Page 123 of In the Pursuit of Haven
“I’ve got you covered,” Jessie said. “You’ll love the shrimp scampi.”
“I’ll just have a club sandwich,” Caitlyn said. She slid off her coat revealing a soft pink sweater and we all made ourselves more comfortable as we removed excess clothing to the sound of crinkling and swishing coats.
Caitlyn pushed her red hair behind her ear—the color reminded me of someone else’s natural hair color. I lowered my voice, “Are you related to Ruth?”
Her head tilted in gentle confusion. “No.”
“She wasn’t the one who contacted you?” I asked. “Or her father, Jude?”
They both shook their heads.
“I thought maybe you’d been contacted by a—a…” It seemed ridiculous to say aloud, “a Shepherd of the Relics.”
Both of them looked blank.
I tried again, “Or a guardian of Crabb’s treasure? They might call themselves something like that.”
Brecker’s brow rose.
That set Jessie off. “Quit making this so hard.” He leaned closer to them. “Who contacted you?”
The server interrupted our heated discussion with a loaf of bread and honey butter. Jessie quickly ordered the scampi and sandwich, glaring at our “friends” the whole time.
“Relax,” Brecker said the instant we were alone. “We’ve been sworn to secrecy, okay? All I can say”—he leaned over the table to keep this between us—“is that these people know you’re close to finding this treasure and they don’t want to see you hurt like others have been.”
Like Matthew, Drake, Leon?
“And how do you think you can help?” I asked.
“We have a lot of experience,” Caitlyn chirped. “Well”—her eyes ran to Brecker—“he does.”
“Diving?” Jessie cut in. I realized where he was going with this, even as he began to outline our latest dilemma. “There’s a ship that went down on its way to Boston with one of these Relics onboard. It happened in 1808 on a ship named Wilson.”
Brecker’s jaw went stiff before he nodded. “I have diving experience. Yeah. What would I be looking for?”
“A blue glass… of sorts,” I said. “It belonged to Marcus Woolsten, one of the passengers, but…” It was an absolute needle in a haystack. “Who knows where that ship is now? Online, it says the ship went down somewhere off the east coast, so it’s vague.”
Jessie’s eyes didn’t leave the self-assured daredevil in front of us. “If you can get us that Relic, then I’ll know you’re worth keeping around.”
Brecker looked annoyed. Jessie couldn’t actually be serious about them finding this? There were plenty of Relics we could have them go after where they might actually stand a chance, and yet I wasn’t so sure if that’s what Jessie was going for. Hewantedthem to fail.
Judging by Brecker’s set face, I could see that he saw through my husband too. “A blue glass?” he asked. “You want us to find blue glass on the bottom of the ocean?”
“That’s it,” Jessie said. “They can’t do it.” He grinned in satisfaction at outing the imposters. The server came back with the scampi and the sandwich.
Brecker gathered his things, glancing over at Caitlyn. “C’mon, let’s go.”
They were leaving? We had four more Relics to find. “You’re just letting them go?” I hissed at Jessie. I was dismayed that his habit of pushing people away extended to our new friends. “We could use their help.”
Jessie leaned back against the booth seat, his brow arching at Brecker. Our new ally seemed to be jumping ship at the first sign of resistance.
Brecker’s jaw was tight. “We’d better be on our way.”
“Without eating?” Jessie’s halfhearted attempt at keeping them here was hardly convincing.
“No!” Caitlyn scooped up her sandwich. “We’ll eat… just we’ll eat and run.” She gave me an apologetic look before breaking into a bright smile. “You have no idea how good Brecker is at what he does—he’ll get you that blue glass! You can bet on it.”
Jessie broke into a mocking laugh.
