Operation Blind Date (16 page)

“I remembered something,” she said.

Chapter 26

“Y
ou’re sure?”

“Yes.”

She grabbed a T-shirt from a hook near the bathroom door and tugged it on. It was blue and long, covering her to midthigh, and he had the feeling she normally slept in it. He was glad she hadn’t last night. But then, there had been nothing normal, at least for him, about last night. Something he was going to have to process later, obviously.

“I only got a glimpse, and the broken snap band distracted me, but it was there. Embroidered on the back, right over the hole they leave to adjust the hat size.”

“And it said Clamshell Marina.”

“Yes.”

Teague gave up his disappointment that she’d covered up. No matter how much he liked looking at her, or how much he’d wanted a different kind of morning, especially after a night that had been nothing less than epic, this was more important now. He tugged on his own jeans before following her into the living room. She went to the small desk in one corner of the room, turned on the laptop that sat there, then grabbed up her phone from beside it.

He let her do the search. His own Foxworth smartphone might be quicker, and have some extra bells and whistles courtesy of Tyler and Liam, but he sensed she needed to do something, and since she’d done the remembering, this seemed only fair.

In moments she had the location mapped. He looked over her shoulder. “Over the bridge?”

She nodded, then turned to the now booted laptop. He studied the map on the phone she’d set down. The Hood Canal was what made where they were a separate peninsula rather than simply part of the larger Olympic Peninsula. The two were connected by a rather remarkable floating bridge that opened to allow marine traffic, including the occasional submarine his former navy brethren were piloting to or from their home base.

“Here it is.”

He switched his gaze to the laptop screen where a simplistic website showed an image of a small, picturesque cove with a few structures and modestly sized boats of various types. Masts poked up from occasional sailboats among the powerboats that took up most of the space at the three docks.

“Small,” he said.

“Yes.” She was reading the page quickly. There were no links, so it seemed the single page was all there was. “No services except a small fuel dock, and no available boat slips.”

“Full of locals, maybe,” he said. He leaned in over her shoulder, schooling a body that recognized her all too well after last night to behave.

“Then why would Edward have gone there?”

“He ever talk about fishing when you used to see him?”

She thought for a minute. “No. And the only boats he ever mentioned were the ferries.”

“As in looking or riding?”

“Riding. He missed one once, and was complaining about the traffic.”

“So he uses them.”

“Yes.”

“Meaning he comes to this side of the sound, somewhere.”

“Apparently.”

He looked back at the web page, scanning. Judging by the description, the little cove didn’t even have a name, it was so small.

“Moorings,” he said.

“What?”

“They have a few moorings, it says. Offshore, for transient boats.”

“So, if he has a boat, he could be there even if the slips are full?”

“Could be.”

She grabbed for her phone, clearly intending to dial the number for the rather grandly titled harbormaster. He stopped her with a touch on the arm. A mistake, since even that mere contact reawakened senses that had been on a slow simmer since he’d awakened naked beside her and memories of the night had swamped him.

She stopped, looked at him. God, those eyes, he thought, distracted by their warmth. With an inward shake and more discipline than it should have taken, he steadied himself.

“It’s a lot of ifs, but if he does have a boat, and if he is there, and if Amber is with him, it might be best not to risk warning him.”

She set the phone down abruptly. Clearly she hadn’t thought of that. “Then, what?”

“It’s not that far,” he said.

“We’re going?”

“Seems the best plan to me. It may be nothing, he may just have bought, found, or been given the hat, but it’s something to check out.”

He didn’t add that he thought any action, even useless, would be better for her state of mind than just waiting yet another day. And much as he would like that action to be staying here and further exploring that fire that erupted between them at the slightest touch, he doubted that would be met with approval on several fronts, including his own judgment.

“While we’re on the way,” he said, “I’ll get Ty working on finding out if the guy has a boat. It should have turned up on our basic info run, but maybe he just bought it or something.”

“Maybe he just bought it for this,” Laney said, sounding grim.

“That would be an elaborate plan, but possible,” he said, adding silently,
and I don’t put much past the machinations of twisted minds anymore.

She was on her feet without another word. She started back toward the bedroom. Then she stopped. Turned back, looked at him. And then came back.

His breath jammed in his throat when she put her arms around him, leaned in and kissed him.

“Thank you,” she said.

“I... For what?”

