"Yes, I’m fine."
The transmission slid smoothly into reverse. I began winding the winch handle. I hoped the anchor would hold. Gently, I pushed the throttle up. The prop started churning again.
I cranked the winch, then eased the throttle up a little more. The prop churned.
Then, with a little sucking noise, we came free, the boat rocking slightly. As I throttled down and put the boat into idle, I kept cranking to keep the slack out of the way. The last thing we needed now was to foul the prop with the anchor line. Once we’d backed all the way out of the mud, I called to Alex. He puttered forward in the dinghy.
I unwound the anchor line. "Would you bring up the anchor?"
While Alex was hauling in the anchor, which from sound of his cursing wasn’t coming up easily, I moved the boat into the center of the channel and put it into forward gear with just enough power to keep us from drifting. I waited while Alex offered up one last very poetic comment, followed by a satisfied shout when the anchor finally came free. He put the anchor carefully into the bottom of the dink and headed my way.
"I didn’t know you knew some of those words," I said after he got the dinghy tied off.
"I only use them on special occasions. Man, that was hard to get out of the mud." He handed me the anchor, and I hung it back in its place on the stern. He climbed aboard, and I relaxed a little, knowing that he was back safe.
"Thanks, Alex. And, sorry, again."
"Happens to everyone, Shelby. It was good practice for me." Despite the exertion of hauling in the stubborn anchor, Alex seemed cheerful, almost exuberant.
"You seem awfully happy for someone in our situation."
He gave me a quick hug. "To tell you the truth, Shelby, I'm kind of enjoying this. Usually, I'm in the background, taking pictures of everything that's happening around me. Now I'm living it, instead of being a bystander. It's a new feeling. And I like it." He grinned.
I hugged him back, grinning myself. "That's the spirit."
He laughed and said, "Are you ready for me to head back up to the bow?"
"Yes."
I waited until he was in place, and then put the boat into gear. We moved forward again. The little voice, which had piped down during the grounding, had started up again. Hurry hurry hurry. But this time I resisted the urge to push the throttle up.
The hours passed, the two of us taking turns at the wheel and at the bow. I checked my cell phone obsessively. No signal.
Eventually, the fog began to dissipate, transforming back into a lighter mist. I could now see the shoreline, the stark trees standing out dark against the swirling gray and giving me a sense of our passage. The claustrophobic feeling began to ease as the night began to release its hold on the swamp.
It was my turn at the bow, just as dawn was breaking. So I was the one who saw it.
Something orange, floating in the water.
Chapter 19
I yelled at Alex to slow down. Glancing back, I could see him craning to see what was going on. In the dim gray light, I couldn’t quite make out what was in the water. Finally, after staring hard, I realized the orange thing was a life jacket. With a person in it.
"Oh my God!" Alex said.
"Stop the boat! I’m going to drop the anchor."
The noise of the diesel lessened as he throttled down, then the boat shuddered as he put it into reverse, bringing the boat to a stop while I dropped the anchor.
"Grab the boat hook!" I called, as Alex began making his way forward.
Alex ran to the side deck where the boat hook hung, then brought it back to me.
The boat drifted slowly toward the lifejacket, which turned in the current, spinning the person toward me.
Duke.
He looked half-drowned. I yelled to him, "Duke! Duke!"
His eyes opened slowly, while his head flopped backward onto the neck padding of the lifejacket.
"Shelby?" he said, his voice so feeble I could hardly hear him. "Is that you?"
"Yeah. We’re going to get you out of there, okay? Grab the boat hook." I held the boat hook out to him.
"Can’t."
"Yes, you can. Try, Duke."
"No, I can’t. Johnny tied my hands to my feet, and then tied me to an anchor. I can’t move."
Stunned, I tried to imagine the casual cruelty that would make someone do something like that.
"Listen. We’ll come get you in the dinghy. Just hold tight."
"Okay, Shelby."
