Dangerous Waters

by Laurey Bright

  A screeching gull drew her gaze upward. Two masts soared against the sky, and the sun glowing through a gauzy layer of cloud made her eyes water. The boat appeared bigger now she was on board. She stepped down onto one of the slatted seats in the wheel well to reach its floor.

  Two farther steps led to the closed door. The wood around the brass lock had been splintered, fresh raw wounds showing through the varnish. As she reached out to investigate, a male voice from the dock said, "It's locked."

  Camille jumped, flushing when she turned to confront the Broderick brothers, standing above her on the wharf. Rogan looked faintly amused, curious, and his brother noncommittal but a bit austere.

  "Not anymore," she said. "It's been broken into."

  "What?" Rogan jumped to the deck, followed by his brother.

  Feeling she needed to apologize for her presence, she said, "I'm sorry, I just wondered…"

  She didn't know what she'd wondered, what she'd been thinking. Only that her father had spent a good part of his life on this boat, sailing the Pacific with Barney Broderick.

  They weren't listening to her anyway. Rogan let out one explosive word, Granger swung the door open and they plunged into the gloom inside.

  After a moment's hesitation Camille entered the tiny compartment inside the door and descended a short, ladder-like companionway after the men, taking a few seconds to adjust from the light outside. Then she gasped in shock.

  The foam squabs by the table were askew and the covers ripped. Small carvings, shells and pieces of paper lay all over the place. Books had been wrenched from their shelves and some paperbacks torn in two, the matting on the floor shoved aside, and a conglomeration of sailing gear, food stores, ropes and objects that Camille couldn't begin to identify hauled from storage compartments that gaped open. The railed galley shelves were empty, cupboard doors hung wide and drawers had been upended, the contents of food scattered over everything.

  Standing between the two men under the low ceiling, Camille could feel the anger emanating from them both, chill and focused from Granger, hot and fierce from Rogan.

  "Who…?" Camille began, but it was probably an unanswerable question.

  Rogan swore again before he said shortly, "No idea." He picked up a book, blowing a cloud of flour off its tooled leather cover, then rubbing his forearm over it. "Bastards."

  His brother's expression was closed. "We probably shouldn't touch anything until the police get here."

  * * *

  The lone constable stationed in Mokohina surveyed the wreckage with Rogan and Granger before returning to the deck, where Camille waited to give him a brief statement.

  "Probably teenagers," he told them, turning to the men. "Can you tell if anything's missing?"

  Granger shook his head. "We were only here for a few minutes last night, and it was dark. Before that, as I told your detective yesterday, neither of us had been on board lately. But the police searched the boat on Tuesday."

  The constable said he would contact the Criminal Investigation Branch in Whangarei. "They might want to take a look, since they're inquiring into your father's death." Suddenly thoughtful he added, "There's a rumor that he struck it lucky recently."

  Granger gave a quiet, sardonic laugh. "My guess is his friends had some fanciful hindsight after he was…found."

  Nodding as if his own suspicion was confirmed, the policeman closed his book. "Well, I'll secure the vessel and ask the wharf manager to keep an eye on it." He glanced at his watch. "If they need a scene examination it'll probably be tomorrow. We'll let you know when they've finished."

  On the way back to the Imperial, flanked by the men, Camille didn't like to break the silence, grim on one side and seething on the other.

  They were nearing the hotel when Rogan spoke over her head to his brother. "D'you reckon this has something to do with what happened to Dad?"

  "I doubt it," Granger answered. "There are ghouls who study newspapers for death notices, and target homes when the families are at the funeral. This is probably the same sort of thing. Or maybe some young idiots heard the rumor and tried their luck, hoping to find a treasure chest on board." His scathing tone implied what he thought of them and their gullibility.

  When they entered the lobby the noise from the private room had lessened considerably. Granger said, "Time to shoo the diehards into the public bar, I think."

  The young Maori woman behind the desk called to Camille, "Miss Hartley…there's a package for you."

