Missing Person

by Matt Lincoln

  “Fine,” Graham said dismissively, already turning her attention back to Cal’s computers, and I hurried back up the stairs.

  Rachel was waiting for me in the middle of the floor, a lightweight white jacket on over her dark blouse, the straps of her purse looped over one arm. I patted my pockets to make sure I had everything I needed, and we headed for the door to the parking lot.

  “I’ll drive,” I said as we stepped out into the sun. I took the sunglasses from my jacket pocket and slipped them on my face. The humidity had tired itself out after yesterday’s post-storm marathon, and today was almost a little cool. It was a welcome change, in my opinion, since, for once, I didn’t start sweating the moment I walked out the door.

  I unlocked the car, reaching through the interior to let Rachel in since I didn’t have electronic locks, and I rolled down the windows after I started the engine, wanting to take advantage of the cooler air as much as I could. There were a lot of people out and about enjoying the weather, and the restaurant patios were booming, practically spilling over with the lunch rush. I spotted buskers on nearly every other corner, pouring music up and down the streets, and I turned down the radio so I could better hear the moving tapestry of notes.

  Rachel’s leg bounced endlessly as she stared out the window, chewing on her nails. The thoughts buzzing around in her head were practically a physical cloud around her ears, though I couldn’t read them no matter how hard I tried. There was something I should say, some comfort or idea that I should offer, but I was at a loss as to what that was. I watched her out of the corner of my eye, biting my lip.

  “What was the fight about?” I asked finally. “With Jack?” I didn’t know if it was any of my business, but I thought I’d at least try.

  Rachel glanced over at me. She finally realized that she’d been chewing on her nails and forced her hand down to her lap. “Oh, you know. This situation. My job. He says it’s my fault.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I said firmly as I took the car around a curve. “It’s Ward’s.”

  Rachel sighed. “My head knows that, maybe. But my heart… I’ll do whatever it takes, Jace. Whatever it takes.”

  I shot an alarmed look her way. We got a little too close to the car ahead of us while my attention was off the road, and I had to slam on the brakes, the car jerking against us. “You’re not still thinking about giving into Ward’s demands, are you?”

  “Whatever it takes,” Rachel ground out, each word its own separate sentence.

  I raised an eyebrow. “And what’s stopping Ward from demanding more and more from you? Who’s to say he’ll actually give Malia back? He’ll love having a high-ranking federal agent in his pocket, one he can manipulate into doing whatever he wants. He won’t give that leverage up.”

  Rachel’s jaw tightened. I was sure I was hitting on points she’d already thought for herself, but she needed to hear them aloud from another mouth. Maybe then they’d sink in.

  “I’m not having this conversation right now.”

  Or maybe not.

  I nodded and kept my mouth shut until we reached the largest marina on Lake Pontchartrain, where the Star Shine Cruise ship was set to come in. There was a dry dock by the access road, several sailboats hanging in the air by thick metal bars, and the water-bound docks stretched out in either direction, chock-full of vessels of all shapes and sizes. The sun was bright on the water, and the waves had calmed down considerably since yesterday’s storm. The lake was by no means placid, but it was playful rather than rowdy, and there were a lot of ships at full sail way out in the middle of the water.

  I parked at the back of the lot to stay out of the way until we figured out the best vantage points for our stakeout. There was a massive empty spot on the dock at the very far end of the marina—no doubt where the cruise ship would come in.

  Rachel and I climbed from the car, and I stretched, still a bit sore from yesterday’s adventures. I’d noticed a few nasty bruises in the mirror this morning from where I’d slammed into the dock or the hard edges of the boat, and it made for an interesting tableau across my skin. Hopefully, Rick Mann would agree to speak with us peaceably and not lead us on another wild romp around the marina.

  We had about an hour until we were set to meet Linda and Meg, so Rachel and I grabbed some sandwiches from the marina’s gift shop and took a slow lap around the area. The sandwich was somehow dry and soggy at the same time. I had no idea how it managed that, but it was terrible, and I barely got a third of the way through before I gave up and tossed the thing in the trash.

