by Cindy Bell
“Hey Suzie, I’m at dinner, like you told me to be.”
“Good, that’s good. Do you think you can send someone to pick up Simon? We found him at the pearl farm and saw him get into a confrontation with April.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Did he actually put his hands on her?”
“No. But he warned her not to talk to the police.”
“I’m not sure that we have enough to pick him up. But we might be able to get a search warrant. Not likely until morning.”
“Get it as soon as you can. I’m afraid he might take off. He knows that you spoke to April, so he’s spooked.”
“All right, I’ll see what I can do. But even if we get the warrant that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll find anything,” Jason said. “I should have known that you wouldn’t stay out of this.” He hung up before she could reply.
Paul docked the boat. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Okay, I’m just a phone call away if you want company,” Suzie said as she climbed off the boat.
Paul leaned close to kiss her, then turned to the cabin. Suzie hesitated. She wondered if she should try to stay with him. But Mary had so much on her shoulders with all of the guests that she knew she needed to get back to Dune House.
Chapter Seventeen
By the time Suzie arrived at Dune House, Jason and Summer had already left. Mary was elbow deep in a sink full of dishes.
“Here, let me take over.” Suzie stepped up behind her.
“Oh, thank you.” Mary yawned. “I could use a sit down.” She sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and plopped her feet down on the other.
“How did the dinner go?”
“Fantastic. Everyone got along well, and Summer was so pleased that Jason was here.”
“I’m glad he was, too.”
“Now, what about you? Jason mentioned something about you going off on an adventure and never listening.”
“Something like that.” Suzie frowned as she ran a sponge across a plate. “Paul and I followed Simon.”
“You did? What did you find out?”
“I’m pretty sure he was involved in the thefts at the pearl farm and maybe even Robbie’s death.”
“Wow. How did Paul take it?”
“It’s hard to say with Paul. Sometimes he’s hard to read. I know that it’s bothering him.”
“Is Jason arresting Simon?”
“Not yet, he said that he wouldn’t even be able to get a search warrant until morning.”
“Ugh, that is cutting it close to the wedding.”
“I know, but it’s procedure.” Suzie frowned. “I just hope that Simon doesn’t take off before Jason has a chance to arrest him. It would have been so nice if all of this was done and taken care of today.”
“Yes, it would. Too bad for Paul though.”
“It is. I think he’s starting to realize his friendship with Simon wasn’t what he thought it was.”
“Better to know, I suppose.”
“I just hope he doesn’t feel like I’m attacking him.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t. You have to trust him a little, to know your heart.”
“You’re right.” She finished the dishes and turned around to face her. “So, what’s on the agenda for the morning?”
“I’ve offered everyone breakfast, but they’ve made arrangements to have breakfast at that cute little café on the water. So it should be pretty quiet here in the morning.”
“Oh good, that will give us some time to go over what still needs to be done for the wedding.”
“Actually, we’re pretty good on that. The centerpieces are done, the decorations are ready to go up, I double-checked on the reservations for the chairs, and I double checked the new order of shellfish with the fisherman that Paul recommended.”
“Wonderful. You are amazing, Mary.”
“Really? I’m not the one solving a murder.”
“No, you’re the one pulling off the perfect wedding for two very busy people while your best friend, who you should be able to rely on, is off running around town.”
“Suzie, I know that I can always rely on you. Don’t ever think that I don’t.”
Suzie hugged her and smiled. “Ditto Mary. I guess we’d both better get some sleep and hope that everything goes smoothly over the next couple of days.”
“Good idea.” Mary stretched and yawned again. “I’ve got the calls forwarded to my room if any of the guests need anything.”
“Okay, if there’s any crisis, feel free to wake me up.”
“You’ll be the first to know.” Mary laughed and headed to her room.
Once Suzie was in bed she tried to sleep, but her mind was too revved up with what she saw that night. If Simon hurt Robbie, would he hurt April, too? The thought of the young woman being harmed made her restless. At some point she fell asleep because her cell phone woke her up early the next morning.
“Hello?” She mumbled into the phone.
“Suzie, it’s Jason. I got that search warrant, but there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“We went to Simon’s place and he isn’t there. It looks like he might have cleaned some things out so he can take off.”
“Oh no.” She sighed.
“I’ll update you if anything happens, but I just wanted you and Paul to be on the lookout.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Jason. I’ll let Paul know.”
She hung up the phone and dragged herself to her feet. It seemed to her that she hadn’t slept at all. She met Mary in the kitchen just as she set up a pot of coffee.
“Mm, perfect timing.” Suzie smiled. She called Paul’s number as she waited for the coffee to brew. Paul didn’t answer. She sent him a text. Again, he didn’t respond. Paul was always up earlier than her. If the sun was up Paul was up and often long before the sun was up, he was up. So, why wasn’t he answering? Her heart started to race. What if Simon confronted Paul? Or the other way around?
“Here Suzie.” Mary handed her a cup of coffee.
“No, no thank you. I have to go.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I think Paul might be in trouble.”
