He took it. “A fine-looking boat. Looks like a sixty-four-footer.”
“Do you know it?”
He shook his head. “Don’t know if I’ve seen that exact one. That’s some expensive equipment. There’s several charter boats that size around here.”
“Where would I find them?”
“Probably the Jekyll Island Marina. Or the St. Simons Marina. Most of the charters run from those two marinas.”
“Thanks,” she said.
“I’ll contact a couple of owners who might talk to you.”
“I’d be grateful. Call me when you do.” She gave him her card and scribbled down the temporary cell number. She didn’t want him to phone Chicago and find out there was no Mary Murphy. Not until she discovered what she wanted to know. She vowed silently that once back she would write a story for the travel section. That way it wouldn’t be a total lie.
She left that marina and stopped for a bite while she analyzed her performance. She wished she knew more about boats.
She had no more luck at the next two marinas, both rather small with little or no security. She walked down the docks. Most of the boats were small. There were several small cabin cruisers, but nothing the size of the boat in the photo.
Enough for now. The last few days were catching up with her. She was tired. She wanted to call the hospital and ask about Mrs. Jeffers, but she feared the FBI could track the call. Instead, she called Jack Ross from her temporary cell phone.
“Make your getaway, kid?”
“I think so. Has anyone contacted you?”
“Nope. Not yet, anyway. I hear the FBI is questioning the news staff, though. But as long as you’re not wanted, they can’t do much.”
“Can you do another favor for me? Call Eastside Hospital and ask about Mrs. Maude Jeffers.”
“Okay,” he said.
“I’ll call back in a couple of hours.”
“Are you all right?”
“Perfectly.” She paused, then added, “Maybe not quite perfectly. Haven’t found what I need. Not yet. But I will.”
“Go to it. Let me know if you need any info on anyone. I’ll use some of my old sources.”
“I don’t want you involved.”
“I already am. Sorta good to have my fingers in a good story again. By the way, I ran into someone named Michael Caldwell at Charlie’s. Asked about you. Apparently he knew that I knew you from the other night, at your send-off for the grand jury.”
She stilled. Why would Michael Caldwell go to him? Why was he looking for her?
“You said no one contacted you.”
“Casual conversation. That’s all.”
She wondered whether she’d just made a grave mistake by calling Jack. “What did you tell him?”
“That his guess would be as good as mine. Now that much is true. So is the fact I have no idea where you are.”
“Be careful, Jack,” she said, her heart in her mouth. She didn’t want someone else she cared about hurt.
“I am,” he said.
“I’ll call you back in a couple hours. Will that give you enough time to check on Maude Jeffers?”
“I’ll call the hospital from a pay phone so it can’t be traced back to me.”
“Tell Mama. I’ll call her at Charlie’s. That should be safe enough. I doubt they would wiretap a bar.”
“I’ll do that.” He hung up.
Michael?
An innocent question? Or something else? Why would he be asking her friends about her whereabouts when it should have been obvious she didn’t want anyone to know?
She shook off the question. She was becoming paranoid. Suspecting everyone. He was probably just worried about her. That was all. But if he started to ask questions, then others would as well. Maybe she should call him, tell him she was all right.
No! She’d broken contact with everyone but Jack, and now she had to break it with him as well.
She shook off the misgivings and drove by one more marina on the way to her motel. She stopped and went to the office. It was closed. She looked toward the docks. Lights blazed from a small cabin cruiser, and loud music blared into the night air. Several men stood on deck, beer cans in their hands. She decided to ask them if they’d seen the boat she was seeking. She worked to minimize her limp as she approached them.
“Hi,” she said as she reached the boat.
They glanced at each other. One waved a beer can at her. “Hey there. Come aboard.”
She stepped up onto the boat.
“I’m looking for some friends,” she said, “but I guess they gave me the name of the wrong marina.”
“Hell, lady, you can stay with us. We’re more fun.”
“I bet you are,” she said, “but I promised.” She handed them the photo of the boat.
“That’s one beaut of a boat,” said a towheaded man.
“Have you seen it?”
One of them looked at the boat thoughtfully.
“Isn’t that the bloody boat that nearly ran us down earlier?”
The second man looked at the photo more carefully. “Hey, it is the one. I recognize the rigging. Arrogant bastard.”
“What happened?” she said.
“Cut in front of us. Almost swamped us.”
“Do you know where they were heading?”
“Out to sea.”
“When?”
“Just a few hours ago. We were coming in from fishing, and that damned boat came tearing down the river. If that’s where you were heading, I don’t think you’ll find it.”
“Why do you think that? Maybe they just went out fishing.”
He shrugged. “Don’t usually use that kind of speed on a leisurely fishing trip.”
“Did you see the name?”
“I did,” said one of the guys in back. “Thought about reporting him to the Coast Guard. It was the Phantom.”
“Did you?”
They looked blank.
“Report it to the Coast Guard?”
The guy shrugged. “Nah. Figured he would be long gone.”