  The marina was quiet and friendly, though I knew the quiet part would change on a dime as soon as the cruise ship docked. The people on the boats, a lot of them on the older side, looked up as we passed to smile or offer a word or two of greeting, and several had soft music playing from their speakers that filled the quiet space between the boats. Water lapped against the hulls and the sides of the docks, and I found the sound soothing, like a white noise machine.

  Rachel sat down at the end of one of the docks and dangled her feet off the edge, so I lowered myself down beside her. There were only a few inches between my hanging toes and the water, and I was tempted to peel my shoes off and scoot forward until I could feel the cool kiss of the little waves.

  “Sorry for snapping at you earlier,” Rachel muttered.

  “It’s okay,” I assured her.

  She looked over at me for a moment. “I won’t say I’m not still considering it. I’ll do anything to get Malia back, and I really mean that, but we can call it a last resort. How about that?”

  “Whatever you want,” I shrugged. And I’d do whatever it took to make sure we didn’t reach that last resort point. Rachel wouldn’t want that on her conscience when all was said and done.

  My phone buzzed, and I dug it out of my pocket, careful to keep it well away from the edge of the dock and the water below. There was a text from Meg, saying that she and Linda had just arrived. They were a good fifteen minutes early, and I was briefly jealous of their ability to be somewhere ahead of time.

  I patted Rachel’s hand where it rested on the dock and then clambered to my feet. “They’re here.”

  Rachel wiped her eyes, her head tilted away from me, and then I helped her stand. We put the water to our backs and hurried back toward dry land, footsteps ringing dully on the wooden dock. I looked around for Linda and Meg as we entered the parking lot and founded them just a few spots down from my car, slamming their doors as they stepped out into the sun. They were dressed casually today, and it was a little odd seeing the two of them out of their Coast Guard uniforms.

  Linda wore black skinny jeans tucked into boots with just the slightest heel to them and a dark green jacket over a white button-up, a hint of a gold chain around her neck, her wavy hair free to tumble down over her shoulders. Meg looked like she was dressed to go on a run in dark gray leggings and sneakers, a loose-fitting tank top showing off the curve of her shoulder muscles. Her black hair was swept up into a partial bun on top of her head, the rest of it falling forward to frame her face.

  Meg beamed and waved when she spotted Rachel and me coming toward them. Linda’s greeting was a little more subdued, but there was real warmth in her eyes when she smiled at us.

  “Hey,” I said once we stood before them. “I’m glad you made it. The rest of our office is busy, so you’re really helping us out.”

  “No problem.” Linda lightly clasped Rachel’s arm for a moment and then let go, flipping a strand of hair out of her face as the wind tried to push it around. “Let’s check in with the harbormaster first. Get confirmation on the cruise ship’s itinerary, let him know what we’re doing, just in case there’s trouble.”

  Rachel and I nodded, and we followed Linda toward the building with the gift shop where we’d bought our terrible sandwiches. I shuddered to look at them, lying so innocently in their glass case. Linda glanced around, taking in the lay of the land, and then made a beeline toward the back of the building, i
gnoring the questioning inhalation of the man at the reception desk.

  Meg hurried after Linda without a second thought, but Rachel and I followed a little more hesitantly, wondering if we were allowed to be back there, away from the polished face that visitors were supposed to see. There wasn’t much to look at—just a narrow hallway lined with closed doors and a few boxes piled on the floor. I could hear the rattle of the air conditioner through the vents. Something needed repair.

  Linda stopped before a door marked “Harbormaster” and rapped on it with her knuckles. I heard someone shuffling around inside, and a few seconds later, a man yanked the door open to peer out at us. He didn’t really look how I expected a harbormaster to look. He didn’t have a beard or thick, salt and pepper hair. In fact, he seemed rather young for the position, his cheeks smooth and his eyes a little harried.

