Simon came to a halt behind her. “What the hell?”
Holly snorted. “The houseboat broke free of its mooring. That wind we felt last night must’ve pushed us out into the bayou—way out.”
“Can’t we fire up the engines and drive it back?”
Holly shook her head. “They don’t work. The owners said they haven’t worked for years. They never intended to move the boat.”
Simon went back up the stairs and came back down with his cell phone.
“Who are you calling?” Holly asked.
“Mitchell at the marina.”
Holly nodded.
Simon held the phone to his ear for longer than Holly thought necessary. Ultimately, he lowered the phone, a frown creasing his brow. “He isn’t answering.”
“Mitch can be really busy early in the morning, getting fishermen outfitted for their day on the bayou. We might have to wait a bit to try again.”
Simon glanced at his phone. “We’re supposed to meet with the realtor at ten, and then we were supposed to drive over to Bayou Miste to see your grandmother’s nutria seer.”
Holly shook her head. “We might need to call and postpone on all counts.”
“How the hell does a houseboat break loose of its mooring?” Simon asked. He stepped back out on the deck, looked right and left, and back to the right, before taking off in that direction.
Holly watched as he lifted something, let it drop and then passed in front of her to inspect the other end of the boat in the same way. Holly joined him at that end of the houseboat. Simon held up a neatly cut length of rope, his mouth pressed in a thin line. “Someone cut the lines.”
“Wouldn’t we have heard it?” Holly asked.
Simon’s lips twisted. “We were busy.”
“Those aren’t small lines. Surely, they would’ve had to saw through them. It’s not like they could have used scissors to cut them. It would’ve taken time.”
“Bolt cutters?” Simon suggested.
“Would bolt cutters work on rope and make a clean cut like that?” She shook her head. “I never thought to check the lines mooring the boat to the dock. Could they have cut them while we were away?”
Simon nodded. “That’s a possibility.”
“Why?”
“A threat? Or warning?”
“It’s not like we’re at risk of dying out here,” Holly waved a hand. “Sooner or later, someone would come along and tow us back to the dock.”
An explosion ripped through the air. The boat shook with enough force Holly fell to her knees and held on while the houseboat rocked in the water.
Moments later, smoke rose from the rear of the houseboat.
“Fire!” Holly shouted.
“Where’s the fire extinguisher?” Simon asked.
“Attached to the wall in the kitchen,” Holly said. “I’ll get it.”
She ran into the houseboat, heading straight for the extinguisher mounted on the wall. The bracket that held it was there, but the extinguisher was gone. She spent a few precious seconds looking for it, thinking the explosion had knocked it from its holding. When she couldn’t find it, she grabbed a folded quilt off the back of the couch and ran back out on the deck.
Simon had found a hose on the deck. Thankfully, the water pump ran on a generator that kicked in when the electricity went out. Simon aimed the hose at the source of the fire on the back patio, though the narrow stream did little to extinguish the growing flame.
