Caruso flipped his phone shut and took a sip of his soda as he settled back into his chair, his bait-less fishing rod settled between his knees.
This was beginning to fell like a huge mistake, but then, they had little choice. Their partnership with the old man was tentative at best and the most he could hope for was that it would end soon.
And, since he wasn’t in the habit of leaving loose ends, he intended to do it right. When the time came, the partnership would be terminated along with the partner.
Caruso flipped his sunglasses down over his eyes. He heard the sound of an engine before he saw it. He sat up straight in his chair as a green and white fishing boat came around the point and into the small island inlet.
He put a hand up to shield his eyes as the boat circle close by. Maybe, they were just pulling a line of traps and would soon be on their way?
He reached down and picked up his binoculars, leveling his gaze at the boat. No such luck, the man was pulling on a wet suit and gathering up diving apparatus.
This wasn’t good. The last thing they needed was a witness when it came time to pick up the drop.
He watched the man slip on a mask and hoist a tank onto his back, levering himself over the edge of the boat and into the water. He had no intention of leaving anytime soon and that was too bad, because now they were going to have to do something about him.
Caruso nudged Taimon who was dozing in the seat next to him and handed him the binoculars, nodding in the direction of the newly arrived boat. Setting down the binoculars, Taimon nodded at Caruso. They were already in agreement. They both knew what had to be done.
Reeling in his line, Caruso pulled anchor as Taimon fired up the boat engine.
With one last glance toward their island retreat, Caruso reached inside his jacket and pulled his gun out of the shoulder holster. He sighed. There was never such a thing as an uncomplicated job.
Jamie picked his way up the gravel path that ran along the shoreline. The sun was making its descent beyond the trees. Normally, he’d be all about the sunset, but tonight he had too much on his mind to enjoy the view.
He hadn’t found out much today. Certainly nothing that could really help him. Maybe tonight he’d have better luck talking with some of the locals. Maybe one of them would give him some sort of a clue that would lead him in the right direction.
He stopped, admiring the view. Rocks sheltered a small beach facing out to the Atlantic. Pine trees topped the deep cliff sides making it feel even more isolated. He breathed in the fresh salt air. Lobster buoys were clustered in the shallow water near to shore and spread out wider as the water deepened.
If he’d been a pirate it’d be a perfect place to hide a treasure. Remote and reclusive, this was a private sanctuary far away from the outside world. These islands had been hiding places for centuries. It wouldn’t be too hard for someone to disappear and not be found for quite some time.
This was the perfect place to do whatever was needed, without being seen.
He looked out at the many islands filling the harbor. Some of the islands were nothing more than rough outcroppings of rocks and seaweed, while others were covered with trees and brush and enough land to support life. There was any number of places someone could hide.
He scanned the horizon and sighed. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a neon sign pointing him the direction he needed to go. He was going to have to figure this one out for himself.
He started to make his way back down the rocks when something in the seaweed caught his attention. Bracing himself, he reached down and pushed away the seaweed, uncovering a shrink-wrapped package with brown matte butcher paper beneath the plastic covering.
He picked it up. It was small, maybe no more than ten inches square and secured with thick, plastic-coated flexible wire. The rope was the heavy kind used for trap lines and it had been secured with duct tape, the rope trailing off into the water.
Jamie pulled on the rope. He was able to reel in about ten feet of it before the line came to an abrupt end. It was cut clean with some sort of knife with no rough edges. There was no fraying, no signs of age and wear.
Straightening up, he looked around the shoreline once again. The only other sign of life was a lobster boat circling out away from the shore.
Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that whatever was inside stayed waterproof. And since tying it to the end of a rope line and sinking it wasn't something he usually saw, he knew that whatever was inside had to be important. Either way, he wasn’t about to leave it behind for someone else to find and he wasn't about to stick around and take any chances that someone could be watching him make his discovery.
The lobster boat with two men on board circled closer. He would need to secure the package until he could investigate further.
Jamie reached into his pocket, pulling out his penknife. Crouching down next to the package, he worked his knife through the rope until the package came free and the rope slid back into the ocean. Taking one last look over his shoulder, he stuffed the box under his coat and headed back to the harbor.
CHAPTER SIX
A light was on in the kitchen window as he walked toward the boarding house. Jamie muttered a soft curse. He’d been hoping to slip in unnoticed.
He went to the shed and pulled one of the saddlebags off his bike, stuffing the package inside. Right now, the only thing he wanted to do was to go into his room and find some privacy where he could take a good look at the contents of the package.
The light from the back door didn’t quite reach the far corners of the yard and he stood there for a moment in the darkness waiting for a glimpse of someone at the windows. The house seemed quiet enough. Moving closer, he stepped up to the back door and eased it open slowly so it wouldn’t alert anyone to his arrival. With a little luck he wouldn’t run into anyone on the way to his room.
Limping along, Jamie struggled to make his steps as quiet as possible on the old linoleum floor. His injured leg throbbed in protest. He hadn’t been this tired or ached this much since he’d gotten out of the hospital.
