by Kathi Daley
“Ryder’s right,” I said. “The best thing we can do for Sam at this point is to wait.”
Luckily, we didn’t have long to wait. Buford called to let us know the standoff was over. The man who’d been holding his girlfriend hostage had been apprehended. One of the men from the Sea Haven office was taking him in for booking while Buford and the other Sea Haven deputy were on their way north to help us with our situation. Buford instructed Ryder to wait and not to approach the cove again until he arrived. Quinn made a lot of noise about getting a peek for herself, but in the end, she stayed put with the rest of us. I figured Buford and the deputy with him had guns, which none of us currently had access to, so if they wanted us to wait so they could storm in and save the day, then that was exactly what I was going to let them do.
Of course, storming in might have been a reality that only made sense in my mind. What really happened was that Buford and the deputy from Sea Haven, a man named Ben, quietly made their way around to the back of the boathouse while Ryder drove his truck right up to the front of the building. When the men went out the front door to confront Ryder, Buford and Ben snuck in the back. They untied Sam, gave him a gun, and then all three men dealt with the two men who’d been holding Sam, while Ryder, who’d stayed in his truck the entire time, pulled safely away. Once everyone was disarmed, the two men who’d been holding Sam were loaded into Ben’s car and taken south for booking.
“So what about the other two men?” I asked after Sam joined Ryder, Quinn, Carrie, and me in the forest near where we’d parked.
“They left to meet a man named Tyson. Buford and I are going to wait here for them to come back. I want the four of you to go home.”
“But…” Quinn started.
“This is not a negotiation. If you don’t leave, I’ll have to arrest you for interfering in an ongoing investigation.”
Quinn started to speak again. Sam put a finger over her lips.
“Please,” he said. “Buford and I have this. Really. The other two guys don’t know I’m free or that their buddies have been arrested. We have the element of surprise on our side. We’re the cops, and you all are the civilians, so please wait for me at home and let me do my job.”
Surprisingly, Quinn agreed after demanding to see the injury that had bloodied his shirt. Most of the blood had come from a single stab wound to his side that had stopped bleeding hours ago as well as the raw skin around his wrists where he’d been tied up. He actually did seem fine, and I, for one, was inclined to do as he asked.
“Counter proposal,” Quinn said. “You and Buford head back to the boathouse to wait for the other two men, and the rest of us will wait here, safely out of the way.”
“You’d be safer at home,” Sam pointed out.
“True, but you don’t really know what is going to happen. You might need us.”
Sam hesitated.
“I have an extra gun in the trunk of my car,” Buford said. “It might not be a bad idea to have backup just in case.”
Sam frowned and then answered. “Okay. But if we get into trouble, you call Ben and tell him what’s going on. The last thing we need is for any of you to get hurt.”
We agreed to Sam’s plan, which meant that the endless waiting would start anew. At least I had Ryder, Quinn, and Carrie here with me this time, which actually made the wait bearable until we heard the shots.
Chapter 14
The five minutes it took for us to make our way to the boathouse and to ascertain that it had been Sam who had shot one of the two men they’d been waiting for after they returned and pulled a gun on the two officers they found waiting for them were some of the longest minutes of my life. The man who’d been shot wasn’t seriously wounded, but Buford still took him to the hospital in Sea Haven to be checked out before heading to jail while Sam took the other man straight to the holding cell in Hidden Harbor. Initially, neither man was talking, but it turned out that Sam had been able to get the kidnapper in his possession to spill the beans after he pointed out that he already had most of the story, so it made sense to cooperate in exchange for a chance at a lighter sentence. Once he had his confession, Ben showed up to transport the man to Sea Haven as well, and while he was at it, he convinced Sam to go to the hospital to have his stab wound and wrists looked at and cleaned up.
“So, the four men in the blue and white boat are connected to a drug cartel that is based south of the border?” Carrie asked Quinn who’d spoken to Sam. After our long night, we’d all slept in until noon. Once everyone woke up, we gathered on the outdoor deck to share a late brunch and catch each other up on what we knew and what we’d learned.
“That’s what Sam said,” Quinn confirmed as she ran a finger absentmindedly around the top of her coffee mug. “I spoke to him just before he left for Sea Haven to work out the details for the transfer of the four men to the larger jail on the mainland. He was able to find out that Veronica had unwisely let it be known that she had opiates to sell, which somehow managed to get the attention of the cartel that controls most of the opiate trade in this part of California. Of course, she didn’t really have anything other than a few plants, which the cartel wouldn’t even have bothered with had they known the truth, but unfortunately for her, she talked a good talk she couldn’t quite support to get them there and ended up dead in the ocean.”
“So it was these men who tossed her into the sea?” I asked.
“According to Sam,” Quinn answered, “Veronica arranged to meet the men about half a mile offshore. Once she boarded their boat, the man she’d hired to ferry her out to the boat took off. Of course, once she actually had the attention of the men she tried to sell the plants to, they realized she’d overstated what she actually had to offer in order to gain an audience, and they tossed her overboard.”
“I wonder why the guy who ferried her out to the boat didn’t say something when she turned up dead,” Carrie asked.
