by Matt Lincoln
“We heard about the Sedin arrest,” Birn said when we walked in.
Holm went straight to the kitchen and made himself a sandwich. Tessa flopped onto the overstuffed leather couch in the living room. I took one of the bar stools at the counter by the kitchen.
“Yeah, I don’t feel it,” I announced.
Holm groaned as he poured a rum and Coke to go with his sandwich. “Would you drop it?” he begged. “They found solid evidence.”
We’d had the argument in the Tampa rental car and then the entire way back to the villa from the airport. Tessa hadn’t said one way or another, but I had to think we weren’t putting out the best example of world-class law enforcement. Whatever was eating at Holm in his personal life sure as hell was bleeding through.
“We need to take another look at MediWaste,” I told him. “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.” Holm shrugged and tore at his sandwich. “Okay, Robbie, I’ve had it. What is going on with you?”
“Nothing.” He took a swig from his drink as everyone else looked anywhere but at him. “I’m fine.”
“You suck at lying,” I told him. “Come on, let’s go out back and talk.”
We went out through a door that let us out beneath the party deck. It was quiet, private. A small patio table with plastic chairs sat like a lone wolf under the deck.
“I’m missing my happy-go-lucky partner.” I worked to keep the frustration out of my voice. “He vanished a few days ago and left this grouch behind.”
“I’m not a kid, Ethan.” He set his empty glass on the table with a thunk.
“Fine. Then tell me what’s going on. I thought I was your best friend.”
Holm let out a long sigh. “I promised my family to keep it to myself.”
Well, I got that part right, at least. “You know I won’t say anything. This thing, whatever it is, it’s eating you up.”
“Yeah.” Holm was quiet for a few minutes. We sat in the humid night in silence until he put his elbows on the cheap table and swore under his breath. “My sister disappeared two weeks ago. Nobody will go to the police.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.” His strange joke about his dad and judges suddenly made sense. “Won’t they let you help?”
He shook his head. “She’s my baby sister, and they don’t want my help.” He took a deep breath. “Thing is, she’s an adult, and she left a letter saying not to follow her. She wants to be left alone for a while.”
“So they can’t report her missing.”
“Nope. There’s nothing to point to her leaving involuntarily. She packed her essentials and took her important papers and everything.”
“You could have told me,” I said softly. “You don’t have to go through this alone.”
“I should be able to find her, Ethan, but I can’t.” His humorless laugh didn’t fit the guy I knew. “Every chance I get, I search social media, fingerprints, everything I can access, but nothing. I even went to Warner for help finding a ‘friend.’ He found a polite way to tell me to kiss his ass.”
“He was right to do that.”
“I know, and I’m not mad at him.” Holm sighed. “I just feel so… so helpless. I don’t know if she’s in trouble or not, and I hate that.”
“I’m sorry that’s happening, Robbie. I’m here if you need me.”
“Thanks, man.” He set the now-mangled sandwich on the table. “I’m gonna sit out here for a while. I need to think.”
I got up and squeezed his shoulder. “Give me the word. I’m here.”
Holm nodded. It killed me to see him hurting like that, but at least I had the truth. Maybe clearing the air would help down the road.
By the time I went inside, everyone but Tessa and Warner had gone up to hit the rack. Warner was talking photography with her, comparing brands and models of cameras.
“Hey,” Tessa called out when she saw me. “How’s Robbie?”
“He needs some breathing space, but he’ll be okay.” I wandered into the kitchen. It was my turn for a drink. I was happy to see some Jack Black Label and was happier to take it neat. “Better get some rest for tomorrow. You sure you’ll be okay in the sub, Tessa?”
She nodded. “I don’t have a problem with small spaces, and radiation shouldn’t be an issue while we’re down there.” With a sheepish grin, she pulled something out of her bag. “I forgot I had this until we got to the airport. I put it in my pocket, and it didn’t trip the metal detector.”
I saw what she had and burst out laughing. It was the radiation detector that she’d clipped to her camera strap.
