Читать книгу Christmas In The Cove - Carol Ross - Страница 12

CHAPTER THREE

AFTER THE CHRISTMAS meeting Aubrey headed across town to visit Danielle Cruz. She’d learned that the girl had suffered a bad sprain to her knee along with a variety of scrapes, bumps and bruises. She was lucky. Aubrey had seen people suffer much worse after becoming entangled in boat rigging or debris.

Danny’s mom answered the door and she spent a quiet, emotional moment thanking Aubrey. She then led her up the stairs to Danny’s room and left Aubrey there with a grateful, encouraging smile. The door was open and the pretty teenager was sitting up, eyes closed, reclining against the headboard. Straight black hair was tucked behind her ears and a magazine lay open on her lap. Bare feet with purple-painted nails were sticking out from the end of a green-and-blue comforter. One foot was busy tapping a rhythm. The other was sporting a black brace around the knee.

“Hey,” she said, wrapping her knuckles on the doorjamb.

The girl’s eyes snapped open as her head turned, fingers reaching for the turquoise ear buds nestled inside her ears. Recognition dawned across her features. “Oh...” One hand flew up to cover her mouth and she promptly burst into tears.

Aubrey hurried toward her bedside. “Danny, what’s the matter? Are you all right?”

The girl reached for her hand and squeezed it tight. “I’m so happy to see you.” She snuffled out the words. “I was so cold and out of it, I didn’t have a chance to thank you. Thank you for saving me. And for saving Brendan and his dad and his uncle, too.” She dabbed at her face with the white sheet.

“Of course.” Aubrey smiled gently and lowered herself onto the chair next to the bed. “You’re welcome. It’s my job and you did great.”

“Yeah? Well, I can’t imagine having your job. You are so cool, you know that? Like, totally badass. I thought I was going to die. That net, it was going to pull me under. I couldn’t believe it when you came swimming over to me and I hoped I might actually be saved. And when I realized you were a woman? I was, like, shocked. I thought you might be an angel, even though you were wearing all that Coast Guard stuff.”

Aubrey let out a soft laugh. “Believe me, I was just as happy to see you as you were to see me. And just as surprised, by the way. I didn’t realize I was looking for a girl, either. You know, you weren’t part of the original distress call?”

Her head bobbed as fresh tears sprang to her eyes. With her free hand, Aubrey reached for the tissue box on the bedside table. She placed the box between them.

Danny plucked out a couple of tissues and used one, dabbing her eyes and blowing her nose. “I’m so sorry. I’m really emotional for some reason.”

“That’s perfectly normal after what you’ve been through.”

She sniffled. “Yeah. I’ve been crying a lot. I go from really, really happy to, like, the saddest of sad in one heartbeat. It’s been rough. I mean, I’m super grateful to be alive and everything, but...everyone is mad at me and Brendan. Especially at Brendan.”

“Why would they be mad?” Aubrey placed a hand on her own chest. “I’m not mad at you.”

Danny nibbled on her lower lip. “I wasn’t supposed to be on the boat. Brendan stowed me away.” She added a raspy chuckle. “That’s what he called it. He called me his stowaway. I thought it was cute...”

“Where were you headed?” She couldn’t help but wonder how the young couple thought they would get away with the scheme when they reached their final destination.

“Brendan’s dad and his uncle? They drop off these parts sometimes down the coast. It was just supposed to be one of those trips. There and back. Drop off the stuff and then turn around and come back. Brendan said it would be easy. He was going to pretend like he was getting seasick and then come into the cabin where I was hiding. I know it probably sounds really bad...” She trailed off with an apologetic shrug.

It had been a stupid thing to do, but they were kids. She was struck by the memory of the time she had been Eli’s “stowaway.”

During his teenage years he had worked for Quinley’s Berry Farm. Sometimes he’d deliver berries as far away as Portland. One time he’d suggested Aubrey hide under a blanket in the cab of the pickup so she could ride along. It had been a perfect day filled with sunshine and laughter. On the way home they’d stopped for frozen custard and watched the most incredible sunset from a bluff overlooking the Astoria Bridge. For a few seconds she let the happiness of that memory sink in, refusing to spoil it with thoughts of the unhappily-ever-after that followed.

Danny dabbed at her eyes with a fresh tissue. “My parents have been pretty good, though. I think they’re just happy I’m alive.”

“Of course they are.”

Her head started an agitated shake. “But Brett, that’s Brendan’s dad, has, like, blown a gasket over the whole thing. Usually he’s a really nice guy, but this...?” She gave Aubrey a pleading look. “He’s... Brendan is worried.”

“Worried, how?” The loss of a boat was a pretty big deal and definitely a reason to be upset. Hopefully it was insured.

“I’m not sure. He just keeps saying that his dad is in a serious rage. He can’t let it go. Keeps asking Brendan questions and going over and over what went wrong.”

Near-death experiences hit people in different ways. She wondered if she should follow up on this for Danny and Brendan’s sake. Talk to his dad or recommend some counseling? She would brief her superior officer Senior Chief Nivens and get his opinion. What she didn’t need to do was upset Danny any further.

