The tremble in her voice got to me. I drew her into my arms, and she clung fast. “You’re not plain. You’re beautiful. Even though starting a new relationship is terrifying, you have plenty of zippity-doodah for the bedroom. You haven’t met the right guy yet.”
She pulled away with a sniffle. “Junior is a complex guy and reticent about his past. Will you ask Ike to run a background check on him?”
“You ask him. Ike and I are on a timeout, remember?”
“He’s probably at the bonfire in town right now. Every single woman will make it her business to see him and be seen. Doesn’t that drive you nuts?”
“Ike makes me nuts. He’s locked in a defensive mindset based on how his ex-wife acted. That barrier is what’s come between us. On an instinctual level, he believes my motivations are the same as hers.”
“Y’all are nothing alike.”
“Exactly.” I mulled his stubbornness around in my head. “But, I know firsthand how easy it is to run from your fears. It takes real guts to face them. I let my brother’s death keep me from coming home for years. I created another life for myself, albeit an empty one.”
“I’m glad you came home. Ike is too. He’s different now that you’re back. Less man on the prowl, more man in charge.”
Bailey lifted her head, cocked her ear, and whined. “Shh,” I whispered to Janey. “Someone’s coming.”
We’d set up our campsite at the back end of my lot, the farthest from the dock. We darted forward from tree to tree to see who was approaching the dock. A red pickup idled up to the shrimp factory house and parked. It was the guy we expected, Cap’n Nick. I fumbled for the camera around my neck and waited. A young man in jeans and a white tee climbed out of the passenger door.
I zoomed in on the guy’s face as he shouldered a bookbag and then grabbed a large cooler. I snapped a few shots before he hurried after Cap’n Nick. Less than five minutes later, a speedboat roared out the creek. With Cap’n Nick and his passenger on the move, Janey and I were alone again.
“Who was that guy?” I asked.
Janey squinted in the thin light. “Never seen him before.”
I reviewed the image in my camera and turned it off. “Me either.”
“Could this be Selma’s ex-boyfriend?”
“I’ve never seen a photo of Ozzie Shaniman, but this guy fits his description. What’s his business on the island? And why the cooler? Turtle egg thieves use coolers, but he doesn’t fit the profile of a turtle egg thief. People say a disgruntled former islander is behind this.”
Janey’s head rocked back. “You mean Ozzie doesn’t fit the racial profile?”
The edge in her voice concerned me. “I mean he can afford college, so why bother stealing turtle eggs? You know I have no racial bias.” Janey’s lip poked out a little more. Were those tears in her eyes?
I guided her to our camp chairs. “Tell me what’s going on. Now.”
“I can’t. I promised.”
“Unpromise. Whatever it is, it’s tearing you up. I mean it. Tell me right now or I’m calling Aunt Fay to grill you.”
“No! Don’t do that.” Janey let out a shaky breath. “I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell a soul. Not anyone. Junior is . . . Junior has a . . . Junior used to . . .”
Horrible fill-in-the-blank words danced in my head. Sadist. Polygamist. Serial killer. Psychopath. “Janey, spit it out. I can’t take the suspense.”
“Junior has two children with a black woman.”
I was so relieved I nearly slid out of my chair. “So?”
“So, Aunt Fay and my stepdad always assume we’ll marry anyone we date.” She held her silence for a long while. “We’ve never had a person of color in our family before.”
“Then it’s time we did.” I reached over and took Janey’s hand. “If it works out for you guys, fine, or if you move on and fall in love with a black man, a Hispanic dude, or a Chinese guy, it’s okay with me. I promise you it will be okay with them too.”
She placed her other hand atop mine, gripping me tightly. “You’re sure? Because I really like Junior.”
I spoke from my heart. “Life is short. Go for it, Cous.”
Chapter 11
The sand gnats and mosquitoes found us at dusk, so Janey and I zipped ourselves inside the tent with my dog Bailey. We talked like school girls, joking and giggling and binging on snacks. I hadn’t done a sleepover with my cousin in nearly twenty years. She was the closest thing I had to a sister, and I wouldn’t let so much time go by before we did something like this again. Distancing myself from the family had hurt others.
