Gage spotted his sisters sitting on a pier bench as Travis steered the boat into an open slip in Eagle Cove’s harbor. The Bering sat anchored on the opposite side of the marina, people littering the decks to see the commotion below.
Piper and Kayden stood at their approach and moved to greet them.
Landon hopped from the boat and tied the rope to the pylon.
Piper rushed toward him and engulfed him in a hug. “Any idea who it was?”
“According to Jake, it’s not Darcy’s friend,” he whispered.
“What do you mean ‘according to Jake’?”
Gage rubbed the back of his neck. “Jake said the remains are male, adult, and have been in the water too long for it to be Darcy’s friend.”
“Jake?” Kayden said. “How would he know?”
Gage shushed her as Darcy stepped from the boat. “You want her to think it’s her friend?”
“Of course not, but Jake’s hardly an expert. We shouldn’t assign any validity to what he says on the matter.” She shifted her gaze to Landon, who’d worked numerous crime scenes.
Landon shrugged. “I haven’t seen the remains. Jake and Gage bagged the body before bringing it to the surface to prevent any further contamination. Chief Mueller’s calling Cole in to assist me in running a full crime-scene analysis of the cave. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“I know Cole’s the best,” Kayden said, “but I’m here, and I’ve worked numerous underwater retrievals and assessments before.”
“I know, but Cole runs the team, and besides, you’re needed on the excursions. I wasn’t even supposed to be here, remember? So my absence from the excursions won’t make any difference. Yours would.”
“Landon’s got a point,” Gage said.
Kayden sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
Gage shook his head. She was disappointed because she thought she was missing out on the fun. Searching a sea cave for crime-scene evidence was hardly fun, in his opinion—it was thorough, painstaking work—but Kayden had unique interests. For him, nothing was better than sea kayaking, and he was eager to get back to it. That was, if Mullins wasn’t about to fire their excursion team.
A man rolled a gurney down the gangway. He lifted his chin in greeting to Wyatt and his men and introduced himself to the rest as the town coroner, Nick Saunders. “Winters is on his way over now.”
“Winters?” Landon asked.
“He’s the new M.E. over on Dutch Harbor. They’re the closest island with a large enough medical facility to staff a permanent M.E. He took off by floatplane shortly after your call came in. Should be here soon.”
Travis and Gary lifted the body onto the gurney, and Nick strapped it in place. “Who do we have here?” Nick asked.
“Not a local,” Wyatt said, leaning against a pylon and popping a mint in his mouth. “I can tell you that.”
“How on earth can you be certain of that?” Landon asked.
The gurney wheels squeaked as Nick maneuvered it up the gangway toward the hearse he had parked at the top.
“We had a very heated discussion regarding the fish-processing plant at the town-hall meeting last night. It affects nearly every family’s livelihood, so all families on the island were accounted for last night. That’s how I know it wasn’t one of our locals.”
“Has anyone gone missing in the last year?” Jake asked.
“No one but that Williams boy you all helped find about eight months back.”
“How’s he doing?” Gage asked.
“Just fine. Won’t go near wells anymore, but I suppose that’s a good thing.” Travis chuckled.
“A very good thing,” Landon said.
A well had nearly cost the boy his life.
“So you’re thinking it’s a tourist?” Jake asked, glancing back at the hearse.
“That’d be my guess.”
“You get many tourists in these parts?” Landon asked.
“Mostly the adventure type and, of course, the cruise folks.”
“Cruise folks . . .” Darcy murmured, tugging Gage’s sleeve.
He lowered his head. “What?”
“Jake said his guess was the body had been in the water at least nine months.”
“So?”
“Isn’t that right about when Drake Bowen went missing?”
“Bowen?” Wyatt asked, overhearing them.
“That was before your time, Wyatt,” Travis explained. “Drake Bowen was on a kayak excursion out on Kesuk. The guy snapped, killed his wife, and took off. If it is him in that body bag, then I’d say justice has finally been served.”