  Camille excused herself from the men, and the receptionist handed her a small parcel and an envelope. "Have you decided how long you're staying?" the girl asked.

  Having left her departure date open, Camille had become interested in the town and its little-known history, and on learning of Barney's death felt she should attend his funeral. Now things were complicated.

  "We have a full house after the weekend," the receptionist explained. "It's the annual Mokohina big-game-fishing tournament. People come from all over for it."

  "I'll remember that, thanks."

  Opening the envelope, she bypassed the ancient, creaking elevator and started up the stairs. She drew out a single sheet of thick, elegant paper and unfolded a note written in a precise, almost copperplate hand.

  This may interest you, it said. Thank you for a very pleasant evening, which I hope to repeat before you leave.

  The signature was a flourishing, curlicued James, and he'd added his telephone number.

  In the upper hallway she found Rogan lounging against the wall. Startled, she said, "I thought you were still downstairs."

  He straightened. "Granger's taking care of things. I wondered what you're doing for dinner. We thought we'd try the Koffee 'n' Kai café along the road. Care to join us?"

  It was extraordinary, the effect he had on her. Whenever they were within meters of each other she was totally aware of his presence. She could feel now the warm prickling on her skin, although he hadn't moved any closer.

  He smiled at her and she reminded herself that Rogan Broderick wasn't her type, no matter how dazzling his male charisma. "Thank you," she said, "but I have other plans."

  What plans? her mind scoffed. A lonely dinner in a discreet corner of the dining room or a snack in her own room, and a boring evening making research notes, talking to her tape recorder?

  "Maybe some other time?" Rogan suggested.

  "Maybe." She gave him a thin smile and went along the passageway to her room, telling herself not to hurry, and not to look back to check if her sense that he was watching her was right or wrong. But when she heard a door close as she unlocked hers she couldn't resist a covert glance.

  The passage was empty.

  * * *

  "James," she said into the phone a few minutes later, "thank you so much! It's a gem." She placed the little volume on the night table, running her fingers over the gold-embossed pattern on the leather cover and the gilt title on the spine: Journals and Letters of a Lady in New Zealand, 1835-7. "I'll be sure to return it before I leave."

  "No need," James Drummond's light, creamy voice assured her. "It's a gift. How was the funeral?"

  "Oh, that's very generous. Um…" she said, "…crowded. Mr. Broderick had a lot of friends."

  "And did any relatives turn up?"

  Chatting over dinner, she'd told him she didn't know if Barney had relatives. "Two sons." One who makes my hormones go crazy. And one who should but doesn't. "They were in the dining room last night but I didn't know who they were."

  "Those two big guys?" he asked curiously. "Have you spoken to them?"

  "Yes, we had quite a talk."

  "Really? What about?"

  "Apparently I inherit part of the boat—the Sea-Rogue—through my father."

  "How…interesting." He sounded genuinely intrigued. "Anything else?"

  "Well, what's inside it, and possibly some outstanding payments from my father's last voyage."

  "I'd love to hear all about it. Have dinner with me at my hous
e?"

  "Tonight?"

  "Do you like fish? One thing about this town, you can always get good fish. And my housekeeper is a very good cook. Or," he added teasingly, "do you have a date with the brothers Broderick?"

  She'd turned them down, but felt guilty about claiming other plans. Having dinner with James would validate that excuse. And he'd be an antidote to Rogan Broderick.

  Cultured, intelligent, charming, with interests similar to hers and an obviously sympathetic nature, James was a total contrast to the bold-eyed pirate who was occupying far too much of her mind.

  "No," she said, "I don't have a date."

  "I'll pick you up at seven," he said, even though she told him she had her own car. "No need to dress up for me."

  A quick sortie through her bag and she settled on light-blue cotton pants and a loose knitted top. James arrived on time, and whisked her away in a low-slung, polished white car that looked as though it had just driven off the advertising pages of a glossy magazine. It covered the winding uphill road to his house in barely five minutes.

