Page 55 of Off the Hook

After a ten minute back and forth, I hauled in a beautiful mahi-mahi, its colors shimmering in the sunlight. “Nice catch,” Dad said, helping me bring it on board. “See? I knew fishing would cheer you up.”

Maybe he was right. Maybe it wasn’t over with Faith. I couldn’t control the circumstances, but I could control how I responded to them.

We caught a half dozen more mahi, enough to feed a small army. “This ought to fill the freezer for the reception dinner,” Dad said, admiring the fish cooler that was full to the gills.

“Trevor will be happy,” I said.

“Trevor couldn’t be much happier,” Dad said proudly. And he was right. My baby brother was the last sibling I’d have thought would be the first to marry, and especially to a woman he’d only met a few months ago. But they were madly in love and had a baby on the way. Miracles happened.

Like he’d read my mind, Dad said, “Life can turn on a dime, when you least expect it.”

As we headed back to the marina, the boat loaded with our catch, I felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe Dad was right; maybe there was still a chance.

CHAPTER 29

FAITH

Stepping back on the dock to get the storage shed in the frame, I snapped a photo. “So the shed wasn’t locked?” I asked the homeowner who’d reported a burglary of his scuba gear from said shed.

“Never needed to lock anything before,” the portly man in his sixties said, shaking his head. “Gettin’ more like Miami every day though.”

“Do you have any security cameras on the property?” I asked, scanning the corners of the neighbors house as well.

“Nope. Guess I ought to get some.”

“Or at least put a padlock on the shed,” I said, tucking my phone into my pocket. “I have to be honest, Mr. Crowder. Since you don’t know even roughly when the theft occurred, there’s really not much we can do to try to find the perpetrators.” He had noticed it missing yesterday morning, but the last time he was sure he’d seen it was over a month earlier.

“I understand. Thanks for coming out, Detective. I appreciate you.”

“You’re welcome, sir. Have a great rest of your day.” At least he was friendly. Even if the Keys were becoming more like Miami, it was still far more civilized.

The air conditioning in the station hit me with a frigid blast, chilling the sweat beads on my forehead. “Christ, Louis, what’s the thermostat set to? Antarctica?”

“Oh, is it too cold in here?” Louis answered, his brow creased with worry. “I don’t know, I’ll check.”

“Thanks, Louis,” I said, pushing an arm into my blazer.

Oscar was pacing behind his desk, a worried look on his face.

“Howdy, partner. What’s going on?”

“I wish I knew,” he said, lowering his voice. “Faith, this just keeps getting weirder. I don’t even know who to trust.” Oscar sounded agitated, and paranoid.

I cocked my head, studying him. The murder case was wearing on him too. “What? What happened now?”

“Let’s go to lunch. I’ll fill you in on the way.”

I stared at him, confused, but he was already heading for the door. I jogged to catch up, peeling off my blazer as I trotted down the steps.

Once we were seated in his Charger, Oscar opened up. “We got a hit on the CODIS search, but it came back inconclusive,” he said.

My nose scrunched as I tried to make sense of what he’d said. “Inconclusive? What does that even mean?”

“I did some digging. Seems like there was a match in the system, but I can’t access it,” he replied, sounding irritated. “The profile is locked.”

“Locked? Why would it be locked?” I asked as Oscar made a quick left turn into Tavernier Creek Marina, where my favorite dockside Cuban cafe happened to be.

“Hell if I know. All I can tell is that it’s restricted, meaning I don’t have the clearance to view the file,” he spat out the words, clearly frustrated at being told his clearance wasn’t high enough. That man’s ego would get the best of him someday.

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