“I imagine he didn’t want to get involved,” Quinn answered. “But Sam is pretty sure that an anonymous tip he got, which led to his tracking down the blue and white fishing boat anchored off Horseshoe Island, probably came from the man who dropped Veronica off.”
I supposed that made sense. Who else would know she’d met up with the men?
“So once Sam gets there to talk to the men in the fishing boat, the men grab him,” Carrie said. “I guess I understand that to a point, but why were the men still hanging around? Veronica lured them to Shipwreck Island over a week ago. It seems they would have taken off long before this.”
“According to Sammy,” Quinn answered, “they just happened to pick up a new piece of information while they were here that they wanted to follow up on.”
“What sort of information?” I asked.
“It seems that there’s been some movement in the drug trade in San Francisco, and apparently one of the major players in the whole thing has a home here on the island. I guess the men decided to stay around for a few days as long as they were already here and get to the bottom of some of the rumors that had been making their way south for months. The man who they believed was in charge of the group they suspected of infringing on their territory was found dead in his island home this morning.”
“So that probably means that the two men who were initially gone when we found Sam were most likely busy killing this man,” I said.
“Talk about complicated.” Carrie leaned back in her chair, tucking her feet up beneath her.
“It is complicated,” Quinn agreed. “And, as it turns out, it appears to be a story deserving of my talent. I’m meeting up with Sam later so we can discuss the matter. I told him I wouldn’t print anything I found out while working with him during my visit to the island, but at the time, we were talking about the case of the missing girls. After we spoke, we both agreed, in theory at least, that the story about the drug cartel and the changes taking place in the control of the drug trade in the Bay Area is worth writing about.”
“So, Sam is okay?” I as
ked. “Physically, I mean. It looked like he’d lost a lot of blood.”
“He’s fine,” Quinn answered. “He did manage to get a lot of blood, which should have been on the inside, all over his shirt, but the knife wound was cleaned up at the hospital, and no major organs were damaged.”
“Well, I’m just glad everything worked out,” Carrie said. “It seemed to be pretty touch and go for a while.”
Quinn got up and refilled her coffee while I polished off the last of the omelet Carrie had made. It was nice to be able to simply sit and relax with my friends after the stressful night we’d had. Ryder had to work today, but he promised to come by when he got off. Quinn had mentioned meeting up with Sam. It looked like we were about to bail on poor Carrie again. I’d be glad when Nora arrived tomorrow to even things out for a bit.
“Is Nora still coming back tomorrow?” I asked since I was thinking about it, and we really hadn’t discussed the status of her plans for a few days.
“Actually, she’s coming this afternoon. Nora and Matt are planning a vacation, and Matt wanted to get back to have time to tackle any work he needed to get done before they left.”
“That’s great,” I said. “I’m looking forward to seeing her.”
“Me too, but it sounded like she might not stay as long as she originally planned. In fact, it sounded like she’d only be here a few days, but she did mention that she planned to go to the regatta with us on Sunday, and she wanted to be here for a meet up with Peggy if we’re able to arrange such a thing,” Carrie answered.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Sam about it, but I will,” I said.
“You know,” Carrie said, stretching her legs out in front of her after untucking them from beneath her body. “We, as a group, actually managed to accomplish a lot in just a few weeks. I’ll admit that by we, I mostly mean Sam, but I feel like we all helped.”
“Carrie’s right,” Quinn said. “Since we’ve been here, we’ve helped Sammy track down Peggy and Cherry. We know what happened to Veronica, at least ultimately, although there are some missing pieces, and I don’t suppose we’ll ever know why she originally left or who she left with. We also know what happened to Hillary Denton, thereby solving her missing persons case, and I was able to find Grace before she’d been missing too long. I’d say we did okay for ourselves.”
I lifted my champagne glass. “To us.”
Everyone clinked the glassware for whatever beverage they were drinking.
“I guess the only missing girl we don’t know anything about is Gina Baldwin,” Carrie said.
“Gina was listed as a runaway,” I reminded her. “Chances are she did just that. The only reason her file even made it into the limelight was because of Sam’s theory about the missing girls being linked, which turned out not to be true.”
“That’s true,” Quinn agreed. “If not for the fact that Sam decided to look for Peggy which led to him narrowing in on Gina’s file he probably would have just filed it and been done with it.”
“It is odd that none of the girls actually were linked to Peggy,” Carrie said. “Sam did seem to have a theory that made sense.”
“It was a good theory,” I agreed. “Although if you stop and look at what really happened you’ll see that it was Sam who made everything fit in the first place. He specifically went looking for missing teenagers with blond hair and blue eyes. When he came across a gap in this theory he forced a substitution, like with the situation with two thousand and ten where there wasn’t an obvious candidate to fill the role.” I took a sip of my drink. “I guess in the end though it was Sam’s theory that really opened up the investigation and probably led to us finding Peggy which we may never have otherwise done.”
“So yay for Sam,” Carrie said.
“Yay for Sam,” I agreed. “So I guess if Nora isn’t staying long, our camping trip up the mountain is off.”
“I guess,” Carrie agreed. “But maybe it will work out to see Peggy, and even if it doesn’t, I guess we can all get together and share memories around the campfire.” Carrie looked at Quinn. “You haven’t mentioned how long you plan to stay.”