“Technically, we should return it,” I told her.
“Well, Sedin gave it to her,” Warner pointed out. “He didn’t ask for it back. I say she gets to keep it.”
“Tessa, if that thing helps, take it with you,” I said.
“I planned on it.” A yawn overcame her, and she got to her feet. “Night, TJ. Try to get some sleep, huh?”
“Eventually.” Warner opened his laptop and started pecking away at his keyboard. “See you all in the morning.”
I walked upstairs with Tessa. As much as I wanted her back in my bed, I saw she was ready to drop.
“Need to be tucked in?” I joked. Sort of.
“Nah.” A tired smile touched her lips. “I don’t think I’d get much sleep if we tried that.”
“Probably not.” I kissed the top of her head. “Sleep well.”
“You, too. Night, Ethan,” she said, and then she pushed the door shut with a soft click.
I retreated to my room down the hall and soon found my way to bed. Sleep was a bastard. I’d start to drift off and then jolt awake with thoughts about the case, Holm, and definitely Tessa. At some point, I did drop off, but I was groggy as hell in the morning when I dragged my feet down the stairs.
“Yo, Marston!”
Warner waved at me from the kitchen. I was starting to think the kid might be some sort of tireless mutant as he brought me a steaming cup of coffee. A few sips later, I didn’t care about his sleep habits. He sure as hell knew how to make a pot of joe.
“They’re waiting for you in the garage,” he told me. “I was supposed to go ‘wake the bear’ if you didn’t show up by the time the coffee was ready.”
“More like a shark,” I grumbled. “Or barracuda. Whatever. Thanks, Warner.”
“No problemo,” he said. “I’m gonna stay here and catch up with stuff from work. They shunt extra stuff over when I’m not busy with your cases.”
“Sounds fair. Make you earn your keep.”
“Good luck out there. I can’t wait to see what you find.”
As promised, I found Tessa and Holm in the garage. They were leaning against the car and talking in low tones. They heard me come out of the house and looked up.
“Morning, Ethan,” Tessa said with a smile. “Did you get some sleep?”
“I got enough. How’re you feeling, Robbie?”
“Better.” He had shadows under his eyes, but his mood was improved. I wished I knew how to help my friend, but maybe listening to him was all he’d needed.
The trip out on the catamaran that morning felt different with only the three of us. Header had let me know that we could only bring two passengers on the Wraith that morning because the sub took so much space in the back.
It was probably a good thing Muñoz wasn’t along, consider the hard time as she gave him. I wasn’t sure what to expect as it was. Now that Header’s brother had died, we were after a murderer, if it wasn’t Sedin. I avoided that topic with Holm. If I were right about it, we’d find out soon enough.
When we rounded the tree line that came before the boathouse property, we found a mid-sized yacht anchored offshore. Wraith floated next to her, and a peppy little submersible was being raised onto Wraith’s open hatch door. Header operated the winch that pulled the tiny craft aboard.
I killed the catamaran’s motor and checked my watch. We weren’t early. My guess was Header’s crew was running late, and that they wouldn’t app
reciate spectators.
“I strongly suggest you hide the camera bag, Tessa,” I told her. “If they haven’t seen us yet, they probably will in about—”
Shouts rang out, and I heard Header swear as vile as he ever had. He pointed at me and yelled something. The sudden churning of the yacht’s engines and rattle of its anchor chain covered what he said. I did, however, get the message to stay the hell back.
I restarted the catamaran’s motor and headed up to the dock. Yeah, I was dying to know who was working with Header, but it wasn’t worth antagonizing anyone.
“I don’t know about you,” Holm said, “but I didn’t see a damned thing.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tessa answered with a grin.
“We are such hypocrites,” I muttered. “If Sylvia were here, she would’ve kicked me off this boat and gone over there to take everyone into custody.”
“She could’ve done it, too,” Holm told Tessa. “I swear she was born on Krypton or something.”
