsey’s throat and she screamed.
The scream tore Rick apart.
“Now you’re gonna jump in the water and get those bags,” Captain Len told Jesse. “You and your dad over there.” He nodded toward Matti.
Matti put a hand on Jesse’s shoulder and stepped forward. “I’ll go.”
“Dad, no,” Jesse said.
“Someone’s gotta go,” Captain Len said, hatred and a lifetime of bitterness on his face. “Should be the kid, since he was the asshole who decided to make a point. Things were going so well.”
“You want your bags. Just leave us here,” Jesse said, with fire in his eyes. “Go, man. The boat is sinking. Just fucking go!”
Rick should have been proud of him, but with Kelsey in danger, he wanted to throttle the boy.
Kelsey stared at Jesse in horror, then looked at her father with an expression full of sorrow, devoid of hope.
“The sharks are out there,” Paola said.
They’d been so focused on Captain Len that Rick had ignored her. She held her boy and pointed to port, farther along the North Captiva shore. One fin cruised through the water. A second surfaced briefly, then submerged again.
“I’ll go,” Rick said.
“Me too,” Matti replied.
Paola hugged her boy. Kelsey begged her father not to go, but what else could he do? Jesse had been shortsighted, too confident, thinking Captain Len would do the smart thing, the expedient thing.
“Do it,” the captain said.
Rick and Matti moved into the water at the starboard railing. They weren’t going to sink any farther, at least not till the tide rose higher and lifted them off the sand. Then they would drift and sink, slowly but surely. For now, they had a little time. He could see the bottom through a cloud of sand stirred up by the boat. One of the bags had bright colors visible even through the swirling brown cloud.
“Daddy, no!” Kelsey screamed. “The sharks will get you!”
She lunged, tried to get away from her captor. Captain Len shouted for her to stop, grabbed her around the throat with one arm, but as he did, the knife blade nicked her face, right along the jaw, drawing a stripe of bright-red blood.
Kelsey cried out in pain.
Captain Len drew back from her in shock at what he’d done.
Rick roared and charged up the tilted deck. Only ten feet separated them and he crossed that in a blink. The rest of the people on board vanished from his sight, leaving only Kelsey and the captain. Rick barreled into the man, grabbed his wrist and twisted the knife away from his daughter, shouting at Kelsey to go! Screaming at Matti to protect her.
Captain Len’s ey
es were wide with fear now, still damp with tears, but his rage had extinguished.
“No!” the captain said as Rick slammed him against the railing. “It isn’t supposed to … that goddamn kid—” he muttered as he struggled to fight back. “Back off!”
Captain Len tried to shove him away. Rick hauled back and hit him so hard he felt knuckles break in his hand. The captain’s head rocked back, and when he twisted upright there was only hopeless fury in his eyes. He ripped his right hand free. Rick tried to grab for the knife again, missed, and instead wrapped his hands around the bastard’s throat.
The knife went in.
Rick exhaled loudly, gasping at the bright pain in his side, but he thought of the slice on his daughter’s jawline and he kept choking with his left hand as he began punching with his other. Captain Len stabbed him again. Rick got both arms around the man, pinned him in a bear hug to keep the knife from striking again, and hurled the captain backward.
They tumbled together into the railing.
Kelsey screamed. Little Emilio kept shrieking. From the corner of his eye, Rick saw Matti and Jesse rush forward to try to prevent what was about to happen, but it was too late.
Rick and Captain Len went over the side together and splashed into the water, where Rick’s blood spilled out, stolen away by the seawater clouding around them. Rick felt the water envelop him, tasted the salt even as he held his breath, and the pain of his wounds sang louder than before. He tried to wrest the knife away one last time, only to find that Captain Len had dropped it. The man’s hands were empty.
Bursting to the surface, Rick grabbed the captain’s hair. The captain kicked him, swimming away. He paddled in the water, staring downward, and then dove under, and Rick realized he was still trying to retrieve the things he had stolen.
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