She backed away then. And gave him a smile that made him wish they were both naked and back in her bed again.

“A whole list,” she said softly.

And then she vanished into the other room.

On second thought, he mused, feeling pinned in the spot where he stood, this wasn’t that bad a morning after all.

* * *

“Ty says he rechecked, still nothing in the system on a boat in Edward’s name. He’s checking under the aunt’s name now.”

Laney nodded. “If she bought him his car, she might have bought him a boat, too.”

“If Ty comes up empty, we’ll contact her again directly.”

“She got pretty defensive before,” Laney said.

“Then Quinn and Hayley may do it in person. They make a good tag team. Quinn intimidates, Hayley commiserates.”

That earned him a smile that warmed him probably far more than it should.

“I wonder how long it takes to get stuff into the licensing computers?”

“A while, I’m guessing, knowing the pace of government. But even if he bought it the day before, it should be in there by now.” He hesitated, then decided he had to say it. “This may well turn into a dead end, Laney.”

“I know that. It’s the tiniest of clues that may not even really be a clue. But we won’t know that if we don’t do this, right?”

“Yes. Sometimes it’s all about eliminating possibilities.”

“Sherlock Holmes.”

He laughed, liking that she felt light enough to make the reference. “Something like that, yes.”

“My parents used to love going over there,” she said as they passed a road sign indicating they were headed west. “Dad said Olympic National Park was the most amazing place he’d ever been.”

“Did you go with them?”

“Of course. We went every year for a while. Camped out a lot.”

“Sounds nice.”

“You should meet them sometime.”

He blinked. Had she actually suggested he meet her parents? He had no idea what to say to that, and the way his pulse had leaped at the simple suggestion made him edgier than he had been.

“Then at least you’d know what normal, real parents are like,” she said, promptly pushing the whole idea back into feeling-sorry-for-him territory. He didn’t like that, either, so ended up saying nothing.

They were at the bridge now, the long, floating span unrolled before them. The sun was bright, reflecting off the water, and he pulled a pair of sunglasses from the visor and slipped them on.

“Weird to think it’s a fjord,” she said.

“Does sound a bit exclusively Scandinavian.”

“No big boat delay today.” The bridge was built so most small craft could cross under at one end of the crossing, only having to open the center for larger vessels.

“No.”

“Did you know it’s the third-longest floating bridge in the world?”

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t feeling exactly light. “No, I didn’t.”

“I had to wait for a submarine to pass once. It was kind of exciting. I mean, you see all kinds of navy boats coming and going, even carriers, but the subs, they’re...different.”

“It’s the stealth,” he said. Then he reached out and put a hand over hers. Hers was cold.

She sighed. “I’m chattering, aren’t I?”

“Yes. For you, anyway.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s all right.”

They cleared the bridge and headed up a rise onto the Olympic Peninsula. It wasn’t far to where the GPS on his own phone told him to make the turn onto a country road, and then farther on onto a local road. They ended up on a narrow, downward-tracking side road that looked as if it had been fairly recently built, making Teague wonder if the marina was new also. That might explain the Spartan web page and the lack of a name for the tiny cove.

They reached the water and they could see the marina farther on, where the road curved around the other side of the cove. There were few other buildings; this wasn’t a town, not even a village, unless you counted a small general store, gas station and boat repair combination as such.

They cleared the store building but Teague kept driving. He slowed when they were at an angle where they could better tell the layout of the small marina. And could see there were two boats at offshore moorings.

“Narrows it down,” he said.

“Unless he keeps the boat here, in a slip,” Laney said. “Assuming this isn’t all a wild-goose chase.”

“Then we talk to the harbormaster. They’ll have records.”

“Not much of a harbor to be master of,” Laney said.

“But his domain nevertheless,” Teague said with a grin.

They came to a widened spot where it appeared people frequently pulled off the road. He guessed it was because it gave a nice view of the little cove, and so it wouldn’t look unusual if they did the same.

“Let’s take a look,” he said.

Laney looked puzzled but said nothing as he got out and went to the back. He quickly unlocked the metal case that was fastened to the side of the cargo area. He selected the smaller of the two weapons inside, in a clip-on belt holster, and slipped it into place on his hip under his shirt. Better safe, he thought. He didn’t really know what he’d be dealing with. It was his absolute last resort, especially if Amber turned out to be a hostage.

