Jaime walked out of the main cabin, the hacksaw plainly in his hand.
Dayton’s face turned red with anger. “I told you not to go in there—”
Meredith and Hilary came out right after him. “Hi, Daddy,” Meredith said. She and Hilary both gave Derek quick hugs.
“Bring that boat over here!” DeDario shouted to Sherman, who was still puttering around the Golden State in the Daredevil.
“Where were you?” Derek asked his daughters, confused. He and Rahel were sitting at the deck table together. He seemed slightly embarrassed to be seen with her.
Before they could answer, Mollie walked over to them. “How silly of you two to stow away like that,” she said, winking at them.
“I guess it was a stupid prank, stowing away in a trunk,” Meredith said with a shrug.
“A dangerous prank is more like it,” Moeller said. “You could have gotten stuck in there.”
“Moeller, be quiet.” Dayton glared at him. “There’s no sense rubbing it in. I’m sure my niece knows she made a mistake.” In more ways than one, his look seemed to imply.
“You can’t blame Meredith for wanting to have a little fun,” Johnny said. “After all, she has a reason to celebrate. Maybe you haven’t heard yet, but it turns out someone was setting her up with that cocaine.”
“But she confessed,” Dayton said. “Case closed.”
“Not quite,” Roberta said. “Detective Benjamin’s been arrested for planting evidence. No telling where the police investigation will lead.”
Mollie walked over and stood behind Rahel. She felt in her jacket pocket for the small sewing scissors she had gotten at the hotel.
“Actually, my office got a call from Detective Benjamin asking us to defend him,” Dayton said. “I’ll probably take the case. You see, evidence gets misplaced and rearranged all the time.”
“No law firm of mine will defend that scoundrel,” Derek said. “What evidence are you talking about, Johnny? What was planted?”
“The drugs, for one thing,” Johnny told him.
“And the hair, too,” Mollie said. “It couldn’t have come from Meredith’s head, because Meredith doesn’t do drugs, and it was saturated with cocaine.”
“Then whose hair was it?” scoffed Dayton. “Rapunzel’s?”
“Close.” Mollie took the scissors out of her hand and clipped off a clump of Rahel’s hair.
“Hey! What are you doing you little—”
“I think these strands will match perfectly with the ones in the police evidence room,” Mollie said, shoving Rahel’s hair in her pocket.
“Give that back!” Rahel shouted, as she started to struggle with Mollie.
“Sit down, Rahel, and shut up,” Dayton said.
“We’ll have to be going now,” Mollie said. “Sherman!”
“What’s going on?” Derek wanted to know.
Behind him Roberta and Jaime clambered into the DareDevil. DeDario ran over, but Johnny held him back.
“Now, you know you’re too drunk to drive, Dario,” Johnny said. “Sherman’s the designated driver tonight.”
DeDario threw an empty beer can at Sherman’s head. “I can have you arrested for this.”
“Yeah, right!” Roberta called to him.
“Well, Dayton?” Derek insisted.
“It’s nothing, little brother,” Dayton said. “Don’t give it a second thought.”
“Don’t patronize me,” Derek said fiercely. “When I get to the bottom of this, I better not find out you’ve put my family in danger in any way. Or I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life in jail.”
“Who else is coming?” Mollie called.
Jackie looked at Rahel with tears in her eyes. “Thanks for nothing, Rahel,” she said. Then she jumped into the speedboat.
“What about my boat?” DeDario shouted.
Moeller came up to Mollie. “You had better return that hair right now, or you will be sorry.”
Johnny picked up Moeller by his coat collar and held him out over the water. “Do you swim as well as you make threats?”
Mollie scrambled into the boat. “It’ll be okay,” she told Jackie, who was still crying.
Derek Hughes looked at Rahel and shook his head. “I’m disgusted with you—and you, too, Dayton.” He got into the boat beside Mollie.
“Are you coming?” Sherman called to Johnny.
“Yeah, I just want to get rid of some excess baggage first. Have a nice swim.” Johnny dropped Moeller into the water and hopped into the Daredevil. “Full speed ahead,” he yelled.