I couldn’t help but smile. That was more like the old Holm. We tied the catamaran to the dock and kicked back to wait for Header. The boat just happened to be facing so that we looked out to sea, not because we wanted to peek in the window of an illegal, clandestine operation.
The yacht picked up speed out of the small bay. It was so plain that I wouldn’t have been able to pick it out of a marina of similar models if I tried. Wraith didn’t move for a little while. It looked like the sub was caught on the edge of the hatch or something. I was about ready to start up the catamaran again when the Wraith swung around and headed in our direction. He pulled into the boathouse nose-first.
I jumped off the catamaran, then Holm, with Tessa last. Header rounded the corner from the door at the back.
“Not yet,” he said. He looked over his shoulder. “I… Gimme a minute.”
He stormed back, and before getting all the way back there, he made several expressive signs that ended in one we all recognized.
“Wow,” Tessa blurted. She lowered her voice. “He was shouting in ASL.”
I stared at her. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “I took it as an elective, and then I kept learning. I’m not great at it, but that business? Yeah, he’s arguing with someone.”
“Huh.”
I looked at Holm. “Something else we don’t know, right?”
“You know, it’s funny to say that now, but if he does something really stupid…”
“Yeah, I know.” I didn’t want to admit it was a matter of time before we ended up facing Header from opposite sides. “Another day, okay?”
“For sure.”
Header’s jaw was clenched tight as he marched over to where we waited on the dock. For a brief moment, it seemed that his green eyes reflected Tessa’s, then they went back to her emerald and his jade. It meant nothing but was unsettling, nevertheless.
“Anything we can do to help?” I ventured.
“With my copilot? Nothing. I swear it was a mistake bringing—” He caught himself and took a deep breath. “Now that my copilot has made himself scarce, it’s your turn to help get the Bug unstuck.”
“The ‘bug’?” Tessa raised an eyebrow.
“The sub,” Header explained. “It looks like a bug, so I call it the ‘Bug.’ Also, it’s green. The rest of the crew thinks I’m ridiculous.”
“You aren’t?” I kidded.
“I am if I can’t get it into my boat. I measured three times, but it’s refusing to go in.”
“Whoa.” Holm put both hands out. “Are you saying you haven’t actually tried this yet?”
One look at Header’s face told me all I needed to know.
“Aw crap, Jake,” I complained. “You know I could’ve found something else.”
“Not this quickly,” he said with forced brightness. “And I swear I measured three times.” He looked over at Tessa. “Good morning, by the way. Hey, where’s your camera?”
“I put it away when I didn’t see something that wasn’t there.”
He blinked, and then he got it. “Oh, gotcha. Funny how that happens.”
“Let’s see if we can help you get the Bug unstuck,” I suggested. “We’ll have to be able to hoist it up in the open water, anyway.”
“True,” Holm agreed. He took his sandals off, ran, and jumped off the end of the dock.
“Great.” I handed Tessa my phone and the catamaran’s key. “Get your camera, and I guess wait. Too bad you can’t take photos of a bunch of dumbasses trying to get a tiny sub into the back of one of the world’s most advanced boats.”
Header laughed and then stopped. He brightened. “Not with her camera, she can’t. Hang on.” He ran into the boathouse and then back out with a phone. “Do not hand it to either of those guys. They’ll probably do something to it. All I want you to do is take some pictures that I can show my copilot.”
“Got it,” Tessa said.
I shook my head and then looked at Header. He looked back and grinned. We exploded into a sprint at the same time and then jumped as far out as we could. We splashed down within inches of each other. It was a thing we did the few times we had R&R while we served together. I held the record for jumping furthest the most often. Header would say he did.
Tessa walked to the end of the dock. It extended beyond the boathouse which made it easy for her to take photos of a bunch of dumbasses. Normally, I wouldn’t care to have my photo taken with an illegal vessel, but we were legit for a few days. And it wasn’t like Header’s crew didn’t know who Holm and I were. I relaxed and went over to see what we could do.
