“But what about the note?”
“I was afraid someone had seen me leave the apartment so I planted the note. The police never mentioned it, and I’ve always suspected your father took it to protect his reputation. He couldn’t let anyone think he’d driven his wife to suicide.”
Torie absorbed the news for a long moment. She could imagine the struggle, hear her mom’s scream as she catapulted over the railing, and Torie shuddered. “I can see Dad trying to protect me. What about Lisbeth? Why did you argue with her about the note she’d found?”
“The impertinence of that girl. Of course I told her nothing.” Her aunt’s chin came up.
“Someone broke into the cottage and left Lisbeth a warning note. Was that you?”
Her aunt nodded. “It’s such old history. There was no reason to dig into it all again.” She sighed. “I suppose you’re going to tell your father?”
“He deserves to know.”
“He deserves nothing! And if you tell him, my job here is over.” She was too proud to beg, and her chin came up.
“You’re going to jail for manslaughter! You should have told the truth right from the start.”
“It’s your word against mine. And your father would be in trouble, too, for tampering with the scene.”
“My mother deserves justice.”
Her aunt pressed her lips together. “Since you’ve made it clear you’re the boss, I’m submitting my resignation. I’ll be gone after this big weekend is over. I hope you’re happy that you’ve destroyed my life.”
Such blindness to the pain she’d caused. Torie watched her aunt turn and walk away with her head high. Nothing got through to her.
Joe approached and touched her arm. “You okay? From your body language it looks like you had it out with Genevieve.”
Now that it was over, weakness washed down Torie’s legs and she exhaled. “She admitted to writing the suicide note Lisbeth found.” She told Joe what she’d learned.
Just talking about it made her eyes flood with tears. At least her mother hadn’t left her on purpose, but they’d missed out on so much together. Why did life have to be so unfair?
* * *
Joe walked a few feet away from Torie and called Chen. “Hello, Commander.” He turned away from the crashing surf in order to hear better. “You had no right to try to send MPs to apprehend me.”
Hailey wandered down the beach toward Torie. He wouldn’t want his daughter to hear his worry about the propulsion device. Torie either, though he’d tell her what he found once he had a quiet minute.
Chen still hadn’t responded, so Joe pulled the phone from his ear and looked at it. Still connected. He returned it to his ear. “Sir?”
“I’m here. Just trying to figure out how you had the audacity to blame me after quitting on me today.”
“I found something interesting on Driftwood Beach.” Joe told him about the diver propulsion device. “It was hidden like someone came ashore here and planned to return to use it. But it’s not a shore dive area. Too rough of an entrance. So what’s the diver want? I couldn’t help but think about our bomber.”
This time Chen’s silence followed an intrigued, “Hmm,” and Joe waited for more. Chen would be running every bit of data he had through his head and correlating it with what he’d just learned.
“So what do you think?”
“I hardly think we can talk about it, Joe. Not when you abandoned me today. Let me just say I don’t believe this has anything to do with the Navy. We’ve defused the danger and apprehended multiple threats.”
Shut out. He’d known it was a long shot. Why would Chen tell him anything? “Sorry for bothering you, sir. I’ll let you go.”
“Wait. What make is the device?”
“It’s military grade, but I didn’t check the manufacturer. Let me look.” Joe went to the propulsion unit and squatted beside it. He raised a brow as he called it out to Chen on the phone. “Pricey. Our SEALs use them.”
“Indeed.”
This time Joe gave him space to think it through. His pulse increased at the thought of what this could mean. Whatever plan the morning’s diver had put in place might have pulled in this small island. And why come ashore up here? It was too far away from the naval base to be of much use. Unless he had brought something with big firepower that could reach out to sea as the sub came by.
“I’ll send some men after it. We’ll sweep it for evidence just in case,” Chen said. “But I don’t believe it has anything to do with our threat.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thanks for calling it in. I won’t hold your lapse in judgment against you if you decide to come back to work. Go ahead and take the week to see to your daughter. I’ll expect you back on Monday.”
“Yes, sir.” The olive branch was such a surprise that Joe couldn’t think of what to say. Chen was usually by the book, so something must have changed his mind, but what? Maybe Simon wasn’t cooperating.
“Thank you, sir.”
If danger still swirled around Hailey on Monday, he’d worry about it then. Right now, he’d been given an unexpected gift, and he’d pray it all worked out.
He ended the call and settled on a large twisted log near the propulsion device. If the guy came back for it, he’d strike up a conversation to see what he could find out. It might be innocuous, though Joe couldn’t imagine how.
Her bare feet kicking up sand, Hailey ran toward him with seashells in her hands. He wanted to fix her image in his head because one day in the not-too-distant future, his little girl would be too grown up for days at the beach with seashells and sea turtles.
“You made a haul.” He patted the log beside him, and she plopped down on it.
His gaze went past her to Torie, who strolled along the edge of the water with her high heels in her hands. Her long legs, clad in rolled-up white pants, held a touch of pink from the intense sun, and the wind had teased most of her hair loose from its updo of braids. She looked like Aphrodite rising from the sea with her sun-kissed cheeks and bright eyes.
He was such a goner. The more he was around her, the more compelling she became.
Torie dropped her heels onto the beach. “I’d forgotten how much I loved this beach. It was my favorite place on the island. I have a tree house across the street, and I spent so many hours out here.”
“That’s your tree house?” Hailey asked. “We found it, and Daddy fixed it up. The ladder boards had fallen off, and Daddy put on new ones and made it all safe again.”
Torie’s brown eyes went soft. “I love that! I noticed someone had repaired it. And it wasn’t really mine. I mean, we didn’t own the property, but my dad had it built. Let’s go over and take a look at it together.” She slid her feet back into her heels, then held out her hand to Hailey, who was sitting next to Joe.
Hailey situated her seashells on the sand by Joe’s feet, then jumped up and took Torie’s hand. “Want to come, Daddy?”
“You two go ahead. I’m meeting, um, a friend here in a little while. I’ll be able to see you from here, but holler if you get scared.”
At least he still had a job.