by Annie Seaton
Where did his money come from if he used to be a police officer?
Chapter Seven
The aroma of grilling steak and onions wafted through the window, and Gracie’s stomach grumbled in anticipation. She’d prepared a simple salad, put some bread to heat in the huge oven, and now she stood at the kitchen sink overlooking the back garden.
Although garden was an understatement.
The landscaped area that filled her vision was enormous. Jake was grilling the steaks in an outdoor kitchen covered by a roof of interwoven palm fronds. The grill was at one end of a long ceramic bench top with a sink in the middle and a wood fire pizza oven sat at the other end of the long bench.
And he said he didn’t cook. What a waste.
An elegant dining setting barely filled the huge tiled area. A profusion of brightly colored shrubs spilled down the wall to the swimming pool, which sparkled in the afternoon sun. A huge expanse of green lawn edged with gently swaying palms led down to the high brick fence at the back of the property.
“Do you want to eat outside?” Jake called. “There’s a storm building but it won’t get here for a while.”
Gracie nodded and waved before searching through the cupboards until she found some plates and placed them on a tray. When the bread was warm, she added the bowl of salad and a bottle of salad dressing from the grocery bags that still lined the bench. Jake had headed straight out to cook when they’d unpacked the car. Her luggage was still on the floor in the corridor.
She was keen to get the meal over so they could sit down and make a plan of attack. She’d fill out the forms for the crewing company and get Jake to drive her into town first thing in the morning and hopefully she would be on the boat in a day or so. Her iPhone had charged enough and she’d checked her e-mail and messages but there was still no word from Regan.
Few words were exchanged as they sat in the shade by the pool and ate their meal. Gracie looked up at the palm fronds moving slowly in the gentle breeze from the water as the silence became awkward. The sound of Jake’s chair scraping back on the tiles brought her attention back to him.
“Okay, we’ve got that out of the way.” He moved around the table and collected her plate. “I’m going inside to sleep for a while or I’ll fall asleep on the job tonight.”
“When can I look at the photographs?” she asked. “I’d like to see them now.”
“Are you sure you want to?” Jake said
“Of course, I’m sure.” Frustration filled her chest and she bit back an angry retort and tried to keep her tone reasonable “Look, Jake. If it wasn’t for the photos, there is no way I’d even be here in your house.”
“Ya reckon?” He stood beside her chair and bent down until his eyes were level with hers. “You’re here because you were about to get yourself into a very dangerous situation. And until I make some calls and find out a bit more, I’d be much happier if you stayed here. He ran his hand through his short hair. “Honestly, Gracie. Can’t you see how dangerous this is getting? For some reason they broke into your hotel room, for Christ’s sake.”
“So why’s it up to you to protect me? I’m quite capable of looking after myself.” Pushing back her chair, she tried to stand up but he was in the way. She pushed past him intending to go inside but was pulled back by a firm hand on her shoulder. The warmth of his fingers seeped through her thin T-shirt, and a shaft of something unfamiliar fluttered in her stomach. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath as his voice whispered near her ear.
“It’s what I have to do. Okay?” He lifted his hand from her shoulder. “No explanation needed. I’d do the same for anyone.”
Opening her eyes, she turned slowly. “I just hate not doing anything. I feel so useless. I have to do something…and I’m going to.”
Jake held her gaze and must have seen the steely determination in hers. He put his head to the side. “So what do you plan to do, Gracie? Storm the Midas and ask to see your sister?”
“Don’t be so bloody sarcastic.” The anger filling her at his smartass attitude was a welcome change from the desire of a moment before. “I’m going to work on the Midas.”
The look on his face was almost comical and he shook his head in obvious disbelief. Now she’d told him, she’d have to make sure he didn’t renege on showing her the photos. “And how the hell do you think you’re going to do that?”
“I’ve already got the chance of a start. They’re going to call me as soon as I fill out the paperwork.” She didn’t tell him about the confusion at the office. “So unless you can think of a better way to find out what’s going on there, I’m going to drop the paperwork back to them tomorrow.”
“So you’d already done all this before you snuck on my boat last night?” His voice was cold.
“Er…not exactly.” She held his gaze. “I did it this morning.”
His brow wrinkled in a frown and then he glared at her. “Jesus, is that why it took you so long to take a shower?”
“Yes.”
The palm fronds rustled above them as a sharp gust of wind blew around the corner of the house. The sky darkened as the first storm cloud crossed the sun, and big fat drops of rain splattered on the tiles around the pool.
Jake reached past Gracie and picked up their plates. “I’ll just take these to the kitchen.” He spoke gruffly. “You unpack while I close the windows. And then we’ll go through the photographs. And then we’ll talk.”
“Thank you.” Gracie breathed a sigh of relief and followed him up the steps to the door, pausing as he stopped in the doorway and looked back at her.
“Don’t thank me. I’m only doing it to try to put some sense into that pretty little head of yours.” He nodded toward the sky. “With that squall building out there, I’m not going to get out in the boat tonight, so I’ll be having a night off.”
