Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
After going into the police station to give his statement and sign the official incident report, Lachlan drove down to the marina. With some time left to kill before his first scheduled trip, he checked emails on his phone to cross-reference the information from the booking system.
A party of eight had booked a sunset cruise for tonight, and he had a supply transport run scheduled for tomorrow morning. The upcoming weekend whale watch tours were only a third full at the moment, but the weather forecast didn’t look great.
People tended to not be excited to go out in the rain. This time of year was tough for his business, and the tourists wouldn’t return in significant numbers until the spring.
He needed all the paying trips he could get through the fall and winter to keep everything operating smoothly and pay his bills without having to dip into his investments. He didn’t want to pull capital out of them unless he’d used up all his savings.
At a knock on his truck window he looked up, smiled at Xanthe, and lowered it. “Morning. Fancy meeting you here.”
“Yeah, how about that.” She studied the bruise on his cheekbone. “Heard you guys had an exciting night.”
“Who’d you hear that from?”
Her expression was wry. “It’s Skelly. Everyone knows.”
“Does Maddy?” He hadn’t heard from her and wanted to tell her about it in person, hopefully tonight. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this into someone.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen or talked to her yet today. Anyway, what happened to the guy who hit you?”
“He’s got a busted lip and won’t be using his right arm for a few days.”
“Good. Hear anything from Rafe about what the Coast Guard found when they pulled the boat out?”
“Not yet, but this has drug smuggling all over it.” He’d seen it dozens of times during his military service.
“Hopefully the suspects give Rafe something to work with so he can start pulling on that piece of yarn.” She glanced up at the leaden gray cloud deck overhead. Winds were light but gusty out of the west. “How wet is it gonna be today?”
“Pretty wet. You got the drone ready to go?” The endangered Southern Resident orcas in the area had gone through a lot of stress over the past few weeks, including the recent loss of their longtime matriarch.
Today’s research trip involved taking the souped-up drone Blaine had donated to the research center to try and get some samples from J and K-pods.
Xanthe and Allistair had rigged it to hold a couple petri dishes.
Once they found the orcas, they could fly the drone in close to collect samples from the vapor of their blows.
“Allistair’s taking it to the boat right now. Won’t let anyone else handle it. That thing is his baby.”
“Boys and their toys, am I right?”
“Guess so.” She waited while he grabbed his gear from the truck bed and fell in step next to him on the way to the end of the dock. With another rainstorm and moderate winds about to hit the island, only the local fishermen were heading out of the harbor today. “How are things?”
He shot her a glance, wondering why she was asking. “Things are good. You?”
“Fantastic. Blaine and I’ve been working on some designs for the new research center, along with ideas on how to make the resort a lot more eco-friendly. We’re going to the mainland to meet with some experts at the Seattle aquarium about it.”
“You guys’ve been busy.” They were opposites in a lot of ways, but well matched in drive, passion, and work ethic. Lachlan thought they complimented each other.
“We both like to stay busy. I also heard about Grey and Beth, by the way. That sucks.”
He was well used to the island grapevine and how it worked. “It’s tough for him right now, but I think he knows it’s the right call. They’ll both be happier in the long run.”
“Ah.” She was uncharacteristically quiet until they reached the end of the dock. “You been keeping busy lately too?”
He frowned. It felt like she was fishing, and that wasn’t like her. “Why?”
“Heard you went out with Maddy the other day.”
“I did, yeah.” He was a bit surprised Maddy had told her. “That bother you?”
“No, not at all.” Her expression said otherwise.
“But?”
She sighed. “Look, I’m not gonna stick my nose in your business—”
“Good.”
“—except to say…just be careful with her.”
His instincts started humming. “Meaning?”
“From what I understand, she’s been pretty sheltered for most of her life.”
Yeah, he’d picked up on that. “Okay, and?” When she didn’t elaborate, his patience slipped. “If there’s something I need to know, tell me.”
She sighed. “I don’t know the full story. Only she and Blaine do. But she’s been through a lot.”
Yeah, her and me both. “A lot as in…”
“An incredibly traumatic situation when they worked together overseas. The kind most people don’t ever get over.”
Jesus. It confirmed his suspicion that someone had hurt her. Badly.
All his protective instincts roared to life. Maddy was sweet and sassy and smart, trying to navigate her way through a world she’d never fit into.
The thought of anyone deliberately hurting her made him want to smash something. Starting with the asshole’s face.
“Okay, that murderous expression is understandable, but unnecessary. The person responsible is already dead.”
He shot her a hard look. Dead? What the hell had happened? “You’re seriously gonna leave me hanging with just that? Why are you being cryptic?”
“You know I’d tell you more if I could, but I don’t know a lot of the details, and it needs to come from her. I just wanted to give you a heads up and warn you to proceed with caution. That’s all. I care about both of you. A lot. I don’t want to see either of you get hurt.”
He chewed on that while he readied the boat. Grunted a response when Allistair showed up with his usual sunny greeting, lost in his thoughts. Xanthe wouldn’t have said anything unless it was serious.
He’d thought Maddy’s caution with him was mainly due to her being neurodivergent, and a bit because some asshole had broken her trust in the past. Now he knew it went way deeper than that. And that it was a hell of a lot darker than he’d imagined.
Whatever Maddy had been through was way more serious than having her heart broken. Whatever trauma she’d suffered, it had scarred her.
He knew what that was like. How trauma could trap you in a stranglehold until it felt like you couldn’t breathe.
Only Grey knew the truth about him. Only Blaine knew the truth about her.
The urge to protect her burned inside him like an inferno. The need to comfort her pulled every muscle taut.
He had to see her. Hold her. Show her he was here for her.
And it was going to be at least another ten or twelve hours before he would get the chance.
“Okay, and good morning to you too,” Allistair said with an offended frown.
“I know you had a rough night last night, but you’re gonna scare away all the orcas with that thundercloud look on your face.
What’s up with you? I thought you’d be a walking ray of sunshine now that you’re seeing our girl Maddy. ”
“Don’t poke the bear, Al,” Xanthe said from the bow.
Definitely don’t.
Lachlan left them to ready the drone and went into the relative privacy of the pilothouse to text Maddy.
Just heading out with X and Al for a few hours. Should be back by seven or eight. Have dinner with me after?
She responded a few minutes later.
I’m dog sitting at Mae’s tonight and maybe tomorrow too. Need to stick around her place, but we could eat there if you want.
Yeah, he wanted. Wanted her so much it shook him. But he’d settle for dinner to start.
Text me when you get in.
He responded with a thumbs up and fired up the zodiac’s engines, anxious to get this trip over with so he could see Maddy. They both had trauma. Dark secrets they carried every day.
If he wanted to earn her trust and get her to open up, then he needed to lead the way.