18
Todd Cavendish threw the phone onto the desk and stood to pace the length of the spacious office. “There’s got to be a way to find that boat,” he said. “If someone stumbles across it, everything we’ve worked for is ruined.”
The other man in the wingback chair opposite the desk rubbed his chin. “I know, but we’ve exhausted every option. If you have any other suggestions, I’m ready to act.”
“I’m thinking on it. I’ve got several ideas I’m weighing. We need the Chastain woman, Jeff. She’s our only hope.”
“We had the Chastain woman. My mole got the information for you as to where she’d be, but you jumped into grabbing her way too fast.” His friend scowled. “That plan wasn’t well thought out at all.”
“That was my plan,” he said.
“I know that,” Jeff said. “I’m just expressing my opinion.”
“Well, keep it to yourself,” he snapped.
“Since when do I keep what I think to myself? We’ve been friends since childhood and you’ve never minded me telling you like it is.”
He groaned. Jeff was right. On both counts. It had been a lousy, impromptu plan. And, he grudgingly admitted, he always wanted the man in the chair to speak his mind. “Whatever.”
“‘Whatever’ is right. Anyway, she’s got so much protection around her, it’ll take an army to get to her. Her mother and sister are in protective custody as well.” He paused. “And I don’t think Emily knows where the boat is.”
“What’s ironic is that my brother doesn’t know either and he’s the one who stole it—or had it stolen. I’m sure he didn’t do it himself.”
“A fact he probably regrets at the moment,” Jeff said. He tapped his chin. “It’s possible that he knows what lake.”
“Maybe. I’m not sure about that either,” Todd said. “Just keep someone following him. Eventually, he’ll send someone out there to search for it.”
“He knows you’ve got people watching. He’s not going to make any move that would lead you to it.”
“True. And he’s got people watching me.” A pause. “Which is how he knew Reuben passed the flash drive off to me.” He shook his head. “I don’t care about that. What I care about is, somehow that woman managed to outsmart our guys. Five of our best men.” He held up five fingers as though he needed a visual of the number. “Two of whom are dead, two headed for prison, and one in the wind. It’s the two in prison who worry me.”
“They’re so low on the food chain it doesn’t matter. They were simply guns for hire and don’t know who hired them, so it’s not like they have any information to offer. And Hudson will show up when the coast is clear.”
“Hudson’s okay,” Todd said. “He knows how to keep his mouth shut. I’m not worried about him, but I’d feel better if the other two were dead.”
Jeff shrugged. “I’d feel better if your brother was dead.”
“No. I don’t want him dead. I want him to suffer. And the only way to make him do that is to get that flash drive.” He traced the scar he wore from temple to chin and scowled. “We have a traitor in our midst. Someone helped my brother steal that boat. I want to know who it was.”
“Trust me, I do too,” Jeff said. “And I’m working on it, but I’ve got to tell you, our traitor could be just about anyone on the payroll. You don’t exactly hire the squeaky-clean ones known for their loyalty.”
Todd rubbed his eyes and swiped a hand down his scar once more. “Fine. Then we’re going to have to cut out the middlemen and take care of this ourselves.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Emily leaned in and watched as the pictures continued to load. “They’re of a lake,” she said. “And look! A picture of a boat called the Lady Marie. That’s what they were after.”
Brady raked a hand through his hair. “Can you zoom in and get the number off the side? We can figure out who it belongs to with that.”
She tapped the picture and zoomed in. “SC-0123-BZ.”
“Great. That means it’s registered in South Carolina.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard to find who it belongs to, then, right?”
“One can hope. Can you send me that one with the boat to my phone? I can forward it to David and see if he can pull the owner’s name and where the picture was taken. If Heather didn’t turn off her geotag option, we’ll be able to get GPS coordinates and know exactly where this boat is—or was since you said it sank. At least I think that’ll work.”
“It’s worth a try.” She clicked a few keys. “There. You should have it now. But I can figure out where the pictures were taken. Maybe.” She clicked the keys while Brady sent the picture to David.
Emily continued to scroll through the images.
“It looks like she’s a good distance away,” Brady said. “It’s hard to make out much.”
“She probably took them with her phone.”
“We can try to run some of these through facial recognition. How many different people would you say are there?” He leaned forward to squint at the screen.
“All I see are four. Two at the front and two at the back—or at the bow and stern, I suppose I should say. I guess there could be more inside.” Emily leaned back and palmed her weary eyes. “They knew about these pictures. That’s why they killed her.”
“And broke into her apartment. Probably looking for her laptop.”
