Chapter 9
Baily stood at the first dock of the marina and took the line Silas tossed her, tying off the bow. “Good day out there?” she asked.
“Mostly floated, staring at the mangroves.” Silas finished with the stern cleat and jumped to the dock.
“I think the committee might have found the next trimmer for this place, which we sorely need. All we need is for Dawson to finish that in-depth background check. He promised he’d pull out the stops.
Use all his connections. Even mentioned back-channel ones. ”
“He’s tired of big cases. He wants to go back to stolen bikes and kids doing dumb things. He wanted small town life, not big city problems.” She leaned in and hugged Silas. He looked like he needed one, and she kind of did, too.
“Here.” Silas stuffed some cash in her hand. He squeezed. “Don’t insult me by trying to shove it back at me.” He lowered his chin. “I have a stake in what happens to this place, and I know the kind of trouble you’re in. The whole town does.”
“Wonderful. Just what I need. Gossip.”
He touched her cheek softly. “It’s not like that.
The good people of this town care about you.
We don’t like what’s happening. Honestly, some people fear what’s next.
Of what’s lurking around the next corner.
We want to prevent whatever’s brewing, not simply prepare for what’s coming.
Let us help. It’s not much. It certainly won’t solve anything. But every little bit helps.”
“Thank you.” She stuffed the money in her pocket. She didn’t have any fight left. Only rage and the desire to defend what was her legacy.
“Glad you’re finally seeing things my way.” He smiled. “Because some of us have taken up a fund if that loan ever gets called in.”
“Jesus, Silas. How do you know about that?”
“The Everglades has ears.”
“That sounds like speak for, ‘Silas has been eavesdropping on conversations and decided to wander through town, chatting with everyone, making my business, the town’s business.’” She folded her arms. “So, everyone knows about that loan?”
“No one knows about that. It’s all about the fact that this place is struggling, when everyone already knew your dad left you in debt.
That was no secret, especially when you sold the family home.
But the ‘Save the Marina Fund’ took on a life of its own when the gas was stolen and your apartment was broken into.
” He squeezed her forearm. “Take the help, Baily. Everyone in this town wants this marina, and you, to stay exactly the way it is.”
“That’s funny. The place is falling down. It needs so much work.”
“You’ve been doing some renovations when you can.
The rest will come when Dawson and the rest of those boys’ figure this all out.
” Silas smiled. “I have no doubt that they will. I know I gave them a hard time when they all rolled into town. But they’re good men.
Solid. And Fletcher, he loves you. He’d do anything for you.
Remember that, because someone like him is hard to come by.
I should know. I got that with my wife,” he said.
“Speaking of her, I need to get home. She worries about me these days.”
“You haven’t been yourself…since Dewey.”
“I feel betrayed.”
“I know that feeling well,” she said. All these years, she’d believed her dad had simply made poor decisions in the wake of grief.
Or just dropped the ball while trying to raise two kids by himself and holding onto a struggling business.
But that’s not what happened. Not at all.
No. Her brother had betrayed her and her dad in the worst way, and she hadn’t a clue as to why.
“Come on. I’ll walk up to the parking lot with you.
” She turned, resting her hand in the crook of his elbow.
“Has Dawson found any clues as to who broke into your place yet?” Silas asked.
“Nothing yet.” She sighed. “Both he and Fletcher believe whoever did it was looking for something. They just don’t know what, and I can’t figure out what I’d have of value anyone would go rummaging through my apartment for.”
“Dawson…he’s a smart one. If he thinks they were there for something specific, then I’m sure he’s seeing something in some way the rest of us can’t. Let him do his job.”
“I am, but it still sucks.”
They walked the rest of the way in silence, and just as they reached the lot, Keaton’s fancy pick-up rolled in with Hayes and Audra.
“Have a nice evening, Silas” she said.
“You as well.” Silas waved to the Keaton and the gang before jumping into his dilapidated old Jeep and firing up the engine.
“Hey there.” Audra raced across the parking lot and wrapped her arms around Baily. “How ya holding up?”
