“There’s a blanket under that seat. Get it and then strap in. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.” He glanced at the clouds that raced toward us.
So Neptune could quote Bette Davis, who’d been one of my grandmother’s favorite actresses. I found the blanket, buckled into the seat next to him, and he pulled the throttle back. The nose of the boat lifted as we jetted across the water. A streak of lightning flashed green across the sky.
“Thank you,” I shouted over the roar of the engine.
The cat clung to me like I was a lifesaver, its little claws digging into the shirt I’d taken from the boat. I didn’t recognize the man driving the boat. His turquoise T-shirt and khaki shorts all flapped about him in the wind. A baseball cap was tucked in the back of the waistband of his shorts. Strong, tan legs braced against the floor. He glanced at me and gave a quick nod. He took a band from his wrist and tied his flowing hair into a ponytail. He reached over and ran a finger across the cat’s back before he turned back to focus on steering.
“How’d you end up out here?” He waved back toward the sailboat.
I shouted my explanation of hearing the cry and getting swept out into the Gulf.
“It seems like you got lucky today,” he said. “And the cat did too.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me do it. “I did. Thank you for saving us.”
“Where’d you find her?”
“She was in a cabin. I’m not sure how she got on the boat. My best guess is while it was onshore before it washed back to sea. Can you drop me off at the Sea Glass?”
He gave me a sharp look. “Why there? I’d thought . . . you’d want to go to the Coast Guard station in Destin for help and a report.”
“I work there. Vivi will be worried.” If she’d called the governor, she must be frantic.
“Vivi?”
“Yes. Do you know her?”
“It’s an unusual name.” He changed the direction the boat was headed and concentrated on steering across the increasingly rough Gulf.
I brought my knees up to my chest and re-tucked the blanket around the cat and me. I turned back to look at the sailboat. Smoke rolled around it like steam above a witch’s cauldron. The boat was rocked by a huge gust of wind, then hidden from view by sheets of rain. So far we’d outpaced the rain.
Fifteen minutes later my rescuer slowed. He grabbed the baseball cap out of his waistband and tugged it low on his head. With the nose of the boat down I could see the shore and Emerald Cove. To the west the high-rises of Destin were white against the dark sky. The man entered the harbor and then pulled up to the dock behind the Sea Glass. A crowd stood behind it and they cheered when they saw us. My face heated up. This was unexpected and not exactly welcome. I was exhausted by what I’d gone through and a bit embarrassed at all the trouble I’d caused.
“Thank you,” I told him as I undid my seat belt. Joaquín hurried forward as I stood. He reached out his hand and I grasped it, holding the cat in my other hand. His aquamarine-colored eyes were narrowed with concern and his dark hair was more tousled than usual.
“Get me out of here. Please,” I said to Joaquín as the group rushed toward us. I turned to give the man back his blanket, but he was already puttering away. I’d forgotten to ask him his name.
It took me a minute to realize a blond reporter was shoving a microphone in my face. “Tell us about the dead body you found.”
Apparently, reporters here listened to VHF radio broadcasts. On some level I’d known questions would come, but I didn’t expect them to be from a reporter, or so soon. Joaquín strong-armed us right by her. Vivi waited by the back door to the Sea Glass. As soon as Joaquín and I were in, she slammed the door closed and locked it. Soon I was sitting at the bar with Vivi and Joaquín standing on the other side. Wade Thomas, who owned the Briny Pirate restaurant next door, stood by Vivi’s side.
I glanced at the clock. It was eleven thirty-five. It felt like I’d been gone for days, not five hours. Vivi hadn’t opened the bar yet, which was unusual for her.
“We didn’t know you were back,” Vivi and Joaquín said in unison.
“And you already found another body?” Joaquín asked. He crossed himself.
“I got back late last night and didn’t want to bother anyone.” I’d gone home for two weeks to wrap up my life in Chicago. “At least I think I found a body. The more I’ve thought about it, the more improbable it seems that actual human remains would stay together like that.” In the moment I’d been so scared that I’d made assumptions. The cat mewed.