“And our booze was running low,” said another with a chuckle.
“Any idea which marina it might have come from?”
“No.”
“If you were going to a party there, why didn’t you know the name?” asked the young man who’d invited her aboard.
“Just wondered if it was the same boat I was looking for. Must have gotten the wrong message about the date.”
“Invitation’s still open.”
“Some other time. Are you going to be here a while?”
“Another week unless the spirit moves us. We started in New York and plan to sail to the Keys.”
“A charter?”
“Nope,” said the towhead. “My present for finishing Harvard.”
“Nice present.”
“Like I said, come back. We party every night.”
Her mind in a turmoil, she left. Had someone discovered she was here? Or had the boat left on its own for some reason?
Or was it even the right boat? The manager of the first marina said there were several similar boats around.
She looked at her watch. Nearly nine, and she was tired and hungry. She would stop at a fast food place and resume her search in the morning. She felt a glow of triumph. She had the name. If only she could find the registration. That might lead to the owner, and the owner to someone else.
Ben landed in Brunswick. After breaking every traffic law to catch it, the flight had been more than an hour late leaving the gate.
How to find her quickly?
If she was here.
Big if, but gut instinct told him he was right. She was not the kind of person who would skip off on a vacation when people around her were being threatened. She had a purpose and destination in mind.
He rented a car at the airport, then on a hunch swung by several marinas he knew from his last trip. The office was closed at many of them, but at a few places he saw several boats with ligh
ts on, so he approached them all, asking if they’d noticed a young blond woman asking questions. No one had.
He came to a marina whose parking lot was nearly empty. There was one boat here—a cabin cruiser—with lights still on. He hurried up the dock, realizing he was running out of time. It was nearly eleven.
The deck of the cruiser was empty, but he heard loud voices from inside. He stepped aboard and knocked at the door to the cabin.
A young man in swim trunks opened the door, paled when Ben showed his credentials. Probably had drugs of some kind inside.
“I’m looking for woman,” he said. “She might have been asking questions about a boat. She’s pretty, late twenties. Short, taffy-colored hair. Wears a leg brace.”
He saw recognition flash in the man’s face at first, then it faded when he mentioned the brace.
“What’s she done?”
“She hasn’t done anything. At least nothing wrong. But her life might be in danger.
Indecision flickered across the man’s face, then he said, “There wasn’t a brace.”
Damn, he should have figured.
“Dark blue eyes? Good figure?”
“That’s her. Looking for a large fishing yacht. We told her we saw one heading seaward this afternoon. Asked her to stay and party but—”
“When?”
He shrugged. “A few beers ago.”
He nodded. “Did the boat have a name?”
“She asked that, too. It was the Phantom.”
“Thanks.”
Relief flooded the young man’s face.
Probably his own as well.
Robin Stuart was still alive.
Now he had to keep her that way.
chapter twenty-six
Robin grabbed a salad at a take-out restaurant, then called Charlie’s on her disposable cell phone and asked for Mama. She heard pub noise in the background.
“It’s Robin,” she said.
“Hello,” Mama replied simply. “The lady’s fine.”
Mama was being very cautious. Robin sent a silent thank-you to Jack Ross.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Ah, your new gentleman friend’s been asking for you.” Like Mrs. Jeffers, Mama was an incurable romantic.
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth: How should I know?”
Robin smiled to herself. “Good.”
Mama hung up.
If she ever decided to get out of newspapering, Robin decided she would create the Little Old Ladies’ Fine Detective Agency. Between Mrs. Jeffers and Mama, they could be highly successful.
Then the smile disappeared. Michael Caldwell again. She rather wished she felt confident enough in herself to accept the fact that Michael found her irresistible. But she found that hard to believe. She had never been irresistible to anyone.
She headed back to the motel. She was strung too tight, though, to go to sleep. After making sure she’d fastened all three locks, she ate her salad while watching the news on television. Nothing from the Atlanta area about the murders.
She took a hot shower, then settled in bed with her map and list of marinas. She should be able to cover all the remaining ones tomorrow. Then what? What if she came to a dead end? What if she never discovered the boat’s registration? The name alone didn’t help. There were probably a thousand Phantoms along the Georgia and Florida coast. And even if she did find the registration, would it lead only to an endless trail of shell corporations?
ATLANTA
“An FBI agent is in Brunswick.” The words were laced with anger.
“Not officially. I would know. I just asked for an update on the investigation.”
“And?”
“Ron Holland said everything was on hold until the grand jury session next week. Meredith County and the state are resisting federal participation. Unless we can get some evidence from the Stuart woman, we’re not going in.”
The two men sat together on a bench on MARTA, Atlanta’s rapid rail system. It was eleven p.m. and the car was nearly empty. Meeting this way was safer than telephones now.
“Then why did Ben Taylor take a plane to Brunswick?”
His companion’s eyes changed, flared.
“News to you?”
“Yes. I was told he took a few days’ leave. He’s overdue some downtime.”