We climbed into the dinghy and headed toward Duke, who bobbed patiently in the water while he waited. I pulled up the anchor while Alex held onto the Duke’s lifejacket. The anchor was probably twenty-five pounds, far too big for Duke to drag even if he were free to swim. Together, Alex and I lifted him into the dinghy, because we couldn’t get to the ropes that bound him. Even in the dink, he flopped awkwardly, the rope binding his hands and feet forcing him into an unnatural backbend. Alex cut the rope, and Duke relaxed with a large sigh of relief. His hands were trembling too much for him to untie his lifejacket. Alex did it for him, then helped him to sit up a little. Duke leaned his head against the seat and looked at the sky while the dinghy made its way back to Thief of Time.
Duke’s arms and legs were still numb from being tied so long, and it took the combined efforts of both us to get him aboard the boat. Finally, we managed to get him seated in the cockpit, where he slumped, his eyes closed, while he tried to rub some feeling back into his limbs.
"Let’s get underway," I said. "Alex, can you take the helm?" It was full daylight now, the mist burned away, so no one needed to be in the bow.
"Sure."
"I’ll go haul up the anchor."
After I pulled in the anchor, Alex put the boat into gear, and we began moving forward.
"I’m going to get everyone something to eat," I said. "Duke, do you think you could go below to get changed into some dry clothes?"
He eyed the companionway steps doubtfully. "Maybe in a little while. If I could just have a towel or somethin right now, that’d be just fine."
Going below, I grabbed a few towels and passed them up to Alex, who helped Duke wrap them around himself. I made some coffee in the little stovetop percolator instead of using instant, then poured out three cups, handing two up to the guys. I took a sip of my own and winced. Sometimes, I make terrible coffee. Today it was downright nasty. Glancing up, I saw Alex take a drink of his and try to stifle the shudder.
"How about some cream and sugar?" I asked.
"Ah, yes, that would help—that would be great," Alex said. I gave them cream, sugar, and spoons, and then started to work on breakfast. I figured we could all use something warm, so I made oatmeal, topped with fresh blueberries. Judging by the little moans of contentment, it was the right call.
After breakfast, Duke went below for a few minutes, returning in some dry clothes of Nathan’s. They were far too big and made him look even smaller than he was.
"I want to thank you all for savin me," he said, his tone of voice very formal. "You didn’t have to, but it means a lot to me that you did."
"Why don’t you tell us what happened, after you and Rumbar left?"
"Well, we were movin along, and I guess Johnny got to thinkin. I guess he finally realized that you weren’t as full of alcohol as he thought. So he made me tell him what I did. You know, givin you water instead of tequila."
"Thanks for doing that. And for not telling him I was on the boat."
"I never wanted to do them things, Shelby. But they made me. Johnny and Ivan. The things they did to me when we was kids, they was just nothin but mean. And they threatened me, to make me help them with you. They both did."
"Who is Ivan?"
"Ivan’s my other cousin. One of the other cousins I used to go boating with."
"Another of Johnny’s brothers?"
"No, just a cousin. His dad is my mom’s brother, just like Johnny’s dad. Ivan was with Johnny when Johnny shot Eric. Anyway, Johnny realized I’d been
helpin you. It made him real mad. I was so scared. I could tell he was fixin to do something awful. You saw what he finally did. He said he figured it gave me just about as much chance as you had of livin through the night. He laughed when he said a boat might hit me in the dark. I was so scared, Shelby. I thought if I didn’t get hit by a boat, somethin would eat me, or I would drown, or somethin else awful."
"How did all this come about? How did you end up in Elizabeth City?"
"Well, I was actually already there. I cruise up and down this coast along here quite a bit. I was docked at another marina. That’s the only reason Ivan called me."
"Ivan?"
"Yeah. After Johnny got arrested, he called Ivan. His one phone call, you know. Ivan started doing some nosing around, read about you in some article on the computer. He came to visit me." Duke shivered. "He told me since I was already so close, I just needed to go over to the dock where you was and tie up next you, like I just got there."
"What for?"
