Page 43 of Light of Day
“You know I will,” he said, finally getting it. “Bactine stings.”
She smiled to herself, feeling a lot more warm and tingly than she ought to, considering she still didn’t really know what was going on with Gabby. But pinning Andy to the ground had given her a good feel for his character, and she believed him when he said Gabby was fine.
Unless his master plan was to dump them overboard from his dinghy, she thought, as they emerged from the woods onto a small rocky cove, barely twenty yards across. A wooden skiff lay upside down just above the line of seaweed that served as a high-water mark.
Luke helped Andy carry the skiff to the water, while Heather assumed the self-appointed role of making sure Andy wasn’t fucking around with them.
She and Luke sat in the stern while Andy rowed them toward the mouth of the cove, although with its narrow shape, it was more of an inlet. Heather had never been to this part of the shoreline, as this was where the more expensive homes were located. The only way to access some of these coves and inlets was by crossing private property, or by kayak if you weren’t afraid of the currents. She did a quick calculation, and realized that Shell Beach wasn’t far from here.
“Andy, you said Gabby was your friend. Did you take her to Shell Beach?” she asked him.
“Yes.” He avoided her gaze as he rowed. “Is that bad?”
“What was she looking for at that beach?”
After a long pause, he said, “Shells. There’s the boat.”
A two-masted sailing yacht emerged into view as they rounded the wooded point that separated the cove from Chandler Sound. Heather had been around enough sailboats to know this one was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. It had to be a hundred feet long, and every fixture gleamed with brass polish.
“It’s the Stollers’ sloop. You won’t tell them, will you?” Andy said pleadingly, when they were about fifty yards away from the sailboat. “They asked me to check on it every week until they get here. I have the key.”
Luke didn’t say anything to that, and Andy didn’t press it. He probably knew he was going to get into trouble no matter what Luke did or didn’t do.
“We came past here on your boat when we went to Shell Beach,” she said to Luke in a low voice. “I can’t believe she was right there that whole time. I was looking at the shoreline, not the boats.”
“I was looking at the boats too. I didn’t see anything unusual.”
“I locked her in the cabin,” said Andy. “It’s really nice in there. I brought her food and stuff.”
“Oh my God. You’d better stay away from Gabby for the rest of your days,” Heather told him. “She’s got to be absolutely furious with you.”
“Maybe I should stay on the dinghy.” His nervous tone had her shaking her head.
“Oh no. You’re going to show us exactly where she is and let us in.” They were close enough to the boat now that Gabby might be able to hear her. “Gabby! Are you in there? It’s Heather!”
The only answer was the clang of rigging against the masts.
“She’s probably asleep. It’s nighttime.” But Andy didn’t sound too sure about that, and worry tugged at Heather’s heart.
Come on, Gabby. Please be okay.
Andy shipped his oars as they reached a ladder hanging over the side of the yacht. He tied the skiff to it, then climbed onboard, with Luke and Heather following close behind.
“Gabby! It’s me, Heather!” Heather called again.
Andy unlocked the cabin door, then led them down a short flight of steps into the mahogany wonderland of the private quarters. At a word from him, soft lighting glowed from brass sconces.
“This boat has Alexa?” Luke murmured to Heather.
“I think this boat has pretty much anything you could dream of.”
But the one thing it didn’t have, as they learned when Andy cautiously unlocked the captain’s suite, was Gabby. The room was empty.
Heather’s heart fell to the pit of her stomach. She felt Luke’s arm come around her as she wheeled on Andy.
“Where is she?”
“I…I don’t know.” From his panicked expression, she believed him. “She must have left.”
