16. Sixteen
Warm air tickled the sweat beading on Camilla’s neck, and she wiped it away. Her turn to clean Lula’s deck, the men’s least favorite chore. In truth, it didn’t bother her much. A small price to pay for her furry companion.
And the work might help take her mind off what had nearly happened in the attic. She’d almost up and kissed Daniel like some wanton flapper. She hadn’t, of course. Had made some silly excuse about needing to get on with finding a new haul and hightailed it out of there. She’d even scooped Lula right out from a game of tug with Daniel’s nephew.
They all probably thought she’d lost her mind.
Maybe she had.
She’d needed time and distance to sort out her feelings and the information she’d learned. So far, two days away from Daniel and his sense-muddling presence hadn’t helped.
Nor had deck duty.
Her mind insisted on turning over every word and phrase. Analyzing each detail. There were so many questions. Could she even be sure she could trust him? Logic screamed there was more to the tale than he’d let on. But maybe he held back to keep her safe. No matter what she tried to tell herself about using caution, her instincts insisted Daniel wouldn’t purposely cause her harm.
It was in the eyes like Papa always said. And she’d found nothing in Daniel’s eyes but sincerity, fascination, and hope. Well, and a toe-tingling kind of attraction as well.
Which looped her right back to thinking about that morning in the attic.
“Snakes and saltwater.” She pushed the mop across the already clean floor.
Lula yipped as the ends of the mop’s yarn slid her way.
“Sorry, girl.”
Lula’s ears pricked, and she shot off around the edge of the engine room.
A voice sounded a second later. “I found something!”
Her heart skipped. Daniel. She’d started to wonder if he’d taken her instructions to come find her when he had something to start this job too much to heart. At least the advanced payment of the first half of their fee had compensated her crew and kept them busy making the necessary repairs so they’d be able to safely take to the water as soon as Daniel was ready.
She dropped the mop and strode to the port deck with all the calm she could muster. The man had already muddled her enough. He didn’t need to see her eagerly bounding to his call like an overzealous spotted pup who clearly had no problem letting people see she”d developed a fondness for him.
Wind toyed with the edges of Daniel’s hair under his newsboy cap. He waved a hand in greeting as his gaze found hers. Lula stood at the rail, tail wagging.
Camilla joined her furry companion, hoping she didn’t look equally eager to see him. “And here I thought we were about to give up on this venture.”
The words shot out on their own accord. So much for not sounding eager.
After days of waiting to see if further searching turned up anything of use, she’d planned on breaking the news to him tomorrow that they’d have to go ahead and make a delivery run while they waited.
Partly because her nerves couldn’t take the idleness.
Daniel bounded up the ramp. He’d left his jacket, wearing only a linen shirt, sleeves rolled up to reveal his forearms, and suspenders hooked onto a pair of sturdy gray trousers. He flapped a slim book as he stepped onto the freshly washed port deck.
“Tell the crew to get ready to pull out.”
“Now?” She shook her head. “Doesn’t work like that. We have to make preparations.”
“Yes.” He motioned to Solomon, holding his hands apart and mimicking steering. Then he pointed to the water. Then his watch. “Start that now.”
Camilla signed to Solomon to wait while she figured out what had the man in a tizzy. “How about we talk in Papa’s office about what you found? Then we can decide on a course of action.”
The muscle in Daniel’s jaw twitched, but he nodded. He attempted another series of gestures to Solomon that could be a greeting. He waved, then patted his own back.
What was that supposed to mean?
“You know he can hear you, right?” She started toward the stairs.
Daniel shrugged. “I was trying for camaraderie, but if my efforts are interpreted as disrespectful, I’ll stop.”
He wanted to foster fellowship with her crew? “Why?”
They mounted the stairs to the upper level. “Why what? Why do I want to try to make friends with Solomon, or why am I attempting a language of hand signals I know nothing about?”
A laugh bubbled. How did the man manage to sound solemn and humorous at the same time? “Both, I suppose.”
“There’s rarely a reason to not seek friendship with those around us, especially if we know they are brothers in the Lord. And I’ve heard attempting to relate to people helps with such endeavors.”
“That so?” She opened the door to Papa’s office and ushered him inside. “Then how are you attempting to relate to me?”
Lula clattered in behind them and angled toward her pillow. She clamped it between her jaws and trotted to a strip of sunshine streaming through the rear window. She circled twice, then curled in the sun for her customary afternoon nap.
“Oh.” The most adorable shade of pink crept into his ears.
Camilla settled into Papa’s chair and propped her feet on the desk. Gracious. Did that left shoe have a hole in the toe already? She tucked her legs underneath.
“We already have a connection, so I haven’t searched for another.” Daniel scratched the back of his head.
“You mean the treasure?” She leaned forward, studying him. “Or something else?”
Daniel’s nervous laughter resulted in Lula’s perked ears, but she rejected the notion of stirring from her spot. “You are rather forward for a woman. Do you know that?”
Now heat seared her ears. She’d been told. More than a few times. She declined to answer with anything more than narrowed eyes.
“Don’t take offense.” Daniel hooked his fingers over the chair’s worn arms. “I like that about you. Makes you much easier to talk to than most people.” He shifted and rested his forearms on his knees. “The connection I feel between us draws me to you in a way I believe God designed one soul to be drawn to another.”