Laney got there just as he grabbed the second, heavier go bag, his equipment bag. He had the minimums in both bags, clothes and food, but specialized stuff was in this one. Including his goal: the high-powered spotting scope. He unzipped the largest side compartment.

Pulling it out, he uncapped the ends as he walked back to the front of the SUV. Laney had realized what he was doing now and came to join him. He liked that she didn’t ask a million questions, but waited and watched. It made her easy to be with. Everything about her made her easy to be with.

What happened between them when they touched made it hard to think about being without her.

The thought rattled him. He wasn’t ready for thinking that way. He didn’t look at her as she stood beside him. And it wasn’t, he told himself firmly, because he didn’t dare.

He leaned forward to use the hood as a platform, put his elbows on the sun-warmed metal and brought the scope up to his right eye. It was a matter of seconds to get it focused on the marina. He scanned that first. It was quiet on this weekday morning. Early-morning anglers already out and at it, pleasure boaters apparently not yet ready to cast off. There did appear to be a light on in the small building at the head of the first dock, so somebody was around.

He shifted, focused on the first boat on a mooring, a sailboat that, he gathered from the model designation on the side, was a twenty-seven-footer. The sails were furled, covered with bright blue canvas, and there was no sign of anyone aboard. He shifted to the second boat, a low-slung, racy-looking cabin cruiser that was a bit smaller than the sailboat, not quite the size people tended to call a yacht.

But the style and function wasn’t the only difference in the two boats. The sailboat was clean, well-maintained. The lines on deck were neatly coiled, there was nothing out of place or strewn about, the wood he could see was shiny with fresh varnish, well protected. Shipshape, he thought.

The cruiser by contrast was battered, the wood dull and open to the elements, a ding in the fiberglass hull near the bow sloppily patched over. The canvas cover over the rear cockpit area was faded and worn. Unless it was a sleeper, like Rafe’s battered car, a boring-looking sedan that nevertheless purred like a big cat and could run like one, too, he’d guess the engine was in no better shape.

There was a small dinghy that looked in no better shape than the boat, strapped rather haphazardly to the roof of the cabin. Did that mean the owner was still aboard? Or did this marina, even though small, have a water taxi of sorts to transport people from the offshore moorings? He would tend to doubt it, given the small size, but couldn’t discount the possibility. He was shifting the scope back to the marina to check when a movement caught his eye. He moved it back, refocusing on the cruiser.

Someone had come out of the cabin, into the cockpit. A woman.

A blonde woman.

He handed the scope to Laney. “Look. The powerboat.”

She looked at him first, and he kept his expression neutral. She put the scope to her eye and looked. His answer came in her first, heartfelt exclamation.

“Amber!”

Chapter 27

T
he relief that flooded her left her almost shaky.

Amber was alive.

She looked away to glance at Teague.

“It’s her?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“You’re sure? The scope’s good, but it’s still kind of far.”

“It’s her.”

She put her eye back to the scope, afraid somehow Amber would have disappeared in those three seconds. But she was there, looking rather bedraggled for the usually put-together Amber. Her hair looked tangled, windblown, the pink shorts and cropped top she wore wrinkled in a way Amber would never have permitted normally.

But she was there. Alive. And willing?

Had all this really been for nothing? Was Amber truly on some romantic getaway?

Embarrassment flooded her. She lowered the scope, not knowing what to say. All the time and effort Teague and the rest of Foxworth had put into this, and here Amber was, perfectly alive and kicking.

“I feel so stupid,” she said.

“Don’t.”

“But I was obviously so wrong.”

“You weren’t.”

“But she’s here, and apparently fine.”

“Everything you told us is true,” he said. “It just happened that the innocent explanation may have been true.”

She looked up then, meeting his gaze for the first time.

“May have been?”

“We’re going to make sure she’s here voluntarily.”

She couldn’t make herself believe it. But she was also honest enough to admit the embarrassment could be part of that. And Teague’s insistence this was not yet over helped ease that.

Besides, why on earth would the water-hating Amber be out on a boat? Especially one that didn’t look particularly seaworthy?

She turned back and lifted the scope once more.

Amber had walked to the back of the boat and now stood staring down at the water. Something about the way she was standing, the way her shoulders were slumped and her head was down, made Laney doubt her own doubts.

“She’s not happy,” she said.

“Maybe this didn’t work out like she thought it would,” Teague said.

