“I told her to let you sleep. I could have gone out without you today. Not that I wanted to though.” His smile was tender.
She looked away. How could she tell him she was leaving when he looked at her like that? “Nice boat,” she said, directing her gaze to Brian.
He preened. “Yeah, it’s a beauty. She took me months to design. I think our customer is going to be really happy.”
“You’ve sure got some innovative ideas. I’m surprised the business hasn’t really taken off.”
“It’s going to,” Simon put in. “With some more capital invested, we’ll spend some money on publicity.” He stopped and clapped his left hand to his forehead. “I’m an idiot. I bought some replacement sieves but left them at the boatyard.”
“We can run by and get them,” Brian said, turning the wheel of the boat.
Simon tugged at Wynne’s hand and led her out to the chair on the bow. There was only one. He sat in it and pulled her down on his lap. He rested his chin on the top of her head.
“I’m squishing you,” she protested.
“You’re no bigger than a mosquito,” he said, his arms settling around her waist. “Besides, we can talk like this and not be overheard. I could hardly sleep last night for making plans.”
He sounded happy and smug. Wynne hated the thought of breaking his bubble of happiness. “Simon,” she began.
“Mmm.” His lips sent a burst of warmth into her hair.
She might as well blurt it out and get it over with. “I got a call this morning. I’m supposed to go to Australia next week.”
His fingers tightened on her waist, then he pulled his head back from her hair. “Wait…I don’t understand. You mean you’re just going to up and go after telling me you love me?”
“I signed a contract,” she began.
“I realize that, but don’t you think you should have told him you needed to discuss it with me first?”
“I am discussing it with you,” she reminded him. “Besides, what is there to say? You know what my profession is.”
He began to smile. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess I’d better tell you. I want to buy a boat, one that will go anywhere in any seas. Like Jacques Cousteau. We can get a crew together and do our own dig.”
Is that what his profession of love had meant? He hadn’t said another word about it, and he hadn’t asked her to marry him, either. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I see,” she said slowly.
His smile faded. “I’m going about this all wrong,” he muttered. He tipped her head to the side and looked deeply into her eyes. “I want to marry you, Wynne. We can travel the world together, discover exciting things. I love you.”
There. He’d finally spoken the words she’d longed to hear, but they felt flat somehow. Maybe it was just her fatigue. Seated on his lap with his breath in her face, she knew she loved him. But how much did he love her? Was it because she shared his love of history, and the water, or did he love her for herself?
And what about children? What about establishing a home together? She didn’t know how it would all work together. It all suddenly seemed overwhelming to her. “I still have a contract.”
“I can pay to break it.”
“I’d hate to leave Gordon in the lurch.”
“But you’d willingly leave me.” His voice was flat, and his body turned rigid.
“You’re putting words in my mouth,” she protested. “I have obligations. I can’t just ignore them.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Simon, be reasonable,” she pleaded. She put her hands on the sides of his head and forced him to look at her when he tried to look away. “I love you. You know I do.”
“Do I? Or are you like the rest and just interested in my money?” His voice grew louder.
“If it were your money I was after, I’d gladly take you up on your offer of a boat and complete funding,” she reminded him. He scowled, and she smoothed the wrinkles on his forehead. “Don’t yell at me, okay?” she whispered.
His face cleared. “I wasn’t yelling. We were discussing it.”
She pinched his lips together. “Say ‘I’m sorry’ Come on, it isn’t so hard. Say it!”
“I said I wasn’t yelling.” His lips began to turn up.
“Why is it men have such a hard time actually saying ‘I’m sorry?’ You’re a big boy. You can admit you were wrong.”
“Hang on, there. You’re going too far now.” He was laughing now, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He stared into her eyes. “Is this the way it’s always going to be? I’m going to be cajoled into admitting culpability when I’m innocent?”
She suddenly realized it was going to be all right. Their respect for one another and their humor would carry them when things got rough. “Probably. You want to withdraw your offer of marriage?”
“Not on your life.” He snuggled her close again. “What about Australia?”
“I think I could get you a position on this dig. It could be our honeymoon trip. We could get our own boat when this trip is over.”
“Some honeymoon. I had it more in mind to be alone.”
He winked at her, and her face grew hot. “We might be able to squeeze in a few days like that.”
“When would you be able to find time to be married if you’re leaving next week?”
She sighed. He was right. How could this all come together? He was going to have to stay here and she would have to go. “Other couples have survived a separation. I think we can, too.”
“We can, but I don’t want to.” His scowl was coming back.
She smoothed his frown again. “We’ll work it out somehow. I’ll have a break at Christmas. Maybe we can get married then.”
“Christmas? I don’t want to wait that long.”
“You sound like a little boy.” She pinched his cheeks. “Little Simon, be patient. We’ve got a lot to figure out.”
“I’ll try,” he murmured from her hair again.
“We’re docking,” she told him. “Better go get your sieves.”
“Come with me. I don’t want you out of my sight.”
Simon whistled as he jogged across the boatyard. He held on to Wynne’s hand. Being with her gave him such a sense of completion. The problems of yesterday seemed to slide off his back with her at his side.