“Who’s this?” Vivi asked. Her face lit up brighter than I’d seen it since we’d first met in June. Vivi wore her hair in a silver bob. She was tall, slender, and rarely missed a day at the gym. She dressed better than anyone I knew and had more designer handbags than the purse department at Belk.
I’d come down here to fulfill the last request of my best friend Boone, who’d died in Afghanistan. I’d promised I’d help his grandmother if anything happened to him. Vivi hadn’t been welcoming—she wasn’t the frail, needy woman I’d expected either—and of course she was grieving over the loss of her only heir. When she’d found out I’d inherited twenty-five percent of the bar she co-owned with Boone, on top of inheriting his house and boat, things went from bad to worse. However, in the past few months we’d come to an uneasy truce.
Vivi reached for the cat.
I handed her over. “This is Pippi.” The name fit, because this was one brave little cat, and of course she had the long, white stockings. Pippi cuddled up against Vivi and started the low throb of a purr. Wade reached over and scratched Pippi’s head.
“Are you okay, Chloe?” Wade asked. “We’ve had boats wash up before, but I don’t think anyone’s ever been swept back out in one.”
“I’m okay. Except for being cold.” My teeth wanted to chatter, but I clenched my jaw to keep them from it.
“Coffee or something stronger?” Joaquín asked.
Something stronger was tempting. “Coffee.”
Joaquín poured and handed me a cup of coffee. After drinking a bit I gripped it in both hands, trying to warm them.
“Vivi, I need to get over to the restaurant. You call me if you need anything,” Wade said. “Chloe, you do the same.”
“Thank you,” I said as he left.
“What happened?” Joaquín and Vivi spoke in unison for the second time.
I’d opened my mouth to answer when someone pounded on the back door so hard it almost made the many pictures and signs hanging on the walls bounce.
Vivi hurried off and came back with Ralph Harrison, the owner of the Redneck Rollercoaster, which was actually a trolley.
“Where did you get that hat?” Ralph demanded. His dark face looked shocked—or afraid. His short afro looked like it had more gray in it than when I’d left, which worried me.
The sodden hat sat next to me on a barstool. I glanced at Joaquín, whose perfectly manicured eyebrows raised at me in a what-the-heck look.
I picked up the hat. It was straw, with bright red, now wilted, artificial flowers around the brim. “This hat?” Ralph nodded. “It was on the boat,” I said. “I found it in one of the cabins on the sailboat. Why?”
“Because I gave that to my late wife on our twenty-fifth anniversary.”
“Your wife who disappeared over a decade ago?” I asked. If I remembered the story right, she’d gone off on a boat with friends and had never been seen again. “The one you had declared dead?”
“It was twelve years ago,” Ralph said as he nodded again. He picked up the hat and sank down in its place.
CHAPTER 5
Joaquín poured Ralph a beer, which he took and swigged down a huge gulp.
“I saw you get off the boat in that hat and I had to go sit and catch my breath. That reporter noticed me and ran over to ask what was wrong. I asked her to leave me alone and she did. But it was like she sensed I had a story. She moved off but came back when I walked toward the Sea Glass,” Ral
ph said.
“How do you know it’s the same hat?” I asked. “If you were in a tourist spot, there had to be hundreds of the same one.”
“We went to a millinery store and custom-designed it.” He picked up the hat. “Look at the band inside. They embroidered her initials. RMH—Raquel Meredith Harrison—and ‘Happy Twenty-Fifth Anniversary. ’ ”
We all leaned in to look. Another firm knock whacked against the back door.
“I’ll get it,” I said. Ralph’s sorrow came off him in waves, hitting me like little punches. I felt guilty for something I had no control over. But Ralph had become a friend over the past few months and I’d never want to hurt him, even though it was inadvertent.
My body was stiff from my morning’s activities. My legs acted as if they didn’t really want to hold me up. The knock sounded again before I got to the door. “I’m coming,” I yelled before flinging it open.