Leaning off his sore leg, he braced his weight against the doorjamb to the kitchen.
“Oh, it’s you.” Shelby stood in the darkened living room, a look of disappointment on her face.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Jamie let the saddlebag slide to the floor.
Shelby's face ashen white, her eyes large and shimmering with tears like a little lost girl. His heart flip-flopped in his chest. No matter how much distance he wanted to put between them, he couldn’t ignore the fear he recognized on her face.
“It’s Josh. His boat isn't in yet and there hasn’t been any word from him. We’ve checked everywhere we can think of, but there is no sign of him.”
He recognized the unspoken fear and desperation in her voice and the look of quiet hope in her eyes. He’d seen the same kind of fear more times than he cared to remember. It was a part of the job, but somehow this time it was more personal to him because it was coming from her.
Jamie slid down into of the matching vinyl-covered chairs and pulled out a chair for her.
“Sit,” he said quietly.
Shelby sat down next to him, their knees touching beneath the table.
“Josh has stayed out before without calling in, hasn’t he? Maybe he put in somewhere else and didn’t bother to call to let you know. He doesn’t appear to be the most reliable person,” he said.
Shelby twirled a piece of ragged napkin in her hand, worrying it until it was wasted.
“Maybe, you’re right. I’m sure you’re right. He doesn’t always think when she should.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry. I can’t explain this worry. I only know that it feels as if something isn’t right. It feels just like it did when . . .” Her words trailed off, hanging between them. She was trying to convince herself and not doing a very good job of it.
“Just like when?” Lord help him, there was something about this woman that drew him in. He reached down and capt
ured her fidgeting fingers between his, stilling them with his own. “Tell me.”
“It feels very much like the night my husband disappeared.” All the power in her body escaped from her like air deflating from a balloon. Her shoulders sagged in defeat and her lower lip quivered.
He’d done it now. There was no way he was going to be able to back away now. Not when she needed his help.
He thought of the package in his bag. He’d waited this long. Awhile longer wasn’t going to make that much difference.
The old radio on the hall table crackled and hissed, slicing through the tension in the room, but nothing decipherable could be heard.
“Where is your uncle? Does he know what is going on?”
Shelby shook her head. “He’s out in the skiff looking for him. He left about an hour ago. But now that it’s dark he doesn’t have much luck of finding him.”
She shivered and he pulled her into his arms. He had no right to be this close, but somehow all his reason had flown out the door when he’d seen her standing alone and scared.
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her loosely. She didn’t object, instead she held onto him, as if her life depended on maintain human contact. He knew that feeling, akin to being set adrift at sea. Loss was a terrible proposition and both of them had had more than their fair share of the emotion.
H reached up to run a comforting hand across her hair. It fell soft between his fingers. “When did you last hear from him?”
She shook her head, her hair falling forward across her shoulder. “Josh’s last call was around two-thirty. He dropped off the guy that lobsters with him and was going out to try some diving, but he only had enough air to be down for twenty minutes. I didn’t speak with the guy, but he told my uncle that Josh told him he’d seen something odd off Hen Island and he was going to take a closer look.”
Jamie forced himself to keep from reacting. Now was not the time. Right now, Shelby was afraid and the last thing she needed was deal with the possibilities.
Josh’s actions were suspect, but it could also be a matter of running of gas, or an injury. The last thing he needed to do was jump to conclusions. He’d been trained to look at the facts, but right now they were short on truths and long on suspicions.
Most likely this would turn out to be nothing more than another foolish move on Josh’s part. But he couldn’t discount the fact that Josh was involved with something much bigger. He was fairly certain that Shelby was innocent, but there was too much at stake for him to make wild guesses.
She started to tremble and so did his heart. She was crying, and if there was thing that was sure to reduce him to helpless fool it was a woman’s tears.
He sighed, hugging her closer. If Josh was involved with the activity going on, then he was in just as much danger as if he’d stumbled upon something by accident. These weren’t the type of guys to let someone just walk away. Either way, Josh was in way over his head.
“Just how late is he?”
Shelby pulled back, swiping the back of her hand across her eyes as she looked at the clock on the stove. “He should have been in four hours ago.”
Jamie pulled her arms from around his waist and led her over to the window seat before going over to the old black phone hanging on the wall and dialing the number he’d committed to memory.
“Who are you calling?”
Jamie ignored her question for the moment. He had so much speculation running through his head, he was afraid to speak for fear he’d say too much. He was going to have to be careful about his reactions or he could attract some very unwanted attention.
“I have a friend at the Coast Guard station in Boothbay. I think he can help.” He turned his back to her as the line ring. He couldn’t look at her and still keep his thoughts together.
“Kearsage. It’s Rivard.” He said when he heard his friend’s voice on the other end of the line. “Hey, I’ve got a problem and I need some help.”
“Man, what in the hell have you gotten yourself into this time, Rivard? First, you show out of the blue, and now you’re calling me about a late boat?” There was a huge sigh on the other end of the line. “I bet I’m not supposed to ask questions.”
