Chapter 21 #2
I hurry to the slips. The wooden planks along the docks are warped and wobble under my heavy steps.
A few boats bob up and down in the choppy tide.
Three wave runners are tied to the dock.
They're rentals, but today's not a day to be out riding.
The incoming storm looks as if it'll churn up plenty of angry waves.
I don't see any boat named Knotty Girl. Ernie is in the kiosk at the end of the dock.
Like Dad, he's wearing wire-rimmed readers and watching something on his phone.
I knock on the window of the kiosk. His face snaps up, and he stares at me suspiciously. I have that look, the kind that earns a lot of suspicious stares.
"It's me. Finn's son, Zander."
He stares a moment longer then puts down his phone and takes off his readers. He slides open the door. "Zander. What brings you out here?"
"Hey, Ernie, good to see you. My dad thought you might know about a boat called Knotty Girl." An extra loud, smoke-spewing fishing boat is making its way toward the slips.
"The Knotty? Yeah, I know her. She's out though.
Rick must have taken her out early. She was gone before I got here at nine.
He didn't sign out on the log either." Ernie picks up a notebook with blue ink lines drawn neatly across the pages.
There's a wide column for vessel name and owner and two columns for leaving and docking.
"Rick?" I say, "Do you know if he goes by the name Chug?"
Ernie chuckles. "Think I've heard his buddies call him that.
Damn stupid nickname, if you ask me. He's been living on that boat on and off for years.
He was gone, docked somewhere down the coast for several years, but he came back here about six months ago.
Said he was doing business in the area. Not sure what kind of business he does, but something tells me he's not selling bibles out of the trunk of his car, if you catch my drift.
" He chuckles again. "I can't tell you when he'll be back cuz I didn't talk to him. "
My earlier adrenaline has morphed into something much worse and less helpful—dread. How the hell am I going to find a boat out on the open water, and if he does have Nev, what the hell is he doing with her?
I look back at the parking lot. There's no sign of Chug's Camaro. "Ernie, who owns that van in the parking lot?"
Ernie leans out of his kiosk and looks toward the lot. "I think that belongs to one of Rick's buddies. He's been hanging with a whole group of guys who all look like they're up to no good."
"And the VW?" I ask.
Even though he just leaned out to look at the van, he slides out again and looks at the parking lot.
"That's right. The VW belongs to Sam's daughter.
Sam's the fisherman coming in right now.
" As he says it the smell of burning oil wafts over the dock.
"I keep telling him to get that thing tuned up.
He's gonna kill all of the fish before he catches 'em.
Hey, I'll ask him if he saw Rick this morning. "
"That'd be great." We both walk out to the slip where Sam's smelly, sputtering boat is sliding into place.
Sam tosses out the ropes and we help him tie off. "Perfect timing," Sam calls. He's a tall guy with a giant belly that's testing the material on his raincoat. His beard glitters with sea spray. And he's got the usual fisherman leathery skin, crisscrossed with deep crevices.
Sam is still busy on deck, so Ernie calls up to him after the engine shuts down. Instantly, the sea breeze and drizzle clears the air of the burning fuel smell. "Hey, Sam, you didn't happen to see that character Rick out there on the Knotty, did ya?"
Sam finishes his task of coiling up some rope and walks to the railing.
"Sure did. He's anchored about three miles offshore, just sitting out there with his gang of misfits.
I saw him in the distance and radioed him to see if he was in distress or needed help.
He rudely told me he was fine and to mind my own business, so I hung up my radio and kept going. "
"North or south of the marina?" I ask.
"Hmm, just north and if you ask me, they're up to something, and it ain't fishing or pleasure boating."
"Thanks, Sam, that's a big help," Ernie says.
"Yeah, thanks for your time." Ernie and I walk back to the kiosk and I'm already making my plan. "Ernie, I need to rent a wave runner."
Ernie stops. "You're going out to the boat? You heard Sam. Those guys are up to no good, and I think there are as many as seven of them, including one who's bigger than you who's been hangin' out with Rick these past few weeks."
I place a hand on his shoulder and give him a reassuring grin. "You're talking to Finn Wilde's boy, and last time I saw someone bigger than me I was standing in a funhouse in front of one of those crazy mirrors that stretched me up to about seven feet."
"What about the weather?" he asks just as the wind starts pushing a little harder against the docks, and the waves start slapping the slips.
"It's just a little rainstorm."
Ernie laughs. "That's right. You're a landlubber. You don't know anything about that ocean out there and how angry she can get when Mother Nature is tickling her. You'll wear a life jacket," he says in a way that lets me know there's no compromise.
"I might be a hotheaded Wilde, but I'm not stupid. I'll wear a life jacket. Just need to get out to the boat, pick up a passenger and head straight back to the marina." I want to add in "and break a few heads while I'm on board" but decide to keep that to myself.
Ernie shuffles toward the wave runners. "Uh Ernie, can we make it fast?"
Ernie is moving slower than the last time I saw him. He has to stop walking to look back at me over his shoulder. "What's your hurry, son? You saving a damsel in distress or somethin'?"
"Yeah, something like that." I pull out my phone and send off a quick text to Jameson.
Chug's out on his boat, three miles off the marina. I'm sure he's got Nev. I'm heading out there now. Keep you posted.
Ernie finds the wave runner with plenty of gas and grabs the biggest life vest he has hanging on the hook. Even then, it's hard to shut around me. "Hey, Ernie can you hang onto my phone? I don't want to lose it in the water."
Ernie looks at my phone in his hand. "You'll have no way to communicate. Hope you know what you're doing."
I untie the machine and climb on while Ernie's still in the small rental shed.
"Hold on there, Zander. You'll need to sign some release forms, and I have to read you the rules."
I wave. "I won't sue, and I already know all the rules. Might have to break a few, but I'll bring it back in one piece."
Ernie lowers the clipboard and pen he's holding and scowls at me. "Well, be careful, and she's a lucky girl. Both of you come back in one piece, you hear?" he yells over the motor.
I wave and nod. I pull the wave runner around.
One-foot waves are starting to roll into the marina, and the rain is turning from a wet drizzle to heavy drops.
I turn my head slightly to avoid the salt water in my eyes.
I ride up and over the breaking waves. The wave runner smacks the surface hard.
I steer the nose to the north and twist the throttle.
The cold water and wind are a brutal combination, but the water smooths out some as I ride out of view of the marina.
I ride just slightly north and then I spot the boat in the distance.
Adrenaline kicks in again to warm my cold muscles.
I lean over the machine, grip the throttle and torpedo toward Chug's boat.