With a cheese sandwich for lunch and pizza ordered for dinner the night before, Julie was all too ready to go to Darinda’s the next morning for breakfast. Still, it took all the courage she had to walk into the diner.
And she wasn’t mistaken in her apprehension. The entire crowded, noisy place fell silent, before picking up again. Word must be that she was on Lucky’s get-out-of-town list. She hadn’t even considered that when she’d jumped in Kayla’s car and driven after him.
Corey, Ike, and Ron were sitting in their regular booth. Their eyes rounded as the three women followed the silent waitress to their “regular” table. She smiled and handed out menus, recited the breakfast specials, and left to bring them coffee.
In the booth behind the three guys, four policemen were enjoying a hearty breakfast. They only paused long enough to check out the newcomers, nod, and return to their plates.
“I guess everyone’s surprised to see us,” Aggie whispered.
“I guess,” Julie said, looking over to the booth where Ron, Ike, and Corey sat looking suspiciously innocent.
“Morning, Julie, ladies,” Corey said.
Ron and Ike nodded, and they all went back to their breakfasts.
Darinda herself brought the coffees to the table. “How are you this morning?”
They were fine, they assured her.
“It’s a lovely day. Do you girls have any special plans? We’re just a few miles away from the lighthouse museum and some nice boutique shopping if you’re tired of the beach.”
“Sounds like fun,” Julie said.
Darinda lingered, smiling at them, before finally going away.
The waitress returned and took their order. Two tables away, the mayor nodded and went back to his breakfast.
It was obvious to Julie that something had changed overnight—and it was because of her. She began to wish they hadn’t come. “Is it me, or is everyone acting kind of strange this morning?”
“I think we’re just a little paranoid,” Kayla said. “We don’t even know most of these people, and why would they care what we do?”
They were halfway through plates of eggs, bacon, and Darinda’s currant and saffron rolls when Stella Killready burst through the door. She stopped just inside, looked around, then zeroed in on the four policemen. She plowed past the busboy and headed for their booth.
“I saw your squad car outside. I knew you would be in here. I want you to come over and look at my store. Someone keeps breaking into it. And I demand something be done.”
“Good morning, Ms. Killready,” the youngest looking of the four said. “We were there just yesterday. And you said nothing was missing, remember?”
He sounded sympathetic, but Stella was having none of it. “A body isn’t safe in this town anymore. Someone’s vandalizing my store and you’re not doing one darned thing to stop them.”
“Is something missing?” asked a second cop.
Stella glowered at him. “Why else would they break in?”
Two of the cops looked away, a third stood. “Is there something missing this time?”
“Most likely. But everything is all different. They break in and wreck everything. They’re vandalizing my shop. Am I going to have to start sleeping there to protect my merchandise? When are you going to do something? When you find my dead body?”
“Now, Ms. Killready, there are not going to be any dead bodies. But Rex and I will go over with you now and check things out. Isn’t that right, Rex?”
“Sure, no problem.” Rex slid out of his seat. “Come with us, Ms. Killready, and let’s see what we can do.”
The two policemen still seated hurriedly finished their coffees and followed the others out.
As soon as Stella had left with the policemen, another two men who were seated several tables away stood and left. They had surfer-length hair and were dressed for the beach in wrinkled clothes. There was nothing strange about the timing of their leaving. It was Julie who was definitely feeling paranoid.
“I swear, that Stella is going to drive us all over the edge,” Ron said, and pushed his plate away.
A couple of minutes later Corey, Ike, and Ron got up to leave.
“Been nice seeing you, Julie,” Ike said. “Ladies.”
Corey gave him a nudge out the door. “Have a nice day,” he said in the direction of their table.
Ron went to the cash register to pay their bill.
Julie had to sneak a peek and turned her head just enough to catch Darinda and Ron looking back at her.
Ron left, and Darinda grabbed a coffeepot and came to refill their mugs. “Those three,” she said softly. “You’ve really made an impression on them. I think they’re a little smitten with you girls. But don’t pay them any mind. They won’t bother you.”
“They’re sweet,” Aggie said, and Kayla murmured her agreement.
Julie buried her nose in her coffee mug. She had been conjuring all sorts of crazy scenarios, but maybe they were just three older men trying to be charming. She was such a dunce. Everything was fine.