Two men in suits stood at the door. They were both tall and thin, with close-cropped dark hair. One was a bit older than the other. “We’re special agents with the Coast Guard and are looking for Chloe Jackson.”
“That’s me.” Was I in some kind of trouble? I started shivering again, which probably made me look guilty of something.
Vivi came up behind me. “Bill. How are you?” Bill came out as a three-syllable word. Vivi’s Southern drawl got stronger when she was angry or worried. They might not realize it, but Vivi wasn’t happy.
“Vivi, good to see you. We need to speak to Ms. Jackson.”
“She’s been through quite an ordeal this morning. A later time would be much better.”
I turned back and forth. Everyone looked over my head as if I wasn’t even there.
“I understand that, but unfortunately, unless there’s a medical reason, this can’t wait.”
“I called my personal physician and he’s on the way over to check her out. He can determine if she’s up to being questioned.”
Vivi had been suspected of a murder last June. She’d been questioned at length several times. “I’m fine, Vivi. There’s no harm in talking to them.”
Vivi looked down at me. She was only a couple of inches taller than me, but she always wore heels that added at least three more inches. She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.
“This way, then.” She turned her back to us, but we all followed her like ducklings after their mother.
We passed the kitchen, bathrooms, and Vivi’s office before entering the main part of the bar. The officers noticed Joaquín and Ralph. The one named Bill turned and looked at me.
“We need to speak to you alone.”
“That’s not necessary,” Vivi said.
“Yes. It is,” Bill responded.
“Does she need a lawyer?” Joaquín asked. His brow was furrowed with concern.
A lawyer. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Unless they thought I was trespassing on the boat, which I guess I was, but for what I’d thought was a good reason. “It’s fine,” I said. “I’m sure they just want to know what happened this morning.”
“Exactly,” the other Coast Guard man said.
I led them to the front of the bar by the wall of doors that were usually open. The views of the white sandy beaches were normally stunning, but the rain had unleashed, so everything was obscured to soft grays. We sat at a high top. I took the stool with the best view. That would keep my back to Vivi, Ralph, and Joaquín. I didn’t need them distracting me.
The inside of the bar was more tiki hut than saloon. Photos and signs lined the walls, including some of Vivi and her friends from high school and college. This was a fishing community, so there were the requisite photos of smiling men and women holding up whatever fish they’d caught. Many were in black-and-white. Oh, the secrets this place knew.
“I’m Special Agent Bill Topping and this is Special Agent Alex Lowe.”
“Did you find the boat?” I asked.
“We had to call off the search because of the weather.”
Even though I figured that was the case, I was still disappointed. I glanced back at Ralph, who was staring intently at us. I was sure Bill and Alex would be talking to him soon.
“How did you happen to be on the boat?” Bill asked. His voice was neutral.
I explained to them how I was out for a run and thought I’d heard a baby cry. Bill kept the neutral look on his face, but Alex did half an eye roll. I turned and pointed to Vivi. “I found a cat. I guess the fog distorted the sound.”
“That can happen,” Bill said.
“Then what happened?” Alex asked.
I ran them through the events of the morning, pausing just before I got to the part about finding the skeleton.
“You found a body,” Bill said. “That must have been difficult.”
Alex leaned back a little.
I nodded and described the scene.
“You’re sure there was a body onboard?” Alex asked. “Stress, fog, physical exhaustion can lead to hallucinations.”
“Yes.” It came out louder than necessary. I needed to stay calm. But I was exhausted and Alex was stressing me out. “That wasn’t any hallucination.”
“Go on,” Bill said.
I explained about finding the ring, which I hadn’t thought of until that moment.
“What happened to the ring?” Alex asked.
“I stuck it in my sports bra. It has a small hidden pocket. I’ll just go to the bathroom and dig it out.”
“Can you retrieve it here, Chloe?” Alex asked.