Take my cousin, for instance. I hadn’t considered how Janey felt about me staying away. We used to tell each other everything, or we did before my brother’s fatal boating accident. Afterward, I focused on getting away and not thinking about my family at all. Now that I’d moved back home, Janey and I had fallen back into our best friends’ mode. My absence had more consequences than I’d imagined. I felt bad for abandoning her for nearly ten years.
I was here now, though, and I’d cradle her dreams and encourage her. After it got dark, I wished we’d ignored Junior’s advice and started a campfire. Janey checked her cell phone a bunch of times, and I checked mine because that seemed to be the thing to do. No calls. No Ike. Did he even know I wasn’t home? It hurt that I couldn’t answer that question.
“When is Cap’n Nick coming back?” I asked at midnight.
“How should I know? Maybe the guys hooked up with someone. They could’ve had beer or wine in that cooler.”
“I don’t believe Cap’n Nick and that young man are friends. Even if the trip is about island romance, it doesn’t take this long to ride over there, have dinner and fun, and return to the mainland. The longer they’re gone, the more I feel like something else is happening.”
“We should call Ike,” Janey said.
“Based on what? A feeling? No way will he investigate that, especially in the middle of the night. Nope, the sheriff requires cold hard proof. He waited a day to go look for Selma Crowley because all I had was a feeling.”
“Say the guys come back on the boat. What’s our plan?”
“We document their coming and going.”
“But nothing else, right? You’re okay with letting them go?”
“I might’ve confronted them in the daylight. But not at night. It feels creepy.”
“No kidding. I’m glad we’re not camped beside the dock, and I’m double glad we’ve got Bailey for protection. Are you thinking to build out here?”
I ignored the personal question. “I want something to happen. That’s what I want.”
“Is it always about the story?” Janey asked, her voice softening.
“It has to be.”
“And what’s your story?”
Janey would dog this topic to death. Might as well get it over with. “My story is a mess right now. I’m a to-be-continued. I thought Ike and I had something, but now I’m not sure he feels the same way.”
“Hmm.”
Bailey stirred, went to the front of the tent, and whined softly. “What is it, girl?” I asked, crawling after her. “Do you hear something?”
“I hear a faint buzz,” Janey said. “A boat motor. They’re coming back.”
“About time.” I fumbled for my shoes, my camera, and my binoculars.
“You’re going out there?” Janey asked.
“I am.”
“Shouldn’t we wait here until Cap’n Nick’s truck leaves?”
“I can’t see anything from back here. If you want to hide in the tent, fine. I’m taking Bailey and observing from that big oak.”
“You’re not spying on them alone, but we’ll be careful, right?”
“Absolutely.”
We pulled it together and hustled outside, little flashlights showing us where to step. “If I wasn’t scared,” Janey said, “this would be fun.”
Would our snooping amount to anything? My heart said yes. My head said be car
eful. Janey and I were vulnerable. We had to be smart about this. I clung tightly to Bailey’s leash.
“Shh.” I clicked off my flashlight at the big oak. “They can’t know we’re watching.”
Janey grinned, her teeth gleaming in the shadows.
I groaned inwardly at her delight. She’d been born to sneak around at night. I’d rather be home in my own bed, except for needing justice for Selma and her turtles.
A lump formed in my throat as I peered around the oak at the moonlit creek and the approaching boat. I tried to clear the lump without making any noise. Not working. I swallowed hard and managed to work it free.
We were fine, I reasoned. They wouldn’t know we were here. This was scary, but we were safe enough. Besides, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. This was my property.
The boat slowed to approach the dock. After mooring his boat, Cap’n Nick caught his passenger by the shoulder. “Not so fast, hot stuff. You owe me another $200 for this trip.”
The sound carried across the short expanse of water crystal clear.
“I’m good for it, bro,” the younger guy said.
“You’re not good for it, and you’re not my bro. You’re paying now, or I’m calling the sheriff about this duct-taped cooler with your fingerprints all over it.”
