Chapter Fifteen
Zach glanced down at his watch and scowled.
It was taking way too long to get the search for Marit going.
The sun had come up fully, and all he could think about was the fact that she was out there somewhere, with a man who hated her for no good reason at all.
No reason they were aware of, anyway. There was no telling what Lucas would do.
But he couldn’t think about that right now. Not if he wanted to stay sane.
“I can’t stand here and do nothing anymore,” Zach blurted.
All three of his brothers turned to look at him at the same time.
“She’s out there somewhere. I need to find her!
Need to do something other than just stand here and listen to people on boats talk about how they haven’t seen any sign of Pearson.
We don’t know that they’re even looking.
They could just be going about their usual business of hauling lobster pots—not doing a grid search or anything! ”
“The Coast Guard is out there,” Knox said. “I’ve personally talked to some people I know from work, and they’re on this.”
“I know.”
“And Eliot said everyone he knows is definitely not fishing right now. They’re coordinating a search, so they’re each taking a different section of the coast,” Chad said.
“I know,” Zach repeated.
“I called Rogers,” Linc said.
Zach turned to his oldest brother in surprise. “You did? Why?”
“Because he’s an asshole, but he’s lived here his entire life.
Knows this place like the back of his hand.
He loves turning people in for illegal lobster pots.
Telling tourists where they’re allowed to boat and where they can’t.
And he ran that sightseeing and wildlife-spotting tour business for years before calling it quits.
I found out that he hasn’t arranged to have his boat stored yet, even though it’s so late in the season.
It’s moored in Rockville Harbor. If anyone knows the nooks and crannies of this area, it’s him. ”
His brother had a point. Their asshole neighbor had made a living basically tattling on others. He took great pride in calling marine patrol, the Coast Guard, basically anyone he could get to listen, and informing them of someone doing anything he decided was illegal.
“I think that’s him now,” Linc said, nodding toward a boat coming toward the dock at a high rate of speed. It was definitely going faster in the no-wake zone than was legal, which was a little ironic, but for once in his life, Zach was happy to see his neighbor.
“I’m going with him,” he said, his voice full of determination.
“Me too,” Linc agreed.
“I’ll hop in with Jonah and Eliot,” Chad said.
“And I’ll stay and monitor the radio, coordinating the search as well as I can from the Sullivans’ friend’s boat,” Knox said, pointing to the Hull of a Catch, docked nearby.
The police had been by to take a report. It wasn’t until Zach pointed out the lunch he’d packed for Marit—which had been shoved underneath a lobster pot stacked on the deck of her boat—that they’d even agreed she’d made it to the docks and something had likely happened to her.
They’d listened to Zach’s suspicions about Pearson, based on the months of harassment and texts, and promised they’d send one of their police boats out to look for the Men At Work.
Thankfully, the officers did seem to be taking his report of a missing person seriously, and didn’t blow him off by telling him Marit might have decided to take a break from the relationship and her job for a while.
Zach had said and thought lots of nasty things about Victor Rogers over the years, most well earned, but one thing that could be said about the man was that he was a hell of a boat pilot. He skidded into the dock as if he was in a Formula One race car.
“If you’re comin’, get on,” Victor growled from behind the wheel.
Zach didn’t hesitate. He jumped on board, closely followed by Linc.
“Thanks for coming,” Linc told Victor.
The old man simply grunted. He nodded at Eliot, then maneuvered his boat so the bow was pointed back into the harbor and gunned it.
Thankfully, Zach was holding on. If he hadn’t been, it was likely he would’ve been thrown overboard.
No one said much as the small but powerful boat zoomed out of the harbor toward the open ocean. After a minute or so, Zach stepped forward until he was standing next to Victor. “Any ideas on where to look?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Zach gritted his teeth in annoyance. Would it kill the man to talk to him?
Marit was in danger. It wasn’t as if they were out on a pleasure cruise.
Not that Zach would ever in a million years get on a boat with this man for a social outing.
He’d probably find a way to kill him and dump his body overboard .
. . one less Young to inherit the land Victor so desperately wanted to get his hands on.