Gracie lifted her head and followed the direction of his gaze. The towering, white clouds had broken down into an angry mass of dark gray sky now shot with dark green wisps of clouds. Flashes of lighting arced toward a sea whipped into a mass of white caps. The sailboats were secure on their moorings close to the shore.
Jake went inside to the kitchen and put the plates on the sink and then carried her bags into the guest suite. While she freshened up in the luxurious bathroom, she could hear him closing the windows and sliding doors. She hated storms and this one was threatening to be a cracker. It was only just after three o’clock in the afternoon and almost as dark as night. In a way, she was relieved he would be here with her tonight and not on the boat.
“I’m in the study when you’re ready,” he called.
A huge clap of thunder shook the house as she made her way down the hallway and the lights flickered. That’s all she needed, a power blackout. A light shone from one of the rooms which had been closed up earlier and she stood at the door for a moment, in a strange way reluctant to see if Jake had captured a photograph of Regan on the Midas. If her sister was on the boat, her lack of contact with Gracie had been deliberate.
Jake sat at a wide timber desk with a leather surface and again Gracie wondered at his financial situation. The study was huge and two timber desks were joined by a long bench that ran under the window. Two computers with large screens sat on the desk where Jake fiddled with a camera.
The biggest and the best of everything.
Maybe he was a famous photographer? Maybe he’d left the force to follow another career?
She smiled to herself. If he was, he certainly wouldn’t be spending his nights on a cramped little boat surreptitiously taking photographs. It was none of her business unless it affected Regan and she wondered if he was being straight with her when he said he didn’t know what was happening. What frightened her was his certainty there was something shady going on and that had been confirmed by the events of the past twenty-four hours.
Why was my hotel room ransacked? How did they even find me?
It had to be because she’d asked about Regan yesterday. Someone must
have followed her back to the hotel—that was the only explanation. The only reason she could think of was that they were trying to frighten her away because nothing had been taken from her room. And that made going on to the Midas more difficult.
She swallowed. It was her only chance of finding Regan if Jake’s photographs didn’t deliver. And if they did she still had to get onto that boat and talk to Regan.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the room, moved across to the computer and watched him work. A row of SD cards were lined up on the edge of the desk and Jake was removing another one from a large camera.
“I just have to download the photos from last night and then we’ll start at the beginning.”
“Okay.” Gracie wandered over to the window while she waited for him to finish. Heavy rain was falling in sheets, and she couldn’t see past the shrubs lining the edge of the lawn. Wet leaves plastered the outside of the glass and the window flexed in the strong wind. Even though she was exhausted, the storm was invigorating and the air was charged with electricity. Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on the energy around her. Stepping on to that boat was going to be one of the hardest things she’d ever done and she would need to gather her strength and keep her wits about her.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Just a bit tired.”
“You’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight, anyway,” he replied. “Grab the other chair and come on over.” He pointed to the chair in front of the second computer. She grasped the back of the soft leather, wheeled the chair over and placed it next to Jake.
The screen flickered to life and he entered a password before logging onto a SkyDrive folder. Gracie watched with fascination as he worked through three levels of security before creating a folder with yesterday’s date on it. His fingers flew and her attention was caught by his long, tanned fingers clicking on the keyboard. His forearms were covered with a light sprinkling of dark hair, and her gaze traveled up his arm to his biceps. His white T-shirt fit snugly, and the muscles in the top of his arms flexed as he typed. She was sure there’d be a gym somewhere in the house. He obviously worked out regularly.
Warmth ran up her neck as she encountered a curious expression on his face when she caught his gaze on her.
“Right, they’re uploaded. Now we’ll go back to the beginning.”
Gracie turned her attention to the screen.
Jake pulled up a database and the first field in the top row was dated two and a half weeks ago. “When did you last hear from your sister?”
“I had an e-mail from her exactly three weeks ago.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and clicked on the last e-mail she had received. “It was the twenty-eighth of November and she said she was travelling down to Airlie Beach on the Midas and she would call me when she arrived.” She watched as Jake clicked on the database field and the screen changed to a folder labeled 01DecMidas.
“The dates match up,” he said slowly. “That was the first night of this job. The day the Midas came into the marina. First of December…and today’s the eighteenth.”
“Can I ask what your job is?”
For a moment, his eyes were as cold as flint, but she sensed it wasn’t because of her question. He looked at her for a long moment and she didn’t think he was going to answer.
“Nothing important,” he said finally. “I freelance and it’s an insurance job.” He laughed but there was no humor in it. “This job’s been a bit more interesting than following injured workers around trying to photograph them working in the garden or carrying bags of groceries.”
“If you hate it so much, why do you do it?” She was curious to know what had caused the bitterness in his voice.
Jake swiveled the chair around and stretched out his leg, before reaching down and rolling up the bottom of his trousers
“Look.” He tapped his shin and her gaze followed his fingers up his leg. A long narrow oval of shiny, pink flesh ran from below his knee to his ankle and across the front of his shin.
“Workplace injury. Months of surgery, a steel plate in my leg and medically retired.”
“What happened?”
His face was closed and it took him a minute to answer. “I was shot in the knee.”