“Darinda,” Julie said, “yesterday Alex, um, Scatter, took me to see a camp for migrant children. I was telling my friends about it, but I forgot the name.”
“Out the county road? I don’t know that it has a name; it’s a local project, put together through the mayor’s department.” Darinda paused to nod at the mayor, who was getting up from his table. “He is a good man. He’s very helpful to those in need.”
“The whole town seems to be,” Julie said.
“Yes,” Darinda said. “We take care of our own. Excuse me.” She hurried back to the cash register to take the mayor’s check.
Julie was almost relieved when breakfast was over and they were standing outside on the sidewalk. “So now what?” she said.
“Well, I just got a text from Les,” Aggie said, returning her phone to her shorts pocket. “He and Bjorn and some of the other guys are gone for the morning. So it’s just us and the beach. Or we could go shopping, except that we’ve sort of done all the shops in Lucky’s Beach.”
“I really should go out to the camp for an hour or so,” Julie told them. “I promised to come back, and I’d feel bad about letting them down. Can I use the SUV? I promise to bring it right back. No car chases or anything.”
Kayla, who had been consulting her phone, returned it to her pocket. “What? Sure, but since the guys are gone for the morning, why don’t we all go? I wouldn’t mind seeing this paragon of community programs.”
“She means she wants to give twirling a whirl,” Aggie said.
So, after a brief cleanup in their rooms, they all climbed into Kayla’s SUV.
“I remember the first part of the drive,” Julie said. “Straight across the intersection on the highway, about another five minutes or so, then . . .” She pulled her phone out of her bag. “I don’t suppose GPS will be any more helpful finding the camp than it was finding Lucky’s Beach. But at least I can consult the map.”
“Hey, we got here, didn’t we?” Aggie said. “Holy smoke. Is that corn growing?”
“Yep,” Julie said.
They passed more fields and made more turns until Julie recognized the concrete building that housed the camp. Julie breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been half expecting to find Alex’s Jeep already there.
Dee Hoyes answered the door. “Hey, I’m surprised to see you. Alex said he wouldn’t be out today because you were leaving.”
“We had a change of plans at the last minute,” Julie said. “And Kayla and Aggie wanted to see the camp. They’re teachers, too, and Kayla also coaches girls’ sports.”
“Perfect, I’ll show you around and maybe you can hang out for a bit.”
Alex was setting up the bar for the day, when Corey, Ike, and Ron came in. It was pretty early even for those three.
“Their SUV is gone,” Corey said.
Alex nodded, trying to quell the betraying disappointment he felt. Totally self-involved bullshit, but still . . . “That’s good. One less thing to worry about.”
“I wouldn’t bet your reputation on it,” Ron said. “They were at Darinda’s for breakfast. They didn’t look like girls who were packed and ready to go.”
“I thought you said they left.”
“The car is gone,” Ron said. “So to make sure, I popped into the hotel on our way over. Seems like they decided to stay after all.”
“But Henry was supposed to—”
“He did, but Julie threatened to call the Better Business Bureau on him. So what could he do?” Corey chuckled.
“The Better—?” Alex felt three parts pissed and edgy and two parts . . . Well, he didn’t want to name it, but he was glad in a very self-serving way. Though it killed him to admit it, he couldn’t seem to get that kiss out of his head. It had started out as a means to make her feel less vulnerable, a kind of apology for not being straight with her from the get-go.
It turned out to be a dumb idea, because it immediately turned into something else. If he were honest with himself, he’d admit that he’d been curious to see if it would be good. He wanted it to be good. He wasn’t disappointed. But now he was totally screwed.
“Hey, Scatter, you taking a nap back there?”
“What?”
Corey was frowning at him. “Something the matter?”
“You don’t think those girls are really in danger, do you?” Ron asked.
“If anything sours, we’ll make sure to keep them out of harm’s way,” added Ike.
Alex looked from one to the other. Local guys, retired, who still hung out together to enjoy their golden years. But they’d helped Marie with a few saves before Lucky even came, and long before Alex found his way back to where he belonged.
