ABBY’S NERVES WERE TIGHT when she and Mary went to church the next morning. Today was the day. When would Gamino call? Would the weather turn bad and prevent him from coming? Could she pull off a successful exchange? But by the time they emerged from the church she’d relaxed.
The earlier blustery wind had calmed, but Abby knew it wasn't just the better weather that had calmed her nerves. Many people had inquired about Finnegan, offering sympathy and hope. Rev. Hale had even included Finnegan in his prayers for the day.
But mostly, Abby knew, her calm came from knowing they could trust in the Lord with this as in everything. As Hebrews 13:5 promised, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Mary, too, seemed serene after the service. “I think I’ll have Finnegan back by tonight,” she whispered confidently on the way down the ramp at the church.
Abby briefly wondered what would happen if things went wrong and somehow they didn’t get Finnegan back, but she didn't dwell on it.
George and Ellen invited them over for dinner, but Abby and Mary exchanged quick glances and Mary declined for both of them. They needed to be home whenever Gamino decided to make that all-important call.
Their father looked curious, but he trusted them and asked no questions.
They were home by 12:30. Much too early for a call, Abby was fairly certain. But she didn't want to get far from a phone anyway.
The clock showed 2:30, 3:30, 4:30. At 5:03, the phone rang. But it was Henry, tersely wanting to know if they’d tried to call him and hadn't been able to reach him.
“No, we’re still waiting to hear from him.”
“Okay.”
Henry closed the connection abruptly. He knew the line had to be kept open. Gamino was definitely going to cut it close, Abby realized, as the minutes inched by. At 5:58, the phone rang again.
“Abby Stanton speaking,” she said curtly.
He didn't bother to identify himself. “Okay, you know where Paradise Cove is?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve got the necklace?”
Abby took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“Okay. Seven o’clock. The dock at Paradise Cove.”
Gamino had chosen well, Abby knew. Paradise Cove had only tent camping, no recreational vehicles, so at this time of year it was undoubtedly empty. The road ended a few hundred feet from the dock, so he knew she’d have to be on foot. He figured he could make a quick getaway and be miles from the island in minutes. He had it all planned.
“That doesn't give me much time—”
“You’d better hurry, then. Blink your flashlight on and off three times when you reach the dock so I’ll know it's you.”
“Three times,” Abby echoed.
“And no cops. You got that? No cops. I see a cop and everything's off.”
No good-bye, but the conversation was over. Time for action. Abby punched in Henry's cell phone number.
“Paradise Cove,” she said crisply. “Seven o’clock. I’m supposed to signal him with three off-and-on blinks of the flashlight when I arrive.”
“Okay. We’ll get over there right now and hide behind the rocks on the north side of the Cove. You make your trade. As soon as you have Finnegan in your possession, you wave the flashlight and we’ll come in like gangbusters.”
Abby felt a tap on her arm. She glanced at her sister, who’d wheeled up close beside her.
“One more thing,” Mary said. “I’m coming along.”
“No, you can't do that!” Abby gasped. “No way!”
“What's that?” Henry asked, and Abby realized she’d spoken into the phone.
“Hold on a minute,” she said to Henry. She put her hand over the phone. “Mary, you can't come with me. The whole idea is . . . preposterous. It's out of the question. Impossible.”
“Yes, I can come. The guy said ‘no cops.’ He didn't say ‘no sister.’”
“Maybe he didn't say it, but I’m sure he meant it. No anybody. He wants me to come alone. I don't think this is a time to argue semantics.”
“Is that the only reason you don't want me along?” Mary challenged. “Or is it because I’m in a wheelchair and you think I’d be more liability than help?”
Abby uneasily examined her objections to her sister's presence. “The road doesn't go quite all the way. There's only a trail for the last couple hundred feet or so to the dock.”