God, if he’d been in the police force here and he’d been shot, his local knowledge must be fairly reliable. Now she began to understand why he was so adamant she shouldn’t be taking matters into her own hands.
“Look, I really am sorry.” She reached over to him and gripped his arm as she tried to make him understand. “When you were in the force, you must have known some people who—even though they weren’t criminals—liked to live on the wild side? Well…that’s my sister and if I go to the police”— tears welled in her eyes as she fought for control before she continued— “there’s likely to be something that’ll come up that would make them doubt me. Or she’ll just turn up and I’ll have caused a fuss for no reason.”
Warmth ran up her arm as Jake placed his hand gently over her fingers and squeezed them. “But you don’t really believe that, do you? I can’t imagine a kindergarten teacher who tells me she is quiet and boring would go to the lengths you have on the slim chance something is wrong?”
Gracie looked in to his face and tried to find any sign that he knew what was going on.
Can I trust him?
Dropping his gaze first, he moved his hand away from her touch, and turned back to the computer. “We’re a fine pair, Miss Gracie James. Now let’s see what we can find, and then we’ll discuss what’ll happen in the morning.”
For the first time in a couple of weeks, that horrid feeling that had lodged in her stomach like a rock, the hollowness of being totally alone, lifted and Gracie relaxed.
She wheeled her chair in closer to Jake and looked at the computer. Hundreds of small thumbnail-sized photos filled the screen in half-a-dozen columns, and Jake clicked at the keys.
“I’ll open them up in slideshow and set it to display at the fastest speed. If you see anything and want me to stop, just say so.”
The first photographs had been taken in the early evening and a shaft of golden sunlight lit up the center of the deck—the perfect backdrop for the guests arriving in evening clothes.
“The first night I took photos, there was some sort of welcoming function happening and it was pretty tame,” Jake explained. He pointed out several people and told her who they were. Owners of other luxury boats, the harbormaster and a number of Airlie Beach businessmen. As the photographs slid across the screen, images of women in evening dress and men in tuxedos sipping on champagne appeared in a never ending show.
“Wait.” Gracie grabbed Jake’s hand, which hovered over the wireless mouse. “Stop.”
She leaned in closer to the screen and pointed to the dark-haired man standing in the doorway. “Do you know who that man is?”
Chapter Eight
“I’m pretty sure it’s Rodrigo Cabal. He owns the Midas,” Jake replied as he turned from the screen to face Gracie. “Why do you ask?”
“He’s got something over my sister. It’s the only thing I can think of.”
A surge of protectiveness washed over him. There was no way he was going to let her go back onto that boat. There was something going on and it would be crazy for her to walk into it. He’d made a call to Ben from the car when Gracie was getting her gear from the hotel and confirmed that Cabal owned the boat. He’d left it with Ben to find out as much as he could without breaching police protocol. He’d also asked him about the body at Muddy Bay but Ben was closemouthed, which frustrated the hell out of Jake.
“Jake, pull your head in. I can’t tell you what’s going on. Just take your photos and keep out of it. Okay?”
Now he reached over and clicked the mouse to get the slideshow moving again. Shot after shot of Cabal talking to guests and kissing the hands of the women.
Slimeball.
Cabal had been on the boat every night since Jake had started the surveillance operat
ion, but he’d never appeared in any of the sexual antics. Not the ones on the deck anyway. He obviously provided the venue, the girls, the alcohol—and if his cop instincts were still as good as ever—the drugs. Jake sat up straight and waited for Gracie’s reaction as the first photo of the olive-skinned woman appeared on the screen. A soft cry next to him confirmed his suspicions.
“Oh my God, that’s Regan.”
Ever since she’d described her sister to him, he’d been pretty sure she was the woman he’d seen on the boat with Cabal. He clicked the mouse and stopped the slideshow.
Gracie reached across and ran a finger down the screen. “She was there.” Her face was alight with excitement when she turned to Jake. “At least I know she came down from Cairns so she must still be around here. She was on the boat that first night.” She narrowed her eyes. “So why did they tell me they hadn’t heard of her?”
“Maybe she’s using a different name?” Jake said.
“Maybe. But that doesn’t explain why they would have broken into my hotel room.”
“I agree. There’s more to it. If they don’t know she’s your sister, there’s another reason they’re interested in you.”
“Why?”
“Look in the mirror, Gracie.”
She looked at him with a frown, and then burst out laughing. “What? Me?”
Jake looked at her as exasperation filled his chest. Someone must have done a real number on her at one time. Drop-dead gorgeous even in her plain shorts and T-shirt. None of the women he’d photographed over the past three weeks could hold a candle to her, and yet it was obvious she didn’t know what a looker she was.
“Yes, you,” he replied carefully. “You are a very attractive woman.” He didn’t want to go overboard and say it, but she was beautiful. Almond-shaped green eyes surrounded by dark lashes and delicately arched eyebrows. A pert little nose with a smattering of freckles sat above a set of lush lips begging to be kissed. Her tiny height and fine-boned body with curves in all the right places completed the whole package, and she looked pretty damned hot from where he was.