Alex didn’t believe in magic—that hope had died a violent death before his tenth birthday, when he started living on the streets. At first he’d just prayed not to be found and taken home. Then he prayed for a superhero, even a fairy godmother, to come and take him someplace safe. Someplace magic. Someplace where he would be clean and not hungry, with a bed instead of a stairwell to sleep in. With no gangs and no guns and no beatings by parents or other boys or the men who controlled them.
And finally he stopped praying. There was no magic.
But there was Lucky. And now Alex would do anything for him.
“Man, what’s the matter with you? You gotta get your head on straight. Things are moving,” Ike said.
“Yeah, I know,” Alex said. “I’m cool. I was just trying to figure out what to tell Lucky about Julie staying. And if he wants us to . . .” He shrugged.
“Kidnap her and her friends?”
“Ain’t doing it,” said Corey. “Those girls have minds of their own, and if I’m not a total dummy . . .”
“Not total,” Ron said, and punched him in the ribs. “Just valedictorian of the county high school.”
“Oh man.” Corey rubbed his thick fingers across his face. “Didn’t think I’d ever live that one down.”
“And honor society,” Ron continued. “And here was me and Ike, happy to get B minuses.”
“Hell,” said Ike. “I was over the moon to see a C.”
Alex laughed. He loved these people. They knew when to laugh, when to cry, when to bolster you up or bring you down a peg. And none of them had ever been farther than a car ride away from home.
If anyone could keep Julie and her friends out of harm’s way, it was these three and Les and Bjorn. Hell, they were probably safer here than they would be in Dewey Beach or anywhere, if Raymond decided to use them as pawns to get to Lucky.
“Next round’s on the house,” Alex said.
The three men simultaneously slid their mugs across the bar.
“You sure you guys don’t want to stay all summer?” Dee said to Julie as they watched Kayla put a group of girls through a series of soccer drills. She’d taken one look at the boys playing outside and formed a girls’ team on the spot. And enlisted Aggie to help her run drills while Dee and Julie and Mary took the rest of the kids into science.
“In my defense,” Dee said with a laugh, “I hardly know the difference between a soccer ball and a basketball.” A quiet expression crossed her face and Julie waited. “I worked most days in the fields myself. When my father died—he collapsed in the midday sun between two rows of cantaloupes—my mother had had enough. She took us to child services. Told them to take me and my sister and give us to someone who could send us to school.
“They got her on a work program instead, and we were registered in the local school. It wasn’t easy, but we were lucky.”
“So now you’re paying it forward?”
“In my little way.”
I was lucky, too, thought Julie, and she was appreciative, not ungrateful—just dissatisfied. If she put off taking a course this summer, there was really no reason she couldn’t stay and help out at camp.
She immediately shot down that idea. For one, she couldn’t pay rent at home and rent another place in Lucky’s Beach. The hotel would be too expensive, and she wouldn’t ask Lucky or Marie to put her up. Lucky obviously had had enough of the Julie experiment.
A stream of girls came through the door and made a beeline toward Julie.
“Your twirling squad has arrived. I swear, by the end of summer, we’ll be having intramural soccer games and a pep squad. Who would’ve thought? I’ll get the batons out.”
After lunch, they climbed back in the SUV to continue their adults-only vacation on the beach.
“There’s still a few good hours of sun,” Aggie said.
“Hope I didn’t finagle you into wasting a day,” Julie said.
“Don’t apologize. I had a blast,” Kayla said. “And with the workout we had, we can eat more at dinner.”
“True,” said Aggie. “After five days of indulgence, I was beginning to have to hold my stomach in every time I got out of my beach chair.”
“Speaking of which,” Kayla added, “I need lunch. They should get a better chef at chez summer camp.”
“And newer computers,” Aggie added. “I wonder what Hillsdale does with their old ones.”
“I think it’s a shoestring budget,” said Julie. “They’re the overflow day camp for the kids who weren’t able to get into the regular county program, so I’m betting they don’t get a lot of extras.”
“Well, at least it’s a nice place to spend the day: a little learning, a little friendship, a little play,” Kayla said.
They stopped at the deli to get sandwiches for the beach and stopped by the hotel long enough to return the SUV to its spot by the dumpster and, making use of the hotel’s service door, run upstairs to change into their suits.
Ten minutes later they were heading toward Surf’s Up to see if anyone wanted to join them for a picnic on the beach. The only person who seemed to be there was CeeJay, who stood in the open doorway, leaning against the frame, arms crossed and looking crosser.
