by Annie Seaton
“Okay, now tell me what you’re up too. Are you with customs?”
“What?”
“Customs and Border patrol?” His eyes were narrowed as he waited for her answer. It was surreal and she tried to force back the laughter threatening to bubble up from her chest
“Are you on intercept surveillance?” he persisted.
“God, no.” She bit back the laugh and smiled at him. “I don’t even know what that means. I’m a kindergarten teacher from Ashby Downs.”
…
Jake looked across at the woman whose demeanor had changed from terrified to flirty in the space of a few minutes. Once again, he rubbed his hand through his short hair in frustration. She’d thrown him when she’d responded to him. He’d accepted her invitation, knowing it hadn’t been genuine but he knew he was getting closer to the truth about her being on his boat. What he was trying to forget was the feel of her lips under his. He needed to focus on getting to the truth.
But a kindergarten teacher? What the hell was she doing here?
And here he’d thought she was one of the many women just looking for a good time when she’d come onto him. Christ, just as well she’d pulled back.
If she was here just to have a good time, she’d certainly picked the right place to come to. If it was the same as other nights, the scene she’d witnessed a while ago would be repeated all night by a procession of different couples, threesomes, and more on various parts of the large boat. Christ knew what went on in the luxury cabins. So far he hadn’t tried to get onto the boat. His instructions were simple: surveillance from this old tub and take photos of everyone on the vessel.
The strangest insurance job he’d ever had.
He’d not even been told the name of the person being investigated. Since he’d been medically retired from Queensland Police, his insurance work had been mind-numbingly boring—mainly surveillance of injured workers, but this job was different. His cop instincts were on full alert. It was definitely not the usual, run-of-the-mill insurance surveillance.
There were only three regular crewmen who were on the yacht each day; the rest seemed to change over every couple of days. Jake was certain something shady was taking place. Each morning when he went back to the house, he downloaded the photos from the SD cards to his computer before uploading them to a virtual cloud for the insurance company. He had to go through three levels of password security to gain access and once he’d uploaded the photographs, he couldn’t see the files. They were hidden.
With all the other jobs he’d just logged on and uploaded them. But for this job, the cop in him instinctively put a copy on his own hard drive before he uploaded them and cleared the memory card for the next lot of photographs.
The woman opened her mouth to speak, and he held up one hand.
“How do you take your coffee?”
“Just black, please.”
He took the water off the stove and poured it on top of the instant coffee, before pushing a large mug across to her.
“First off,” he said. “What’s your name?”
“Gracie…Gracie James.” She wrapped her hands around the mug and looked up at him. “I’m looking for my sister.”
A frisson of unease ran through Jake. If she was looking for her sister on that boat, it could spell trouble. “What do you mean looking for her?”
She put the coffee mug down on the table. “Last time I heard from her, she was working on the Midas in Cairns. She e-mailed me and said they were about to come down to the Whitsundays.”
Her voice broke as she continued. “That was three weeks ago and I haven’t heard from her since.” She raised her head and tears glimmered in the dim light. “It’s really out of character, and I know there’s something wrong for her not to call or e-mail me.”
He nodded at her. “Keep talking.”
“So, I decided to try and get on the boat and see if I could find her.” She gestured down to her dress. “This is so not me. I thought I’d be invited on, if I looked the part.” His gaze followed her hand as she pointed down to the dress. Enticing shadows hinted at small but firm breasts and his groin tightened again as his gaze lingered there. Her hand moved up to hitch up her dress and he realized she was well aware of his eyes on her. He clenched his fingers remembering the softness of her breasts under his hands just a few moments ago.
Too many nights of watching the action across the water. Pull yourself together, man.
“Why at night? What’s wrong with daytime?”
“I tried.” Her voice was quiet. “They said they’d never heard of her.”
“So, what do you think? Now that you’ve seen the party in full swing, are you still going to try and get on board?” His voice was short and he tried to ignore his body’s reaction to her.
She put down the mug and dropped her head in her hands. “I honestly don’t know what to do.” Her voice was muffled. “I’ve come all this way and I can’t go until I find her, but really…it’s a bit out of my league.”
“Sweetheart, you didn’t see much at all. It gets a lot hotter than that most nights.”
She looked up at him quizzically. “So why are you sitting here watching it and taking photos? What sort of a guy does that?”
He laughed but there was no humor in it. “I’m not doing it for kicks, that’s for sure.” He was silent for a moment wondering how he could use this situation and maybe help her at the same time. “I might be able to help you.”
She sipped her coffee as she looked back at him without speaking. The full moon had risen in the sky and shone through the small hatch above the table, the strong moonlight outlining the fine features of her face. Her dark eyes were large and slightly tipped at the corners giving her an exotic appearance, enhanced no doubt by the amount of black eyeliner outlining her eyes. A neat, straight nose sat above perfect rosebud lips, which were even more appealing now he knew how they tasted.
“I don’t really need any help,” she replied. “I know they are looking for housemaids to work on the yacht through the day.”
