“Shoot up my mom’s café?” Heather’s husky voice came through loud and clear. “I’ve been wondering that too. Gabby’s on her way back right now, maybe we should all meet and talk it through.”
“It’s a plan.” He clicked off the phone and looked at Tina somberly. “I don’t like this.”
“What’s to like? The one silver lining is that I do believe if they really wanted people dead, people would be dead. We have no dead people. Let’s keep it that way.”
Luke nodded, turning his phone over in his hands. “I like your theory about a warning message, but what point is a message that no one understands?”
Fair point. “We have to assume that someone understands.” Tina sighed again. “Maybe it’ll be more clear once we talk to Heather and Gabby.”
“And Jack,” Luke added. “He should come to this convo too.”
She nodded as she got to her feet, then staggered when a wavelet hit the Devil May Care. She grabbed onto the railing. “Watch your speed!” she yelled at the skiff rowing past them. The kid at the oars looked confused.
“If he went any slower he’d be going backwards,” said Luke dryly.
“Whatever. The concept of moving vehicles on water was a bad one from jump.” She carefully climbed off the boat onto the floating ramp. A sense of tremendous relief filled her as she touched slightly more solid ground. “Speaking of which, what kind of person would choose a boat to shoot from? Boats are always moving up and down on the waves. Would that make an accurate shot nearly impossible?”
Luke jumped off the boat in one fluid movement that made her hate him a little bit. “Interesting point. The boat made for a quick escape. I’m sure we would have caught him right away if he’d been on land.”
“But he could have opened fire on land and then jumped into the boat to escape. I think it’s one more data point to support the idea that he wasn’t aiming to kill anyone. He generally kept his fire high. I noticed at the time, but wasn’t sure what it meant. Anything on the ballistics yet?”
“The bullets came from a semi-automatic AR-15. Without the weapon itself, they can’t say much more than that. Out here, plenty of folks have hunting rifles or shotguns, but AR-15’s are not common. I’ve never actually seen one on the island.”
“That would point to it being an off-islander. But how would someone like that know about the marina, and the fact that the manager had the day off? I already spoke to Chad Gridley and he swears he had no marina-related contact with anyone.” She gazed up at the office at the head of the ramp, where Chad was currently chatting with a guest. That was where all the boat keys were kept, along with life jackets, water bottles and snacks. “Any chance there’s a security camera down here?”
“There will be from now on. But no, there’s never been a need. This is the first time anything unauthorized has ever happened in this marina, aside from secret make-out sessions and drunken midnight boat rides. But those were all in the family, with tacit approval from the man at the top. Dad didn’t care about that shit.”
“Interesting family.”
“Don’t get me started.”
12
With each day that passed, Jack grew more certain that something terrible was behind Jessie’s disappearance. That pit in Jack’s stomach just wouldn’t go away, and it was getting harder to sleep at night. He was starting to wonder if he was wasting his time on Sea Smoke, but didn’t have any better ideas about where to go.
He thought about the time Jessie had cut off all contact with their parents. He’d been the intermediary that time, but what if she was doing the same thing again? But no, he knew she wouldn’t do that to him. She’d had a good reason when it was their parents; they hadn’t believed her about something very important. This, now, was out of the blue. Sure, Jessie sometimes disappeared into her own world, but she would never make him worry this much.
And now the shooting investigation was taking everyone’s time and attention, bringing press to the island and distracting his one ally, Tina. Of course it was important to solve that case too, but no one had died. No one had even gotten injured beyond some cuts and bruises from shattered glass. Jessie might be in real danger, and so far Jack had made zero progress in tracking her down.
It was while in this mood—on edge and impatient—that he’d agreed to meet with Luke Carmichael and a few others. He’d already submitted a statement to Marigold, who also happened to be Tina’s client.
On the surface, he saw no similarity between her and Jessie other than the fact they were both women. Jessie was a wisp of a girl who went out of her way to underplay her looks. Marigold was a tall, sturdy, athletic woman who could probably swing Jessie onto her shoulders like a child.
Jack liked her a lot, her directness, her no-nonsense attitude. But it was hard to find any commonality that would connect her to Jessie.
The meeting took place at the constable’s office, with the back door propped open to let in the September breeze, spiked with the scent of apples and wood fires. The tiny office—little more than a desk with a computer, several metal folding chairs, and a wooden filing cabinet—felt crowded with people. His gaze automatically went first to Tina. Don’t forget about Jessie in all this, he wanted to scream.
She stood up from her perch on the edge of the desk and beckoned to him. “This is Jack Finnegan,” she told the group. “He was at the Bloodshot Eyeball, and he’s somewhat of a celebrity, which makes him a potential target. That’s why we’re all here today. Any other group, I wouldn’t put you in the same room, I’d just interrogate you separately. But between the podcast and Jack’s situation, we decided everyone might benefit from some information sharing. Jack, meet Heather and Gabby. You already know Luke and Marigold.”
Everyone gave him a wave or a nod, except for Gabby, whose brown eyes lit up. Tall and slim, with rich brown skin, she radiated intelligence. “Denver Black, it’s an honor.”
“Back at you, Gabby Ramon of Dirty Rotten Bastards.” Her mouth fell open. “I do my research,” he explained. “Excellent podcast.”
Gabby and Heather exchanged a high-five. He’d seen Heather riding her bike around the island, her brown ponytail flying from under a vintage pink helmet. But Gabby had just returned from a research trip, and this was his first time meeting her.
Tina clapped her hands together for attention. “Enough schmoozing. We’re here for one purpose only, and that’s to figure out who might have been the target of the Bloodshot Eyeball gunman.”
Jack leaned against the wall and watched her take charge—clearly that was her natural role in life. Whatever room Tina was in, she would act like a leader. He’d known women like her during his time in the Army, and also in Hollywood, and he was fully onboard with women in charge. But this was the first time he’d experienced actual arousal from witnessing it in action.