  Designed in colonial style but incorporating modern touches, the building soared three stories high, with broad verandas and big windows to take in the spectacular views.

  Inside, real crystal chandeliers glowed on varnished timber walls and highlighted a breathtaking collection of antique furniture.

  "Antiques are my business," James replied smilingly to Camille's admiring comment. "Wholesale prices."

  "Your shop is very well stocked for such a small town."

  "Overseas visitors find prices here reasonable, and quite a few yachties get stuff shipped home. It's been worthwhile keeping the original store open for that reason, and for the retirees and newcomers who are building. But I have another store in Auckland, and a nice little apartment, so I divide my time between here and the city. Summers are pleasant in the north, and I do some entertaining here."

  Obviously the antique business was a lucrative one, or perhaps he'd inherited money as well.

  She followed with a glass of wine in her hand while he showed her stunning examples of craftsmanship in furniture and fine porcelain, and equally impressive works of art, and a small collection of historic coins and thimbles in a glass-fronted cupboard. Surrounded by mementos of days past, she was enchanted.

  Dinner was served by a gaunt middle-aged woman on a sheltered corner of the wide veranda, and when James brought up the subject, Camille felt sufficiently relaxed to talk about her unexpected inheritance.

  His light eyes bright and interested, he said, "I'd like to see your boat."

  "It's not mine. Well, only a part of it is. At the moment no one's allowed on board. It was burgled and police detectives from Whangarei may want to look at it."

  James looked surprised and concerned. "Were there valuables on board that would have interested a burglar?"

  "Rogan and Granger didn't seem to think so."

  He leaned over to pour her some more wine, and glanced up at her face. "They should know. If so, they might be keeping it to themselves." He sat back and lifted his glass, regarding her steadily over it. "You should keep an eye on your inheritance."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Would you know if they'd removed anything?"

  "I suppose not, but I don't think—"

  James said, "You'd be surprised what I see in my business. Families stripping furniture and valuables from a house before the body of their loved one is cold. How do the Brodericks feel about their father leaving a share to you?"

  "They seem okay with it. One of them's a bit reserved, but I think that's just his nature."

  "Still, it pays not to be too trusting." He raised his glass again. "Here's to your good fortune."

  * * *

  James deposited her at the hotel well before midnight. If she'd given him the right signals he might have invited her to stay the night, but when she said she must leave he didn't demur beyond a polite expression of regret.

  Although she had talked more than she'd meant to about the Sea-Rogue and the Brodericks, at least for part of the time she had managed to push Rogan Broderick and her astonishing reactions to him into the back of her mind.

  When she went down for breakfast the following morning the brothers weren't about, and afterward she avoided the wharves, instead making a pilgrimage uphill to the tiny Settlers and Seafarers Museum run by a dedicated group of volunteers in an old missionary church. The elderly woman taking money from a desultory trickle of visitors was happy to impart her historical knowledge of the town and its environs, and Camille spent a couple of hours there.

  After detouring to take a closer look at the widow's walk she'd seen from the hotel, and visit some obscure historic sites the museum volunteer had recommended, she returned to the hotel.

  It was lunchtime. A bus occupied part of the hotel parking area, and the dining room was full of tourists chattering loudly in a dozen different languages.

  Camille retreated, bought herself a sandwich and a paper cup of fresh orange juice, and found a park seat under a tree on the waterfront. She was on the second half of the sandwich when she became aware of someone standing before her, and looked up into Rogan's brilliant eyes.

  "Hi," he said. "I saw you from my room. The cops have finished with the boat, and Granger and I are going to clean it up. We'll let you know if we find your father's stuff."

  After a second's hesitation, she offered, "Can I help?" And then wondered guiltily if that had arisen from the faint suspicion James had planted last night rather than a genuine desire to be useful. Hadn't she decided to keep out of Rogan's way? But his brother's presence surely would dissipate the peculiar tension she felt around him.