“You can’t do that to me. You’re part of this too!”
The young man’s voice rose with each word he spoke. Was Cap’n Nick shaking him down or was it the other way around? I caught Janey’s eye and made a motion like I wanted to take a picture. Janey held Bailey’s leash while I tried to get a shot. It wouldn’t take. Not enough light. Inspiration struck. I could use the camera to record the conversation. I switched the camera to video mode.
“Think again,” Cap’n Nick drawled. “I may talk slow, but my brain’s as good as any of you college boys. You want custom transportation to the island like a high roller, fine, but you gotta pay.”
“I’ll catch up next time,” the young man said.
“How do I know there’ll be a next time?’ Cap’n Nick asked. “Your gal got dead.”
“Let me go.”
“Only if you give me your car keys. You get them back when I have the two hundred.”
“Is there an ATM at the dock?”
Cap’n Nick laughed. “Good one, city slicker.”
“Where’s the nearest ATM?”
“The bank in town, which is a pretty far piece. Go ahead. I’ll wait.”
“But my car’s in the other direction, at your place. You made me leave it there so you could shake me down tonight. I should’ve known you’d double-cross me.”
“You have two choices. I keep your car as collateral for the two hundred you owe me. Or I keep the cooler.”
“The cooler stays with me. Thanks to you, the broker knows my name and where I live. I can’t have him coming after me or my family,” the guy said. “Don’t call the cops.”
“And?”
“You’ll get your money.”
I glanced over at Janey, and she was fooling with her phone again. Bailey lunged on the leash and broke free of Janey’s grasp. The dog made a beeline for the dock, barking as she ran.
Fear struck hot as a fire poker, jolting me into action. Swearing under my breath, I tossed the camera to Janey. “Keep this on. I’m taping the conversation. I’ll get Bailey. If something happens, call Ike.”
“Wait!” Janey said.
“I can’t take the chance they’ll hurt Bailey. She’s already been kicked by one bad guy in her life.” I stayed her second protest with a finger to my lips. Honestly, she’d had one job to do, hold onto my Labrador retriever, and she blew it.
I handed my binoculars to Janey. “I’ll be right back.” Clicking my flashlight on, I jogged to the dock, calling the dog as I went. Both men huddled in the speedboat with the cooler, quiet as field mice.
Bailey paced alongside the boat on the floating dock, barking. I hurried down the ramp to the lower dock, apologizing profusely for the dog bothering them as I caught her leash and brought her under control.
“Evening, Ms. McKay,” Cap’n Nick said. “What are you doing out this way?”
“Camping on my property with friends. Bailey must’ve heard y’all talking and that’s why she wanted to go out in the middle of the night. I’m sorry she bothered you.”
“Y’all having a party up there?” Cap’n Nick said.
The hopeful note in his voice irritated me. Was he angling for an invitation? Not going to happen. “A few friends getting together. That’s all. Good night.”
For a large man sitting in a boat in the dark of night, Cap’n Nick proved to be amazingly agile. Before I walked four steps, he charged up behind me. Bailey went nuts, lunging back at him, snarling and growling and biting the air. My emotions warred. Save the dog, or save myself? I wanted to do both, but in that instant, Bailey yanked the leash from my hand. Self-preservation took over. No one was taking me captive again.
My heart threatened to burst from my chest. I screamed at the guy and ran the last few steps to the main dock. Thanks to Ike, I knew self-defense moves. We’d practiced them over and over. I could confront a larger, enraged man, or I could run and hide in the midnight shadows of the shrimp house.
I ran.
“Come back here,” Cap’n Nick yelled.
Over Bailey’s barking, I heard the younger man yell, “What’s going on?”
“Get off your butt, and hand me an oar,” the captain snapped. “This gal’s the sheriff’s girlfriend. She calls him, and we’re both up the creek.”
Call Ike. That’s what I needed to do. But I didn’t have my phone. I didn’t have anything except the flashlight, which I’d switched off as soon as I hit the shrimp house. From memory, I summoned the layout. The conveyor machine that washed the shrimp and dumped them into a weighing pan was on my right. The ice crusher was on my left. Beyond on the right were large tables used in the past for heading shrimp. Further ahead on the left was a tiny office with a phone.