“I’m between wanting to wrestle a python or bring Ken back from the dead and hold him to the fire.”
Audra nodded. “I’ve been where you are, especially when it comes to your brother.”
Keaton and Hayes pulled out a few boxes from the truck.
“Mind if we get started installing the new security system?” Hayes asked.
“We’ll need access to the computers,” Keaton said.
“I just need to unlock the office. If you need anything else, Audra and I will be upstairs dealing with the mess that was made of my apartment.”
“Thanks.” Hayes nodded. “If you ladies need any heavy lifting done, let us know.”
“Yeah, because Dawson doesn’t want Audra…exerting herself,” Keaton said.
Audra rolled her eyes. “My overprotective, overbearing husband is a pain in the ass.” She looped her arm around Baily. “We’d better get started. I’ve only got a few hours before exhaustion will settle in. Who knew being pregnant would suck the energy right out of me.”
“Wait until this baby is born.” Baily laughed. “Midnight and 3 AM feedings. Crying all day. You’re going to be—”
“Ridiculously happy,” Audra said. “Besides, I have me a Dawson, and he’ll be the best daddy ever.”
“Jesus, everyone is right. You make that word sound so dirty,” Baily said.
“I blurted it out once during sex. Should’ve seen the look on Dawson’s face. It was too funny, and now I just can’t stop myself.” Audra shook her head.
“That’s just wrong.” Baily stepped into the main room of the marina, pulled her keys from her back pocket, and unlocked the office door. “There you go, boys.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Hayes set a box on the floor. “We’ll be a few hours, but I’m confident we can get this up and running tonight.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Slowly, she climbed the stairs.
When she’d first sold the family home, she’d been depressed about losing all her childhood memories.
So much of her life had been wrapped up in that house.
She’d thought she’d lose what little of her mother she remembered.
However, she’d quickly learned that those memories would always be with her.
They were in her heart, and no one could take that from her.
Besides, that house had been too much. Too big. She didn’t need all that space.
She stood at the opening of what had been her sanctuary. Her private space. The place she’d end her day with a glass of wine, a good book, and thoughts of what her future might look like when the world righted itself.
“You okay?” Audra asked.
“Yeah,” Baily managed.
The apartment still smelled like fear.
Not hers—at least not anymore—but something far more primitive. Like a warning left behind by whoever had stomped through her life and overturned the pieces. The scent clung to the walls like mildew…thick, sour, and impossible to scrub away.
Baily stood in the doorway, frozen, staring at the carnage left behind.
She hadn’t really cried. Not when she’d first walked back into the apartment.
Not when she’d seen her dresser drawers dumped, her clothes cut into ribbons.
Not when she’d spotted the framed photo of her and Ken shattered on the floor, glass shards scattered like landmines.
But now, standing there, basking in the knowledge that Dawson had no solid leads, that the crime lab had found nothing of use from the security footage, frustration threatened to crack her right down the middle.
“They didn’t leave a single damn fingerprint we can use,” she muttered, finally easing into the small apartment. She hadn’t a clue as to where to start.
Audra looked up from the hallway, where she opened a garbage bag.
Her wild red hair was pulled into a haphazard bun.
“Dawson said there were too many prints downstairs and only yours and Fletcher’s up here, so he’s thinking they wore gloves, all careful like, and that’s why he really believes they were looking for something. ”
“They weren’t careful,” Baily snapped. “They weren’t even methodical when they tore through this place. But they knew I’d be gone. They knew what to break to hurt me.”
“And yet, they didn’t take a thing that we can tell,” Audra added quietly. “Except the gas.”
Baily’s hand tightened around the mop. “And a piece of my sanity.” She turned her back to the room and walked toward the window, flinging it open to let in the breeze.
Below, she could see the marina docks glinting under the mid-evening sun.
Hayes and Keaton were crouched side by side, installing the new security system—state-of-the-art, motion-tracked, facial recognition tech that probably cost more than she’d made last quarter.
She hadn’t argued when they’d told her they were doing it. She hadn’t even asked who was paying. Fletcher had just kissed her forehead and said, We’re not asking. We’re doing. You’ve been targeted twice, and we’re not playing games with your safety.