I turned slightly away from them. Yeesh, this was embarrassing. But I managed to fish in the little pocket, find the ring, and pull it out without flashing anyone. “Here.” The ring was magnificent. It was the first time I’d had time to look at it closely. It had a huge center diamond with clusters of other diamonds around it, set on a narrow gold band. It looked old.
“Let me see it,” Ralph said. He strode across the room, even as Bill and Alex shook their heads.
I glanced at Alex and Bill. Bill reached for the ring. I turned to Ralph and held it out to him. Ralph stared at it, then slumped onto the stool next to me.
“Ralph?” I asked gently. “Was this Raquel’s?”
“It was a family heirloom. She never took it off.”
The Coast Guard officers started another flurry of questions.
Ralph held up a hand. “Raquel, my former wife, went out with friends on a boat twelve years ago last August. Two men. Two women.”
“And you didn’t mind your wife running around with other men?” Alex asked.
Ralph froze for the tiniest second. “They were friends.” His voice was firm.
But I wasn’t sure he was telling the truth about that. I focused on the ring I was still holding. Had Raquel wedged the ring in the corner hoping someday it would be found?
“The last time I talked to Raquel—” Ralph’s voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “She called from the tennis club. It was around six p.m. Everyone was hot and decided boating would be the fastest way to cool down. They were only supposed to be gone a couple of hours, but never returned.”
We all sat for a minute. I think the grief in Ralph’s voice even got to Alex.
A commotion broke out at the back of the bar. I turned to see Delores, Ralph’s current wife, dashing across the room. Delores had bright red hair, a curvy figure, and a steel magnolia attitude. She flung herself into Ralph’s arms and they clung to each other. She leaned back and put her hands on either side of his head. She studied him as if he was the most precious thing she’d ever seen.
“I’m okay,” Ralph said.
“Is what I heard true?” Delores was in the uniform she wore at The Diner. She must have gone from her job as a dispatcher straight to The Diner. People here worked hard to make ends meet. In the few short months I’d lived here I’d quickly realized that many people were one disaster away from being homeless. “Did Chloe find Raquel?”
“It looks that way. At the very least some of her things
,” Ralph said. He took her hands and kissed each one. “Just give us a minute.”
Delores looked the rest of us over. Her eyes burned like lasers and she made eye contact with each of us. Alex even leaned back a little. “Ralph had nothing to do with Raquel’s disappearance.”
Up to that moment I never thought he had.
CHAPTER 6
I could tell by the surprised look on Bill’s face that he’d had the same thought.
“Mr. Harrison, would you please wait over there?” Bill asked. He pointed to a table on the other side of the bar, midway between where we sat and where Joaquín and Vivi stood.
And although he formed it as a question, there was no doubt in my mind that it was a command. Ralph pushed himself up and followed his instructions. Ralph had served in the Air Force and an order must still sound like an order to him. Delores swept her glare over all of us once more and then went to join Ralph.
I walked Bill and Alex through the rest of my time on the boat, jumping in the water, and being rescued.
“What was the name of the man who rescued you?” Alex asked.
“Don’t you know?” I asked.
Alex barely managed not to roll his eyes again. “If I knew I wouldn’t have asked.”
“Well, I don’t know either,” I said.
“How can that be?” Alex asked.
“He knew who I was and I wasn’t in the best of shape, so we didn’t talk much.”
“Did you get the name of his boat?”
“I didn’t. He hauled me in from the side. He radioed that he had me, so your dispatcher should know who he is, right?”
“They don’t,” Alex said.
That didn’t make sense. “Is there some way to trace the call back to him?”
“There’s no record of someone calling and saying they had you,” Bill said. “We would have asked that you be brought to us.”
What? “But I heard him.”
“Like you said, you weren’t in the best of shape,” Alex said.
“I know what I heard.” He’d radioed someone. I’d assumed it was the Coast Guard. “How did you know I was here and not still out on the Gulf if he didn’t call?”
A Time to Swill Page 3