A phone. I tiptoed to the office as quietly as I could. Outside, Bailey yelped, followed by a splash. I grimaced and hoped she was okay. If I went back for her, I’d seal both our fates. Calling for help was the best plan, but the office door wouldn’t budge. Locked.
My hopes plunged. I stood near the front door, and even though there was faint moonlight, making a run for it was my only option. Heart thumping madly, I dashed out, heading straight for the nearby thicket, away from my cleared lot. I had to keep Janey safe.
I darted from tree to tree, fighting briars and palmetto fronds. Behind me, I heard a vehicle door snick open, then the unmistakable retort of gunshot.
Chapter 12
I froze, paralyzed by that sharp blast. I couldn’t move if I wanted to, except for my heart, which beat so loud I couldn’t hear myself think. Despite sweating in the humid heat, an arctic chill turned my blood to slush. Did they shoot my dog? Did they shoot my cousin?
“That was a warning shot,” Cap’n Nick shouted. “Come out of those woods, Ms. McKay, or the next bullet goes in your dog.”
My brain rebooted, and I crouched behind an oak for protection. This stakeout had taken a wrong turn, and I had no idea what these guys were up to.
“What kind of monster are you?” the other guy asked. “I’m not shooting a dog.”
I heard the unmistakable sound of flesh smacking flesh. “You will shoot the dog if the woman doesn’t show herself in the next ten seconds.”
Bailey. I couldn’t fail my dog again. I resigned myself to being captured, but doubts surfaced. They didn’t have Bailey. How could they? My dog went overboard. I would’ve heard her yelp if they’d caught her. All I heard was eerie silence. Bailey was brave, to a point. Then she hid. Like me. We were survivors.
Was Janey a survivor? I sure hoped so.
Cap’n Nick swore up a blue storm when I didn’t step forward. “There’s a ten-foot diamondback rattler lives in there, girlio. We leave her alone because she eats rats. You make
one misstep near her hole, and you’re dead. I won’t even have to shoot you.”
A rattlesnake? My knees turned to putty. Wait. Was he trying to flush me out of hiding? I wasn’t that far in the tree line. They’d hear me if I moved.
Snakes. Since my property had been cleared recently, if there were snakes out here, chances were they’d moved over here for cover. How fast did snake venom work? I was forty minutes from the nearest hospital.
Think. How could I survive this? Where was Janey? Did she summon help? We were fifteen minutes from town, but the sheriff’s deputies should be patrolling county roads. I had to believe Janey phoned for help.
“She called your bluff,” the young guy said. “Now what?”
“I’m getting the hell outta here. Get your stuff off my boat, Ozzie, and vanish if you know what’s good for you. This place’s gonna be crawling with cops in ten minutes.”
“You can’t abandon me in the middle of nowhere. I’ve done everything you asked. I won’t let you ruin my life.”
The gun rang out again. The young man screamed. “You nearly shot me.”
“Get in my way again, and I won’t miss,” Cap’n Nick said. “Forget you ever saw me, that you ever did any business with me.”
“What are you doing?”
Metal creaked. “I’m taking the cooler, and I’m making a run for it. No one will believe I was here. My wife will alibi me.”
“That woman in the woods knows you were here.”
“Not worried about her, she made a beeline for the snake den. If she survives, it’ll be her word against mine. I pay my taxes and keep my nose clean. Plus, the sheriff owes me a favor.”
“What about her camping friends?”
“No one followed her to the dock. No one came when I fired the gun. She’s here alone, and rumor says her and the sheriff are on the outs. I like my chances. Keep your trap shut, and you’ll have that future in politics you want.”
“Take me with you,” Ozzie begged.
“You’re on your own, college boy.” A vehicle door opened and slammed. An engine roared to life, and the truck left. I heard a sob, then the sound of someone running after the truck, away from the dock.
Turtle Tribbles Page 5