Emily opened the picture in the preview option and worked her way through the short steps to pull up the GPS coordinates. And got . . . nothing. She let out a groan. “She had the geotag option turned off.”
“All right. We’ll send everything to David. He’s got way more advanced equipment and know-how than we do. If there’s any information on there, he’ll find it, as well as run those four through facial recognition. I think that might be a long shot, but it’s worth a try.”
She sent all the pictures to Brady and he sent them on to David.
“Which lake is this?” she muttered. “This is what they wanted. This is why they’re after me. They knew she sent me these.” Her voice rose. “But how? How would they even know to go looking for her? How would they know about the pictures?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know unless she showed them to the wrong person. Or someone spotted her taking them.”
She frowned. “Heather’s phone was password protected. How would they get into it?”
“She was on it during the 911 call, so it was probably open when she was attacked.”
“And all her attacker had to do was pick it up and start scrolling. I suppose that’s when he realized that I might know something about all this and came after me.”
“Yep.”
“But they don’t know the location of the lake,” Emily said. “When Snake Man questioned me, he wanted to know which lake the boat went down on and was furious when I couldn’t tell him. Do you know where this is?”
“No, it could be anywhere, but it’s probably in South Carolina if the boat decal is anything to go by. David will find it.”
Emily studied the area in the background. “It doesn’t look familiar. And yet, it’s like I’ve seen it every time I’ve ever gone to the lake.” She paused. “Heather has a professional camera. She’s rarely without it and only uses her phone as a backup, but she’s a fabulous photographer and the paper often uses her photos to go along with her stories. If she took these with her phone, it’s very possible she had her other camera with her and got better pictures. If we could find the camera or at least the SD card, it’s also possible the geotag would be on those.”
“Okay.” Brady raised a brow. “That’s good thinking.”
“Maybe. Unfortunately, I don’t know where the camera is. I mean, she kept it in the bottom left drawer in the desk in her office at her apartment or at work. Or in whatever bag she was carrying.”
“I’ll ask Derek and Linc to go check out her apartment again.”
“Okay. But before you send them, let me call her boss and ask him to check the drawer of her desk.”
“Do that.” He handed her a phone she hadn’t seen before. “Use that one. It’s not traceable.”
Emily dialed the paper’s main number and asked for Trent Caswell.
“Caswell.”
“Hi, Mr. Caswell, this is Emily, Heather’s friend.”
“Emily! Have they found Heather yet?”
She swallowed. “No, sir.”
“The police have been by questioning everyone. Several people saw her leave that night, but no one else was in the garage when she was attacked. Do you know what she was working on? She wouldn’t say a word, just that I was going to go through the roof when she turned in her story.”
“Yes, sir, I know what it was.”
He fell silent for a moment. “So, she really was working on something big?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not going to tell me.”
“No, sir, not right now.”
“All right, what can I do to help find her?”
“I just need to know if her good Nikon is in the bottom of her desk drawer. You know where she keeps it.”
“Hold on a sec.”
Emily bit her lip while he checked, praying it would be there.
When he came back on the line, she held her breath.
“Not there, Emily, sorry.”
Her lungs released the air. “Ugh. Okay, thanks.”
“Can you keep me updated? We’re all very concerned.”
“Of course.”
“And . . . I don’t want to sound crass, but . . .”
His hesitancy lifted her brow. “But you want the exclusive when all of this is resolved?”
“Yes.”
She tried not to resent the man. This was his job. He had to ask. Heather would have done the same thing. It didn’t mean he didn’t care or have a heart. “Yes, I’m sure Heather would want it that way.”
His sigh of relief was subtle, but she heard it. “Thank you, Emily. I really do want to honor Heather in this.”
“So do I.” She choked on the words, her emotions high. She cleared her throat. “Thanks, Mr. Caswell.” She hung up and turned to Brady. “I guess we need Derek and Linc to go by Heather’s apartment after all.”
He nodded. “Let me call them.”
“Tell them we’ll be waiting—and not patiently.”
He quirked a sympathetic smile, then stood and stepped out onto the porch to make the call. Emily looked up to find Mary Beth watching, hands wrapped around a coffee mug, her perfectly proportioned body relaxed as she leaned against the doorjamb. Emily swallowed her immediate surge of jealousy and wondered why she was suddenly battling feelings she thought she’d left in the past. Feelings like insecurity and shame. I am loved. I am God’s. I am made in his image and I will not feel ashamed. She straightened her shoulders and let the words wash over her. She’d come a long way, and she wasn’t going to revisit those issues. Right now, anyway. She forced a smile. “Hi.”