“It’s more than that.” Still peering through the scope, Laney watched as Amber lifted her head. “She’s crying.”

Teague didn’t say anything, and she supposed that even without the scope he could have seen Amber wiping at her eyes.

“You said she hates the water.”

“Yes. That’s why this boat thing is so weird.”

“Can she swim?”

“Not well.” She lowered the scope to stare at him. “You think she’s considering trying to swim to shore?”

“Or maybe regretting she can’t swim well enough to try.”

Laney looked back, assessing the distance from the boat to the nearest dock. She shook her head. “She’d never try it. The water’s too cold, she knows that. We grew up hearing how a person can only last a few minutes in the sound. And she really can’t swim well at all.”

Someone appeared at the head of one of the docks and began to make her way down the gangway to the boat slips. Amber seemed to see her, too, because she turned quickly and began to wave rather frantically. Laney thought she heard Amber’s voice even from here, in that way sound carried farther across the water. It seemed the woman coming down the dock saw or heard, because she waved back as if Amber had been merely sending an ordinary greeting. Then she climbed aboard a boat just three slips from the head of the dock and quickly disappeared inside.

And Amber froze.

Laney put the scope back to her eye. Amber’s head turned until she was staring back toward the cabin, and this time there was no doubting it. Certainty flooded back. She hadn’t been wrong.

“Teague, she’s scared.”

“Laney, from this distance—”

“I know her like a sister. She’s scared.”

And then Amber slowly, with obvious reluctance, walked back toward the cabin of the cruiser. She disappeared inside, leaving Laney staring at an empty cockpit.

Teague had his phone in his hand, was already dialing.

“Quinn?” he said after a moment. Then, “I’m putting you on speaker. I’m with Laney, out at a small marina on the Olympic Peninsula. We found Amber.”

“Alive?” Quinn’s voice came through with remarkable clarity. They might be in a rather remote spot, but there had to be a cell tower somewhere close. Or Foxworth had some kind of technology no one else did, which seemed to her equally possible.

“Yes,” Teague answered. “But there’s definitely something wrong.”

Laney felt an entirely different kind of warming as Teague accepted without question suspicions based on her gut feelings and her knowledge of her best friend. He’d never made her feel as if she were being silly, even if he’d doubted some of her interpretations.

Teague quickly explained what Laney had remembered, where it had led them and what they’d seen so far, including a reiteration of Amber’s fear of the water.

“Any signs of injuries?”

Laney hadn’t thought of that, and her stomach clenched.

“Not from here,” Teague said. “We’re on the opposite side of the cove, and my scope was enough to make sure it’s her. And for Laney to say she’s scared.”

“Laney,” Quinn asked, “you’re sure it’s more than just her fear of boats and the water?”

“I think so,” she said. “But since she has that fear, I’ve never really seen her on a small boat before.”

“Teague? Options?”

“I think some closer recon is in order.”

“Agreed. And in the interest of maintaining good relations, I’ll notify authorities.”

“We’re out here a ways,” Teague said. “Their response time may not be the best.”

“And you’re in a different county, so there’ll be some time spent bringing them up to speed. I’ll see if Dunbar can help, he might know someone over there.”

“And in the meantime?”

“Give me the details of the location.”

Laney listened as Teague rattled off a description of where they were in terms that were oddly technical, including wind conditions, the shape of the cove, estimating the width of the entrance at the widest part, and how far in the target was located. For a moment she felt absurdly ignorant. She would have given him generalities like where it was, the trees, maybe how big it was, but nothing like the detailed report Teague had rattled off.

“Copy. Turn on your GPS when you’re in position,” Quinn said.

“Roger that.”

And just like that the conversation was over, no goodbyes, just two men who knew what they were doing, even if she had no clue.

Teague saw her looking at him as he put the phone away, and she must have looked perplexed because he said, “He’s on his way.”

“He is?” What hadn’t been in that recitation of details were any driving directions. It hit her then. “The helicopter?”

Teague grinned. “Quinn’s not one to pass up a chance to fly. Besides, he talked Charlie into buying it, so he figures he has to log enough hours to make it seem useful.”

Something was different about him, Laney thought. He was...energized. Amped or something. She’d thought perhaps he’d decided to come here just to make her feel as if she were doing something, but even if that were true, it wasn’t now. They’d actually found Amber.

