“I shouldn’t have said anything. He’s a nice guy. Warm and friendly. He’s an old guy, and what’s past is past. He could have been innocent.” Why had he told her that story? To win points?
“I hear you,” she said. “As for living out in the bay and not paying moorage, he’s a bit of a rebel?”
“That’s my opinion. Nice guy and rebel.”
“I usually don’t do this,” she said.
“Do what?” he asked.
“I usually like to walk into a situation knowing very little about a person so I can make my own judgments,” she said. “I’m sure that’s atypical for journalists.”
“I don’t like to talk about people either, especially sharing their background,” he said.
“Sounds like the voice of experience. I don’t know why I asked you, because what you’ve told me will color any opinion I have.” She angled her head, a smirk in her eyes.
“An experience we’ve all been through.”
“I agree one hundred percent.” She offered a soft smile.
“You know the bad, now let me share the good. Diggins mentors those who can’t afford to live on the land. Teaches them how to live on their boats. I admire that about him. He’s helping others. Sometimes the laws of the land are just too much, too hard, and a burden for the little guy. There’s a group of liveaboards in Puget Sound as well. Marinas have rules and restrictions, and a lot of the boats, well, frankly, don’t measure up to the required standards. Expensive insurance. No one wants to insure a wooden hull, that sort of thing.”
“Is that your opinion too? They don’t measure up?”
“No, I’m sharing what I’ve heard from the locals, thoughhonestly, there aren’t a lot of people who complain. Hidden Bay is probably a perfect spot for the liveaboards. Only a couple of mansions looking out over the ocean, and they’re both situated on either end of the bay, almost like sentinels. Bottom line is that, at the end of the day, these people are certainly not pirates in a criminal way.”
“But in a character way? Like maybe a salt-of-the-earth kind of way?”
“Maybe in a salt-of-the-ocean kind of way.” He cringed. “Bad, huh?”
She chuckled. “You get points for trying to make me laugh, because it worked.”
“I can come with you to talk to Diggins if you want.”
“No offense, but you’re a cop, and I don’t want him to withhold information.”
He frowned as he parked at the marina. “I’m exactly the person from whom people shouldnotwithhold information. But I get it. Unless he’s at the marina or comes ashore for some reason, you’ll need to take a boat out to talk to him. After what happened, do you really think it’s safe?”
“Of course not. I admit that I made a mistake even going out for a simple walk on the beach. Don’t hold that against me. I’m not stupid.”
“I would never say that. You’re a survivor, and you’re on a mission.”
“I have an idea,” she said. “Malloy said that Mavis at the chandlery could tell me how to talk to Diggins. I’ll find out from her, then I’ll come back and tell you.”
“Mavis is also the unofficial harbormaster, so don’t let her tell you she doesn’t know how to reach Diggins.”
Cressida tilted her head just so and smiled, her eyes so serious. “Thank you for that.”
You’re welcome.“Once you find out, then we’ll talk about how to proceed. Deal?”
“Deal,” she said. “Maybe we can talk about it over dinner.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Except the dinner part. He could never have a personal relationship with her because, one, he was investigating her case, and two, he was working for her mother, unofficially, and once she found out, she wouldn’t speak to him again. And if he told Cressida all of it ... would Octavia discontinue her assistance with Elise? Braden simply couldn’t risk it.
The woman had put him in a precarious position.
That was her modus operandi, and if he didn’t watch out, her daughter would do the same to him. He had the feeling she was trying to do just that without having a clue.
11