“It’s chilly out there, but not too bad,” the woman said. “Weather’s actually perfect for a dive.”
“Yes. It’s lovely today.” She could do small talk with the best of them. “You’re on the team?”
“I am.”
“What’s it like?”
“One big family.” She took another sip of the coffee and lowered herself into a chair across from Emily. “Notice I didn’t say ‘happy family.’”
“You don’t like it?”
Mary Beth raised a brow. “Are you kidding? I love it. But out of the twenty-four dive team members, there are four women. I’ve been out on too many calls to count and have only ended up with another female twice.”
“Ah, I get it. Working in a male environment can be intense?”
“To say the least. Especially if the guys try to treat me as anything other than an equal when we’re in the water. Out of the water, they’d better treat me with the respect I deserve simply because I’m a woman.” She smiled. “Honestly, it’s like having a bunch of older brothers. There’s no denying, they’re mostly great guys, but . . . they’re big teases too, so I’m constantly on my guard.”
“I don’t know what it’s like to have big brothers, just a little sister.” And she really didn’t even know what that was like.
“It’s great and awful all rolled into one.” She sighed. “But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I know that if I ever needed anything, I could call one of them and they’d be right there to help no matter what.”
Emily nodded. “I can see that. Brady didn’t even know me and he jumped in to help. Literally jumped in the lake. Then Derek and Linc and you . . .” Tears burned behind her eyes, but she pushed a smile to her lips. “I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. And you’re surrounded by a bunch of cops. You’re safe.”
“I feel safe. Thank you for that.”
“Sure.” She paused. “I put the dive stuff on your bed. Because it’s cold, you’ll be using a dry suit. There’s a fleece one-piece uni-style layer to go under the suit. Special socks are there too. You can pull on another layer of clothes if you want, but the dry suit is Gortex and should keep you warm enough with the fleece underlayer.”
Emily straightened and ran her hands down her thighs. Diving sounded fun. Diving with Brady sounded like an exciting adventure. A way to forget her grief and sorrow, fear and anger if only for a brief moment. “I’ll take a look at it. Try it on. But do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t tell Brady. If it doesn’t fit . . .” She shrugged and glanced away from the pretty woman.
“Of course. I’ll leave all that up to you.” She paused. “I don’t think I’ve ever known Brady to take anyone diving with him. You must be pretty special.”
Emily flushed and gave a small laugh. “He hasn’t known me very long. I can’t be that special.”
“Hmm.” Mary Beth flashed her picture-perfect smile, then tilted her head. “You really have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?”
Emily blinked. “What?”
“Not just physically, but you have a sweetness—a goodness—about you that’s magnetic. I hope you’re able to see it someday. Now”—she finished off the coffee—“I’ve got a perimeter to walk. See you in a bit.”
She left and Emily realized her jaw was swinging. Who did Mary Beth think she was? “Of all the nerve . . .” “You really have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?” With a huff, Emily stomped back to her room and found the dry suit exactly where Mary Beth had said it would be. “I hope you’re able to see it someday.” “Really?”
She turned to the full-length mirror and studied herself with a critical eye. She had to admit, the short hairstyle flattered her face, making her eyes look large. Expressive. Even without makeup, her lashes were thick and when she smiled, twin dimples appeared. She tried to look beyond that, to her heart. To what made her uniquely her. She genuinely cared about others—especially hurting teens—and was always looking for ways to help. She did her best to do a good job, have integrity, and treat others the way she wanted to be treated. And she wanted more than anything to have a heart like God’s.
As she continued to examine her reflection, for just a moment, she thought she could see what Mary Beth was talking about.
Footsteps sounded behind her and she turned to see Brady walking toward her. He stopped in the open door and nodded to the dry suit. “You thinking about it?”
“Thinking. I’ll let you know when I’ve decided.”
“That’s fine. Izzy and Jordan have asked Linc to step up and help out since he’s kind of been unofficially helping anyway.”
“Okay.”
“Derek’s decided he’s not going to be left out, so they’re all headed to Heather’s apartment to see if they can find the camera or her laptop. They promised to call as soon as they know anything.”
She nodded and sighed. “So . . . now we wait?”
“Now we wait. And dive?”
“You’re persistent, aren’t you?”
“Mom calls it the St. John stubborn gene.”
Emily drew in a deep breath. She took another look at the dry suit, then let her gaze slide back to the man in the door. The man who’d saved her life. And listened to her story without judging her. Part of it anyway.
Did she really want to do this?
Another glance at the man waiting patiently for her to make up her mind. Yeah. She really did.