“Affirmative. We need assistance searching for a missing diver off Chandler and Harbor Point. He left Chandler this morning to haul trap lines and dropped off his helper to do some diving around fourteen hundred hours.”
“Okay, okay, I get the picture. Hold on for a moment.” There was the sound of activity on the other end of the line. He didn’t even want to think about the repercussions of the call.
“Specifics?” Kearsage asked, all business now.
“His name is Josh Case. He should’ve arrived back in Chandler four hours ago. He has a history of being late, but his last call was around fourteen-thirty. He was going to do some urchin diving and his sister believes he only had enough air to go for a short dive. She also hasn’t been able to raise him, either on the radio or phone.”
“Where was he last seen?”
Jamie held the receiver back away from his ear. “Where was he last seen?”
“Around Hen Island, South East of Harbor Point.”
“I got it,” Kearsage confirmed from the other end of the line. “I’ll put it through.” There was a rustle of paper on the other end of the line.
Jamie quickly relayed the rest of the information, repeating it into the receiver. With the information processed, he hung up the phone.
He couldn’t look into her eyes because he knew he’d see questions there that couldn’t be answered. Right now, Shelby was dealing with the stress and anxiety of her brother’s disappearance, but she was smart. Once this numbed acceptance wore away and her worry abided there were bound to be tons of questions. Questions that he wasn't ready to answer.
He was going to have one hell of a time trying to explain his way out of this.
Jamie listened as Kearsage came back on the line with an update. They were sending out a boat to do an initial search and they would go from there.
“The favors are getting thin, Rivard. A few more of these and we’re both going to be in trouble.” His friend laughed, but they both knew Jamie was pushing it with every contact he made.
“Understood. Thanks for the help. Add what I owe you to my tab and let us know if you hear anything.” He gave Kearsage the number and then hung up.
Jamie took a deep breath and turned to face her questioning look. He knew he’d just added more to the mystery, but right now was not the right time to tell her the whole truth, even if he could risk it.
“They’re sending a search boat to the area and they’ll be in touch as soon as they find anything.” He hesitated to say, “when they find Josh”, because he wasn’t at all sure they would. He was having another one of his inklings of premonition that usually hit him somewhere at the base of his neck and traveled up his spine. They were usually correct and almost always spelled trouble.
“How did you . . .?”
He’d expected that question.
“I went to school with Kearsage. We’ve been in touch off and on for years and he doesn’t mind helping me out, now and again.”
Shelby nodded. His answers weren’t much, but they’d have to be enough until he couldn’t clear Shelby of all suspicion in his mind. So far, he’d found nothing to indicate her involvement, or any knowledge of any illegal activity. His heart was telling him that she wasn’t involved. He just wasn’t sure he could trust his heart where Shelby was concerned.
He looked around at the comfortable, old house. There were no obvious sign of wealth, but it wouldn’t be the first time someone had lived modestly while hiding their illegal means.
By nature, Shelby was open, even trusting to a fault and except for their first meeting she’d been friendly to him. He couldn’t say the same about Case, or her missing brother.
“You’ll need to stay by the phone in case they need to contact you.” That was if they found him, he added to himself.
“In a couple of hours, we should know something more. I’d suggest you get hold of your uncle and have him come back and stay with you.”
Her vulnerability was as clear as a piece of glass and one stiff wind would shatter her into a thousand pieces. Jamie picked up his gear from the edge of the table and held it in his hands. He needed something to do, otherwise, he might be tempted to try and comfort her more.
Shelby came to stand in front of him. She was so close he could see the faint smattering of freckles across her nose. He forced himself to keep his hands at his side. He’d already overstepped his boundaries with her. But Shelby was a complication he couldn’t afford. At least, that was what he was going to keep telling himself until it finally sunk in.
“Thank you. I don’t know what else to say.”
Jamie shifted to lean back against the wall, easing his weight of his sore leg and putting some distance between them. The uneasy feeling was settling in his stomach. He’d never been comfortable taking thanks from people, even when it was part of his job. It just wasn’t in his nature.
Still, he wasn’t as hard around the edges as he’d like to imagine himself. It only took someone like Shelby, to show him that he was just as susceptible to a soft heart and human emotions as the next guy. Maybe more so in her case.
Geez, he needed a drink.
“Really, no thanks are needed. I just happened to be wearing my white hat tonight.” He pushed away from the wall and moved around her, starting down the hallway to his room.
“Where are you going?”
He looked back to find her watching him. The little voice inside him kept telling him to turn around and keep walking.
“I need to go out for awhile. I promised someone I’d meet them.” He could see the dejection in her face. He was a heel for running out, but he needed to put some fast distance between himself, the situation, and Shelby.
She really should have someone stay with her, but he couldn’t be that person.
He had to keep reminding himself that he was here for a very good reason. David was counting on him and it was his job to find out who was behind his death. That meant he needed to keep his professional distance. No matter that what he really wanted to do was to turn around and take her back in his arms, comforting her like a child with a nightmare, or a woman with a soft body.
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