“I don’t think that’s a wise move.” Jake shook his head slowly. “Look, sweetheart, you’re the one with the most to lose here, so you’re just going to have to trust me a little bit here, okay? And it is going to have to be a lot of trusting, because you will have to agree to do everything I say.”
“No way. Just because I happened to pick your boat tonight gives you no rights over me as far as I’m concerned. I was already offered a job over there today…sort of.” Gracie pushed the cup aside and stood up. “I’ll give it some thought and if I decide I need your help, I’ll come back and see you tomorrow.”
Jake stood and quickly moved around and blocked her path to the door. His knee burned in protest at the sudden movement and he grasped her wrists. She stared up at him with wide eyes and tried to pull from his grip, but the more she pulled, the more firmly he held her.
“Listen to me…Gracie.” He tried to speak patiently while she squirmed in his grasp. Her soft body was pressed against his and he was getting harder by the minute. “For Christ’s sake, keep still and listen to me.” He let her go and shoved her firmly down onto the middle of the seat.
“So I am still your prisoner, Mister…I don’t even know your name?”
“Jake…just call me Jake.” He picked up his mug and drained the last of the now-cold liquid. “If you go back past security, you’ll be recorded on CCTV and I’m not prepared to take the risk they saw you get on and off my boat. There is a lot more security in this marina than the guard at the ramp.”
She listened without speaking, and he pointed up to his cameras. “I’ve taken photos of many people on the Midas over the past two weeks—since she first berthed over there, in fact. And they’re not the sort of people you’re used to mixing with.”
Her gaze was fixed on him and she was rubbing her skin where he’d grabbed her. Her small fingers moved slowly up and down her bare arm and a pang of regret shot through him. He’d been too ro
ugh. He was used to dealing with criminals, not kindergarten teachers.
“So if your sister has been there—or still is, I’ll have a photo of her. But I’ll only share the photos with you if you do what I say.”
“Like what?” She laughed nervously. “Finish what we started?”
“I want you to stay away from that yacht. Forget about getting on it. Period.”
“What gives you the right to tell me what to do?” She sat up straight in the seat and stared at him.
“Just basic common sense and a lot of local knowledge.” He ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes. His knee was throbbing as though a hot knife was slicing through it. At least it took his attention away from the rush of blood to his groin.
“But it’ll let me find out if anyone knows where Regan moved on to when she left the boat.” Gracie pointed at him and her voice was firm. “I’ll do what I have to do. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“So how much do you want to see the photos?”
“Show me your photos, and then I’ll decide what I’m going to do next.” She leaned back and folded her arms. “But I decide, not you.”
For a moment, Jake felt like he was back in the classroom and being given instructions. He reached over, took her coffee mug from the table, and placed it in the sink.
“So when can I get off the boat and go back to my hotel?” The waspish voice had disappeared and she spoke softly, obviously trying to appeal to his better nature.
Sorry, lady, I don’t have one of them. Got fucked up about a year ago.
“We’ll motor out at first light and go around to Woodwark Bay. My house is there. Then I’ll drive you back round to your hotel.”
“No way. I’m not going anywhere on this boat.” Her voice was rising and he shushed her.
“Keep your voice down. This boat is supposed to be empty.”
“You’re starting to scare me. What’s the big deal? What do you know?” Even though she spoke slowly, her voice conveyed her fear to him. “Why so secretive, Jake? You’re making me worry even more about Regan.”
“Look if it makes you feel any better, I know what I’m doing. I‘ll tell you more later,” he replied tersely. “I just don’t have a good feeling about what’s going on that boat, but I do know you need to keep out of it.”
“So what happens now? I want to get off and you’re not going to let me?” she asked. “Mexican standoff?”
“I’m going to keep taking photos for a few hours until it quiets down for the night.” He reached for the camera with the biggest lens and moved up to the hatch above the saloon, stretching to his full height as the top of his head cleared the small space. He turned and grinned at her. “You can sit there and wait or there’s a pair of binoculars on the shelf behind you if you really want to check out what goes down on the Midas.”
Gracie ignored him and his lame attempt at a joke, obviously reluctant to witness any more of the behavior that she had seen from the back of the boat, confirming for him that her come on had simply been to get what she wanted.
Of course it was.
But after a while she picked the binoculars up and slid off the seat. Jake glanced down at her and smothered a smile.
He hadn’t noticed how tiny she was when he’d pulled her into the cabin. The top of her head barely reached his shoulder. She put the binoculars up to her face and stood next to him, not moving an inch. Gradually, he became conscious of the warmth of her bare skin pressed against his arm. He really needed a night out on the town if his libido was going to keep going crazy like this every time she came near him. He moved away slightly and returned his attention to the camera.
The party was in full swing, and Jake clicked the shutter hundreds of times as the night wore on. Same deal, same action with a variety of participants and positions. All was quiet next to him; Gracie obviously hadn’t spotted her sister.
“What does your sister look like?” he asked without taking his eye from the viewfinder.
“The exact opposite of me. Dark-haired, olive skin, Regan’s really tall. Just under six foot.”
“Not alike at all, then?”
“No, we had different fathers,” Gracie said.
