It rang. And rang.
“This call is being forwarded to voicemail …”
“Shit,” I muttered. The jetty was up ahead, and I started jogging, my shoes pounding on the timbers. River’s footsteps thumped behind me, reverberating in my ears. I wasn’t sure I breathed as I raced up the gangplank, across the deck and down the stairs to the owner’s suite.
“Ri!” I called, tripping over a disgruntled Trinket as she tried to wind around my ankles. “Irina!”
“Help!” The voice, hoarse and reedy, came from somewhere beneath us.
“Who is that?” River asked. I surged towards the stairs that led to the lowest level of the yacht. Ri’s old bedroom, Lucian’s room and the crew quarters were all down there.
“It sounds like Parker,” I muttered. “That way.” I pointed to the door leading to the crew quarters before heading the other way downthe hall to the four guest bedrooms. Maybe Ri had fallen asleep on her old bed? She had looked a little tired and pale this morning.
“Holy—Henry, you need to get back here!” River shouted. My stomach dropped, and I turned away from Ri’s door, stumbling down the hall. I lurched to a halt at the doorway to the crew quarters. Parker’s ankles and wrists were bound behind him in a hogtie, and he was white as a ghost, his hair slicked to his scalp with sweat.
“What happened?” I demanded as River worked to untie him. My chest ached, like my lungs were in a vice. At the sound of my voice, a plaintive yowl erupted from under the bed. Abernathy emerged, shook himself until fur flew around the room, and darted off. “Where’s Ri?”
“Sh-she told me to bring Abernathy down here,” Parker rasped as River managed to free his wrists. “But some guy was waiting … with a gun … she tied me up. Can I get some water?”
River rushed to the sink in the small galley. I held tight to the door frame, my legs feeling like they might not hold me up. “Who? Who tied you up?” I demanded.
“Josie.” He coughed, and River handed him the water. He drank greedily. I turned and raced back to the closed door to Ri’s old room, shoving it open.
She wasn’t there. The room was empty, the only sign anyone had been there was a small wooden box in the centre of the bed.
No! No, no, no, no, no …
I doubled over, my hands braced on my knees as I sucked in hissing breaths. Squeezing rhythmically. Relief that I hadn’t opened the door to a murder scene warred with blinding panic. Someone had come for her.
What if they planned to hurt her?
Don’t fall apart. Don’t break down. She needs you.
Josie. She’d known of the plan to come to Staghorn before anyone else. She’d overseen supply runs to the island.
She could have filled the island with people who wished Ri harm, and we would have been none the wiser.
Fuck. I’d been a trusting fool.
Don’t panic, Henry. This is just another problem. You fix problems.
I tried to focus only on the facts. My wife was missing. An unknown man with a gun had been on board my yacht.
The captain of my yacht had betrayed me.
Parker was my only lead right now. I needed answers. I needed to move. To act! If he couldn’t give me a starting point on what to do, where to look …
A buzzing sound from the bed caught my attention. Something was vibrating under the wooden box.
Ri’s phone.
I lunged for it, noting the name Stefan on the screen. Her cousin. Damn it. She was worried about her family tracking her down, dragging her home. Was that what had happened?
I answered the call.
“Where is she?” I growled.
“Who is … oh, are you the husband?” a thickly accented male voice answered.
