She was her dad’s only heir, and she knew in her gut he would not understand her decision. Eighteen years since her mother’s death, and he’d only moved on recently. She didn’t want to walk in his lonely footsteps. He’d deny he’d felt alone all those years, but she recognized it now.
Her gaze wandered to Joe. Even if he never forgave her and this budding relationship died on the vine, she knew her life was going to change forever. Now that the scales were gone from her eyes, she could never return to holding back and hiding behind the shields she’d erected. The ordeal under the sea had ripped away every pretense.
But she prayed he could forgive her. Time would tell.
* * *
Simon barked at Joe from his saltwater enclosure inside the metal structure housing Joe’s headquarters. The place stank of fish and stale water. A gull that had gotten inside swooped down to land on the concrete beside him. It stepped closer and stared at Joe with beady black eyes as if to dare him to leave the crab unattended for a minute.
Joe sat with his feet dangling over the edge of the enclosure and threw crab to Simon. “You were a big help yesterday, buddy.”
Danielle dropped to the concrete beside him and swung her legs over. “I just talked to Pete. Hailey and the twins are splashing around on the waterslide he put up for them.”
“Any sign of someone lurking around?”
“Nope. Pete called one of his Marine buddies over, and he’s sitting out front with a magazine and a beer pretending to be enjoying the day. All is quiet.”
“I’ll thank him with a lobster dinner.”
Her husband, Pete, was a burly guy and a Marine Embassy Guard. He was used to guarding ambassadors and heads of state. He was home for the next month, and Hailey was safe with him. Danielle had suggested it once she had heard about Hailey’s abduction.
Danielle splashed her feet in the water. “I don’t get why anyone would try to take you out, Joe. What’s the end game?”
“I wish I knew. This is the second explosion that’s been set. I think someone is targeting our research with the sea lions, but I can’t figure out why. It’s not like the three we have here are the only ones protecting the area. The Navy has more, and they’re fully trained.”
“The new sub is coming. We’d thought it had something to do with that, but why target here? King’s Bay is nineteen nautical miles away. If they’re going to send in a hostile swimmer, it won’t be up here.”
“True enough.”
Could it have anything to do with Torie’s investigation? That seemed even more far-fetched. What could be on Jekyll Island that would attract a hostile swimmer? It’s not like the place swarmed with millionaires or hidden treasure.
Simon swam to the side of the pool and bumped Joe’s leg as if to say, Hey, give me more food. Joe touched the sea lion’s nose. “Sorry, big guy. All gone.” He held up his empty hands to demonstrate.
Simon barked again and dove down to the bottom to snare a plastic ring he liked to play with. He tossed it in the air, then caught it on his nose. Joe could almost see him smile.
“Did you hear from the Navy about any evidence they retrieved from the site of the explosion?” Danielle asked.
“Yeah, I talked to Chen. They found a few bits of wire and traces of the explosive but nothing that would provide any certainty on who tried to kill me. A common explosive and wire. They didn’t find the detonator or any sign of the swimmer.”
“Too bad Simon escaped without the cuffs. We could have nabbed him.”
“Though he might have drowned by the time help arrived.”
“You have any enemies, Joe? Someone you ticked off when you started your own research lab?”
He started to shake his head, then reconsidered long enough to think about it. “Owen Hamilton probably doesn’t hold me in high regard. He was supposed to be my partner but couldn’t come up with his half of the money, so I went with Ajax instead. He hasn’t spoken to me since. But he’s in San Diego, and I hardly think he’d send an assassin to take me out. What would be the point? He wouldn’t gain anything.”
“What would your failure do to the Navy? Anything?”
He had to chew on that for a few minutes because he’d always had an excellent relationship with them. “They’d have to get their sea lions from San Diego, but that would be no big hardship.”
“When is Simon supposed to be transferred to the Navy?”
“In a couple of weeks. He’s nearly ready.”
“And the war games will be going on there. Is it possible some place like Russia would want to whittle down the numbers of sea mammals out there working the area?”
He straightened and looked at her. “You might have something there. One of the sea lions they have is getting old and too infirm to patrol for more than an hour at a time. Chen has been pushing me to get Simon up to speed because he needs him.”
Joe reached for his phone. “I’d better call Chen and mention it. I could go ahead and let him take Simon. He’s my buddy, but he proved his worth today. He’s ready to protect the country.”
Chapter 24
She should be in bed, not sneaking around her office at midnight.
Torie suppressed a yawn and clicked on another security camera file. The police had released the files back to the hotel, and this was her first chance to review them. After the scare with Hailey yesterday, Torie had a fresh urgency to track down what happened to Lisbeth. It would kill her if something happened to another person she cared about—especially sweet Hailey. Or Joe.
Joe had distanced himself from her. The pain of that still gripped her heart, but she had to hope he would understand. In the meantime, she had to focus on her purpose here.
Was Joe right and the guy had something personal against her? If so, why? She was a stranger to most people here except for her aunt. But all this had started well before her identity had become known. None of it made sense.
When she’d told her dad about the incident with Hailey, he wanted Torie to abandon her quest as well. And she’d nearly succumbed to his pleas until she ran across a picture of Lisbeth and her at Poipu Beach on Kauai. Someone had snuffed out her friend’s smile and the joy of life in her eyes. That person couldn’t get away with it. Not while Torie lived.
With one eye on the screen, she pulled a pad of paper toward her and jotted down things to research.
Look for the missing journal pages.
Talk to friends of Bella’s. Someone has to know something.
Talk to Kyle.
Question my aunt.
That third bullet point made her stomach clench. The guy was just plain weird, and she didn’t like being around him. But she couldn’t let her distaste stand in the way of getting at the truth.
A movement on the screen caught her eye, and she gave the file her full attention. This file was of the night Bella died, and the camera focused on the side door by the laundry room. She gasped when she recognized Bella slinking out the door. She paused and glanced around as if she was making sure the coast was clear before she stepped around the landscape bushes and walked toward a waiting car.
The interior light in the vehicle came on, but the person’s head was turned away from the camera, and the picture was too fuzzy to make out much. She thought it was a man with longish hair, but it could have been a woman with short hair. And what was the make of the car? It was a sedan, but there wasn’t enough light to discern the color. Maybe light green or blue but it could be gray. She wasn’t good at determining make and model, but Joe might be. Or she could look it up.