She shrugged. “You have the house for another two weeks. I guess I’ll stay until the rental is up.”
“I’ve decided to stay here on the island,” I informed Quinn since I hadn’t had a chance to. “I’m moving into Carrie’s guest room temporarily, and if things work out, I’ll get my own place at some point. We both hope you’ll consider coming back for Christmas.”
She furrowed her brow. “You’re staying?”
I nodded. “I just decided yesterday, so I didn’t have a chance to tell you.”
She looked from me to Carrie. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but she seemed to have a wistful expression. Eventually, she spoke. “I’d like to come back for Christmas. I might even come for Thanksgiving and stay clear through until the New Year.”
“Really?” I asked. “I mean, that would be awesome, but you don’t normally like to take so much time off work.”
“Yes, that is true, or at least it has been in the past, but I’ve been thinking about things since I’ve been here. I think it might be time to reevaluate the amount of time I spend working compared to the amount of time I spend living my life.”
I was happy to hear her say as much. The girl really did work much too hard.
“I’m hoping Jessica comes home for the holidays, but if she doesn’t, which given my move, is likely, you can stay in her room if you want,” Carrie offered.
Quinn smiled a small knowing smile. “Thanks, but if I come to the island over the holidays, I’ll stay with Sammy. He’s already offered, and to be honest, I’ve thought of little else since he made that offer.”
I glanced at Carrie, and she smiled in return. Maybe, in the long run, I wouldn’t be the only friend moving to the island.
Chapter 15
The three days that followed our brunch on Friday had been memorable, to say the least. Nora showed up as promised on Friday afternoon. She looked happy and refreshed, yet admitted that she and Matt had a lot of work to do on a marriage that had deteriorated without either of them realizing it. She shared that it wasn’t until the two of them were forced to spend time as couple dissecting the decisions they’d made along the way, that they were able to understand how things had eventually gone so wrong.
On Friday evening, the four of us made dinner together, but after Nora’s long drive from Mendocino, and the long night Carrie, Quinn, and I’d had the night before, we all agreed to turn in early. We knew Saturday was going to be a long and emotional day, which would require us to be at our best since Sam had succeeded in arranging a visit between Peggy and Carrie, Nora, Quinn, and myself. I really hadn’t allowed myself to hope the get together we sought with Peggy would ever be a reality, but Sam spoke to Wilson on our behalf, and it just so happened that Wilson had planned a trip to the island to spend the afternoon with one of his lady friends. He’d managed to convince Peggy that she’d be perfectly safe meeting with us on his yacht while he was away.
It might have been slightly better if he’d been able to convince her to come here to the house, but she really had suffered a depth of emotional damage that left her with serious trust issues, so I was happy for any sort of gathering she might agree to.
Sam had shared that Peggy seemed to feel safe on the yacht, knowing that Wilson, who she seemed to be anchored to in some way, would be back shortly. I was certain she’d be nervous about the meetup, so I spoke to the others, and we agreed to take things slow and easy. We’d allow her to share what she wanted but wouldn’t push if she preferred us to do the talking. We hoped that over time, we’d be able to get her to trust us the way she trusted Wilson.
Sam and Ryder accompanied us in the boat to meet Wilson’s yacht, but they both agreed to wait for us in Ryder’s boat, so we could have alone time with our friend. When we arrived, we were ushered aboard the yacht and then shown to a dining area where a virtual feast had been s
et out. I had to hand it to Wilson, he’d really seemed to go out of his way to a make things comfortable for all of us. I will admit that things were awkward at first, and Peggy looked like all she really wanted to do was run and hide, but as the day progressed, and we shared memories with Peggy as well as stories about our lives, she began to relax. Telling her about Kayla had been tough for all of us, but by the time Wilson returned, and we were ready to leave, we’d been able to get Peggy to agree to another meal together in the future.
Sam and Ryder joined the four of us for a meal Saturday night. The guys didn’t stay late. I think they knew that with Nora leaving in a few days, our time together was limited, but I think they wanted to turn in early too since tomorrow was the big race.
On Sunday, Carrie, Nora, Quinn, and I met up with Cliff’s wife and Nina’s fiancé. The best place to view the race was Topsail Beach, and Carrie had arrived early to stake out a space for our group in the best viewing spot on the beach. Of course, as I knew they would, Ryder’s team won. It was a close race with them only managing to squeeze ahead in the last seconds before crossing the finish line, but I suspect that had been their strategy all along. After the race was over, we all partied on the beach, drinking and sharing stories of past races around the campfire. The longer I sat under the moonlit sky listening to stories shared by friends old and new, the more certain I was that staying on Shipwreck Island was the right thing to do.
After a busy weekend full of friends and activities, Monday had been reserved for just the four of us. We’d made a huge brunch together, and then we hiked part of the way up the mountain. Not to the top as we’d planned at one point, but far enough that we all felt satisfied with the effort the way one should when they’ve conquered a difficult feat. After we returned from hiking, we showered and then headed out to dinner, but it was the gathering around the campfire on the beach after dinner that really topped off this visit for me.