Inside the boathouse bathroom, Emily changed into the one-piece fleece and pulled the dry suit over it. She refused to look in the mirror of the small changing room. She placed her hand on the knob, took in a deep breath, and as she stepped out she found Brady waiting on her. When he turned his gaze on her, her gut tightened and she waited for the flicker of disgust or disinterest. But his eyes warmed. “You have the most gorgeous eyes I think I’ve ever seen. What color are they anyway?”
For a moment, Emily could only stand there and gape. Then she snapped her mouth shut. “I . . . um . . . honestly don’t know. Purple? Violet?”
“Amethyst.”
“Okay, um . . . I guess that works.” She offered him a small smile. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
He continued to stare into her eyes until she wanted to fidget. “So . . . the gear?”
“Oh. Right. Mary Beth is going to act as our tender.”
“Our what?”
“Tender. Every diver needs a tender. Only her responsibilities won’t be quite as stressful on this dive. Basically, she’s just going to make sure all goes well for us in the water.”
“Everything going well in the water would be the best way for this to go.”
“Exactly. She’ll be here in a few minutes to get the boat ready.” His gaze turned clinical. “While we wait on her, let me just check to make sure the cuffs are tight enough around your wrists. We don’t want water leaking in and freezing you.”
His warm hand took hers and he examined the closures at her wrists, making sure they met with his approval. “We’re going to start here in this nice shelter while I walk you through the basics.”
“He liked to scuba dive.”
“Who?”
“Jeremy Hightower. He used to go all the time. He told me I’d sink like a rock if I ever tried.”
“I’d really like to punch that guy in the mouth. Obviously he had some serious issues. But listen to me. You can do this, Emily.” He snagged her gaze and gave her a gentle smile.
Her heart wanted to puddle right into the special socks she wore. Instead of letting it, she straightened her shoulders and vowed to have a blast with this man she couldn’t seem to help caring about more and more, minute by minute. Jeremy had no hold over her anymore. And she was going to prove it. “You’re absolutely right. I can do this. So? Let’s do it.”
“Whoa, not so fast.” He laughed. “First, you have to learn about your equipment.”
“Oh. Right. Teach me.”
“This is your BCD vest.”
“Uh-huh. My what?”
“Your buoyancy control device.”
“I have a good idea what that means, but just clarify it.”
“It’s exactly what you’re thinking. It helps you control how deep you go. And when you’re ready to surface, it helps bring you up.”
“Yep, that’s pretty much what I was thinking. That’s the really simple version, isn’t it?” She slipped her arms into it and fastened it.
“Yes, ma’am, but it’s just as accurate as the convoluted one.”
Once she had the belt snapped on, he pulled a hood over her head and helped her tuck her hair under. “Now, you’re luckier than most. We’re going to be able to talk to each other underwater instead of having to use hand signals.”
“How so?”
Emily listened intently as he explained about the special Kirby Morgan helmet, how to defog her lens, and so on. “This is the oral nasal mask,” he said. “It holds the microphone.”
“Right.”
“Ready to try it on?”
“I’m ready.”
He helped her get the helmet situated and gave her a thumbs-up. He pulled on a matching helmet. “All good?”
She jumped when his voice came through loud and clear. “Yes. How?”
“You’ve got earphones in that thing.”
Well, duh. “I just didn’t notice them.”
“They’re kind of hidden. So you feel all right?”
“Weird, but okay.”
He finished his equipment explanation and held out a hand. “You ready to give it a try?”
“I . . . um . . . yes. Okay.”
He grabbed their flippers and led her to the shallow water at the entrance of the boathouse that would allow them to remain protected from any prying eyes or snipers. “We’re going to ease in and get you used to the feel, okay?”
“Right.”
She pulled the flippers on while he held her steady and then waited for him to do the same. Once she had the tank on her back, she pictured the surrounding area. Officers with weapons discreetly ready if needed. They would be watching for any approaches to the house. Two worked in the yard, their landscaping truck parked off to the side. On the lake, two officers fished while scanning the opposite side of the landscape. Guilt tried to creep in. Using the department’s resources like this angered her. Not that she considered the protection a waste or that she wasn’t worth protecting, but still . . . they should be out answering other calls, not stuck here because some lunatic wanted to kill her.
He held out a hand. “Put it out of your mind.”
“What?”
“Whatever you’re thinking. Put it out of your mind.”
“I thought I told you to stop doing that.” Her voice held no heat and he smiled. “This is a lot of gear,” she said. “And heavy. Heavier than I thought it would be.”
“This is nothing. You should see what we use when we go out on a call. You’ll be fine once we get you in the water. Come on.”
