“Because he made a choice.”
“Didn’t I do the same thing when I told Mom I needed to be here for the king tide?”
Olivia sighed heavily and was quiet for a long moment. Then she shook her head. “If this life has taught me anything, it’s that nothing is ever black and white. Everything is a nuanced shade of gray. I’m saying there’s blame enough to go around. Don’t you go trying to shoulder it all by yourself.”
When Olivia gave her shoulders another squeeze, it reminded Cami of how her little sister used to stand next to her and another harsh sob hiccupped out of her.
Somehow, in the span of eighteen months, Cami had lost everyone she’d ever loved. Her parents—even though they were still living they might as well be lost to her. Her baby sister. And now Doc.
Shehadlost him.
That much was obvious in the way he held himself rigid as he shouldered two of the remaining duffels and followed the Coasties through the front door. In the way he couldn’t even seem to bring himself to look at her.
Chapter 29
Two days later
5:42 PM…
The ocean air was still crisp and clear from the passing of the storm. But Doc didn’t notice how sweet-smelling it was as he piloted the dinghy through the still waters of the lagoon.
Neither did he notice how the broken palm trees had been cut up and stacked on the beach, how the sand had been raked, or how the debris from the storm had been placed in trash bags and piled at the end of the pier in preparation for a trip to a dump on the mainland.
His complete focus was on the three people standing near the gently lapping edge of the surf as the sun sank close to the horizon. LT had his arm draped casually over Olivia’s shoulders. And Uncle John was barefoot, his canary-yellow Hawaiian shirt shining like a neon light against a western sky that was a kaleidoscope of pinks, purples, and oranges.
Where are Cami and Dana?
As soon as Doc had the thought, a strange feeling took hold of him. It seemed like…disappointment.
But, nah. Couldn’t be. Had to be relief, right? Relief that he didn’t have to see Deep Six’s lawyer again?
Because of her, he’d spent nearly eighteen hours in an interrogation room going over every detail of what’d transpired during the storm all while battling the side effects of his concussion. Because of her, a man was dead and a possible trial loomed in Doc’s future. Because of her, Lily’s memory had begun to fade faster and faster over the past few months, which, if he was being honest, was the thing that bothered him the most.
Yeah. It’s definitely relief I’m feeling,he assured himself, studiously ignoring the voice of doubt that lived in the furthest reaches of his mind when it asked,Are you sure about that?
After motoring the dinghy onto the beach, his passengers were quick to hop out when he cut the outboard engine. Mason hoisted Alex over the dinghy’s rounded rubber edge. Bran followed suit with his own wife and carefully lowered Maddy’s sandaled feet to the sand.
“Come on, Meat.” Mason snapped his fingers at his fat, wrinkly bulldog.
Meat scrambled over the side of the boat in an ungainly show of piss-poor athleticism. And, right on cue, Lil’ Bastard, the colorful rooster who was Meat’s unassailable sidekick, flapped his wings and landed beside the panting canine.
The two animals didn’t miss a beat before taking off toward the water’s edge. Meat to hunt up waterweeds, which he’d ralph onto the floor later that night. And Lil’ Bastard to pillage and plunder the tiny sand crabs that occupied the beach’s tidal zone.
“Where’s the rest of the crew?” LT asked as a seagull squawked overhead, scolding Meat and Lil’ Bastard for encroaching on its territory. LT’s jaw worked hard on a stick of gum, and his eyes were hidden behind the reflective lenses of his aviator sunglasses.
“Wolf and Romeo stayed back to guard the treasure,” Bran answered. “Chrissy had work to do at the dive shop. And you know Mia doesn’t go anywhere without Romeo.”
LT nodded. “It was good of Captain Bailey to give y’all access to the vault on base. Detective Dixon radioed out to tell us those boys from Maine boardedWayfarer IIlookin’ for the loot the night before they headed our way.”
Captain Mark Bailey was the current commander at the Naval Air Station on Key West. He’d gone through basic training with Romeo. And the two had stayed in touch over the years.
Turned out, the Deep Six crew who’d taken the bulk of the treasure back to Key West before the storm had decided at the last minute it would be safer on the base than hidden aboardWayfarer II. So Romeo had made the arrangements with Bailey and they’d transported the bounty to its new home before they ever even put into port in the marina outside Schooner Wharf Bar.
Life is odd,Doc thought. All it took was one decision to change the course of events and the lives of a dozen people.
What if the thieves had found the treasure on the ship? Would Wolf, Romeo, Mason, and Bran have caught them and killed them all? Or would they have gotten away?
There was a part of Doc that wished the thieveshadbeen able to find the treasure onWayfarer IIand then disappeared into the night. Because what could they have possibly taken? A few million at most? There would have been more than enough left over for Doc and the rest of his teammates. Not to mention Doc wouldn’t have been forced to take another life.
