Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Rafe was waiting at the dock when Lachlan steered the boat into its berth. Grey and Emma were on deck with the two survivors.
He grabbed the lines to tie them up. When the men saw him their expressions turned wary. Both avoided eye contact with him as Grey and Emma escorted them off the boat.
He stayed put with his feet planted apart, arms folded across the chest of his sheriff’s uniform jacket. “Welcome to Skeleton Island. Heard you had some engine trouble out there.”
“We’re good,” the shorter one said, and went to sidestep him.
Rafe blocked his path. “Just a few questions before you go.”
The kid took off in one direction while the one with the backpack spun around and leapt aboard the boat. Rafe tore after the first one, caught up a dozen or so yards up the dock and dove at him. They hit the wooden planks with a thud, the suspect taking the brunt of the impact.
Straddling the guy’s hips, Rafe caught his wrists, yanked them behind him and was reaching for the cuffs on his belt when Emma appeared with a pair of plastic flex cuffs in hand. He secured the suspect with a solid tug. “Watch him while I frisk him.”
“With pleasure.” She crouched beside them while Rafe checked for weapons.
Negative, but he did find a wallet and phone. “David. Good to meet you. I’m taking these into evidence. Want to tell me what you were doing on that boat?”
Footsteps thudded on the dock behind him before David could answer. Rafe glanced back and saw Grey frog-marching the other cuffed suspect toward them.
“Thought he could make a getaway on the boat with Lachlan still on it,” Grey said, his brother a few steps behind him carrying the backpack. The suspect was bleeding from a split lip.
“Interesting tactic.” Rafe stood. “What’s in the bag?”
Lachlan yanked the top zipper open and showed him.
Well, well, well.
Stacks of hundreds secured by rubber bands. At first glance, at least twenty thousand.
Wasn’t that interesting?
Rafe looked up at the bleeding suspect. “What’s your name? I’ve already been formally introduced to your buddy David.”
The guy stared at his feet with a blend of defiance and sullenness and didn’t answer.
“Any weapons?” Rafe asked Lachlan.
“This.” He handed over a switchblade and a phone. “No ID on him.”
If he found enough evidence and got a warrant, the IT department could unlock the phones and extract any data. Hopefully enough to give them a solid lead into what was going on here. “Your buddy’s not talking, David. Got anything to say about where all this cash came from?”
“I want a lawyer.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you do.” Looked like he was in for another long night. “We’ll take you boys into the station and get your lip looked at.” Among other things. He nodded to Lachlan. “Let’s take them to the parking area.”
He radioed for a deputy to come down and assist him as he and Grey took the suspects to Rafe’s SUV. He put David in the back and his buddy into the patrol car when it arrived.
“Were they going to or from Skelly?” Rafe asked the other three.
“Based on their heading, I’m pretty sure they were coming from Skelly when they started taking on water.”
“Did you see anything else on board?”
“No, but I bet the Coast Guard finds something interesting when they pull the boat out,” Grey said.
“This genius was busy shoving the money into his bag as we approached,” Emma said, jerking her chin at the guy in the back of the patrol car. “Chances are high there’s more of it still on the boat. Maybe drugs too.”
Rafe nodded. He’d become suspicious of a drug smuggling operation at least moving through Skelly after he’d come on board as sheriff. But finding all that stashed ammunition in the summer pointed to something a whole lot bigger and more complicated.
It worried him.
“I’ll need you all to file an official report. You’ve got a camera on board?”
“Yeah, I’ll send you the video.”
“Perfect.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s late. I’m gonna take these two back to the station and get them processed. If you guys wanna head home, I understand. You can come by tomorrow morning to give your statements.”
He’d asked the Feds repeatedly about what they had uncovered, but they remained tight-lipped. That pretty much guaranteed they were looking at a larger picture. And that meant bigger fish they wanted to catch.
Just one more thing to keep him up at night while he did what he could to protect the island.
Maddy had finally come back to the cottage on the hill above town. And she was alone.
I was tempted to do the next phase of the plan now, but resisted the urge. It was too soon.
Had she seen me drive past? I couldn’t be sure, but it didn’t matter. It was dark as hell up here, and I’d turned the headlights off before making the final turn into this neighborhood. There was no way she would have seen well enough to recognize me.
Not that she would recognize me, I thought with a satisfied smirk.
The lights on the house at the corner had been on too. Some locals had told me an old lady lived there. A typical small town busybody who looked out for everyone.
I needed to take that into consideration as I firmed up the final pieces of my plan and put them into place.
The hard, steady rain pouring on the car was oddly soothing as I cruised down the hill and turned the headlights back on before starting down the road to Whalebone Cove.
I hated this place. This backwards, granola-fed island that felt like stepping back fifty years in time.
But I hated Maddy more.
I would stay a little while longer. Just enough to fuck with her some more before I carried out my true mission.
Only then would I have what I wanted. And maybe I would finally be able to put all the pain behind me and try to move on.