Again, touching.
She heard herself say, “It doesn’t sound crazy at all.”
“Sol, the attorney, didn’t explain how you got ownership of the mooring.”
“That’s a long story.”
Another pause, then, “I understand you used to skipper this craft. In better days.”
“That’s right.”
“You’re welcome to come down, have a look. But I have to warn you, what they did to her is tragic. Of course, that’s the only way I could afford to buy her.”
She liked that too. How he was taking it personal. How the boat was still, well, real. Even now. “I’ll have to think about that. And the mooring.”
* * *
Wednesday morning at nine, Jenna appeared in Sol’s office and endured the good man’s summary of all the papers awaiting her signature in the smaller conference room. She ignored his news about the Vicenza clan. She signed for what felt like hours. When she was done, Jenna watched him sort and file the papers and said, “The boat’s new owner called. Noah somebody.”
“Hearst. Noah Hearst. Yes, he told me. Noah has taken me on as attorney for his affairs.”
“Thank you for not telling him how I came to own the mooring.”
“It’s none of his business, really.” That much had proceeded as Dino Vicenza had requested. Sale of a pier and parking area and deep-water mooring, first to Sol and then her, for yet another bargain-basement price of one dollar. “Noah said he’d invited you up.”
“I haven’t made up my mind. Part of me wants to leave it all in the past. But the thing is, I’d like to see for myself. You know. That the boat really is . . .”
“An utter ruin,” Sol confirmed. “I wondered about that too. So I had another word with one of the Morro Bay salvage operators who lost out at the auction. He wasn’t the least bit sorry not to have won the bid. You understand what that means?”
“The salvage operation would be more trouble than it’s worth.”
“His name is Wallace Myers. He was really after the engines, which have less than a thousand hours’ running time, if the books are correct.”
“They are. I saw to that personally.”
“Then they could probably be flushed out, the electrics replaced, and resold. Wallace stopped bidding when the price rose above their value. Noah hired him to haul the boat up your way, which gave him a chance to study the boat a second time. According to Wallace, there really isn’t much left intact.”
“Noah mentioned something about renting a home with a barn.”
“A farming valley outside Miramar,” Sol confirmed. “Near his brother’s home.”
“The sheriff.”
“Right. The salvage operator hired a construction winch, the kind you see lifting goods up high-rise building sites. They’ve resettled the boat sort of half in and half out of this open-sided barn.”
Jenna decided she had heard enough. “If he asks, tell him I haven’t decided about the mooring. But if I do sell, he’s first on my list.”
Sol accompanied her to the front lobby, shook her hand, and said, “It’s probably best if you don’t go. No need to see what they did to that lovely boat.”
CHAPTER6
In the end, though, Jenna couldn’t stay away.
Noah’s directions were clear enough. Eleven miles south of Miramar, Jenna left the San Lu highway and headed inland. The county road was ribbed and veined with old repairs. The hills closed in, and the road curved through several tight valleys whose sides were still scarred by the previous winter’s fire. Through her open window, she smelled the vague hint of old ashes. Despite the day’s rising heat, she shivered. Jenna was very glad indeed she had not been around to share in the town’s fearful Christmas.
When she was on assignment, Jenna could go days without connection to the outside world. Weeks, in some cases. It was only now, driving along a sunlit road, that she felt a hint of what the town must have endured.
A ranch-style fencing began where the hills retreated and a broad, spoon-shaped valley opened up. A carved wooden sign by the tall gates read,THREE OAKS. She turned onto the narrow road and drove past simple country houses erected on broad stretches of grass and cottonwoods and the occasional oak tree. To her right, a tractor pulled a farm-size mower over an empty lot sproutingFOR SALEandBUILD TO SUITsigns. Beyond the flatland, the hill was crested by a dark streak, jagged and ugly, where the fire had tried to invade the lowlands. Jenna shivered again.