“I left the sieves in the office.”
“There they are.” Wynne stooped to pick them up where he’d left them by the door to his office.
“Let me get them. They’re heavy.” He’d built the sieves from window screen and pieces of two-by-fours. He picked them up and set them back down on a chair. “Wait, I need to get another cell phone. We have a spare somewhere.” His cell phone was long gone after their ordeal yesterday.
He riffled through his desk. Not there. “Maybe it’s in Brian’s office.”
“I’ll look.” Wynne went across the hall to his cousin’s office. Simon followed her.
“It looks like a nor’easter blew through here.” Wynne had a bewildered look on her face like she didn’t know where to begin to look.
“No kidding.” Simon stepped around an erasable board with indecipherable scribbles on it. He brushed too close to a stack of papers that was perched precariously on Brian’s desk. The papers tumbled to the floor.
“Great. We don’t have time for this.” Simon was tempted to just leave them to Brian to pick up.
“I’ll get them. You look for the phone.” Wynne knelt and began to gather the papers together.
He went to the desk and pulled out the lap drawer. “Here’s the phone,” Simon called out. He checked the charge then put it in his pocket.
Wynne was frowning as she scanned a paper she’d picked up. “I thought you said the boatyard was struggling. It sure shouldn’t be having any financial struggles with this kind of sale.”
“What are you talking about?” He squatted beside her. She handed him the paper. It was from Laughton Cruise lines. He scanned it, but it took a f
ew moments for the words to sink in. The company wanted to buy ten boats from Lassiter’s. The figure they were paying made Simon blink.
“Fifty million dollars. No way.”
“You didn’t know anything about this?” Wynne asked.
Simon shook his head. “Brian never said a word. This talks about some kind of new innovation.”
“Why would he keep this from you?” Wynne’s voice was tentative, as though she were afraid of the answer.
Simon folded the paper and put it in his pocket. “I think I’ll ask him.” Anger overshadowed the trepidation he felt. He didn’t want to examine what this meant, didn’t want to feel as betrayed as he did.
“Simon, could this have anything to do with Jerry’s death? Is this the same boat?”
“No, it sounds like it’s something even bigger.”
“Does Brian do all the designs?”
“Yes, all of it.”
“Did you ever notice any jealousy between him and Jerry?”
Simon nodded slowly. “Jerry overshadowed everyone. Every girlfriend Brian had in their teen years, Jerry took eventually.”
Wynne squeezed his hand. “Does he harbor bad feelings against you?”
“I don’t think so. We’ve always been like brothers.” He returned the pressure of her fingers. “Let’s go talk to him. I think we’re jumping to conclusions here.”
“I hope so,” Wynne said, following him to the door.
The boat engine was idling when they stepped back on deck. “Don’t say anything yet,” Simon cautioned Wynne. “Let me think about how to approach him.”
She nodded, but her eyes were shadowed. Simon figured she was already convicting Brian, but he couldn’t believe his cousin would do something like that.
He felt the crackle of the paper in his pocket, and it reminded him that something was amiss. It wasn’t easy to explain away such a huge boat deal. Every time he tried to add it up, he kept coming up with a conclusion he couldn’t bear.
He suddenly realized they were far from shore. Maybe he should wait to confront Brian until there were people around. Just in case he’d had something to do with the attempts on their lives. He wanted to discount the very notion that his cousin might want to harm him, but the ugly suspicion wouldn’t go away.
“Here we are,” Brian called. He cut the engine and lowered the anchor.
Simon looked at Wynne. If they went down, Brian would be left up here alone. He could leave them or sabotage them in some way. He saw the same fear in her eyes. There was no help for it. He would have to talk to Brian now. Better to do that than to dive and worry about what was happening on the surface.
He stepped closer to his cousin. “Brian, I need to talk to you.”
Brian pushed his hair out of his eyes. “What’s up?” He pointed to the sky. “This good weather isn’t supposed to last. We’d better get down there and see what’s happened.”
“We will. But I have a question first.” Simon pulled the letter from his pocket and opened it. “Can you explain this?”
Brian’s eyes widened when he saw what was in Simon’s hand. “Were you snooping in my office?” He went white, and his mouth was tight.
“Not really. I knocked off a stack of papers. This was in it.” Simon held the paper away when Brian tried to snatch it. “When were you going to tell me about this? Why did you need my money with this kind of sale going through?”
“I needed some new equipment,” Brian said, thrusting out his jaw.
Simon glanced at the letter and saw something he’d missed before. “The date is before Jerry died. Did he know about it?”
Brian put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a tiny pistol. The dark, round hole was small, but Simon knew it was deadly. “I’m sorry, Simon, but it has to be this way.”
“You killed your own brother?” Simon still couldn’t believe it. He glanced at Wynne then moved slightly in front of her to shield her with his body.
“I’d had it,” Brian said bitterly. “Do you have any idea what it was like to live in his shadow? And Rhonda was the last straw. I thought she was the one until Jerry moved in once again. And when I came up with this new boat design, he was crowing about how rich he was going to be. Off my work, my designs. I couldn’t take any more.”
