Chapter 33
Mac was practically bouncing on her feet by the time Burt pulled the boat up to the dock. She was eager to learn what Barry had found on Miles’s computer, if he’d even gotten in.
No, she shouldn’t doubt him. Barry had broken into the hotel once; she had no doubt he could do so again. This was the sort of the thing he was trained to do; she had to have confidence in his ability.
“Someone is eager to get to dry land,” Julie remarked, coming to stand next to her. “Does a man named Barry have anything to do with that?” she asked, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.
“No.” Yes. “I’m excited to put our new data into the computer.
” They’d found a whole new area of sharks.
Twelve in all and three different species.
Some were even ones she recognized. They tagged and recorded all of the new ones they found.
Mac was thrilled to start finding them again; she just wished she knew why they had left the cove.
She also wished she knew what had happened to the other sharks. The ones originally tagged that had just disappeared. Mac periodically checked the tracers, but they were still dead. She didn’t know why she thought they would just magically turn back on.
Mac kept hoping she would see those sharks again. Maybe they were still out there. If she found others that frequented the area, maybe she could find more.
“You can lie to me, but you can’t lie to yourself.”
“Fine, I’m excited to see him.”
“Ah, love.”
“No, lust,” Mac quickly corrected. She was not in love with Barry. Like, yes. Desire, absolutely. Love, no way. “I only love sharks.”
“That’s a cold company to keep.”
Mac rolled her eyes at Julie’s bad joke because sharks were cold-blooded. “I prefer sharks to people.”
“Maybe you haven’t met the right people. Or, that’s your excuse to guard your heart.”
Mac didn’t like how Julie was hitting so close to the mark. “Need I remind you, you are my associate and not my therapist.”
Julie reared back, not in anger but joy. “And now she’s defensive.”
“Julie,” Mac said in a warning tone. She was not going to get into a conversation with Julie about Barry and her feelings.
“I’ll say no more.” Julie held up her hands in surrender.
Burt cut the engine, and Monte and the other crew members moved to rope the pier and started looping the excess rope around the wrung on the boat to anchor them.
“We’ve got things from here if you want to go,” Julie offered.
Mac should stay and help. This was her team and research, but she was eager to get to the hotel and find out what Barry had learned. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Without a backward glance, Mac jumped over the side of the boat onto the pier and hurried home. She wanted to change and shower before seeing Barry. She had shown up right after work last night, and more than once, she had caught Barry averting his face when she’d gotten too close.
It was a smelly job, and she had been too distressed last night to think about a shower first. Not tonight.
She ran inside and tossed her clothes on the floor as she headed for the shower, rinsing the sea and fish from her body. She put on a navy blue tank top and white cut-off jean shorts, then toed on her sandals before running a quick comb through her hair and heading back out the door.
Mac knocked on his door; she was feeling jittery now, as if she had just consumed three cups of double espresso coffee. “Have you found anything?” she asked as soon as Barry opened the door.
“Hello, it’s great to see you too. I had a great day; how about you?”
Mac clamped her lips together, realizing she had been a bit rude. She should try again. “Hi, it’s great to see you. I had a great day. I would love to hear about your day. May I come in?”
Barry smiled and waved her inside. “Much better. Are you hungry?” he asked after he closed the door.
She was, but she wanted to know what he’d found. The anticipation was killing her. She had been distracted during the day, so she hadn’t had time to think about what Barry had been doing, but now she wanted to know. Needed to know.
“No.” Her stomach chose that moment to grumble, calling her out as a liar. She looked up at Barry to see if he’d heard it. He cocked one eyebrow, revealing he’d heard it. “Yes,” she changed her answer.
“I picked up some sandwiches at a corner store earlier. There are some fruits on the counter, or I picked up a bag of chips as well.” He pointed to the wet bar area.
Mac followed the direction of his finger and saw sea grapes, sweetsop as the locals called the sugar-apples, and mango.
Was Barry expecting guests? This was a lot of fruit.
“Looks good.” Mac picked up an apple and cut it into slices, placing them on a paper plate then grabbing one of the sandwiches from the mini fridge, not bothering to look to see what kind it was.
Mac looked around for a place to sit. She could sit down on the edge of the bed, but it faced the wall and dresser, and the desk was near the back wall facing into the room, so she wouldn’t be able to see what was on the computer.
Or she could sit on the chair and bring it around to sit next to the computer.
Mac wished they were at her place. She had a lot more seating than this little hotel room. She had a whole couch they could sit on and put his laptop on the coffee table.
Mac set her plate on the nightstand and dragged the chair next to the desk before sitting down. She moved her plate to the desk and bit into the fruit.
“So did you have success?” she inquired after swallowing her bite.
“I did,” Barry confirmed while he cut up some fruit and grabbed his own sandwich.
“Is that all you’re going to tell me?” She was starting to feel a flare of annoyance. Was he keeping her in suspense on purpose, or did this just come naturally to him?
“Patience; I’ll show you.” He came around behind her and set down his plate, then he moved the mouse to wake up his computer. He typed in his password, and a screen popped up showing multiple invoices.
“Are these the invoices for his company?”
“Yes, and not just the hotel, but for his other business ventures.”
Everything they needed was in here. “Did you get access to his bank accounts?” she asked, afraid to get too hopeful.
Barry’s face pulled into a grimace. “Unfortunately, not. I tried every which way, but that thing is guarded; these invoices are just as good though.”
Mac bit into her sandwich, realizing as she was chewing it that it was a cold cut. “Did you find anything through the invoices?”
“I focused on the ones in the islands. If he’s involved with something here, it’s not going to affect his oil companies.”
Made sense. “And…”
“Most are standard invoices for supplies and such, but that’s not all.
I got access into his email. There was a lot of back and forth with contractors threatening to pull the plug on the hotel because it’s a sinkhole.
Literally. But Miles paid the contractors off to continue building there despite how much it’s costing to fix and will continue to do so as long as it’s standing. ”
“Why?” Why keep building when the place would never technically be fully built? It would constantly need renovating.
“I don’t know. Pride? Prove everyone wrong?”
Mac thought about her conversation with Miles when Barry was on his date. “He said he wanted to make this island the next destination hotspot. Make it like Nassau.”
“His own private island he has control over.”
“If he’s scaring off fishermen, he could control the waters here. He already owns one corner of the island. If the island fails to bring in revenue, it would be primed for plucking. Miles could get it at a cheap price.”
Barry nodded. “He has a folder of contracts saved in his email. Take a look at this.” He shifted the laptop so she could see it fully. She was lifting the sandwich to her mouth and froze when she saw the name.