“He’s been circling around Robin Stuart for the past week. I think he’s gone to meet her,” said the man dressed in an expensive silk suit.
“You think she told him where she was going?”
“No. I planted enough doubts in her mind about him. But I think he discovered where she’s gone. If he’s going to Brunswick, then I suspect she’s there, too.”
“Why wouldn’t he tell Holland?”
“Maybe he has suspicions of his own. Maybe he doesn’t trust his superiors.”
Alarm leapt into the younger man’s eyes. “What do you want me to do?”
“Find out what his partner knows.”
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow morning.”
“What do they have so far?”
“Nothing. Dead ends. Can’t seek search warrants without cause, and there is no cause. They don’t even have enough evidence to enter the investigation, which is why they pushed for the grand jury.”
“The tracks are well covered except for that damned source. Until we know who it is, we can’t plug holes he might open.”
“Robin Stuart probably doesn’t know much more than she already printed in the newspaper. If so, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“There’s a lot to worry about if she’s in Brunswick. This morning I told the captain of the Phantom to move the boat to the Keys.”
“So … what’s the problem?”
“If she can find the slip, she can get credit card numbers, descriptions. Pieces of the puzzle.”
“I thought you had a bargain with the woman. Her family for silence.”
“Her sisters have disappeared. We can’t find them. We can’t find her. You’ve been damned little help.”
“We checked with the paper’s attorney when we heard she was missing. He said she left for a few days to consider what she’s going to do next week,” the younger man said.
“Like the agent?” A raised eyebrow showed disbelief. “Both of them? At the same time?”
“Don’t panic.”
The older man fixed him with a stare. “I don’t panic. I fix things before they get out of control. She may not name her source, but her disappearance worries us. So does Taylor’s trip.”
“Maybe she hasn’t gone there.”
“I’m not willing to take that chance.”
“How would Taylor know where she’s gone? No one else seems to know.”
“He went by her house. He must have found something in Stuart’s house because then he and his partner paid a visit to Amy Boatright’s house, the widow of Mark Boatright. You remember him. Then Taylor rushed off for a plane. Bought a ticket just an hour before the flight left. Not normal vacation planning.”
The younger man swore softly under his breath.
“If Taylor’s gone to Brunswick after visiting her house, you can bet she’s there,” his companion said. “He hasn’t wanted to let her out of his sight. I planted some suspicion in her head, but if they get together …” He stopped, then continued, “Make yourself useful. I want to know what happened at the Boatright house.”
“I can’t be too obvious.”
“Why the hell do you think we’re paying you so much?”
“How do you know he went to the Boatright home? Are you following him?”
“We had someone watching Stuart’s house.”
“Isn’t that risky?”
The older man shrugged. “Different people. Different cars. Besides, cops are used to following, not being followed.”
“What if the agents noticed them?”
“They didn’t.”
“This is getting out of hand. Fire inspectors investigating
the fire. The bureau trying to find ways to weasel in. DEA will be next. How could you be so stupid as to kill those officers?”
His companion stiffened, then glared at him with cold eyes. “My people had no choice. They saw me with Paul Joyner—a rumored drug lord with the chief deputy sheriff?”
“So you escalate. And escalate.”
“I’ve contacted our people in Brunswick. They know what to do if she starts asking questions down there. In the meantime I want to know what Taylor’s partner knows.”
“I thought you wanted her alive.”
“I did, but if she’s getting close … she’s better off dead. I doubt her source will go to anyone else after that. Not if he wants to live.”
“What about the information she says she’s given to other people?”
“I don’t think she has that much. Not yet, anyway. Otherwise it would be in the paper. It’s a chance we’ll have to take.”
The train slowed and the older man stood, rocked as it came to a stop. Then he slipped out the door and was gone.
Robin’s stomach churned when she rose the next morning. She yearned for hot coffee but there wasn’t a machine in her room. She took a quick shower, then ran a comb through the wet, short curls. No dryer. It would just have to dry on its own. Then she slipped on a pair of slacks and a shirt.
Forty minutes later, she arrived at the first marina on her list. This time she started at one of the larger ones. She parked in the lot and strolled down the docks toward the larger boats. None looked like the one she was seeking.
She went to the desk. “Hi,” she said with a brightness she didn’t feel.
An appreciative look came over the man’s face as he looked up from a magazine. “Can I help you?”
She handed him one of her recently printed business cards and gave him the speech. Like the man yesterday, he was instantly interested. Yet when she mentioned the Phantom, she noticed something shift in his eyes, even as he shook his head.
She asked the same questions she’d asked the day before, then said she would like to look around.
He hesitated, then said, “Don’t go bothering anyone.”
As she left, she turned and saw him pick up a phone.
She tried to keep her gait even. It was more difficult today. She’d walked too much yesterday, and now the ankle ached more with every step. Should she hurry toward the car? Something in his demeanor told her he knew something about the boat. That meant others in the marina would as well.
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