“Okay, but if it’s Bowen’s body, who killed him?” Darcy asked. “Maybe Bowen was telling the truth and he didn’t kill his wife after all. Maybe he took off to find her just like he’d said he was going to.”
Wyatt frowned. “The wife’s body was never found?”
Travis shook his head.
“Then how could they claim the man killed her?”
“She was missing and they found her blood in the couple’s tent.”
“Maybe Bowen wasn’t killed,” Landon suggested. “Maybe it was an accident. He got too close to the water while searching for his wife, fell in, got sucked into the vortex, and was dragged down into the sea caves just like Darcy was today.”
Darcy paled slightly.
Gage wrapped his arm around her, despite his recent vow to keep his distance. The lady needed comforting. He couldn’t ignore that. He didn’t want to ignore that. But when this ordeal was over, he’d muster the strength to walk away and figure out how to put Darcy St. James out of his mind for good.
“Wait a minute,” Kayden cut in. “Why are we all assuming that Jake is right about how long the body’s been in the water? For all we know that body has only been in the water a couple days.”
“Kayden,” Piper said, her gaze darting to Darcy.
“I’m just saying we should wait for an expert’s opinion.”
“That body has been in the water for months,” Jake said. He looked at Darcy. “I guarantee it.”
Relief once again swept over Darcy’s face at Jake’s assurance.
“He’s not an expert,” Kayden said.
“Right.” Darcy averted her eyes. “I know that.”
Kayden narrowed her eyes, glancing between Darcy and Jake.
It was clear Darcy was taking Jake’s ruling as final, but why? Gage didn’t have Kayden’s suspicious nature, but even he wondered at that. As phenomenal at tracking as Jake was, and as bizarrely helpful as he proved to be when it came to offering advice in legal and investigative matters, he surely wasn’t also an expert on decomposition or forensic analysis of remains. Gage studied the man and pondered his confidence in his conclusion. Maybe Jake did know what he was talking about. But how or why?
“Winters,” Wyatt said, and they all turned to find the M.E. striding toward them. Not a whole lot older than Landon—the man shared a similar rugged build and light brown hair.
Wyatt shook his hand. “Thanks for flying over.”
“No problem. I took a look at the remains before Nick loaded them into the hearse.” He gestured over his shoulder, and everyone glanced at the hearse slowly pulling away from the marina.
“And?”
“I’ll need to do a full autopsy, but I can tell you that the remains are that of an adult male and they’ve been in the water at least nine months.”
Kayden’s shocked gaze swung to Jake.
He cleared his throat. “If I’m not needed anymore, I’m going to load the kayaks and take them to camp.”
“Of course.” Gage nodded, completely stunned at Jake’s accuracy on the matter. The man never ceased to surprise him. “Thanks for your help.”
Jake nodded and glanced once at Kayden before leaving. There was something in his gaze—hurt, perhaps. Hurt that she was questioning him yet again.
Kayden released a throaty exhale once he was gone. “Pleasssse tell me you aren’t all going to ignore Jake’s unusual knowledge again? I mean, how does he know something like that?”
Darcy looked down at her feet, shuffling them against the battered planks of the pier.
Kayden pounced. “That’s the second time you’ve done that.”
Darcy looked up, startled. “Done what?”
“Looked away when I’ve questioned Jake’s vast knowledge. You know who Jake really is, don’t you?”
Landon cleared his throat. “Looks like we’re garnering quite a crowd.” He lifted his chin toward the Bering—even more passengers had amassed along the rails, staring at the activity brewing below.
Gage sighed. “Guess I better get back on board and explain to Mullins. Hopefully we’ll still have our excursion contract with them come tomorrow morning.”
Darcy grabbed her pack, still damp, and slung it over her shoulder. “I need to get back on the ship too. People are going to start wondering why I’m hanging around the excursion crew and local police.”
“No way.” Kayden blocked her path. “Not until you explain.”
“Explain what?”
“Exactly who Jake is.”