“I understand that,” Simon said softly. “Did you try to kill us, too?”
“I didn’t want to.” When Simon shifted, Brian moved the gun so it was aimed at Wynne. “Don’t try anything, Simon, or I’ll have to shoot your pretty girlfriend.”
Simon froze. “Put the gun down, Brian, and we can talk about this.”
“Too late for talk.” He smiled but there was no mirth in his face.
“We’re no threat to you,” Simon said, holding his hands out with the palms up.
“With you gone, the entire business is mine. I won’t have to live in anyone’s shadow ever again.” Brian’s face hardened. “No more talk. It’s time for you both to go diving.”
TWENTY-THREE
“I’m not going in,” Wynne said. She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re going to have to shoot me.”
“I can do that,” Brian warned.
“If you do, it will clearly be murder. You don’t want that. That’s why you’ve tried to dispose of us with accidents. The sheriff will know where to look if we turn up with bullet holes in our heads.”
“You won’t turn up.” Brian smirked and his eyes were hard. “All I have to do is weight your bodies and dispose of you someplace where you’ll never be found.”
“But we might be found. Superior is capricious. A storm could toss up our bodies when you least expect it, just like it did with Jerry and Amanda.”
Brian hesitated. “Maybe. But I’ll do what I have to. Now get in the water.”
He shot over Wynne’s head, and it ruffled her hair as it passed. She flinched and took a step back.
“He’s serious,” Simon said.
“Move,” Brian commanded. “Into the water, or the next shot goes through your forehead.”
Wynne bit her lip. They had their dry suits on so the cold wouldn’t kill them right away. They’d last a couple of hours until they’d need to warm up. She began to pray as she adjusted her mask and mouthpiece. Maybe they could make a determined effort to swim to safety.
“No. Take off the suit,” Brian said.
“It won’t look natural,” Simon pointed out. “The sheriff will know we wouldn’t go diving without our suits.”
“I’ll tell him we forgot them. He’ll buy it since we lost the boat and equipment. Take them off.” His voice was inflexible.
There went that idea. Wynne peeled her suit off. At least they had their oxygen. But it wouldn’t do them much good if hypothermia got them. She went into the water, and Simon joined her. The cold immediately tightened her muscles.
Brian leaned on the railing but kept the gun trained on them. “Hypothermia is a great way to go.” His tone was conversational. “It’s fast and efficient.”
Wynne glared at him. “Before we die, I’m going to go down and see the site one last time. I want to see if the storm buried it again.” She didn’t dare just dive without telling him what she was doing. She didn’t want him to shoot at her or Simon.
Brian shrugged. “Suit yourself. The cold will just take you faster. It’s colder the farther down you go. But Simon stays here. If you don’t come up in fifteen minutes, I shoot him.”
Wynne had an idea. She glanced at Simon, adjusted her mouthpiece and dove. She kicked hard, willing her muscles to stay warm and limber. Angling her body for maximum velocity, she swam to the bottom of the lake.
The cold pierced her skin like tiny darts. She needed some kind of weapon. Her fingers were quickly turning numb, but she scrabbled through the muck at the bottom of the lake in search of something she could use. There was nothing. The storm had buried much of what they’d excavated.
Her fingers closed on a rock. She had a pretty good arm. The rock was nearly perfec
tly round, like a baseball. She’d have only one shot. Tucking it in the back of her swimsuit, she swam back to the surface.
Her head broke the water, and she spit her mouthpiece out. “It’s all gone,” she said. “The storm buried it again.”
“Too bad you won’t have an opportunity to dig it up again.” Brian gestured with the gun. “Show me your hands.”
Glad she’d assumed he’d ask, she held up both palms. “What did you think I had? No spearguns down there.”
Brian laughed. “I like you, Wynne. I’m sorry you have to die.”
“I wish I could say the same about you,” she retorted.
His smile died. “If you’d had to live like I did all my life, you’d understand.”
“Revenge is never worth it,” Wynne said. “You have to answer for yourself before God.”
“I’m not in the mood for a sermon,” he said sharply. He glanced at his watch. “Getting warm yet?”
“Not so you’d notice.” Wynne’s teeth began to chatter. She glanced at Simon. He moved closer and put his arm around her waist.
“I don’t think so.” Brian wagged the gun at them. “No sense in dragging out the torture. You’ll get cold quicker apart. You move over that way, Simon.”
“No.” Simon said, pulling Wynne closer. “If we’re going to die, the least you can do is let us go together. Wynne agreed to marry me.”
“I figured it was just a matter of time.” Brian’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe it will be my turn with everyone out of the way. I’ve seen the way women fawn over men with money. I’ll be wealthy beyond my wildest dreams. I will be able to have my pick of women.”
“Money doesn’t solve all your problems,” Simon said.
His lips were blue, and Wynne could feel him shivering. She reached behind her and dug out the rock she’d picked up. She grabbed his hand that was on her waist under the water and guided it to the rock so he could see what she had planned. He went rigid and looked at her from the corner of his eye.
“Maybe not, but I’m going to find out.” Brian smiled.
Simon let go of her waist and began to move toward the boat. Wynne followed.
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