“Then I’ll come with you. All of the guests are out and Summer is with them, I gave her a spare key in case she needed to organize something for the wedding and we weren’t available. I’ll call her on the way so she knows that they can call me if they need anything. We’ll go find Paul.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Here, I’ll pop some coffee into a thermos. Then Paul can have some, too.”
Two minutes later they headed out the door towards the docks.
Chapter Eighteen
As Suzie drove with Mary towards the docks her heart raced even faster. Nightmare scenarios played through her mind. Sure, she was overreacting, but for some reason she couldn’t stop it. She parked and jumped out of the car. Suzie surveyed the boats at the dock. She looked twice before she admitted to herself that Paul’s boat wasn’t there.
“Mary, something’s not right. Paul must have taken the boat out without telling me.”
“Do you think he would do that?” Mary frowned. “Maybe he went to Simon himself?’
“Oh no, I hope not. If Paul goes to Simon and hints that he knows he was involved somehow, then he could be in grave danger. We have to go after him.”
“But how? We can’t just go out on a boat ourselves.”
“No, we’re going to need some help.” Suzie looked over at Mike’s boat. She noticed him near the edge of the boat. He tried hard to pretend that he wasn’t looking at them. “Mike!” She strode towards him with as much confidence as she could muster. “I need your help.”
“I don’t want to be involved.” He turned his back to her.
“Mike, please. Paul’s life might be in danger. I’m sorry that we suspected you, but now I know that you weren’t involved. But there’s only one way to pro
ve it. Right now you’re still a suspect. You have no alibi, you have a history of conflict with Robbie. But we need to prove who did do it so you can stop being on the suspect list.”
He sighed and turned back to face her. “How do I know this isn’t some trick?”
“If I really thought that you were a murderer do you think I would ask you to help me and my best friend? Do you think I would ever put her in that kind of danger?”
Mike looked past her to Mary, who stood a few feet behind Suzie. Mary held up a hand and waved a little. “I’m the best friend. Trust me, she is very overprotective.”
He shook his head again. “Fine, you don’t suspect me, but it sounds to me that you’re trying to get yourself tangled up in something very dangerous, and that’s not something I want to be involved in. Why would I put my life at risk, my boat at risk?”
“It’s Paul, Mike. You two have been on these docks together for a long time.”
“And maybe if he had listened to me from the beginning none of this would have happened. He wanted to believe that Robbie was so innocent, I tried to warn him to not get into someone else’s business, but he didn’t want to hear me. He also suspected me and I might not be the most liked fisherman around here, but I am trustworthy, and Paul should have known that.”
Mary met his eyes. “Mike, he did. If you were in trouble you know that Paul would have helped you. Are you really going to put Paul’s life at risk, all because you want to make a point?”
He frowned. “I try to follow a policy of staying out of business that has nothing to do with me. But you’re right. I don’t want the police to keep sniffing around me. Eventually they’ll find something to pin on me. So I will take you out, but the first sign of trouble, we are turning back.”
“Absolutely.” Suzie smiled. “Thank you, Mike.”
Mike clenched his jaw and reached his hand out to her to help her onto the boat. Then he reached out to Mary. As Suzie saw Mike grab hold of Mary’s hand she wondered if she’d made the right choice.
“Are you sure you’re okay to go out on the water?” Suzie asked Mary.
Mary nodded yes. She didn’t like being on a boat nearly as much as Suzie, but she was getting used to them and she couldn’t let Suzie go out there alone.
A jolt of fear shot through Suzie as the possibility that she was wrong about Mike played through her mind. But it was too late to change her mind. The engine roared and the boat lurched away from the dock.
Mary clung to the railing so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She looked out over the water. Suzie moved into place right beside her. She scanned the horizon. Maybe she would spot Paul’s boat. Maybe he hadn’t gotten as much of a head start as they expected he did. However, the wide open ocean was empty. Not only was Paul’s boat not there, she didn’t see any other boats on the water either.
“So, where are we headed?” Mike looked over at her with a scowl. “I need to make this fast, I have other things to do.”
“To Simon’s place.”
“Simon?” Mike raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because I think that’s where Paul went. They’re friends.”
“So, why are we chasing him down there? He would be safe with Simon.”
“Just go to Simon’s place, please.” Suzie met his eyes. Mike stared at her for a moment, then set his course. She guessed that he had more questions, but she didn’t want to answer them. Until she knew for sure that her suspicions were true she didn’t want to sully Simon’s name. Was that even where Paul went? She didn’t know. Above them the sky rumbled. Suzie looked at Mary and noticed how pale she was.
“We can’t stay out here long. The storm is coming our way.” Mike narrowed his eyes. “I’ll take you to Paul, then I’m heading back. Understand? I can’t risk my boat.”
“I understand.” Suzie nodded. As Mike’s boat approached Simon’s place she noticed Paul’s boat at the dock. A sense of relief and terror flooded her. Relief that Paul was there, but terror that Simon might have done something to hurt him. “Look Mary. Do you see Paul on the boat?”
Mary leaned forward over the railing and shook her head. “No, I don’t see anyone on there.”
