Colleen Coble (27 page)

Grant had been elated when she’d called with the news. Her reward had been in hearing him praise her. She shielded her eyes from the glaring sun and looked out to sea. Where was the boat? They had to hurry. No telling how long Curtis would be gone. And he might call Edith to check on Raine. When he found out neither of them was at the house, he’d call the sheriff. No way did Heather want to have her fingerprints taken.

Raine stirred against Heather’s shoulder. One small hand curled around a lock of Heather’s hair. Heather smiled and touched the tiny fingers. Such a sweetheart. She wished she didn’t have to make Curtis and Amy so unhappy. They were going to be really upset when they got to the house and realized Raine was missing.

Her smile faded. They’d know who had taken her too, unless
Grant had a good cover idea. She could only hope he had their tracks covered in some way. Otherwise, her picture would be plastered all over the news. She chewed her lip and considered her options. There weren’t many, but she was too elated over her success to think it through. But Grant would know.

The sound of a motor carried over the water. Heather shaded her eyes again and squinted through the glare of the sun on the sea. The white-and-blue boat drew nearer, and she recognized one of Grant’s employees at the helm. She thought his name was Vince, but people just called him Bossman. She’d thought Grant would come get her himself. But he was a busy man. An
important
man, so she needed to realize he couldn’t always do what he wanted. And once she was taken to him, they could go away on that vacation he’d promised.

She imagined a white-sand beach and turquoise water. A grass-thatched hut where they had a couples massage while they drank piña coladas. Grant would be blown away when he saw her in the new bikini she planned to buy. He’d think she was hot, hot, hot. Life was about to get very fun.

She waved, and the boat veered toward her. She gave Bossman a big smile. “I got her.”

He merely grunted and tossed the anchor overboard, then motioned for her to board. No words of praise from him. But she didn’t care. Not when Grant was waiting.

She shuffled the baby higher in her arms. “Hold my neck, honey. We’re going into the water.”

Raine clutched at her and pointed, jabbering something. Wading into the water, Heather made her way toward the craft, a big Sea Ray, as it floated about ten feet offshore. The name on the side read
Sea
Nymph
. By the time she reached the boat, she was soaked to her bra line. Raine squealed and reached for the water as if she wanted down.

“Not now, honey.” She handed the baby to the man, then climbed the ladder and practically fell onto the deck. “Where’s Grant?” Until she boarded, she’d hoped he was belowdeck, but it was clear this boat had no cabin.

She reached out her hands to retrieve Raine, but Bossman shook his head and pointed to a seat. She longed to have the little girl back in her arms. Something about the man had always given her cold chills, and she didn’t trust her little cargo with him. “She knows me.”

“She’ll get to know me.” Bossman shifted the little girl to his other arm. “Grant’s a busy man. He had me handle this for him.”

Handle
this
. What did that mean? She eyed him, not sure if he was telling her the truth. “He didn’t tell me that. He said he was going to come himself.”

Bossman shrugged. “What you see is what you get.”

Was he laughing at her? She studied the glee in his eyes and tried to decipher what it meant. Maybe he was as glad as she was that their plan had fallen into place. “We need to come up with a cover story. Curtis will know that I took Raine. There needs to be some way to throw off suspicion. Maybe I can call Curtis and say we’ve both been kidnapped.”

Bossman absorbed her fears in silence. Setting Raine on the deck, he reached toward the compartment in the dash and pulled out a revolver. “We’ve got that covered too.” He turned the gun barrel toward her. “I think when they find your body, they’ll assume the kid is dead too.”

She didn’t argue, didn’t try to plead with him. Everyone knew this guy was as dangerous as they came. He’d shoot her without blinking an eye. Without thought, she flung her leg over the metal railing that enclosed the deck, then leaped over the edge and into the sea. The cold water closed over her head as she heard a shot.

Something struck her arm, and blood darkened the water.
The salt stung her eyes, but she kept them open anyway so she could see what he was doing.

Bossman looked ghostly through the blur of the water. He leaned over the edge of the boat looking for her.

Panic closed her throat. She kicked as hard as she could and swam under the boat to the other side. Her lungs burned for air, and she had to go up to draw more oxygen in. When she emerged near the back of the boat on the leeward side, she saw him still staring into the water on the other side of the boat. Another boat motored their way, and Bossman muttered a curse. Drawing in silent, shallow breaths, she huddled as close to the side as possible.

Keeping only her nose and eyes above the water line, she watched him fumble with the key. The engine came to life. She dove down as fast as she could. As long as he didn’t see her, he would surely see the blood in the water and think he’d killed her. It was her only hope. Lucky for her the other boat made him hurry to escape. If he’d stayed, he would make sure he saw her body.

Her hands touched sand, and she lingered on the bottom as long as she could. Her lungs burned, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stay under any longer. Swooping around, she kicked against the bottom and zipped toward the top. When her head broke water, she inhaled a great gulp of air.

A wave struck her in the face, and she choked on salty water. Struggling to keep her head above the surf, she struck out toward the shore. If Bossman looked back toward the shore, he’d see her, but she had no choice. She’d drown if she didn’t get to land.

Her knees scraped bottom, and she heaved herself out of the water and drew in a breath clear of moisture. She staggered to the beach and collapsed onto her knees, then vomited up seawater. Only then did she turn her head to look out over the seascape. The boat was a tiny speck in the distance. She doubted she’d been seen.

But what about Raine? Hugging herself, she was surprised to
find tears leaking from her eyes. Though she didn’t really know the little girl, she loved children. That much hadn’t been a lie. She had to contact Grant and warn him that Bossman had gone rogue. He wouldn’t be happy.