“Scatter said you were leaving,” she announced without even saying hello.
“Changed our minds,” Aggie said. “Where are the boys?”
“Out.”
“Where did they go?” Aggie asked.
CeeJay shrugged, dropped her shoulders. “They didn’t tell me. It’s a big secret. Ask Scatter. But he probably won’t tell you, either.” She bit her lip and added, “They said you could take the boat out if you want.”
“We’ll do that,” Aggie said, and started up the beach. Kayla followed.
“You coming, Julie?”
“Sure.” Anything to stay away from Lucky and Scatter. “You guys know what you’re doing?”
“Yep,” Kayla said.
“Oh,” CeeJay called. “And Les said to stay near the shore if you want to swim. There’s a big riptide.”
“Thanks,” said Kayla, and they headed toward the marina. “That’s the most words she’s said in the last five days.”
“Makes you wonder,” Julie said, pausing long enough to look over her shoulder to where CeeJay was standing on the sand, arms crossed as usual and still watching them.
“She should get a life,” Aggie said.
“I think she thinks we’re encroaching on hers,” Kayla said.
“Oh, come on. We’re not the first women who have come for surf lessons. And Les and Bjorn definitely don’t act like they’re interested in her.”
“I think it’s about Scatter,” Julie said.
“No, really?” Aggie asked.
“Let’s get out on the water first,” Kayla said. “That girl is beginning to give me goose bumps.”
“But at least now we know why,” Aggie said. “She’s jealous of Julie.”
The marina seemed busier today, but Kayla knew exactly where she was going. She untied Les’s boat and held it steady while Julie and Aggie climbed over the side. Kayla had no trouble maneuvering the boat out of the slip, avoiding a couple of sailboats, and they headed out to sea, laughing at the spray that hit them in the face, bracing themselves as the boat crested a swell and dropped into a trough.
“I’ll head into shore,” Kayla called. “Look for a nice place to anchor, and we can have our lunch.”
She cut the craft back toward the shoreline, hugging the slight curve of the surfer beach, and slowed and rounded the point that separated the public beach from the private one.
“How about here?” Aggie said. “Get in a little closer. The dunes will protect us from the wind so we don’t have to scream to have a conversation, and maybe we’ll get a peek at the mysterious owners of the house.”
Kayla nosed the boat toward the shore.
“And they might greet us with a shotgun,” Julie said. “I don’t think this is a good idea. There are signs posted everywhere.”
“Oh, come on. Just a little closer. Nobody owns the ocean, do they?”
“I have no idea,” Julie said.
“I wish I had binoculars,” Aggie said, her eyes bright. “Maybe we could see what evil lurks there.”
“Julie’s right,” Kayla said. “We don’t know who lives there or why they don’t like people. I’m taking us back out.”
Kayla started a turn back to the sea; the nose lifted, and the boat lurched, then seemed to drag. The engine made a strange noise. Kayla quickly cut it off. “Shit—”
“What?” asked Julie, eyeing the house.
“I think we hit something.” Kayla left the console and hurried toward the engine, pulled it up, checked the propellers. “Whew! Doesn’t look like we bent anything.”
“We need to get out of here before the surf takes us into the beach,” Julie said. There is no reason to panic, she told herself. She’d been on the beach more than once and so far she’d encountered only a little boy and a housekeeper . . . and Scatter.
“Why aren’t we moving?” Aggie asked.
Kayla was looking over the side, hands on her hips. “That little be-otch. A sandbar. We’re stuck on a sandbar. And CeeJay led us right here. Wait till we get back. I’m going to give her what for. She could have wrecked the boat, even caused bodily injury. I’ve just about had it with her bad attitude.” She straightened up, looked toward shore. “We’ll have to get out and try to push her off.” She threw one leg over the side.
“Wait!” Aggie grabbed her and pulled her back.
“What the—?”
“There.” Aggie pointed to the sign nearest to them on the point.
“I know, ‘Private: Keep Out.’ Whoever lives there is crazy. He doesn’t own the ocean.”
“Read it!”
All three of them turned toward the sign and read.
Julie blinked, read the words again.
danger: shark breeding grounds.