Chapter 23
Zoe
Landon and I have stumbled into a pirate romance novel, but instead of the jolly roger skull and crossbones, a feminine angel is branded onto the boxes around us.
Wings spread, hands folded, her billowing gown ripples behind her like the figurehead I heard described when people spun tales about the mysterious Siren’s Call schooner.
“What is this?” Landon picks at the crumbling wood on one of the crates.
I point to the angel image on the boxes. “This is what the figurehead was supposed to look like on the Siren’s Call. Remember the ship I told you about?”
“The bootlegging one?”
“These prove it was real.”
Landon jabs the end of the chisel under one of the box lids. “Let’s see what’s inside.”
He pries the wood loose. Packed in straw are a dozen wine bottles with SC pressed in wax around the corks.
But the bottles are empty.
I lift one to the light. “That’s weird. Why would you cork an empty bottle?”
“See what else you can find.” He gestures toward the boat while he levers the chisel under the next box lid.
The remnants are in varying states of decay. A canvas satchel under the weatherproof tarp in the dinghy looks like an antique placed here within the last five years, while the wooden crates appear centuries old.
Inside the satchel, I find an old journal with faded, illegible ink and a leather-bound shipping manifest with SC embossed on the cover.
When Landon opens the last crate, we gather our treasures. He found more bottles—some with liquid inside and some without—unlabeled tin cans, and metal boxes filled with rolled gauzy fabric.
I lift one of the rolls. “Bandages?”
“Possibly. It looks like these boxes carried medical supplies, food, and whatever is in the bottles.”
“How has no one discovered this cavern before? With over a hundred years of transferred ownership, squatters, and rumors urging people to look for answers, I would have expected someone to find this before us, but with the way that latch was rusted…”
“All good questions.” Something dark passes across Landon’s face.
“What?”
“Collin and Archer. Do you think they know about this place?”
I shrug. Hidden treasures aren’t something I talk to Collin and Archer about. I slide the journal manifest and two bottles into the canvas satchel. “Let’s see what they have to say before we jump to conclusions.”
Landon
The relics Zoe and I found waited nearly a century to be discovered, hiding their secrets and waiting for the right moment for their story to be told. Zoe is the right person to tell that story. Her passion for the estate and its history is unparalleled, even by the Reeves family themselves.
Zoe sits at the overlook with her face tipped to the sky clutching one of the corked empty bottles to her chest as we wait for Collin and Archer to arrive at the estate.
Neither of us could sleep last night, but exploring her body in the dark wasn’t a hardship.
I snap a quick picture. Backlit by the sunrise, she’s angelic.
The truth of the Siren’s Call pulls at me in ways I can’t explain. It’s the mystery we need to solve, but I don’t know why or how we’ll use the information.
Between the Reeves’s cryptic comments, my resources, and Zoe’s history with Rainwater Bay, we can undo Lucky’s power grab. A hundred-year-old shipwreck that changed the trajectory of a town? What do I do with that? Leaving it alone isn’t an option. The identity of Rainwater Bay is at stake.
Zoe squints at me. “What are you doing?”
“Admiring the view.”
“It is magical.”
“You’re stunning.”
“Sweet talker.” She tugs my lips to hers, and I melt into the affection. Her kiss lights every inch of me on fire. If Collin and Archer weren’t on their way, I’d drag her to the back of my car and have my way with her, like, yesterday. I didn’t forget condoms this time.
Collin’s truck rolls to a stop, and the brothers climb from the cab, waving. “Let’s see what you’ve found.”
We follow Zoe to the empty library where she and I spread the artifacts across the folding table Collin usually uses for blueprints. She shows them the secret door, and we retell the story of finding the cavern, opening the crates, and flipping through the manifest.
Collin and Archer share a heavy look.
“What’s this about?” I point to their expressions. “You know what this is?”
“Mom’s not keen on us sharing family secrets.” Collin scrubs his fingers through the scruff on his chin.
“The Siren’s Call was real,” Zoe says.
“It was.” Collin nods.
“Your grandfather was a bootlegger?” Her voice hits a high squeak that matches the energy bouncing in her toes.
“He was a lot of things.” Archer picks up the manifest and flips the first page open. His eyes scan the page. “Town lore muddied his reputation over the years. Especially after the bankruptcy.”
“Do you want to find out the truth? Clear his name?” I ask.
Archer replaces the manifest. “Does it matter? He’s been dead almost a hundred years.”
I rap my knuckles against the wooden bookcase. “There will be renewed interest in your family and this house when we open the resort. We can manage the narrative if we know what we’re dealing with.”
Archer waves a dismissive hand. “No one will care about the legacy of a bankrupt shipping magnate.”
“You’d be surprised.” Zoe’s mouth quirks with a suppressed smile.
“Instead of being the Pirates of the Caribbean, they’ll be the Pirates of the Pacific Northwest. That is a story people will be interested in.
” It’s a story she’s interested in. It’s the entire reason she loves this house.
Its lore ignites her curiosity in ways nothing else has.
“Great-grandpa Thomas was a lot of things, but I don’t think he was a pirate,” Archer says. “We should put everything back and forget it. Move on.”
“Move on?” Collin laughs mirthlessly, picks up a bottle, and holds it to the light. “This is why dad disappeared.”
“Collin, no.” Archer shoots a furtive glance toward Zoe and me. “We talked about this.”
My gaze jumps to Zoe. Her eyes are wide. She nibbles her thumbnail. What does she know about their dad? And what does it have to do with the Siren’s Call?
“I have the resources to help find your dad, if that’s what you need.”
Archer shakes his head. “We don’t need your money.”
“I know people who specialize in finding things that are lost.”
“So do we.”
I rock back on my heels at Archer’s harsh tone.
“What?” Zoe ignores Archer’s scorn and places her hand on Collin’s arm. “How?”
“It’s not important.” Archer scowls at Collin. He tugs him to the corner of the room and whispers in Collin’s ear.
Collin rips his arm away. “Mom didn’t tell us the truth. Something happened. We need to know why he left. Where is he?”
Archer’s jaw clenches. He braces his hands on his hips and paces the room.
“Arch, please,” Collin pleads. “We need help.”
“This doesn’t leave this room.” He points a finger at Zoe and me.
“Whatever you have to say, we’re with you.” Zoe nods.
“And you?” Archer’s gaze bores into me.
“I promise.”
Archer squares his shoulders. “Our grandfather didn’t bankrupt our family. We’re billionaires, same as you. Just in hiding.”
Zoe gasps. I bite my tongue.
That isn’t what I expected him to say. Their financial team must be fantastic. Even with all my resources, all my digging, I never uncovered a hint that the Reeves family is anything but the men they seem to be. “Why hide your wealth?”
“For safety. Thomas made a lot of enemies. Grandpa Emmett thought if he didn’t have any assets, there would be no reason to come after our family.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t apply anymore. No one wants to hurt you,” Zoe says.
“Dad disappeared with our baby sister almost twenty years ago, but that’s all we know.
” Archer taps the top of one of the empty bottles.
“He believed Siren’s Call cursed our family.
Was obsessed. Everyone says Dad kidnapped Katarina and ran away, but what if their disappearance doesn’t have anything to do with a curse, but was a generations-old vendetta?
What if we tell everyone we’ve lied to them for seventy-five years and someone attacks our mom? ”
“Maybe…if we find the shipwreck, hopefully we can figure out what happened to Dad and our sister.” Collin lifts the manifest. “These can help us.”
“We’ll help you find your family.” Zoe takes my hand. “We’ll solve this mystery and put your family back together.”
And save Rainwater Bay in the process.
Starting with getting rid of Lucky.