“But it's an easy trail.” Mary argued. “The church had a picnic out there a couple of years ago, and I remember women there with baby strollers. And aren't you the one who tells me I shouldn't let a wheelchair limit my activities? That I can do whatever I make up my mind to do?”
Abby groaned inwardly. What a time to have her words tossed back to her.
“Abby, what's going on?” Henry asked in her ear. “Is something wrong?”
“Something else,” Mary said. “Your arm. It's in a cast, in case you’ve forgotten. And that does put certain limitations on what you can do. But both my arms work fine.” Mary waved her arms—strong from using the wheelchair—over her head. “And your legs work fine.”
Abby couldn't help smiling. “So you’re saying that we both have our limitations, but between us we have two good legs and two good arms?”
“Three, actually. Two good legs and three good arms.” Mary took her sister's free hand. “Please, Abby? I want to be there to do whatever I can. For you. For Finnegan.”
Abby looked at her sister for a long moment, then took her hand off the phone. “Henry, Mary wants to come along.”
The noises coming across the line sounded like ricocheting popcorn. Finally they turned into comprehensible words. “No. Absolutely not.”
Abby took another look at her sister. She’d much rather Mary stayed safely at home. She’d a thousand times rather Mary stayed at home. But she also knew Mary needed to do this for her own sense of worth and her love for Finnegan.
“I think she should come along, Henry,” Abby said quietly into the phone. “It's important.”
There was a moment of hesitation until Henry finally said gruffly. “We haven't time to argue about it. Just be careful. Both of you. And call me again when you reach the parking lot.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
MARY PARKED THE VAN in the empty parking area at the end of the road. The dense forest swallowed the headlight beams like some black hole in space.
“Well, here we are,” Mary said. She sounded a little uncertain.
“I have to call Henry.”
Mary dug the cell phone out of the embroidered denim bag hanging on her wheelchair and handed it to Abby. Abby punched in the numbers. Henry answered with a terse, “Yes?”
“We’re here. You’re all set?” Abby asked.
“All in place and ready to go. You okay?”
“We’re fine.” Except for the fact that her heart felt as if it might pound right through her chest, like some pendulum gone berserk. In the bank, she hadn't had time to panic. She’d just acted on reflex to clobber her assailant. But she had plenty of time to panic now. Lord, keep me calm. Be with us. Watch over us. Keep Mary safe! Guide us in what to do. Amen.
“Okay. Be careful.”
Abby handed the phone back to Mary. Making one last effort she said, “There's no need for you to go any farther. I appreciate your coming, but I think it would be safer if—”
“If I let you go off and leave me behind just when the excitement's about to start? No way!” Mary expertly moved the wheelchair from its position behind the steering wheel to the exit lift.
Abby glanced at the red numbers of the digital clock on the dashboard. Plenty of time to get to the dock. But no time to waste. She pulled the blue stocking cap she’d brought down over her ears.
Five minutes later, they were on the trail. Abby carried the heavy-duty, square flashlight. Mary had another smaller flashlight in the denim bag. Extra batteries for both flashlights were also stashed in the bag. They moved along the trail without speaking, the only sound the whisper of the wheels. The f
orest seemed eerily silent.
Out in the parking area, shifting clouds had flirted with the half-moon and stars, but here on the short trail, under a heavy canopy of branches, only the beam of the flashlight kept the darkness at bay.
Old fir and pine needles padded the trail, but the going was apparently harder than Mary had expected. Exposed roots crossed the trail in places, and she grunted with the effort of getting over them, her sister unable to push her because of the cast.
Abby didn't look at her watch while they were on the trail. It seemed as if the trip was taking much too long. But when they broke into the narrow, grassy clearing around the end of the cove and she did peer at her watch, she was surprised to find they had several minutes to spare. A cloud slid away from the moon and its silvery light revealed a white boat bobbing gently in the calm waters of the Cove.
“That must be him,” Mary breathed. “Do you think he really has Finnegan with him?”
“We’ll know in a few minutes.”
