Kerry chuckled. “Closest thing to rough camping I’ve done is sleeping on the floor of your office. So no.” She admitted. “But I’m sure we’ll be fine. I was thinking before about going to sleep and being able to see all the stars in the world overhead. Not like here. I want to see the Milky Way. “
“Me too.” Dar rested her head against the rope and rocked back and forth gently. “My dad once told me he’d been to places where you could see stars like that. In the desert and all – but he said you would always wish for clouds because for them it was the darker the better.”
“Sure.” Kerry rocked along with her in the next chair. “But I can’t wait to just go do that. Spend time looking at stuff I’ve never seen, and the rafting. I want to get out of my head space for a while.”
Dar remained quiet for a bit, just nodding slightly as she scratched Mocha under the chin.
The wash of the waves was broken suddenly by the sound of a boat engine, growing slowly louder. Dar looked over her shoulder, then she got up out of the rope chair and went to the shore, walking along it and peering out over the ruffled waters.
“Of course, our life can’t stay perfect for more than fifteen minutes.” Kerry sighed, getting up and going over to the fire. She removed the pot lid and peered inside, then put it back down, going over to the table and getting it set.
“Cutter.” Dar called back, over her shoulder. “Heading this way. I’m going to go over and get on the boat radio before they assume we’re illegal aliens.”
“Okay.” Kerry got the tops off the side dishes and portioned them out. “Don’t take too long. Lobster’ll be ready in about five minutes.”
“Won’t take more than 2.” Dar jogged along the shore and hopped up onto the floating dock that extended out to the anchored yacht bobbing at the end of it. She got to the side of the boat and vaulted up and over the railing, moving quickly across the deck and into the cabin where the inside radio system was.
She’d just reached out and picked up the microphone when searchlights lit up the outside of the Dixie an she stepped halfway out of the boat, shading her eyes from it. “Dixieland Yankee to Coast guard cutter, coast guard cutter off my port side. What’s the problem?”
The light outlined her a moment more, then cut off, and the radio crackled. “Cutter Avalon – sorry about that Dixieland Yankee. Is that Captain Roberts?”
Dar felt her brain quietly explode at the title. “Uh. Yes.” She said after a moment. “It is.”
“Standby , Captain. We’re coming in.”
Dar put the mic down and went onto the back deck, standing with her hands in the pockets of her dive coat as she watched the cutter rumble closer.
She could see several men standing on deck, and two were getting into their pontoon launch, which was lowered into the water and shortly speeding her way. “Over here.” She pointed them around the front of the Dixie, and a moment later they were alongside the floating dock, and hopping out.
Dar got onto the dock to meet them. “What’s up?”
One of the men stepped forward. “Lieutenant Davis, we met a bit ago down south.”
“I remember. Did I look suspicious again?” Dar asked, with a smile.
“Well.” He half shrugged “You know how it is.”
Dar nodded. She did. “We were just having a cookout. I’ve been coming to this little spot in the ocean since I was around fifteen.”
He nodded. “I have a spot like that about ten nautical south from here. But ah.. “ He glanced past her to the fire lit beach scene. “Mine’s not nearly so nice.” He had his own hands in his pockets. “But I’m glad I bumped into you, because your name came across the wire not long ago.”
“It did?”
Davis nodded. “One of our other ships picked up a body the other week. Guy apparently drowned, but no one seemed to know how he got into the water.” He said. “It was just off that island you live on, apparently he lived there too.”
Dar felt a chill. “His name Billy?”
The lieutenant looked hard at her. “Yeah. So you did know him?”
The dock rocked slightly and they looked over to see Kerry approaching. “In a manner of speaking, I guess. “ Dar said. “He was a jackass I ran into on the island and had an argument with.”
“What’s up?” Kerry asked
Davis was nodding again. “Well, we heard that some guy on the island told the cops about that, and that they should find you and ask about it.” He said. “About that argument, I mean. He told the cops there was bad blood there, and maybe you knew what happened to him.”
“What?” Kerry said, sharply.
“They found the missing guy. The one who was after Kristie.” Dar told her . “And I’m willing to bet it was her father who told the cops to come looking for me about it.”
Kerry looked at her, then at the two coast guard officers, then back at her. “Son of a biscuit.” She pronounced in a crisp clear tone. “If there’s anyone who might have done something to him it would be that bastard Jim. The developer, who owns that place.”
To both of their surprise, the coast guard officer nodded again. “That’s why I’m glad we ran into you, because I’ve got some intel on that guy and it’s not good. You should watch out. The cops ran everyone’s records and the guy who was talking to me told me that guy’s bad news.”
“What kind of bad news?” Dar asked. “Criminal background?”
Davis shrugged. “That I don’t know. He didn’t say.”
“What a bastard.” Kerry exhaled. “What happened was, Billy, the guy, was threatening Kristie the cashier in the island market. She’s Jim’s daughter. Dar happened to be there, and got in his face, and he left.”
The officer frowned. “Okay, well..but why is that guy Jim sending the cops off after you then? Sounds to me like you did him a favor.”
Dar sighed. “Long story.” She said. “But thanks for the warning.” She said. “I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open. Do the cops want to talk to us?”
Davis shrugged “Not my area. It was just coffee machine convo, you know? At the base, because anything that happens on that island gets chewed over. I listened because I heard your name and we’d just met.”
“I appreciate that.” Dar said. “Jim has a problem with us, and so I guess he thought this was a good opportunity to get us in some hot water.”
“Is it possible the guy just actually drowned?” Kerry asked. “He seemed like a guy who liked to party.”
“Yeah, that’s what the cops said.” Davis agreed. “Who knows? Anyway, just be careful, okay? Especially out here like this in the middle of nowhere.” He lifted his hand in a wave and got back in his pontoon boat, making a gesture to the seaman who was driving it.
Dar and Kerry watched them putter off, and then they both sighed. “Well, poo.” Kerry said. “I didn’t need to hear that.”
“Me either.” Dar put her arm around Kerry’s shoulders. “Let’s go have our lobster.”
They walked down the dock back to the beach, where Chino and Mocha were waiting, both animals not fond of the floating dock and wary of walking on it. Kerry went over to the pot and took it’s top off, releasing a cloud of bay leaf and spice scented steam into the air.
As she worked she thought about Billy. To hear something had happened to him seemed sad, in an impersonal kind of way, because as much of a jerk as he had been, jerkiness didn’t often deserve death.
To hear that they’d been blamed didn’t surprise her at all. From the time the security guards had asked her and Dar if they had seen him that time, in the back of her mind she’d suspected something was in the works.
Sucks. Kerry got their dinner plated, then glanced up to see Dar standing on the shore, hands in pockets, staring off at the dark horizon. She put the plates down and covered them, and walked over, nudging Chino aside as she put her arm around Dar’s back. “Hey.”