Damn, she was observant.“They’re in my truck.I wasn’t sure what I needed so I wanted to scope it out first.”Barry looked up at the hotel.“Progress looks about where it was last time I was here.”
Annabelle’s face pinched into a grimace.“Don’t remind me.It will take a miracle to get things ready for the grand opening in three months.”
“Have there been any reservations yet?”
“Oh yes,” Annabelle replied, not sounding happy about it.“Somehow I’ll have to figure it out.”
“I still say you’re too good for him and should get your due credit.”He had told her that at their dinner meeting too.
Annabelle smiled ruefully.“Well, I appreciate you saying that.”
“Well, I won’t keep you.I’m sure you have a million things to do, as do I,” Barry commented, ready to leave the premises.
“I do.See you around, Sean.Maybe we can have dinner again soon.I had a lot of fun.”
“Me too.I’ll check my schedule and let you know.”Barry nodded and walked around her down the pathway toward the main road.As soon as he was far enough away from the hotel entrance, he jogged to his car.Barry didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until he was inside the car.That had been close.Too close.
He started the car and put it in drive, ready to get back to the hotel and go through the data he’d pulled, hoping there was something incriminating on it.
Chapter 33
Mac was practically bouncing on her feet by the time Burt pulled the boat up to the dock.She was eager to learn what Barry had found on Miles’s computer, if he’d even gotten in.
No, she shouldn’t doubt him.Barry had broken into the hotel once; she had no doubt he could do so again.This was the sort of the thing he was trained to do; she had to have confidence in his ability.
“Someone is eager to get to dry land,” Julie remarked, coming to stand next to her.“Does a man named Barry have anything to do with that?”she asked, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.
“No.”Yes.“I’m excited to put our new data into the computer.”They’d found a whole new area of sharks.Twelve in all and three different species.Some were even ones she recognized.They tagged and recorded all of the new ones they found.Mac was thrilled to start finding them again; she just wished she knew why they had left the cove.
She also wished she knew what had happened to the other sharks.The ones originally tagged that had just disappeared.Mac periodically checked the tracers, but they were still dead.She didn’t know why she thought they would just magically turn back on.
Mac kept hoping she would see those sharks again.Maybe they were still out there.If she found others that frequented the area, maybe she could find more.
“You can lie to me, but you can’t lie to yourself.”
“Fine, I’m excited to see him.”
“Ah, love.”
“No, lust,” Mac quickly corrected.She was not in love with Barry.Like, yes.Desire, absolutely.Love, no way.“I only love sharks.”
“That’s a cold company to keep.”
Mac rolled her eyes at Julie’s bad joke because sharks were cold-blooded.“I prefer sharks to people.”
“Maybe you haven’t met the right people.Or, that’s your excuse to guard your heart.”
Mac didn’t like how Julie was hitting so close to the mark.“Need I remind you, you are my associate and not my therapist.”
Julie reared back, not in anger but joy.“And now she’s defensive.”
“Julie,” Mac said in a warning tone.She was not going to get into a conversation with Julie about Barry and her feelings.
“I’ll say no more.”Julie held up her hands in surrender.
Burt cut the engine, and Monte and the other crew members moved to rope the pier and started looping the excess rope around the wrung on the boat to anchor them.
“We’ve got things from here if you want to go,” Julie offered.