  He frowned at Linda, pursing his lips.

  “I know you,” he said. “How do I know you?”

  “I’m CO Linda Reyes with the Coast Guard,” Linda explained. “We met when I first transferred to town.” She turned her head and looked at Rachel and me as she explained. “I went around and introduced myself to all the harbormasters. Always smart to have a good working relationship with them. You never know when you might need their help.” She returned her attention to the harbormaster and smiled at him. “Like now. It was Quinn, right? Could we have a moment of your time?”

  “Sure, I guess. Come on in.” Quinn stepped back to let us into his cramped office. A large map of the lake hung behind his desk, but other than that, he’d eschewed the nautical theme completely. I was a little disappointed. I’d been hoping for some decorative webbing and maybe a fish or a wooden wheel or two. Instead, the walls were bare, and there was a bookshelf crammed with all the papers and books that wouldn’t fit on his desk.

  Quinn sat down and dumped three piles of paper onto the floor to make room so we could actually see each other across the desk. “Now, what can I do for you?”

  There were two chairs on the other side of the desk, claimed by Linda and Rachel while Meg and I stood behind our respective bosses with our hands folded behind our backs.

  Linda folded one leg over the other and leaned back in the chair. “We’re looking for some information on a cruise ship scheduled to dock here this afternoon.”

  “The Star Shine ship, right?” Quinn asked, and she nodded. He flipped through some of his papers, searching for the right information. “Let’s see. Set to dock at three p.m., in berth ten. That’s the one at the far end of the dock. It’s slated to stay for two days before it takes off again.”

  “Do you have the passenger manifest?” Linda asked. She was smart enough not to mention that we were looking for a specific person to avoid falling into the same trap that I had over the phone yesterday.

  “Two-hundred-sixty-three people on board, including the crew,” Quinn recited, and I could tell by craning my neck to get a look at the page that it held only the numbers, not an actual list of names. “What do you need with the Ocean’s Arm?”

  “Routine check-in,” Linda said easily. “Nothing to worry about.”

  “And you need four people for that?” Quinn asked, his eyes landing on each of us.

  Linda shrugged. “It’s a large ship.” She slapped her thighs and prepared to stand. “Well, thanks so much for the information. We’ll be hanging around the harbor for the next few hours, but we won’t get in anyone’s way. If you could have your people steer clear of us as well, that would be great.”

  “Not a problem,” Quinn said. He rose as Linda did and held out his hand. “Have a good inspection.”

  They shook, and Quinn walked us to his office door, shutting it behind us once we were all out in the hall.

  “Now we know what we’re working with,” Linda said as she led us briskly back toward the front of the building. “Two-hundred-sixty-three people is a lot to sort through, but we should be able to ignore anyone not in uniform. If he doesn’t come off the boat, I can get us on deck to talk to the captain and find him.”

  “How are we doing on time?” Rachel asked.

  The automatic doors opened to let us out into the sun, and Linda checked her watch as the wind played with her hair. “An hour. Plenty of time. Let’s pick our vantage points.”

  “I was thinking pairs. You and me, Meg and Jace,” Rachel suggested. She eyed the empty dock at the far end of the marina with such hunger in her eyes that the dark of her pupils would consume all the color in her irises.

  “Works for me,” Linda said while Meg nudged me with her elbow and winked. I turned slightly red but nodded, smiling at the proposition.

  The four of us started another circuit around the harbor, more purpose in our steps this time as we looked for the spots with the best views of the cruise ship’s dock. We decided that Meg and I would set up shop on the second dock, directly across from where the passengers would disembark, while Linda and Rachel would wait at the end of the first dock, watching everyone as they shuffled onto land. The hope was that my team would spot Rick Mann first and give Linda and Rachel a heads up, enabling them to move forward and catch Mann before he got to his transport. I’d already texted Linda and Meg his old mugshot, so they knew who they were looking for.

  “Call me as soon as you see him,” Rachel told me. “And then come meet up with us.”