“I tried the winch, but she kept getting caught.” He pointed to the spot on the hatch door that had green paint scraped onto it. “There’s a little ridge on the bottom there, but it’s rounded. It shouldn’t catch.”
He pulled himself out of the water and pushed on the sub to lean it over a little. I saw the ridge he was talking about. Holm felt at it and then at the spot on the door.
“Try the winch, slowly,” Holm told him. “I wanna see something.”
The sub rocked back onto the point of contact and grated to a halt. Header locked the winch into that position, and Holm took a closer look. He shook his head.
“I think it’s off center. You’re winching it from one side, right?”
“We thought about that.” Header sat next to the sub and let his legs hang into the water. “A couple of people tried to keep it even, but it kept tipping over.”
“Did you check inside?” I asked. I didn’t think it’d be that obvious, but…
“Of course we did. Look.” Header opened the door on that side, and a bunch of water splashed out. “Oh.”
“Jake.”
“Yeah, Ethan?”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Thanks.” Header sighed, went over to the winch, and miracle of miracles, the damned thing loaded. “Guess I’m distracted.”
He walked up to the front and disappeared behind the Bug.
“Robbie, go get our things and Tessa. I need a minute with Jake.”
Holm gave me a funny look before he swam back to the dock. I climbed onto the hatch door and padded inside barefoot. Header was slouched in his seat, and water dripped everywhere.
“Shit, I’m sorry, Jake.” I dropped into the copilot seat. “I forgot. How are you doing?”
“It’s not like I knew my brother that well,” he said. “He was the older, cooler kid, and I was the secret his family didn’t talk about. Our moms hated each other. They didn’t want Dare and me to meet, so Dad used to find ways to sneak us out together. That ended when a drunk driver killed him.”
“He was still your brother.”
Jake nodded. “We had an argument last year about guns and the boat and stuff. I kept meaning to call him back. At first, I was too pissed. Later, I was too busy.”
“I’m not going to feed you platitudes,” I told him. “All I know is that it’s obvious to me how much you cared. He probably kne
w it, too.”
“I’ll call Bridget sometime soon.” He winced. “If she doesn’t hate me.”
“Do what you need to do.”
He stood. “I’ll start by getting towels.”
After that, things went smoother, and we got underway. It struck me that I got along with Header so well because he and Holm were so much alike in certain ways. Goofy, smart, serious about doing what they believed to be the right things. And, at that moment, worried about family.
The ride out to the Great Blue Hole took a little longer due to the extra weight of the submersible. As we glided into where we’d been diving, I noticed the absence of naval vessels. A handful of diving boats were moored at various points around the Hole.
“Guess they reopened,” I observed. I hadn’t heard that, but we had been gone a day. “Are there any divers near our spot?”
Header shook his head. “Nah. Looks like they marked the area, though.”
There was a buoy with a sign that read, “Danger: Sandfalls - Do Not Dive.”
“Well then,” I laughed.
Header anchored Wraith and opened the hatch door. Getting the Bug out was far easier than in. It bobbed about on the water but was more stable than I could have guessed. Holm went in first, and then Tessa, as they had the two cramped seats in the back. There was so little space that Tessa had to keep her camera bag on her lap. Header was next, and I was last. I looked down to where my feet were a little damp.
“Are you sure the water was from the door being opened at the wrong time?” I asked him. “I don’t want to drown or anything.”
“Yeah. That’s on me.” He tapped at his smartwatch, and the hatch door closed. “I forgot I did that when we unloaded it from the other boat.”
“How do you manage your operation like that?” Holm sounded more curious than dismissive. “Mistakes like could take out your whole crew.”
I shot Holm a warning look, but Header held up a hand.
“I told Ethan, and since he trusts you two, I’ll tell ya.” He flipped the switches to start the sub’s engines and checked ballast. “I’m feeling off today. See, I lost my brother yesterday. Now we’re gonna find what we need to catch his killer.”