  Rogan's doubtful glance passed over her clothes, the same cotton pants and top she'd worn the previous night at James's house. "You don't need to—"

  "I'll go and change," she said, "and be with you in about ten minutes." The sooner things were tidied up here and her father's belongings identified, the sooner she could get on with her life and remove herself from this man's disturbing orbit.

  He gave her a slow smile, and oh Lord, it was devastating. "We'd appreciate that."

  * * *

  Rogan tapped on his brother's door. Granger opened it wearing a cream golf shirt and beige slacks that might have graced the pages of a fashion magazine. "What?" he asked as Rogan grinned.

  "Nothing." Rogan himself wore his shabby khakis. Stuffing his tongue firmly in his cheek, he said, "You look very elegant."

  "I wasn't expecting to be playing charladies."

  "I could lend you something—" not that he had much in the way of clothes with him, his diving gear taking up most of the space "—but you probably wouldn't be seen dead in—" He came to an abrupt stop.

  Granger said smoothly, scarcely missing a beat, "Anything of yours, no."

  "You don't have to stay, you know. If you need to get back to work. Leave this to me."

  Granger shook his head. "I'll shoot off tomorrow and be in the office on Monday. Shall we go?"

  "Camille's coming too," Rogan told him.

  Closing the door behind them, Granger lifted his brows.

  "She volunteered," Rogan said. "She'll meet us downstairs."

  They were waiting at the foot of the stairs when Camille came down, wearing sneakers and denim shorts with a pale yellow T-shirt. Watching her long legs descend toward them, Rogan swallowed hard, and noticed Granger too was staring with some interest, before he turned to Rogan to share a male moment.

  * * *

  On the boat the men surveyed the chaos with identical expressions of masculine cluelessness in the face of a mammoth housekeeping chore.

  "Are there cleaning things on board?" Camille asked. And when they turned to her, "Brushes, cloths, detergents?"

  Rogan said vaguely, "There's a cupboard opposite the head."

  They worked for hours—stopping only briefly to have a drink, nibble on crackers that the vandals had surprisingly spared in the galley cupb
oards, or take short breathers on deck.

  Rogan somehow managed to control his breathing and his blood pressure whenever he caught sight of Camille's curvy feminine behind stretching the fabric of her shorts as she bent to sift through the jumble on the floor, or when he couldn't help noticing how pretty and perky her breasts were as she reached to replace a book on a railed shelf.

  When the daylight in the cabin began to dim, Rogan glanced at his watch. "Anyone hungry?" he asked.

  Granger straightened from his task of mopping the galley floor. "Now you mention it…"

  Rogan pulled off his sweat-dampened shirt and wiped his forehead with it, leaving a streak of something that might have been cocoa across the tanned skin. Camille dragged her gaze away as he lowered the shirt. "Shall we call it a day," he suggested, "and go back to the hotel?"

  Camille said, "Couldn't we finish tonight?" The main cabin was no longer strewn with foodstuffs, and the men had dealt with the gear and miscellaneous sacks and boxes that had cluttered the hold in the bow. Although the two sleeping cabins tucked into the sides and the larger one at the stern had been vandalised, they weren't as bad.

  "Sure," Rogan acquiesced, "but I need to eat."

  Granger surveyed his brother, then himself, and finally Camille. The spilled condiments mixed with sauces, spreads and the water and detergent they'd used had left them all the worse for wear. "No decent establishment would have us," he deduced. "We'll have to buy hamburgers or something."

  "You volunteering?" Rogan asked. "I'll have a double burger with egg and bacon, and plenty of fries. And a couple of doughnuts."

  With good grace Granger accepted the request and turned to Camille, who asked for a cheeseburger. "You'd better start the generator," he advised Rogan, "so we can have some light." Then, throwing his brother a quizzical glance, he ascended to the deck.

  * * *

  Camille realized she and Rogan were alone. The cabin seemed small and increasingly dark, and he was gazing at her rather disconcertingly.

  She put a hand to her hair, smoothing several strands that had escaped from their elastic band to fall stickily across her eyes. Pulling the hair tie off, she gathered up the ponytail again and secured it.