Chapter 28
Mac escorted Barry back to the dock. She looked like she wanted to kiss him goodbye but was hesitant in front of her crew.
“I’ll see you later, okay.”
Mac nodded, a look of relief on her face.
Barry didn’t know how he should feel about that.
He wasn’t one for public displays of affection, but he felt like he was Mac’s dirty little secret.
Though he wasn’t really secret. Anyone with eyes could see there was something between them.
Even Julie had asked him questions about their relationship.
Respecting Mac’s request to keep things quiet, he hadn’t revealed anything more than they were recent acquaintances.
“Don’t let what your boss get to you either. I’ll get the evidence we need on Miles, and he won’t ever be able to threaten you again.”
“You heard that?”
“Babe, everyone did. Your boss wasn’t exactly being quiet about it. But it just goes to show, we’re on the right track.”
“That’s what I think too.” Mac beamed. She was turning into a great little detective.
“Alright, go find some sharks.”
“Have fun going through data.” Mac hesitated a moment longer before raising up on her tiptoes and placing a brief kiss on Barry’s lips.
She rocked back to her heels, but Barry wasn’t going to let her get away with that little peck.
Especially if he wasn’t going to see her all day.
He gripped her biceps and pulled her back up for a thorough kiss.
His tongue thrust in between her lips and stroked hers.
It sat frozen a moment before responding, stroking back against his.
Knowing they had an audience, Mac didn’t let the kiss linger. Let her think about this the rest of the day. He pulled back, his lips latching onto her bottom lip before letting go. Mac stood with her eyes closed and her lips puckered.
“Have a good day.”
Mac’s eyes slowly opened, and she looked around as if she had forgotten where she was before stepping back. She turned around and froze when her crew all stood there staring in shock at them.
“What do you think this is, a pleasure cruise? Get to work. Burt, start the engines. Monte, unhook us.” She started barking orders like a general.
Barry didn’t linger but headed to his hotel. He was eager to go through the data he’d collected from Annabelle. He had a good feeling he was going to find something.
Or maybe it was wishful thinking. Annabelle seemed like the type of woman who put everything on her phone.
At his hotel, Barry connected his phone, and while the information transferred, he changed his clothes. Would it be in poor taste to suggest keeping a change of clothes at Mac’s? Would it give the wrong impression he was trying to move in?
He wasn’t; he was just thinking of convenience so he didn’t clean up and then have to put the same dirty clothes back on.
Barry’s computer pinged, alerting him the transfer was complete.
He sat down at the desk and started sorting through the data.
He started with her phone list. She only had a handful of contacts saved in her phone.
None stuck out to him. A few calls to Miles throughout the day.
There were lots of unknown numbers. He set them in the program to check out who they belonged to.
While he did that, he looked at her emails. Everything was labeled in certain folders from personal to the project and from Miles himself.
Barry looked at the emails to Miles first. Nothing exciting or that stood out. Just things he needed to sign for projects. He looked at the hotel emails next. Most were with vendors. Copies of receipts and invoices.
Barry crosschecked the names on the emails to contractors on the island for the build.
A few were upset about the constant setbacks, the land sinking, and replacement orders.
Annabelle was good at smoothing their ruffled feathers and never made any false promises.
She evaded answers about why the project was being delayed.
One email caught his eye. It was an invoice on the north side for a boat in Miles’s name. There was no name listed as who the receipt was for, only a ship name.
Barry opened his web browser and typed in the ship name Prometheus. It was registered to C.W. Inc. Prior to that, it was owned by Charlie Boudreaux.
Barry looked up C.W. Inc, but it was listed under a bogus ID and the I.P. address was untraceable. Miles had some pretty highly trained people to keep him out of the data. Why create a bogus company and buy this fishing boat?
Why pay a million dollars to a fisherman who was failing as a fisherman? Barry had more questions now than answers.
Barry needed to find Charlie. He was the only person who could give him clarity. The other fishermen said he had bought a yacht. That shouldn’t be too hard to track down.
Barry looked up Charlie’s name in the boat registry. He had bought a yacht of forty feet two months ago. Next, Barry tracked down the seller. They were actually from a different island. On Nassau for almost eight hundred thousand dollars.
Maybe the boat seller knew where Charlie had taken it.