“Oliver and Andrew are missing.”
It took a second for his words to sink in.“What do you mean, they’re missing?”She tossed her keys to Rodney.“Drive to the marina.”
Rodney grunted but did as she asked.
“They went under thirty minutes ago, and haven’t been seen since.”
Dread made her nauseous, but, “Thirty minutes isn’t long for Oliver.”
“No, but he was diving with Andrew who chugs through his air in about twenty.”
“Tell me everything,” she barked.
“They were searching the area between the cannons and the main wreck.Just before we dropped them, a woman in the boatCerseicame near, waved at us and drove off again.It looked like she was fishing over by one of the islands.Tom teased Andrew about her because she chatted him up at the brewery the other night.”
It had to be Kristy.“Then what happened?”
“We dropped them in the water and waited for them to surface.When the rest of the team surfaced after thirty minutes, Sherlock sent up the drone.There’s no sign of them in the water, but the drone had little battery charge.Suzyn swore she put the charger on last night, but someone turned it off.”
“And the boat?”
“Only stuck around for about twenty minutes.”
Rodney parked at the marina and Dot got out, but hesitated.There might be no point taking the boat out.There was enough time for Kristy to have made it back to shore.“Which way did the boat go?”
“West.”
Towards the southern boat ramp.Steven said he’d used it last night.
“Have you searched the islands?”They might have run into trouble and gone to shore.
“Just using the drone.No sign of them.Oliver would do something to get our attention.He’d know we’d be looking for them by now.”
Oliver wouldn’t have suspected his team.If Andrew had led him away from the dive site, Oliver would have been annoyed, but he would have followed.He took safety seriously.
“I’ve got the drone batteries on charge.Might take another hour before I can send it up again, but we’ll search the islands in the tender.”
“Do that,” Dot said.“Call me if you find anything.”She hung up and grabbed the binoculars from the car.
“What’s happened?”Rodney demanded.
“Oliver and Andrew are missing.”Dot strode to the side of the marina, which overlooked the ocean, and scanned the horizon.When Rodney followed she added, “Kristy was in the area before they disappeared.She flirted with Andrew the other night at the brewery.”
“That means nothing.”
“No,” Dot agreed.“However, it’s a lead.All of this happened about thirty minutes ago, so if she was returning to a boat ramp up this way, we should see her by now.”There weren’t a lot of boats in the gulf today.Most of the tourists had left the area and those that were there didn’t match the size ofCersei.She lowered the binoculars.“My guess is she’s parked at the southern boat ramp.It’s less distance from the wreck site, and fewer people are around.”
“Or she might be out of sight here and going anywhere along the coast.”
Dot didn’t have time to argue.Oliver was in danger.She couldn’t fail him like she failed Mark.
Her throat tightened as fear threatened to surface.
No, she wouldn’t consider the option that he’d already been harmed.“We can get Martin to search the northern boat ramps while we go south.”Why had Oliver been taken?He didn’t know anything.Unless someone had told Stonefish they had been stuck on the boat together.Someone like Andrew.They might have thought she’d confided in Oliver.
Rodney got into the passenger seat.“Take me back to the station.I’ll go with Martin.”
Damn him.They were wasting time.She drove fast back to the station, radioing them to tell them what had happened.As soon as Rodney got out, she was on her way again, estimating how much time had passed.