"Why, to keep an eye on you. Find out what you was goin to do and where you was goin to go. And see if the police came by. Stuff like that. Then I would tell Ivan. Ivan didn't want to watch you himself, just in case you saw him after all, that night. He didn't think you saw him cause he never heard nothin about it, his description or nothin, but he wasn't sure. Honestly, Shelby, Ivan probably woulda left you alone, if it was up to him, and just disappeared. It was Johnny who was so anxious to find you. Course, you didn't know what Ivan looked like, so maybe that was the difference. But Ivan didn't mind helpin Johnny look for you, I guess. He likes trouble, so it was fun for him. Anyway, I knew Ivan was gonna bust Johnny out. And then they wanted to come find you. I swear, Shelby, I wanted to believe it was just so they could scare you. I never really wanted to think Johnny would hurt you, or nothin."
Slowly, I said, "So that’s what you meant when you said everything would be all right. That day, on the dock, during the party."
"Yeah, I just kept thinkin that Johnny wouldn’t really hurt you. But now, you know, deep down, I guess I always knew what he meant to do. I just didn’t want to think it would really happen."
Again, he said, "I was just so scared, Shelby."
He started to cry then, sliding down onto the floor of the cockpit, his shoulders hitching as he wept, the misery of a lifetime pouring out. Watching his thin body jerk with sobs, he seemed so defenseless and vulnerable.
"Duke," I said, helplessly.
He raised his face, his eyes already swollen and puffy from the tears.
"Listen. I understand about your cousins. About being afraid of them. I do." I was tuning up to launch into a However, You Still Made Bad Choices speech, but the wet brown eyes looked up at me, sorrowful, remorseful, and grateful. I swallowed down my recriminations and said instead, "I’ve met Cousin Johnny, remember?"
Duke gave a weak smile and said, sniffling, "I knew you was a good person, Shelby. I know it don’t make it right, what I did, helpin him and everything, but I was scared. They said…they said they’d kill me, if I didn’t help. And kill my mom. My mom! Their own aunt! But it don’t make it right. It don’t. And you don’t have to forgive me, or nothin. I don’t expect that. But I preciate that you ain’t…that you don’t…hate me…"
A fresh torrent of sobs shook him, and then next thing I knew, he’d scooted up to where I sat and wrapped his arms around my ankles, burying his face against my knees and weeping. I met Alex’s eyes, and he gave me a grin of embarrassment. Awkwardly, I patted the top of Duke’s head. Alex tactfully looked away, concentrating on steering the boat.
Duke cried into my knees for a while longer, but when the worst of it had passed, I gently liberated myself from his moist grasp. He leaned back, his breathing slowly calming as he wiped his eyes. "Sorry," he said. Now that the despair had been exorcised, he looked a little sheepish and even gave a few clicks, something I hadn’t heard from him lately. "I didn’t mean to cry like a little girl, or nothin. Thanks for not laughin at me."
Finally, Alex spoke. "Well, Duke, we can all see that you’re sorry for what happened, but what’s next? What are you planning on doing now? I mean, we can’t just let you go."
Duke goggled at him, and then said, "Why, I’m gonna turn myself into the police, is what." His tone of voice said, Well, duh. "I done wrong. I done wrong a lot over the years, but this…this was real wrong, if you know what I mean. I aided and abetted my stupid cousins. Shelby mighta…she mighta died because of what I was helpin them to do. I’m just so ashamed of myself. I’m gonna turn myself in."
There just didn’t seem to be a good way to answer that. Alex nodded and said, "Yeah, maybe that’s the best idea. The easiest way."
Then Duke brightened up. "And I know somethin! I know somethin that’ll help you, Shelby. And help the police. I know what Johnny’s plannin to do next. They’re gonna meet some guy on his trawler, him and Ivan, and that guy’s gonna take them to meet a cargo ship offshore. They’re headed out of the country. I’ll tell the police, and they can pick those bas—, uh, sorry, Shelby, those guys up. They’ll go to jail where they can’t hurt you no more. Or hurt nobody."
With this comforting thought in mind, we were all in good spirits a little while later when I finally got a cell signal. I called Detective Fairholm and talked to him for a long time. Eventually, I passed the phone to Duke, who repeated everything that he’d told us about Rumbar’s plans, adding in a few more details as the detective asked him questions. He wound up with, "Yep, yep. Sure, here she is."
He handed back the phone. "Detective?" I said.
