Yes, she knew that part. But she had to get back to the Desperado. Desperately.
Of course her dramatic exit was ruined when she took a wrong turn on the way out. She wasn’t surprised when a firm hand on her elbow guided her back toward the exit.
Tristan wasn’t going to be that easy to shake. In so many ways.
“You got a plan?” he said in her ear.
“More or less.”
“More Lulu, less everyone else?”
“How did you guess?” They reached the back door of the compound and stepped into the parking lot. A stand of birch trees quivered in the wind and a few bright leaves drifted to the ground. This place was beautiful, even in the dying days of fall. Small comfort under the circumstances.
“Listen, let’s go back to the Desperado and you can have a shower and a nap.”
Yes! That suited her perfectly. She needed to get back to the boat. That was priority number one.
She twisted her hands together, her anxiety ratcheting up. “Do you think Mr. Bad Guy—Seb Antonov—knows your boat, and that I’m staying there?”
“Just in case, I’ve had it under guard since this morning.”
“You have?” She glanced at him in shock as he pulled out his phone to text someone. “By who?”
“A few people. Boris Clancy’s one. He’s the one with his pet chicken in the basket of his bike. People assume he’s harmless, but he sees everything that goes on in the harbor.”
Everything? That made her a little nervous. He could have uncovered her secret.
“I offered him a year’s worth of salmon skin for his chickens if he kept watch on my boat. Believe me, he’s probably barely blinked since then. Lucas, the harbormaster, has been sticking close too. Bo, one of my old deckhands, has been camped out in my sister’s cabin on the boardwalk. He set up a camera and a telescope and swore no one would get past him.”
A camera—her worry tightened even further. On the other hand, if these watchdogs had discovered anything, surely she would have heard by now.
“You did all this today? When?”
“When you were with Toni. I figured there was a chance I didn’t fool the guy last night. If he came looking, I wanted to know about it.”
He finished his text and sent it with a soft swoop. “Ride,” he explained.
“Uber? Lyft?”
He chuckled. “The Lost Harbor equivalent. A friend who owes you.”
Thirteen
A few minutes later, Trixie pulled up in an enormous white SUV. “Hop in, Bonnie and Clyde,” she grumbled.
“How are we Bonnie and Clyde?” Tristan swung into the passenger seat. “We haven’t committed any crimes.”
“I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.”
Tristan rolled his eyes, but Lulu wondered, not for the first time, what their relationship was all about. They were definitely more than friends. Ex-lovers?
Lulu got into the backseat and pulled the door closed behind her. As Trixie pulled away from the police station, Lulu gave into a wave of exhaustion. She slumped against the door, then slid down until she was half lying on the comfortable heated leather. The stress of this day had left her bone tired, knackered, emotionally spent, every nerve ending frazzled. To keep herself conscious, she focused on the conversation between Trixie and Tristan.
“How did the rest of the debate go?” he asked Trixie.
“You mean after you endorsed my fucking opponent?”
“It could have been worse. I could have gone for the rooster.”
“That would have been a good choice, because I’m pretty sure Cockles won the debate.”
“Oh yeah?”
“In the middle of a heated argument about sustainability, he busted out of his cage and flew into Janet Holt’s lap. She already thinks her dead husband was reincarnated as a yak. Now she believes Cockles might be one of our early mayors come back to finish his work. You know how influential she is. The rest of us might as well pack it up just like you.”
Tristan laughed as Trixie pulled out of the lot. “So all I had to do was jump into Janet Holt’s lap and I could have walked away with this thing?”
“No, all you had to do was stay in the race. Coward.”
Even from the backseat, Lulu caught the slight wince that accusation drew from Tristan.
“Not gonna argue, Trix. Just take the opportunity and run.”
“Oh, I will. And boy, will you be mad when I expand the number of cruise ships coming to Lost Harbor.” She made a little face at him. “Especially the Northern Princess. The more trouble the merrier.”
He rubbed his temples. “Go Cockles.”
“So, am I allowed to ask why your former campaign manager is lying down in my back seat?”
“She’s had a long day.”
Lulu buried her face in her elbow, laughter welling from her throat. Right behind it, she knew, were tears, so she couldn’t let any of those out.
“So have you. I’m sorry about your truck. The curse of the Northern Princess strikes again.”
“Yeah.”
That one word contained a world of reaction: sadness, anger, fear. A whiff of burning rubber filtered into the SUV, and by the sudden silence up front, Lulu realized they must be passing the wreckage.
“Just drop us at the ramp. Thanks, Trix. I owe you one.”
“Forget it.” Trixie’s chastened tone showed the sight of Tristan’s destroyed truck must have had an effect on her. “If we count all the way back to high school, we’re even.”
Soon afterwards—Lulu might have actually dropped off for a few moments—they came to a stop and Lulu climbed out of the backseat, where Tristan met her with a shielding arm around her shoulders. They hustled past wandering tourists enjoying the last moments of the sunset. He guided her to the front steps of a dilapidated cabin perched above the boardwalk.
A kid—maybe twenty or so—sat on a glider on the porch, staring into a telescope. He pulled away as they walked up the steps and jumped to his feet. “Hey, Captain.”
Tristan gave a sigh. “Not your captain anymore. Even when I was, you didn’t have to—”
“I just like it. Get over it.” He turned his sassy gaze to Lulu. “You’re the dancer from the ship?”
“That’s me.” She did a little soft-shoe on the weathered boards of the porch. Amazingly, he joined in and they danced together for a joyous moment that felt like a surprise gift dropped into her lap from on high. Bo wore a zebra-patterned vest over a black shirt, along with tight velvet peg trousers. Oh, and fuzzy purple slippers. She laughed in delight as they mirrored each other’s movements. God, how she loved dancing, even in the midst of the worst crisis of her life.
Well, second worst. Nothing would ever come close to watching her mother fade away.
When they finished, both with arms spread wide and big grins on their faces, Tristan gave an irritated growl. “Are you just about done?”
“Yes, Captain.” Bo drew himself up straight and saluted.
Lulu swallowed her laugh as storm clouds gathered on Tristan’s face. “Did you see anything?”
“Lots of things. I spotted a Caspian tern that Megan Holt got really excited about. I didn’t know what it was, but Ruby told me. She hung out with me with her binoculars for a while when she got out of school. Also, I think Pedro Davila’s having an affair with the receptionist at the Eagle’s Nest. And the Wild North water taxi is putting more people on their boat than they’re allowed.”