Snakes and saltwater. What did he mean by that? Her stomach flipped over itself like a mullet caught in a net.
They stared at one another, her heart beating furiously. Papa might say this was one of those moments that turned the rudder and sent you onto a new course. One she wasn’t sure she was prepared to navigate.
“What’s in the book?” Why did her words come out all breathy? She cleared her throat and tried again. “You found a clue?”
Better she steer back to safer waters. She still didn’t know what to do with these new feelings swimming around inside her.
Daniel looked down at the leather-bound volume like he’d forgotten he still held it. “Yes.” He smacked it against his palm. “These might be the notes from the private investigator my grandfather hired. They tell us where my father went that night.”
She lurched up from her chair. “Why didn’t you say that sooner?” She extended her hand. “Let me see.”
He relinquished the book. “They went eight miles upriver.”
The words fell between them, and she lifted her gaze from a blocky script to meet his.
“With Papa?” She shook her head. “No, I would have known if he’d taken the Alma May. I was visiting someone in town, but the steamer stayed docked.”
Memories of that night pressed in on the edges of her vision and stole her breath. If they’d taken a smaller boat into the back channels, then why had Mr. Dixon needed a riverboat captain?
“You never told me what happened.” Though gentle, Daniel’s words still knifed through her heart.
She closed her eyes and willed her breathing to steady. He should know the details. Whatever had happened between their fathers didn’t have anything to do with them.
Right?
“I don’t have many friends.” Maybe if she started a little farther back, she could ease into troubled waters.
Daniel settled against his chair and waited while she gathered her thoughts.
“We are usually on the river and don’t stay in one place long.” She picked at the ragged edge of her thumbnail. “That doesn’t mean folks haven’t made their way into our lives over the years. One of those people is Solomon’s mother. She used to keep me when I was small and my mother took a trip with Papa on the water. Whenever we dock in Natchez, I spend a day or two with her if I can.”
If she closed her eyes, she could still smell Hattie’s warm yeast rolls. The cozy home nestled in the woods almost felt like something from a storybook. Painful memories had kept her away, but had that ended up hurting more than helping?
“I was at Hattie’s house that day.” She swallowed the tightness in her throat. “When Solomon came for me, he’d said Papa had gone with Mr. Dixon. They’d been searching for the treasure for a while by then. Of course, I’d thought it was all nonsense. But Papa had come more alive seeking the clues than I’d seen him in a long time, so I didn’t say anything. I figured he’d give up eventually.”
Daniel leaned forward and plucked one of her hands from Papa’s desk. He brushed his thumb over the back of her knuckles. A small touch. Yet it infused her with strength.
“Solomon came home and told me that…” She swallowed the lump insistent on rising again in her throat. “That they’d found Papa’s body face down on the riverbank, not half a mile from our boat. Mr. Dixon was missing.”
“What happened to your father?” Daniel rubbed another pass over her knuckles.
“We don’t know. He’d been shot, but the police didn’t think he’d been killed where he’d been found. They investigated, but never found anything.”
Daniel’s fingers stopped their gentle path. “I remember hearing about that. I wasn’t in Natchez at the time. We received word from my grandfather that Father had gone missing. They said they thought he fell off a riverboat and drowned in the river. We tried searching for him, but we never found him.”
He released her hand, and she withdrew them under the desk.
Had his father shot hers? Had Papa done something to Daniel’s father in turn? Could she really trust this man she hardly knew just because he had a way of making her insides flutter?
“What did the book say?” She looked at the thin volume, strangely unable to thumb through its pages.
Lula whined, breaking the thickening silence. Her claws clicked across the floor as she trotted over to Daniel and sniffed his shoes. He glanced down at her, and a hint of a smile lifted his cheeks.
The dog lowered her haunches and sprang into his lap. She turned three full circles while he stared at her, lips slightly parted, and then curled into a ball.
Daniel met Camilla’s gaze.
“Looks like you made a friend.” Her pup didn’t take to new people easily. Warmth melted the ice that had gripped her heart. Maybe the approval of a dog shouldn’t make her feel better, but it did anyway.
He ran a gentle hand down Lula’s back, stroking the soft fur. She’d never once seen the terrier choose a lap other than hers. High canine praise indeed.
“Those are notes from my grandfather”s investigation.” When Daniel spoke again, his tone remained businesslike even though he didn’t look up from the dog. “Looks like we were right about the inlets.”
If they’d gone into the backwaters, made sense they’d taken a smaller boat. “They were looking for the Carolina?”
“It doesn’t say.” His emerald gaze locked on hers. “It says the investigator—I don’t know his name—followed my father from Grandfather’s house the afternoon of September sixth. He met with Captain Lockhart at a pub under the hill. From there, the two of them took a tug out of port. The investigator followed on horseback along the river’s edge eight miles north.”
Camilla leaned forward. That was more information than the police had been able to find. “Then what?”
“They took shallow channels, and the investigator lost them in the dark. The marsh became too difficult for the horse, and he had to turn back.”
She let out a long breath. “That doesn’t give us much to go on.”
He flipped open the book and pointed to a page. Lula rumbled from his lap, unhappy with being squished as he leaned forward. He scooted the open book toward Camilla and sat back.
Her stomach flipped as she recognized the markings on the page. “It’s a map.”