Chapter 9
NINE
They rounded the point, passing the old lighthouse on the way to the west side of the island.
Past the isolated beach at Shipwreck Cove where Rufus and Willow had found the human shinbone.
Past dozens of little inlets and sea stacks covered with skeletal arbutus trees sculpted by the wind.
Past Cedar Point where Blaine’s house stood at the top of the cliff.
Lachlan slowed as they went by it, then moved closer to land to hug the shoreline. Maddy got up and carefully made her way to where Xanthe was peering out ahead of them with her binoculars.
“There’s a camera mounted on a tree just over there,” Maddy said, pointing.
Lachlan aimed the boat that way as if he’d been watching her.
“There,” she said. “The tall Douglas Fir.”
“I see it,” Xanthe said. “So we’re right in its viewpoint now.”
“Pretty much. The footage I showed you is just out there.” She pointed off the port bow, where she’d seen that strange shadow moving under the surface.
Lachlan steered them over that way.
“Can you hold us here for a bit?” Xanthe called to him.
“Wilco.” The sound of the engines dropped down to a low idle, the boat rocking gently from side to side in the low swells. “Just gonna turn us around a bit so we’re not taking the swells broadside.” He spun them slightly to point the bow toward the incoming waves.
Maddy glanced back toward the beach. “The tide’s partway out.” Looked like it was coming back in now. She peered over the edge of the boat. Saw swaying seaweed and rocks passing beneath them in the transparent green water. “It’s not very deep here.”
“No.” Xanthe turned to Lachlan. “How deep would it get here at high tide?”
He glanced around. Lifted a broad shoulder. “Forty, fifty feet maybe. Tops.”
Maddy looked at Xanthe. “That’s plenty deep for something to move through here under the surface with sonar.”
“For what to move through?” Bronwyn asked behind them.
“Oh. Orcas,” Xanthe lied, shooting Maddy a look.
Not necessary. Maddy hadn’t been about to tell the others her suspicion.
If she was right about what she’d seen on that video, there was something happening here that needed to be looked into further by intelligence professionals. Starting with Blaine so he could work the most trusted contacts within his personal network.
The fewer people who knew about it, the better. Especially if they were civilians. If this turned out to be the tip of something bad, she didn’t want to put anyone in danger.
“Heads up, eleven o’clock,” Lachlan said.
They both looked that way to see a group of dorsal fins spearing the surface of the water in the distance.
“Oh! Xanthe, who are they?” Bronwyn asked, rushing over to the bow to look through her binoculars.
Xanthe looked through her own set at the approaching orcas.
“Their dorsal fins are on the smaller side and curved. See how they’re moving leisurely and pausing to do some tail slaps?
They’re Southern Residents exhibiting either play or hunting behavior.
I don’t see Triton’s dorsal fin… Definitely not K-pod. I think maybe J-pod.”
“I love that you know all of that from this far away,” Bronwyn murmured, watching the animals come closer.
“That’s because you’re a galactic nerd,” Willow said, standing next to her as she looked through her binos.
“Galactic? Nice. Can’t help it though. I love learning stuff.”
“It’s a scientist thing,” Xanthe said. “Our brains are hardwired that way. Yep, that’s definitely J-pod. See the flopped-over dorsal fin near the back? That’s a middle-aged male named Droopy.”
“Aww, hi, Droopy.” Bronwyn almost seemed more excited than Xanthe.
“You know, we’ve got some marine mammal skeletal collections at the research center if you’re interested,” Xanthe added.
Bronwyn whipped her head around to stare at her. “Interested? Oh, man, I would love that.”
Maddy grinned. Bronwyn’s enthusiasm was contagious. She’d never been curious about marine mammal skeletal remains before, but now they sounded kind of exciting. And who better to teach her about them than Xanthe and Bronwyn?
Lachlan cut the engines as the pod neared the legal distance limit that boats needed to stay away from them. Vessels weren’t allowed to get close to the orcas, but the orcas obviously could do what they wanted, and vessels had to respond accordingly.
Bronwyn and Willow took their phones out to record some video as the orcas passed by less than a hundred yards off the bow. They cut through the water like sleek blades, their movements effortless.
Maddy thought of poor Onyx, swimming almost this exact same route a few weeks back when something had suddenly caused her to strand on the beach along with two other members of her pod. A sonar signal was the only explanation that made sense.
It infuriated her that a sub might have killed that gorgeous animal.
“Never gets old,” Lachlan said as the orcas moved past them and out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. “Anything else you wanna check out up this way?”
When Xanthe glanced at Maddy, she shook her head. “No, I think we’re good here. You’re cleared to return to port.”
“Roger.” He started the engines and turned them to port, heading back the way they’d come.
The ride back was even more beautiful as the mist burned off, revealing the unique geography along the coastline—banks undercut by constant erosion, swirling rock sculptures left behind when the tide went out, even a cave bored into the base of a cliff.
Light showers began to fall as they reached the harbor. Whalebone Cove sat proudly partway up the hill, the humpback mandible arch standing sentinel from the cliff over the harbor.
Lachlan steered them back to their berth at the dock. Xanthe tied the lines. “You got any trips booked today?” she asked Lachlan as she hopped ashore.
“One later this afternoon. Scattering ashes.”
“Oh,” Maddy said, not having realized that was a service he provided. “Do you get a lot of those?”
“A few, and getting more. We’ve got an increasingly aging population on the island.” He helped Bronwyn and Willow onto the dock.
Maddy hung back a little as the others walked away, pausing in front of him. “Thanks for taking us out.”
His smile warmed his eyes. “It was my pleasure. You get what you needed up there?”
“I think so.” It had been good to see the area from the water. Gave a completely different perspective she could use to compare to the video footage. “Boat seems perfect.”
“She is,” he said in a fond voice, running a hand over the tube he stood next to.
She wouldn’t mind feeling his hands running over her.
Shocked at the direction of her thoughts, she reached for the metal railing at the bottom of the steps to get out of his way. Lachlan took her by the upper arm to help her up.
Completely unnecessary, but she liked it when he touched her.
That alone was significant. Physical touch could be jarring for her.
“Thanks again,” she said as he steadied her on her way up the metal steps.
“Sure.” He didn’t let go when she reached the top but watched her for a moment, as if he were about to say something important.
A buzzing sound shattered the quiet. He dug his phone from his pocket to check the screen. His eyebrows drew together slightly.
“Everything okay?”
“Uh, yeah.” He looked up at her. “Sorry, but I have to run into town now.”
“Oh. No problem. See you later.” She turned and hurried after the others, wondering what he’d been about to say. Had he been about to ask her out? Maybe.
If he had, would she have said yes?
Yeah, she probably would have. That was doubly ironic considering she’d been wondering if there was something wrong with him.
Because she doubted he’d still be interested in her if he knew how damaged she was.