“You know what? I know it’s difficult to believe right now, but chances are this will all blow over. Just do me a favor. Next time you decide to stow away or participate in any activity at all anywhere near the water, wear a life jacket, okay? Promise me.”

She let out a giggle. “That’s funny. That’s exactly what that other Coast Guard guy said this morning.”

Coast Guard guy? “Who?”

“Lieutenant Commander Pelletier.” She enunciated the title proudly. “That’s right, isn’t it? He told me to call him Eli, but he looks more like a lieutenant to me. A really good-looking one. And the other guy was totally hot, too. He looks like a movie star or a model or something...”

Eli. And the “hot movie star” had to be Gale. Why would Eli and Gale come here to talk to Danny? The girl had already been officially debriefed. Danny’s unknown presence onboard had thrown a wrench in the midst, but wrenches like that were thrown into rescues all the time. Yet a niggle of concern began to form in her mind. If they were questioning Danny again, did that mean she herself was being investigated for some kind of misconduct?

Aubrey replayed the entire series of events over and over again in her mind. She reassured herself once again that she hadn’t done anything wrong. Had she? Maybe she should have radioed that she was fine and didn’t need assistance. But time was always a factor... These were the kinds of details she could stew about for days. She wanted to quiz Danny about what they’d asked her, but felt it would be wrong somehow.

Besides, she told herself, not only was she a big girl, she was good at her job. She would wait it out, with confidence, until she knew for sure what this was all about.

Instead she focused on Danny and what she could do for her.

* * *

“I HAVE AN IDEA,” Gale said from the passenger seat of the pickup as Eli drove back toward the base.

“What’s that?” Eli asked.

“It occurred to me earlier while we were talking to Alex. It made me think about what I’d do if we were trying to solve this case in Falls Terrace. I know you haven’t lived here, or even been here, in a long time, but you still have a lot of connections in the community.”

“Yeah.” Eli was already realizing how true that was. Twelve years didn’t seem that long now that he was back.

“All this Christmas stuff going on? This could help us solve this thing—getting out there and meeting people and socializing. A town this size, with this close-knit feel? People talk. There’s not much that is really and truly secret. Folks might not even know they are sitting on important information because they only have one piece of the puzzle. But if we gather some of these pieces, make some connections, we might get somewhere.”

He had a point. Eli guided the pickup into a space in the air station’s lot.

“Which reminds me.” Gale pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I got a text from Yeats.” Yeats was their contact at the DEA, keeping them informed about news on the case from California. He slid a finger across the display as he explained, “The crates have been sent to the lab for examination.”

For the last year a potent strain of heroin had been flooding the West Coast. Early indications had the DEA believing the drugs were being shipped up from the south. As a result, they’d focused most of their resources there even as the drugs continued to flow. He and Gale had been stationed in San Diego when a tip had come in to the DEA that Coast Guard personnel may be involved. Because of a connection Eli had in the DEA, he and Gale had been consulted about the case.

The DEA had seized a shipment of drugs from a boat off the coast of San Diego. Upon reviewing the evidence, it had been the wooden crates, not the drugs, that had got Eli thinking. They had been constructed from various woods, including maple and larch. Eli knew that larch was a wood that could only have come from much farther north where maple was also very abundant. He had speculated that the drugs were being smuggled into the Pacific Northwest, where they were being broken down into smaller units then shipped out again to lower level dealers in these locally constructed, and hopefully traceable, crates.

It was just speculation on his part, but soon after that, Eli had been at a Coast Guard luncheon where he’d mentioned the theory to Admiral Schaefer. The admiral had seized upon the notion and, a few short weeks later, Eli and Gale had been added to the task force and transferred to Astoria.

The admiral’s blessing and enthusiasm had been welcome, the assignment essentially like a promotion for him and Gale. For Eli, the importance of solving the case had increased exponentially. Not only did he want to solve the case for his own career, he didn’t want to let the admiral down. Failure, in any form, was Eli’s worst nightmare. Nothing, and no one, was going to stand in his career path the way it had his father’s.

“You have a history here, right? Plus, your friendship with Alex and Aubrey. Can you get us involved in some of this community stuff?”

“Yeah, probably,” he said with much more confidence than he felt. He had no idea how things stood between him and Aubrey.

Gale reached into the backseat and grabbed his notebook. He pulled a sheet of paper from inside and began to read in an overly enthusiastic tone. “‘It’s okay to be crabby this Christmas! At Pacific Cove’s crab races and crab feed you can be a crab and eat one, too’ et cetera and blah, blah, blah.”

“Crab races?”

“Yes. I just happened to pick up the Crazy About a Coast Christmas schedule of events. The first item listed is the crab races and crab feed this Friday night. At a place called The Shoals Hotel. Attending doesn’t sound like that much of a hardship. There’s an all-you-can-eat crab feed and buffet. But, if we could volunteer? Mingle with the folks? That would be even better.”

Eli grinned. “This actually isn’t a bad plan. I’ll see what I can do.”