How could she argue with that logic? She wasn’t too stupid to live.
“Place still feels like yours,” Audra said softly, stepping into the room with a box of torn books in her arms. “Even after all this.”
“Sometimes, I’m not sure what’s mine anymore.
” Baily gestured toward the couch cushions that had been gutted and tossed, like a fox had made a den in them.
“Ken and I used to sit up here when we were kids. Eat popcorn. Watch cartoons while we waited for Dad to finish work, so we could do whatever. That’s where I bandaged his busted knuckles after he got into it with some drunk jerk during the Fourth of July. And now…”
“Now you can’t even picture him doing that,” Audra said, finishing the thought for her.
Baily nodded. “It’s like the Ken I loved, the Ken I grew up with—he vanished. Julie happened, and everything changed.”
“I never met her.” Audra crouched near a toppled photo album and started gathering loose pictures.
“She came into his life after he joined the Navy. I thought it was after he showed up in that shithole I was living in a year after my father died, but I’ve since learned he’d already met her by then.
He might not have been dating her. Or maybe he was.
The boys are a little fuzzy on that timeline. ”
“I think they dated in secret for a while. Keaton told me that he always thought they knew each other better than Ken let on when he first started bringing her around. But he changed when things with Julie got serious. He stopped calling as often. Then it was just holiday texts. The occasional voicemail. When he did visit, it was quick. But he always had something to say about me selling the marina.”
“I always thought something shifted in him before he left,” Audra murmured. “Not something big…just subtle. Like he’d decided he was done with Calusa Cove. Done with all of us. Including me.”
Baily sank into a chair. “You’ve said that before.”
Audra looked up, eyes solemn. “I thought something was eating at him. I would ask him about it, and he’d brush it off like he was just worried about me.
About us and him joining the military. But when my dad went missing, he was so different.
I know I was a hot mess. I get that I made things hard for everyone.
But I swear, Ken was acting off. He would get angry at me and demand I stop the insanity over my father’s disappearance. ”
Baily swallowed. “If he did…if he knew Massey killed your dad…”
“I hate that I’m even thinking that he did. Some days I’d look into his eyes, and I’d see guilt. Like he wanted to unload something. But other days, all I saw was frustration and misplaced anger…at me.”
A knock at the apartment door pulled them both from the conversation.
Fletcher stepped inside, face tight with something between wariness and focus. He was still in his boots, his jacket damp at the edges from the misty evening rain that had settled in the Glades.
“Sorry to interrupt, ladies,” he said with a nod. “How are things going?”
“As you can see.” Baily waved her hand. “We’ve barely made a dent.”
“You don’t have to rush this.” He leaned against the doorjamb. “You know you can stay with me for as long as you like.”
“Not the point.” A smile tugged at her lips. Being in Fletcher’s bed again had brought a small amount of peace. A tiny bit of calm in the wake of a hurricane.
“Did you come to help?” Audra asked.
Fletcher shook his head. “Just talked to Dawson, and he got an interesting phone call.”
“From who?” Baily asked.
“Decker Brown, and he wants to meet,” Fletcher said. “Said it was important. Dawson thought it might be a good idea for me to join them.”
Audra straightened. “He might take that as an act of aggression.”
“I don’t believe your husband gives a shit what Decker thinks about me being there.” Fletcher looked at Baily. “I’m headed to Massey’s to find out. I’ll text you when I’m on my way home.”
Baily’s stomach dropped. “I kinda want to be a fly on that wall.”
Audra folded her arms. “So do I. I wonder if he’s gonna talk plans for the old Crab Shack.”
“He could be feeling the pressure. Everyone in town is talking about it, and they aren’t being too welcoming to Decker anymore. People like Decker don’t like pressure.” Fletcher kissed Baily’s forehead. “Finish cleaning. I’ll be back soon.”
As he left, Baily stood by the window again and watched the waves lap at the dock pilings. The water looked calm. Deceptively so.
But everything in her gut said the real storm hadn’t even hit yet.