"Shelby, I’m going to contact the police in Belhaven. They’ll send someone out to meet you as soon as they can. I’m going to head there myself. What are your plans for the day?"
"Uh, I hadn’t thought that far. Do you want us to stay in Belhaven?"
"If you don’t mind. I’ll need to go over everything again with you, get a full statement."
"Well, I think that would work for us. Just a second, okay?" I put the phone down and asked Alex, "Do you mind staying in Belhaven today? Probably overnight?"
"That sounds fine," Alex said. "It will give us a chance to catch up on our sleep."
I picked up the phone again. "Detective? Yes, no problem, we’ll stay in Belhaven overnight."
"Thank you. I’ll see you later today then. Be safe." He hung up.
A little while later, a police launch arrived. After a brief discussion, the officers took Duke aboard with them. He sat quietly in the launch, smiling a little and seeming relaxed, apparently relieved after all the pressure he’d been under. The police stayed with us until we got to Belhaven, where we anchored. We took the dinghy and followed them to the police station, where Detective Fairholm was waiting in a small meeting room.
"Hey, Shelby," he said, smiling briefly. He shook my hand. "Alex," he said, nodding to him as he shook his hand, then ushered us into chairs around the table.
"Well, Shelby, no offense, but I was hoping I wouldn’t see you again. Especially under these circumstances."
"Yeah, I know."
"You doing okay?"
I nodded. "I think so. I mean, I was scared—really scared—while they were there. But from what Duke said, Rumbar will be long gone by now, not looking for me anymore. And since you know where he’s going, you’ll be able to arrest him again soon, right?"
"We’re doing everything we can right now to make sure we nail him. Some ATF agents are looking too, on the gun running stuff. Now, I know you’ve already told me the basics, but I need to get a formal statement about what happened. Start from when you left Elizabeth City."
We went through the whole story again. I hadn’t gone into all the details when telling Alex earlier, and now he was making noises of shock and indignation on my behalf.
"Shelby, I didn’t know that they’d manhandled you so much," Alex said. "If I’d known that, I’m not sure I would have helped get Duke out of the water."
"About Duke," I said, hesitating. "Detective,
I’m not sure what protocol is. I know he’s committed a crime—"
"More than one."
"—committed crimes, but I heard what Rumbar said to him. Rumbar threatened to kill Duke if Duke didn’t help. He didn’t want to, and he tried to help me. Twice. First when he gave me water instead of more tequila, and second when he found me on the deck and didn’t tell Rumbar. I mean, he’s not evil, like Rumbar. I guess what I’m saying is that I know he should go to jail, but on his behalf, I don’t think it’s something he would have done without coercion."
"It’s something of a mitigating factor. But, Shelby, he knew all along that Rumbar was hunting you. I know he was under duress, but he had time to warn you or warn us, even anonymously, and he didn’t. He may have wanted to believe that Rumbar wouldn’t kill you, but I’m sure he knew it was a possibility, given Rumbar’s history."
I thought that over. "True enough."
Alex said, "Maybe a stretch in jail will toughen him up a little, make it so he’s not so susceptible to bad ideas next time."
Detective Fairholm shrugged. "Maybe."
"What about his mom?" Alex asked. "Duke said Rumbar threatened her too."
"We’ve already called her, as well as the police in her hometown. She’s being taken care of." His mouth twitched a little. "In the interests of professionalism, I probably shouldn’t tell you this. But I don’t think she’s as worried about the threat as Duke was. She said something about surviving childhood with her brothers, and not being worried about…let’s see, her exact words were, ‘What trash talk some young punk like my nephew Johnny might be saying.’" He grinned. "Okay, Shelby, is that everything?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Alex, you said you had problems with your dinghy. Tell me about that."
Alex nodded. "Well, when we got back, the engine wouldn’t start. I’m not too savvy about the mechanical parts of boating yet. I did what you might call the haphazard approach to troubleshooting. I checked the spark plug, but from what I could see, it looked all right. It took me a while to finally figure out that the wire was loose."
Telltale (Shelby Hope Book Two) (Shelby Hope Novels 2) Page 12
