“Any chance you know her password?” she asked Jack.
“Fuck.” He buried his head in his hands. “Fuck fuck fuck. Damn it.”
“Hey, this is a family boat,” Sparrow said. “Easy on the—eh, who am I kidding. Sorry, man. Swear away.”
“It’s all right,” Tina told him as she switched off the phone. No need to risk tracking if they couldn’t even get information from it. “Give me a sec.”
She called the Lightkeeper Inn and asked for Judy Griffin, the manager. Judy knew everything there was to know about the place and the Carmichaels—maybe even Celine’s password.
“Sorry, I don’t. But I have an idea. Call you right back.”
A few painfully endless moments later, Tina’s phone rang. “Got it. Celine’s favorite masseuse knew it. Once Celine was getting a hand paraffin treatment and a seaweed replenishing mask at the same time and she couldn’t answer her phone.”
“You’re amazing. Thank you so much.”
Just as Tina entered the password, the phone rang. The letter L flashed onto the screen as the incoming caller.
“L for Lloyd?” she wondered out loud.
“Give it to me.” Jack reached for it. “I want to talk to him.”
“No. He thinks he’s calling Celine. Maybe he’ll let something slip.” She hit the “accept” button and did her best imitation of Celine. “Hey.”
Best to stick to single syllables, she figured.
“Did you get rid of the cop?” A man’s voice—it must be Adam.
“Mmm-hmmm.”
“I can’t believe she showed up like that. What did you tell her?”
She looked at Jack, who was listening closely. He shook his head.
“Nothing. What should I say?” Hopefully the drone of the engine was helping disguise her voice. She put the phone on speaker to bring in even more noise.
“Nothing. Don’t say anything to anyone. I’m starting to freak out, Lin. This is getting out of control. You were right, I’m in over my head.”
Tina shared a glance of alarm with Jack. He sounded so panicked. This was getting more serious and more scary by the minute.
“Need any help?” she said cautiously.
“You’d help me? Really? After you told me to leave you out of all this? What about Hendrick? Forget it, I got this. I just need you to…” There was some muttering in the background, and a series of sounds she couldn’t make out.
“Need what? I can’t hear you.”
“I need new wheels. Send them to the hospital. It’s not far.”
Wheels. Hospital. They’d have to hurry. “I’ll try, but you better make sure nothing happens to that girl. Promise me.”
She shrugged at Jack—hell, it was worth a shot.
“I don’t know, Lin. Everything’s a mess. I thought it would help her, but…” More cryptic sounds in the background. Was that another voice, a woman’s? Tina strained to hear. “I gotta go,” he said, and the call ended.
Mindful of the tracking, Tina quickly turned it off.
Jack was on his feet now, gripping the metal frame of the open hatch. “We have to find her. That guy’s a loose cannon.” Panic vibrated through his voice.
“Hey, hey.” She put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “I don’t think he’ll go against Celine, and I just told him not to hurt Jessie. She’s the dominant one.”