And now he was in, what? Action mode?

That fit, she thought as they got back in the car and continued down the road that curved around the top of the cove. Things had changed, dramatically, and so had he. They were no longer looking, they’d found, and now he had a specific objective rather than a general goal.

“Now what?”

“A closer assessment,” he said.

“How?”

“Not sure yet. I want to check out the marina close-up, see what’s there and available.”

The parking area for the marina was fairly small, and Laney guessed they gambled on the probability that not everyone who had a boat here would all show up at once. Although some bright, high-summer weekend days it seemed as if every boat on Puget Sound must be out at once.

Teague picked a spot and backed in. He did that often, she’d noticed. As if he wanted to be ready to roll at a moment’s notice, and even backing out and turning around took too much time. A small thing, but different than most people.

Once parked, he opened the center console between them and flipped a switch on a small, rather odd-looking box fastened to the inside. A light came on, a bright blue LED, blinking first, then glowing steadily.

“GPS,” he said when he saw her glance.

“Oh.” There was that feeling again. “I thought he meant the GPS on your phone.”

“No. This is Foxworth. Liam and Tyler put their heads together and developed this. Signal’s scrambled, unless you’ve got one of our trackers.”

“I’m surprised Foxworth doesn’t have its own satellite,” she said dryly.

Teague’s head snapped up. That had startled him, for some reason. “Charlie jokes about doing that all the time, despite all the hoops we’d have to jump through. Mainly to get a rise out of Quinn, I think.”

“He’s not for it?”

“He doesn’t want to get to relying on something we don’t control.” Teague grimaced. “He doesn’t trust the people who do.”

“Not surprising, given his history.” She contemplated him for a moment before adding, “Or yours, I’m guessing.”

He met her gaze then. She saw the hesitation there, his natural reticence about talking about his history, warring with...with what? The new intimacy between them? Was he afraid she would demand to know everything about him, thinking she now had the right?

Did she? Had last night, even as amazing as it had been, given her the right to know everything he thought and felt? She didn’t know. It was all too new, too powerful, and she didn’t want to mess things up by pushing for something he might eventually offer on his own.

“What do we do now?” she asked, letting it go.

She thought she saw a flicker of relief cross his face. “Look around. We’re just looking for a place to park our boat, if anybody asks.”

She liked the sound of that “we” and “our” enough that it made her edgy.

“What kind of boat?” she asked, trying to shake off the feeling; this was obviously just some sort of cover, and meant nothing more, and she’d better remember that. She was already in deep enough. “In case anybody asks.”

“Just like that one,” he said, nodding toward the boat on the mooring.

That made sense, she thought. Opened a door for discussion of said boat, in case anyone knew anything.

“Only ours is in better shape,” he added.

She laughed. It felt odd, a little giddy even. Not surprising, she supposed. Not only had she had the most amazing night of her life, with the most amazing man she’d ever met, they’d done it. They themselves had found Amber. Here, now.

Now the only question was, was she really in trouble, or not? Was she going to welcome their arrival, or be embarrassed? At this moment, Laney didn’t care. She wasn’t going to apologize for worrying about her best friend.

Especially since it had brought Teague into her life. The man who’d all along promised they’d find her.

And he’d kept that promise.

“We’re not going to just ask?” she said as they walked toward the small building at the head of the first dock.

“Not yet,” he said. “If she’s that scared, there is something wrong and no sense in warning anyone why we’re here.”

The giddiness faded. Seeing Amber alive had been such a relief she’d put the rest out of her mind for a moment. But she couldn’t deny what she’d seen, Amber had been frightened, and by more than just being on a small boat on the water she was afraid of.

She felt Teague’s hand on her arm, warm, strong, comforting.

“We won’t leave here until we’re sure she’s okay.”

She looked up at him, meeting his gaze, seeing the steadiness in his eyes. “Thank you.”

“It’s what we do,” he said.

“But you’re the one who listened to me from the beginning.”

“I think,” he said with a crooked grin, “that was Cutter.”

She laughed; she couldn’t help it.

“That’s my girl,” he said, linking her arm through his as they kept walking.

It might have been part of the facade, might have only been to put a smile on her face, as befitted a happy, boat-owning couple out on a lovely day, but she didn’t care. It felt good, after last night she felt amazing, and she was happy just to be with this man. All seemed right with her world at this moment.

And they’d found Amber.