“What will it be ladies, am I leaving you here, or taking you back with me?” Mike looked at them both with taut lips, then up at the dark sky. “There’s very little time left to get back to the docks.”
“Mary, why don’t you go back with him? You can check on Jason and Summer while I ride back with Paul.”
Mary’s hand closed over Suzie’s. She met Suzie’s eyes. “I’m not going anywhere without you, Suzie. If you’re getting off this boat, so am I.”
Suzie nodded and looked over at Mike. “I guess we’re both getting off here.”
He hesitated and looked at the sky again. “Are you sure? This looks pretty nasty.”
“We’ll be fine.” Suzie swung her leg over the side of the boat. Mike stepped up to help her over, then helped Mary as well. As the boat lurched away from the dock Mike called out to them again.
“Don’t let Paul get on the water in this. You three hunker down with Simon. He’ll take care of you.”
Suzie grimaced at the thought, but she waved to Mike as he turned the boat around. Briefly she considered calling him back, but that ship had sailed. She turned back to Simon’s house. The property was as littered with debris as it had been when she had visited before, but somehow in the eerie glow of the storm that approached everything appeared dangerous. Was the mess evidence of a murderous mind? Had she overlooked clear signs that Simon was a danger to Paul? She pushed the thoughts down and walked beside Mary up the hill towards the small house. This time there was no delicious smell coming from the kitchen. In fact, like Jason had said it didn’t seem to her that anyone was home. It struck her then that Simon’s boat was not there.
“Oh no!” Suzie turned back towards the small dock. “Paul must have gone on Simon’s boat with him.”
“You’re right, they’re not here.” Mary turned away from the window she’d peered through. “There’s no one inside.”
“That means Simon could have taken him anywhere. And in this storm. We have to find them!”
“Maybe we should call Jason, I bet he has a way to track the boat.” Mary pulled out her phone.
“That’s it!” Suzie snapped her fingers. “Mary, you’re a genius.”
“What?” Mary’s finger hovered above the keypad.
“Yesterday Paul and I put a tracking device on Simon’s boat. That’s how we discovered that he went out to the pearl farm in the middle of the night. I bet it’s still active. As long as the feed is live we can track Simon’s boat from Paul’s.”
“That’s great, Suzie, but we don’t have a captain.” Mary shook her head. “How are we going to track them if they’re traveling on water?”
“We have no other choice. We’re going to have to try. Paul has shown me enough to handle the boat in case of an emergency.”
“Well, this is certainly an emergency.” Mary followed Suzie down towards the dock. Just as they reached the boat a clap of thunder made them both jump. It was not the type of storm that anyone should be headed out to sea in, especially Suzie and Mary, who had about as much experience with boats as a guest on a cruise ship. Suzie paused and looked over at Mary.
“You should stay here. Call Jason. Tell him what’s happening and to send a boat out to pick you up.”
“No Suzie, I’m not going to do that.”
“What if they come back? Someone will need to be here to explain why Paul’s boat is missing.”
Mary narrowed her eyes. She stepped onto the boat. “You are not going out into those rough waters without me, Suzie. We are in this together, just like everything else we’ve ever been through.”
Suzie smiled at her and offered a quick hug before heading for the controls. As much as she wanted Mary to be safe, it was a relief to know that she always had her back. As the boat sped off across the water Suzie did her best to remai
n in control of it. Mary held on to the tracking device. But the waves grew bigger, and the boat lurched from side to side.
“Can you tell where they are, Mary?”
“Not far, Suzie. Just keep going. Not far.”
It wasn’t long before Suzie recognized the path they took. They were headed straight for the pearl farm.
“Why are they going out there?” Her breath caught in her throat. Was Simon taking him out there to hurt him? She stared so hard at the water ahead of her that her eyes stung. Simon’s boat had to be somewhere. As she suspected it was right beside the dock at the pearl farm.
“There!” Suzie pointed to it. “Let’s get close.”
“All right. But I don’t see anyone on the boat, Suzie.”
As soon as they were close enough Suzie climbed off the boat and onto the dock. She peered into Simon’s boat. “Paul?”
“Is he there, Suzie?”
“He must be in the cabin.” Suzie’s heart lurched. If Paul wasn’t answering her there had to be a reason. She boarded the boat and walked through it. “No, no, it’s empty.” Suzie cringed as she looked through the boat one more time. The only thing that gave her any comfort was the fact that there was no evidence of a fight onboard the boat.
“Then they must be somewhere on the land.” Mary scanned the horizon. “Is there even anything out here?”
“Yes, there’s a house about a mile in. We’re going to have to hike. Are you up for it?” Suzie frowned with concern. Mary nodded and straightened her shoulders.
“I can handle it.”
As they began down the path towards the house Suzie watched for any sign of the direction that Paul and Simon took. Was Paul his hostage? Did Simon convince him that he was innocent? If so, what were they doing at the pearl farm? About halfway to the house, Suzie heard a sound in the distance. It sounded like the slam of a car door. They were far from the driveway and any road. But obviously there was a vehicle nearby.
“Mary, did you hear that?”