But as she started down the beach to try to find help, her legs gave way and darkness took her under.

Amy turned up the music as she drove to Curtis’s house. Mindy would be all right, and for the first time in a long while, Amy saw her way to a future without Ben. And that future included sweet little Raine. Amy wanted to hold the toddler and think about how lucky she was.

Edith stood sweeping the porch when Amy pulled into the drive. She’d hung out colorful new flags of red and white that blew straight out from the posts in the breeze. Dressed in capris and a sleeveless white top, Edith looked happy and content after her morning in the water. Her hair was still damp.

Even though it was likely Raine was sleeping, Amy frowned when she didn’t see the child. She got out of the car and shut the door. “Good morning.” She walked past new flowers pushing up in the beds along the sidewalk.

Leaning on her broom, Edith paused and smiled. “I thought maybe you went with the helicopter. I got Curtis’s message about having to do a run.” She sobered. “I hope the patient is going to be okay.”

“Sara was there, so I wasn’t needed. I’m sure the patient will be fine.” She looked past Edith through the open door. “So everything was okay with Raine and Heather?”

Edith’s brows rose. “I assume so, though I’ll admit I thought they would be here by the time I arrived.”

Amy’s gut tightened. “You haven’t seen them? I don’t like that. I’d better call and tell her to bring Raine home right now.” She went back to her car and got her purse. She pulled out her cell phone and placed a call to Heather. It rang six times, then went to voice mail. “Heather, where are you? Call me.”

“She didn’t answer?”

Edith was biting her lip and frowning so Amy forced herself to smile. “They probably stopped off for ice cream or went to the playground. Heather was excited to have her, so I’m sure she wanted to make sure Raine had a good time.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Edith glanced at her watch. “Heather has had her, what, about an hour? It’s 11:10.”

“We got to the sheriff’s about nine. We talked with him awhile, then realized, ah, the woman we helped was in eclampsia.” Just in time she caught herself from mentioning Mindy by name. Getting her to the car and dealing with the convulsions had taken awhile. “I’d guess Heather took Raine a little before ten, so maybe she’s had her an hour and a half.”

Edith’s frown came again. “Plenty of time to get here, then.” She shaded her eyes with her hand and looked toward town. “She’s still not coming.”

“Let me try to call her one more time.” Amy pulled up the phone number again, but there was still no answer. She dropped her phone back in her purse. “I’m going to go look for her.”

Edith leaned the broom against the wall of the porch. “I’ll come with you.”

“You should probably stay here in case she arrives.”

Edith bit her lip. “It feels wrong to stay here and do nothing. I don’t like this, Amy. Something feels wrong.”

Amy felt it too, but she chalked it up to nervousness about the upsetting morning. “I’m sure there’s an innocent explanation for what’s happened.”

Edith shook her head. “I can see the worry in your face. You warned Curtis to check her references. You don’t trust her.”

“She’s just young and flighty. I bet they’re at the playground.” She got back in her car and ran the window down. “I’ll call you when I find them. Let me know if you hear from them.”

First, she checked Rosemary Cottage, just in case, but it was empty with no sign that Heather and Raine had been there. She drove slowly down Oyster Road, watching for any sign of a woman and child. At the playground, she got out and walked through the swings and slides, but Heather and Raine were nowhere around. She peeked in at the ice-cream shop and asked if the server had seen them there. When the answer was no, she went to the toy store, then to the candy shop. The answer was the same everywhere. Next she called the ambulance service that took injured people to the ferry. Maybe one of them had been hurt. Raine could have run in front of a car or fallen.

But when she asked if there had been an injured woman or child brought in, the dispatcher told her no. She called Edith to report in, but the other woman hadn’t heard anything either. Though she hated to do it, she had to call Curtis. Her chest squeezed, even though she kept telling herself there was an innocent explanation.

He answered on the first ring. “Hey, I was about to call you. I just landed back at the Coast Guard airfield. You want to come pick me up?”

“I’ll be right there.” She drove slowly through town and out to the field, hoping she wouldn’t have to tell him that Heather and Raine were missing. But there was still no sign of them, and Heather hadn’t returned her call.

He came toward her before she pulled into a parking place. She stopped and he hopped in. His smile vanished when he looked at her face. “What’s wrong?”

“We can’t find Heather and Raine. They never showed up at your house, and Heather isn’t answering her cell phone.”

“Where have you looked?”

“Everywhere. The playground, the ice-cream shop, the candy shop, the toy store. My house too, just in case they went there.”

“Well, let’s not panic. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation. Did you try the café?”

She slapped her head. “No, I didn’t even think of that. Maybe Heather took her there to have an early lunch.” Of course that’s where they were. It made perfect sense. “Keep an eye out on the way. How is Mindy, by the way?”

He stared out the window as the car moved slowly through town. “They rushed her in for a C-section, but they thought she’d be okay.”

Two minutes later she parked in front of the café, and they both ran to the entrance. When the server told them she hadn’t seen Heather today, they checked with Imogene back in her office. She told them Heather had called in at nine thirty to say she wouldn’t be working today.

“That was before you asked her to watch Raine, I think,” Amy said when they were back outside. “She must have decided to take the day off.”

“She was dressed for the beach.” His mouth tight, Curtis glanced down the road. “I think we’d better talk to Tom.”

“You mean, report Raine as missing?” Her voice trembled, and she swallowed hard. She warned herself not to fall apart. There had to be a logical reason for this.

“She was told to go directly to my house and she didn’t. So, yeah, I’m going to report her missing.”

He took her arm, and they dashed across the street between a family of four on bicycles. Tom’s SUV was still in front of the sheriff’s office, but they nearly collided with him on his way out the door.