She looked at the flippers. “How do you walk in these things?”
“Like a duck or a penguin trying to march. Knee high, heel first.”
A duck or a penguin. Just the image she wanted him to have in his head. Lovely. “Seriously, Brady?”
He laughed and led her into the water. Granted, neither one of them was very graceful, but they made it into chest-deep water before he stopped her. “Okay, let’s practice going under and breathing. Sometimes people find it weird to be underwater and breathe at the same time. Our first instinct is to hold our breath.”
“Okay.”
“So don’t do that. Just breathe.”
“Right. Just breathe. Got it.”
Facing her, he held her hands and lowered them beneath the surface. Emily made a point not to hold her breath but found he was right. It took effort to pull in a breath. But she did it. The next thing she noticed was how she immediately felt lighter. Weightless in the water. It was a glorious sensation.
“I know. It’s great, isn’t it?”
She gasped at the sound of his voice right in her ears again. Then laughed. “Stop doing that!”
“What?”
“Reading my mind. But, yes, it’s amazing.”
“You like it?”
“Yes!”
“Then let’s head into deeper water. Mary Beth, you there?”
“I’m here.”
Her words came through Emily’s headphones as well. She made a mental note not to say anything she didn’t want the woman to hear.
“Mary Beth’s going to stay near us in the boat,” Brady said. “We’ll attach a line to our suits.”
“A line?”
“Yep. It can get murky down there if we stir up a lot of sand, and I’m not taking a chance on losing you.”
“The line sounds like a fabulous idea.”
He gave a low chuckle. “When we’re finished, we’ll come back to the boathouse.”
“Awesome.”
With the line hooked to her, she felt safe enough to let go of her initial fears and hesitation. “It’s so beautiful . . . and creepy. All at the same time.”
His chuckle caressed her ear and she shivered. “I know.”
The deeper they went, the more the water cleared. Fish brushed past her.
“Wanna go deeper?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“If your ears start hurting, let me know. We’ll take it slow.” Still holding her hand, he kicked and took them down a few more feet. He glanced at the device on his wrist. “We’re about twenty feet down. This isn’t the really deep part.”
She pointed. “Trees?”
“Yes. Look at the algae draping over them.”
“Wow. This is amazing. I can’t look at everything fast enough.”
“Take your time.”
She kicked, the weightless feeling making her bold. Actually, it was probably more the fact that Brady was right beside her that allowed her the freedom to enjoy the dive so much. “Is that a sink? A kitchen sink?”
“Yeah. Don’t be surprised at what you see. When we do training exercises, we never know what we’re going to come across.”
An hour later they surfaced after a safety stop about ten feet from the top, and Mary Beth helped them into the boat under cover of the canopy. With the fabric sides attached, no one could see inside and wouldn’t have any idea if they were still under the water or on the boat. She decided not to think about the fact that someone using a machine gun could easily take them all out. With cops patrolling the surrounding area as well as the water, she was going to believe that no one would be able to sneak past the security.
Emily let Brady help her pull off the helmet and drew in a deep breath. “That was fabulous. When can we do it again?”
Brady laughed.
“I think you’ve created a monster,” Mary Beth said.
“We’ll do it again soon,” Brady said.
“Good.” Emily drew in a deep breath. “I really needed that.” She paused. “Do you think you could write down some of that stuff about dive times and ND . . . what?”
“NDL,” Brady said. “Non-decompression limit. Meaning how long you can stay at what depth without worrying about decompression because of nitrogen build up.”
“Right. I understand I should do a safety stop ten to twenty feet from the surface, but all of the facts and figures are running around in my brain.”
He grinned. “Sure. I can’t believe you’ve remembered as much as you have. I’ve had students on their fifth or sixth lesson before they actually understood about NDL and safety stops.”
“I guess it’s because I’m really interested. And more relaxed. And I think I’m ready to get back to work on trying to figure out who’s behind everything.”
“Good,” Mary Beth said, “because Derek and Linc are on the way back. Izzy and Jordan are with them as well.”
Relaxation fled. “Did they find anything at Heather’s?”
“An SD card under the refrigerator and some flash drives in a hidden area. One of the bricks on her fireplace was loose. She had them stuffed behind it.”
“That’s really cliché,” Emily said. “But it sounds like Heather. And they’re bringing everything here? Not to the station to David?”
“They talked about it,” Mary Beth said, “but Derek decided he wanted to run the contents by you before taking it to David. It’s safer for them to come out here than take you to the station.”
“Okay. Let me get showered and changed and we’ll see what’s on the card.”