The party became rowdier and some of the women shed their inhibitions along with their clothes. The noise of a Jacuzzi bubbling was punctuated by screams and whimpers. It was one of the rowdiest nights he’d viewed, so little Miss Innocent here was copping quite an eyeful. An encounter on the bottom deck, involving two women and three men finished with one of the women jumping into the channel.
“Stupidity.” Jake shook his head. “There are crocodiles in the marina as well as in the estuaries.” He turned to look at Gracie. She’d dropped the binoculars to the table and was chewing her bottom lip. Looking up at him, her eyes were wide and her pale face seemed to have lost more color.
“Will she be all right? Should we help?” The other partygoers had gone back inside and the woman was swimming around the back of the cruiser in the dark.
“No.” Jake knew his reply was terse but he wasn’t going to blow his cover. Look, she’s almost—”
A flurry in the water caught his attention and the woman struck out for the steps at the back of the cruiser as a black-tipped fin glided through the water toward her.
“A bull shark.” Gracie gasped and turned for the door. “Quick. We have to help her.”
Jake grabbed her arms. “It’s okay. Look, she’s out now.” The woman had climbed up onto the steps of the bottom deck of the cruiser and stood naked on the back of the boat. Her laughter crossed the water. “Give me another drink.”
Gracie slid back onto the seat and dropped her head in her hands. Jake had seen things over the past few weeks that had surprised even him, and he imagined this little schoolteacher from the outback was getting quite an education. He glanced down at her and grinned. Even in the dim light, her flushed cheeks stood out.
“How did you know it was a bull shark?” he asked.
“We’ve just done a unit of work on sea creatures,” she replied. “It’s the only shark with black tips on its fins.”
Jake nodded and turned back to his viewfinder just as a tall man stepped out on the sundeck and looked down below him. For a brief moment, Jake had the feeling that the man was staring directly at his boat and he clicked the shutter a few times. Impeccably dressed in loose white trousers and a black shirt, he was one of the few who had been on the boat every night. Jake was pretty certain it was the guy who went by the name of Rodrigo Cabal. There was movement behind the Brazilian and a tall woman with long, dark hair and olive skin dressed in a red sarong stood next to him for a moment. He pointed down to the lower deck and smiled before grabbing the dark-haired woman’s hand and they disappeared inside before Jake could click the shutter.
He glanced down at Gracie; her head was nodding on her chest. It was too late to tell her about the woman; she’d gone back inside. She could see the photographs later; there were many photos of the dark-haired woman from other nights. No point getting her excited now they’d gone inside.
“Put your head down for a while. Still a few hours before we can leave.”
Chapter Three
Gracie yawned; it had been a very long couple of days. A long drive in from Ashby Downs to Longreach and then there had been no direct flight from Longreach to the coast, so she’d taken the two-hour flight to Brisbane, waited around for three hours and then jumped another two hour flight to Proserpine. Her flight had been late arriving and she’d missed the last bus into Airlie Beach and had had to call a taxi. The driver had been apologetic when he charged her an extra forty percent on her taxi fare as it was after 8:00 p.m. when they had finally arrived.
“Sorry, miss. Taxi Union rules.”
To make up for the exorbitant fare he’d suggested a reasonably priced hotel at Shingly Beach and despite being small, it was clean and had a great view over Abel Point Marina and out to the islands across the Whitsunday Passage.
&n
bsp; She cradled her arms beneath her head. Just a quick rest and then she’d have another look at the boat. The gentle rocking of the boat and the clicks whirring away on Jake’s camera lulled her to sleep.
“Gracie…Gracie? Wake up.” Someone was gently shaking her shoulder.
She turned her head and groaned as heat flooded her cheeks. Jake was sitting next to her and he’d obviously been watching her sleep. Rolling her stiff shoulders, she turned away from him and looked through the small hatch above the galley. Light filled the cabin as the first streaks of dawn lit the sky and she wasn’t awake enough yet to cope with looking directly at him. She’d fallen asleep, head on the table and legs curled up beneath her. The binoculars were still lying in the middle of the table, where she had shoved them in disbelief after hours of searching for Regan on the yacht. She slowly unfolded her legs and stretched them under the table, groaning as pins and needles shot up from both feet.
Jake pushed himself up and walked across to the door before turning to face her. He waited until she finally turned her head in his direction.
“Stay here. I’m going to start the motor and head round to the bay. There’s already a few boats on the move, and we won’t attract too much attention. Stay in here and out of sight.”
Before he headed out to the deck, he pointed out the small washroom down two steps on the other side of the galley. She groaned as she looked in the mirror. The black eyeliner and mascara she’d been heavy-handed with circled her eyes like a raccoon. Her fair skin was pale, and a sleep wrinkle ran down one side of her face. As she scrubbed at her skin, Gracie glanced out the small hatch. Ropes thudded on the deck as Jake unhitched them and pulled in the small rubber fenders that stopped the boat hitting the side of the dock. He moved out of sight and a moment later, the motor started with a soft putter and the boat started to move smoothly through the water.
She came back up to the galley and stayed inside, away from prying eyes, as she watched Jake steer the boat past the Midas.