“I’m not doing this for you,” Rogers said after a moment. “I’m doing it for her. For Marit. She’s a good girl. Not sure why she’s with you, but . . .” He shrugged.
Zach was surprised to hear his neighbor say something positive about anyone. He wasn’t even aware he and Marit had ever talked all that much.
As if he could hear Zach’s internal confusion, Victor said, “She gave a tour of her boat to Kash. Took him out. Was the first time in a long time the boy’s talked about anything other than stars. Then I saw her in town the other day, and she got me a discount on some seafood.”
Zach wanted to tell Victor that Marit was nice to everyone, but especially to twelve-year-old boys who were desperate for some positive adult attention.
But honestly, Zach didn’t care what Victor’s motivation was.
It only mattered that he had a boat and was willing to motor around looking for Pearson.
“You know, when you aren’t actively being an asshole, you’re a good man, Rogers,” Linc told their neighbor.
“Don’t get used to it,” he grumbled.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Linc reassured him.
Ten minutes went by. Then twenty. Then thirty.
An hour passed, and they’d had absolutely no luck in locating Pearson or Marit.
Zach felt as if he was going to go out of his mind.
Standing on the deck of the boat, staring at the miles and miles of water, straining his eyes to see something, anything, that might lead them to where Marit could be . . . it was starting to get to him.
How in the hell were they going to find a tiny little boat in the middle of the ocean?
Pearson could’ve taken her literally anywhere.
There were thousands of islands off the coast of Maine that he could be hiding on or around.
Or he could’ve hurt Marit, gotten rid of her body, and circled back around to Rockville, determined to play dumb about where she might be or his involvement in her disappearance.
Zach was well aware that thousands of people went missing without a trace every year. The thought that he’d never find Marit, that she’d become another statistic, made him want to puke all over again.
“Don’t give up, boy,” Rogers barked out of the blue.
Zach looked over at him in surprise.
“I can practically hear you thinking from over here. Any woman who can make it as a lobsterwoman isn’t going down without a fight. Don’t you disrespect her by giving up on her. My Carrie was much the same way. Tough as nails, didn’t put up with any shit.”
He was right. Damn it, Zach hated to agree with Victor on anything, but even though he hadn’t had a lot of contact with Marit, the man knew who she was.
“Right. So . . . what’s the plan? Are we just driving around blindly out here or what?” he asked, not willing to get into any kind of emotional conversation with Rogers.
“Should’ve left you at the dock,” Victor muttered. “No, we aren’t just driving around. I’m checking the places I think would be ideal for someone to do something nefarious. I’ve got a few other islands in mind to check. Out-of-the-way places. Uninhabited. Not on any damn tourist maps.”
Chatter on the radio was nonstop. From the lobstermen in the area, communicating where they’d already looked in their own kind of grid search of the ocean.
The Coast Guard was trying to organize the search, but the lobstermen weren’t really listening.
They were doing things their way, determined to find one of their own.
Eavesdropping on the captains talking about Marit was eye opening.
Zach wished she could hear some of the things people were saying.
Everyone respected her and expressed their disgust toward Pearson.
No one liked the man. He was lazy, disrespectful, and word had definitely gotten around about what kind of captain he was, which was why he couldn’t find or keep any decent deckhands.
But the most interesting thing he overheard was that Lucas’s father was a lobsterman in Portland. And it sounded like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. No one liked Larry, which was apparently the man’s name . . .
And when someone commented that Marit had actually worked with Larry in Portland years ago—and had turned him in for unsafe boating practices—everything clicked.
That had to be the reason Lucas was so determined to force Marit to quit. The reason for all the harassment. He was trying to make her pay for turning in his dad!
Oh, Zach had no doubt the man couldn’t stand the fact a woman was able to work on a lobster boat, and do an amazing job to boot, but the real motivation behind his attitude, and very likely Marit’s disappearance, had to be revenge.
Taking a deep breath, Zach tried to stay calm. Getting worked up wouldn’t help the situation. Instead, he considered everything else the other lobstermen said about Marit. About how much they respected her, how impressed they were with her work ethic, her strength . . .