Abby peered toward the picnic and camping area back in the trees. The tables and fireplaces were hidden in the shadows, not visible now. She hadn't expected anyone would be camped there now and she was relieved to find this was true. They didn't need an audience.
When they reached the dock, Abby carefully lifted the flashlight and made three slow and distinct off-and-on clicks with the switch.
By now the moon had disappeared behind another cloud, and the indistinct shape of the boat looked ghostly as it slowly moved toward the dock in response to the signal. The engine sounded unnaturally loud in the silence of the cove.
Abby picked a cautious path along the dock. Mary wheeled alongside her, the wheelchair making scraping noises on the wood. The tide was out, the water lapping gently at the pilings supporting the dock.
The dock shuddered lightly when the boat crunched into it. Either Gamino wasn't the most expert of boat operators or he was as nervous as they were. Abby wanted to shine her flashlight directly on the boat and see if she could spot Finnegan, but she didn't know how Gamino might react, so she aimed the beam near her feet and kept going.
“I’m going to get my flashlight out too, just in case,” Mary whispered.
“Don't turn it on yet,” Abby whispered back. “I want to tell him who you are, so he won't do something drastic when he sees there's someone other than just me.”
A verse popped into her head from Psalms. She whispered it for Mary's benefit too. “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
And Mary instantly came back with another verse from Psalms. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him.”
“We’re in good hands,” Abby whispered.
The boat, Abby could see as they moved farther out on the dock, was perhaps eighteen or twenty feet long. A canvas top covered the front section, shadowing everything within, but the back end was open. A rope had been tossed loosely around a metal cleat on the dock, but the engine was still idling, apparently poised for a fast getaway. Water bubbled up from the engine at the stern.
“We . . . we’re here.” Abby heard her voice come out in a hoarse croak as she called to Gamino. Hastily, before he could jump to some dangerous conclusion, she added, “My sister came along. She's very anxious to get her dog back.”
“I . . . I’ve missed him very much,” Mary added.
A commotion unexpectedly erupted from within the boat. Something was flailing around in there. Then a bark sounded, sharp and clear. Finnegan! Finnegan reacting frantically to the sound of familiar voices.
“Get down!” a voice commanded.
Abby knew Finnegan must be tied inside the boat or he’d have jumped out to get to Mary.
“Let's get this over with,” the man growled. He stepped into the open section of the boat. A shifting flicker of moonlight exposed his muscular figure in dark clothes. He matched the description Bobby had given of the man at the door.
Moonlight glinted on something in his hands. A gun.
“Gimme the necklace,” he commanded.
Abby had the box in her hands. The silver stripes on the box in which they’d packed it also glinted in the moonlight. The barrel of the gun targeted on her midsection made her knees go jellyfish weak, but she held firm. “No. We want the dog first.”
“You’re not getting the dog till I get the necklace. Take it or leave it.” In a halfway conciliatory tone he added, “I’ve got no reason to keep the dog once I get the necklace. You’ll get him.”
Abby didn't trust him, but she had no choice. She stepped closer to the boat and reached across the narrow expanse of water between dock and boat to hand the box to him.
He reached for it, gun still in his other hand and still pointed at her. Finnegan went into a frenzy, jumping and barking. Abby stretched her good arm as far as she could to get the box to Gamino. His hand touched it, but a jiggle of the boat turned the touch into a bump instead of a grab.
They both looked down as the box splashed into the water.
“You dropped it!”
Abby thought she could argue the point with him. You dropped it. But at the moment the distinction didn't matter, because the box and necklace were gone, down there in the water somewhere. She and Gamino both stood there peering into the dark water, as if neither of them could quite believe what had just happened.
Behind her she heard Mary whisper frantically, “What's going on? What happened?”
Abby didn't take time to explain. “Look, just give us the dog,” she said to Gamino. She tried desperately to think of some persuasive reason he should do that, but all she could come up with was, “You can find the necklace later, in the daylight. No point in your keeping the dog until then.”
