“Yeah,” Kerry agreed ruefully. “That about covers it.”
Chapter
Twenty-eight
THE BOAT ROCKED gently under Kerry as she jumped on board the Dixie. Dar was still on the dock, examining the mild damage the hull had taken, and Kerry dropped into one of the chairs on the stern to wait for her. The sun was out and the air was clearing of its moisture, the light breeze idly lifting strands of her hair. She leaned back and looked around the marina, wincing at the small boats tossed up onto the seawall and the debris floating in the water.
The marina itself had taken little damage; its concrete docks had weathered the storm quite nicely, and provided protection to most of the boats sheltered inside it. Many of the boat owners were there checking out their crafts, and around the shore, crews were removing downed limbs and other debris.
Kerry felt oddly itchy. She’d realized on the walk down to the boat that she wanted, more than anything, to be gone from the island and away from the chaos their vacation had become.
“Um, hello?”
Kerry looked up, to find Bob’s unwelcome form standing on the dock. “Oh. Hello, there.”
Bob stuck his hands in his pockets. “I…um…” He cleared his throat. “Can we talk?”
“Do we have to?” Kerry refused to budge from her deck chair, forcing him to crane his neck to address her. “I think you said pretty much everything you needed to last night.”
He edged around closer to her. “Listen, I was just way out of my league, you know?”
“We weren’t?” Kerry rolled her head around to look at him.
“Getting involved with you almost got us and our friends killed.”
Bob shrugged uncomfortably. “I didn’t think it was that serious. I didn’t think he’d go…nuts like that.” He leaned on a pylon. “I’m sorry.”
Kerry got up and went to the side rail, facing him. “What really sucked was you wanting that paper back…before we got Bud.”
Bob looked down at the dock. “You don’t understand,” he 346 Melissa Good muttered. “It’s like a hatchet he holds over all of them…especially Tanya. I was only thinking about her.”
“A hatchet?”
“The money.” Bob looked up. “But like I said,” he gestured at the Dixie, “you don’t get it. “
Kerry leaned on the railing, studying him with an enigmatic expression. “I understand that better than you’d ever imagine,” she replied. “But people are more important than money, no matter how much of it you have…or don’t have.”
Bob shook his head. “Easy for you to say,” he said. “Tanya’s coming down here. Now that we know for sure the old man wasn’t nuts, we’ll find a way to get what we want. Without anyone else’s help.” He turned and walked away quickly, almost colliding with one of the other boat owners. The man shoved him off, and cursed, shaking his head as Bob just kept on going.
Kerry sighed. “What a jerk.”
Just then, Dar appeared on the dock and circled the stern, hopped on board and stepped down onto the deck. “Yep. That he is,” she agreed, joining Kerry on the side. “Hope we don’t need him as a witness.”
“Witness?” Kerry turned to her. “You think we will?”
Dar shrugged.
Kerry exhaled. “Any damage?” she asked, glancing over the side of the boat. “Didn’t look like much.”
“Not too bad,” Dar confirmed. “Just a few scrapes.”
“Good. Do we have a plan?” Kerry held out a hand.
Dar stepped closer and took it, walking around behind Kerry’s the chair and letting her other hand rest on Kerry’s shoulder. “A plan.” Dar yawned, her jaw cracking softly. “I’m still too wiped to have a plan.” She eased into the chair next to Kerry’s and slung one long leg over its arm. “I guess we’ll go talk to the cops first.” She rested her head on one hand. “What do you want to do after that?”
Leave. Kerry bit back the answer, knowing her sense of responsibility would berate her for it. “Well, if that all turns out okay...”
“You think it won’t?” Dar interrupted softly. “He asked us to lunch, not down to the station.” She studied her knuckles.
“Wonder how much we should tell him.” Her eyes lifted and gazed across the water. “We could be in trouble, Ker.”
“I know,” Kerry agreed. “So I’d rather not take anything for granted. Now, if that turns out okay, we could go see Bud and make sure he and Charlie are okay.”
“Mm, yeah,” Dar grunted.
“We could take Dad out for dinner before his flight.”
That got a much more interested response. “Okay, that sounds good,” Dar agreed. “Where did he run off to, anyway?”
Terrors of the High Seas 347
Kerry shook her head. “He didn’t say. Just that he’d be back.”
She glanced at the deck pensively. “I think I pissed him off earlier.
The chair creaked as Dar leaned toward her. “You?” Her voice expressed disbelief. “How?”
“I asked him about him and Bud and Charlie,” Kerry admitted.
“I don’t think he likes people knowing about all that. I guess it’s embarrassing for him.” She paused thoughtfully. “Or something.”
She turned her head and gazed at Dar. “I’m sorry I mentioned anything.”
Dar reached over and gave Kerry a scratch on the back of the neck. “Sweetheart, it’s not what you think,” she said. “Yeah, the whole damn thing embarrasses the hell out of him, that’s true.”
“Having them think he was gay, you mean?” Kerry asked. “In that world, it’s kinda understandable.”
Dar chuckled. “No. He didn’t really care about that. But let me start at the beginning.” She cleared her throat. “It was really all my fault.”
“Your fault?” Kerry asked in much the same tone Dar had used moments earlier. “How?”
“I’d just come out to him and Mom,” Dar related. “It was tough for my folks, being part of the military world, and seeing as I was such a pain in the ass child anyway…”
Kerry smiled but kept quiet.
“So, my dad went out and read a whole boatload of stuff about homosexuality at the library,” Dar went on. “He even checked out a few books, and apparently took one of them with him on a maneuver with a couple of squads off the base.”
“Uh oh.”
“Yeah.” Dar nodded. “So then he got assigned to sea duty for four months. The captain of the boat he was on was a real tight assed conservative, and one day he went off about gays in front of the guys.” She paused to reflect, then sighed. “My dad, being my dad, took him into a torpedo room and nearly removed a couple of teeth from his mouth.”
“Yikes.”
“Word got around about it, and everyone put two and two together and got six.” The dark-haired woman stretched out her legs. “After that, Charlie figured Dad was fair game.”
“Oh.” Kerry frowned. “But… I mean, Dar, he was married and had a child. Didn’t they get a clue?”
Dar looked at her, one eyebrow lifting in wry sarcasm.
“Yes, I know that’s not necessarily an indication of heterosexuality, but Jesus! Your father drips it,” Kerry protested.
“True. But that’s not really what he’s pissed off about,” Dar explained. “It wasn’t that they thought he was gay. Since I am, that wasn’t something he found offensive.”
348 Melissa Good Kerry cocked her head. “O…kay…” Her brows contracted.
“But…”
“He was furious that they thought he was the kind of man who would cheat on his wife,” Dar said simply. “He never forgave them for that.” She pushed herself out of the chair. “Want a drink?”