  “You got it,” I said and felt my stomach squirm. I really, really hoped we’d get something out of this.

  Meg and I settled down onto a little bench on our assigned dock, and I watched Linda and Rachel walk off, headed for their own vantage point. I checked the time—still a half-hour to go. Compulsively, I pulled up Mann’s mugshot so I could look at it again, memorizing the features of his face.

  Meg leaned in so she could look, too, and I could feel the warmth coming off her, barely an inch of space between our arms.

  “Do you think we’ll find him?” she asked and took the phone from my hand so she could get a better look even though she had the exact same photo on her own device.

  “We have to,” I stated, looking up the dock again at where Linda and Rachel leaned against a tree just off to the side, chatting quietly together. “I’m worried what Rachel will do if we don’t. She’s walking a razor-edge right now. Understandably, but still. I worry.”

  “She’s lucky to have you,” Meg murmured.

  “We haven’t known each other all that long, but have you ever met people where it feels like you’ve known them forever like you were, I don’t know, fated to meet or something?” I shook my head, feeling a little foolish. “Sorry. That probably sounds silly.”

  “Not at all,” Meg assured me with a smile. “I know what you mean.”

  “What about you and Linda? Have you been working together long?” I asked.

  “About six months maybe,” Meg calculated. “I’ve already learned so much from her. I want to be just like her when I’m grown up.”

  I laughed. “Aren’t you already grown up?”

  “Are we ever really grown up?” Meg wondered, shrugging.

  “I suppose not,” I agreed. Malia would grow up a little faster than her peers after this, and that definitely wasn’t a good thing. I hoped she would be able to find some way back to being a child.

  Meg crossed her legs and tilted her knees toward mine, and we sat silently for a few minutes, ticking down the clock toward the cruise ship’s arrival. She had a very steady presence, like she’d always been there and always would be there, and I was glad for that since everything had been so wild and uncertain for so long. It was good to have something to hold on to.

  “So why the Coast Guard?” I asked her. There was a warm patch on the back of my head from where the sun was beating down on it, but the breeze of the water was a nice complement to it, pushing cool air across my skin.

  “Well, obviously, I had to go into some ocean-based profession, given my last name,” Meg said, and I tipped back my head and laughed. “My father sails, so we spent a lo
t of time on the water when I was a child. The Coast Guard felt like a natural move for me after school. Helps me feel like I’m still close to him, even if I can’t get home to see him very much.”

  “You’re close with your family?” I asked.

  “It’s really just my dad and me. My mom died when I was little.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, turning my head to look at her more fully. The sun highlighted the multiple shades of brown in her usually dark eyes, and strands of hair fluttered about her face, catching on her lips until she brushed them away again.

  “Thanks. I didn’t really know her all that well. I wish I had.” Meg smiled softly, which was a different look for her than the usual mischievous glint that held onto her features. I liked seeing both sides of her.

  “I’ve got a lot of family,” I told her. “There are my parents, me, my three siblings, and then most of the extended family on my mom’s side all lives in Chicago as well, so there was always something hectic going on in our house.”

  “Sounds nice,” Meg said, grinning.

  “It was, sometimes. Other times, it felt really easy to get lost amid all that chaos.” Especially because once there were more than three Greysons in the same space, the conversation inevitably turned to the search for the Greyson Gem, and if you weren’t in on the obsession, you usually got left out, put on the periphery.

  “Look there,” Meg said, lightly slapping my arm to grab my attention as she pointed toward the water.

  I squinted against the sun, searching for whatever it was she’d spotted. Far out in the lake, near the mouth that led to the gulf, I spotted a long, massive vessel that could only be the cruise ship we were waiting for. It would still take some time for it to reach the dock, trundling through the water like a great metal centipede, belching smoke into the air from the many stacks on its deck.

  I texted Rachel to let her know that we’d spotted the ship, and then Meg and I settled in to wait again.

  “I give it twenty minutes,” Meg said, consulting her watch.