“No. You’re gonna find the necklace. Now.”
Abby stared at him, as much bewildered as frightened. She glanced down at the dark water, then back up at him. “There's no way I can find—”
“If you want the dog, you’re gonna find it.”
Abby couldn't believe what she was hearing. “This is preposterous. I won't be able to see down there in the water! I can't possibly find the necklace.”
“I’ve got a waterproof flashlight here somewhere.” He turned back into the boat and rummaged around. A moment later a light flicked on as he tested whether the flashlight was working. In the brief flash Abby saw Finnegan. He’d managed to jump into the operator's seat behind the steering wheel, not barking now but still frantically pulling and twisting on the rope that tied him.
The light went out and Gamino stepped out of the boat and onto the dock. Abby handed her flashlight to Mary and accepted the other flashlight Gamino held out to her. She wondered if Henry and Deputy Niven were puzzled by this strange movement of lights. Don't come roaring in now, she begged silently. With the gun in his hand, no telling how Gamino would react if they did.
Gamino motioned with the gun. “Get going.”
Abby looked down at the dark water. She saw no way this could work, but she hadn't much choice. She momentarily thought about taking off her shoes so they wouldn't weigh her down, but then decided she’d need them to walk around in the water. The bottom of the cove was rough and rocky.
She headed along the dock back toward shore. The water would be shallower there, and she could work her way out to where the box had plunged into the water, though it was surely over her head there. Maybe she would have to take off her shoes.
At the end of the dock she waded in. At the halfway point she expected the water to swallow her up, but it was only waist deep. She should be glad the tide was out, she realized. If it weren’t, she’d be in over her head right here. But it was cold, so cold. She’d be numb within minutes.
“Quit wasting time,” Gamino muttered.
As if this were some refreshing seaside dip and she was taking time to enjoy it!
She pushed the waterproof flashlight underwater and turned it on. Yes, she could see the rocks around her feet on the bottom here. Maybe, just maybe, if the wate
r wasn't too deep out where the box had fallen in…
She edged forward, holding the flashlight in her one good hand. She tried to hold her cast above the water, but it was useless. The waves were mild here compared to the open coastline, but still they sloshed over her chest and almost threatened to knock her off her feet.
Mary, apparently unable to be quiet any longer, cried out. “Abby, be careful!”
The anguish in Mary's voice sent Finnegan into a fresh storm of leaping and barking.
And then, the engine changed pitch and the boat started moving. Abby looked up in astonishment to see the rope spin around the metal cleat and then fly into the air. How could that be? Gamino was still on the dock. What was happening? Who was operating the boat?
“Hey!” Gamino yelped. He stood frozen for a moment, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, then thundered toward the boat. “Stop—”
The boat was sliding away from the dock now. Gamino lunged for it and skidded on the boards. He threw out his hands as he hit the end of the dock, but it was too late to stop his momentum.
Abby heard the heavy splash even over the sound of the boat engine. It sounded like a cannonball hitting the water.
Mary's wheelchair suddenly shot forward. Abby thought it was going over the edge of the dock too, but Mary somehow braked it. She leaned over and grabbed something off the dock.
Abby floundered back to shallower water and managed to scramble out and onto the dock. She stared in astonishment at the boat now making a lazy circle out in the center of the cove. Splashes and yells rose from the water beyond the end of the dock. Abby looked at Mary and gasped when she saw what was now in Mary's hand. The gun!
“I’m drowning!” Gamino yelled, splashing furiously. “The water's over my head here! Help!”
“You’re not drowning,” Mary said calmly. “Grab hold of the piling under the dock. But you can't come up here. I have the gun.”
Abby wasn't certain Mary knew how to use the gun, but it was also obvious that Gamino wasn't certain she didn’t know how to use it. She looked over the end of the dock and saw him glowering up at them, one arm wrapped around a piling.
The Blue Moon Page 20
