Page 65 of The Rainbow Recipe
What had set Vincent off, if he was the ticket holder? The inventory Jax planned? Their visit to the sheriff?
The recollection of the violence on the limoncello bottle kicked Dante’s terror up ten notches. “If Matt is already in Hilton Head, then this plane ticket looks like Vincent Gladwell may be meeting his son.”
The whistle Pris emitted was not one of joy. “Beaufort isn’t far from here...or from Hilton Head. Either of them could have booked that boat. But why?”
“Exactly what I’m asking myself. What did we do to stir the sleeping beast? He can’t possibly know that we suspect Lucia is dead, can he?” He followed the rapid fire texts that followed but no one had any idea.
“The necklace,” Pris said with a question in her voice. “If he heard you visited the sheriff... And maybe KK had warned them of you. She thought of you just before she died, remember? Was she afraid you’d recognize the necklace? Lucia may have told her that you knew artifacts...”
“And her family must know that necklace is worth a fortune... ” Dante shook his head in disbelief. “I cannot think like a thief. It may be possible that Vincent has discovered my contacts are making inquiries on the black market.”
“And he’s running scared? Can Ariel follow any other credit cards?” Pris maneuvered the truck around a semi on a blind hill.
“She’s in the back of the van playing magic computer.” Following the text on his phone, Dante blocked out Pris’s terrifying driving.
“Where’s Reuben? That’s usually his job.”
“He’s with the mayor and the cops, feeding them everything he dares. Given the probable illegality of some of this data, that’s a job in itself.” Dante read through the scrolling messages. “Reuben says Jax is on the way to Savannah on his Harley and can be diverted to Beaufort. Evie is heading for the Charleston airport. That’s apparently not far either?”
“They’re both aimed for the coast but not as direct as the route we’re taking. Tell Rube to send them to the marina. At this hour, no one is catching a commercial flight to anywhere except Atlanta, and Roark will be talking to security there. But if Ariel isn’t finding credit charges for a plane, the boat is it. We just don’t know what they plan to do with it.” She hit the gas and passed a sedate sedan tooling along only a few miles over the limit.
As she accelerated, Dante gritted his teeth and found the GPS map on his mobile so he could follow their route. Rather than picture his innocent children, terrified and on a boat heading into the Atlantic, he distracted himself with curiosity. “How did you learn to drive like a bat out of hell?”
“Father’s a stock-car driver. He taught us all. You know anything about stock car racing?”
“Not a whit. Not certain I want to know. Where is your father now?”
Twilight had turned to a wintery dark. The two lane made a T with a slightly larger road. Barely slowing down to watch for oncoming headlights, Pris swung east and floored it. “Let us just say Dad was a better driver than a mechanic. At race speeds, engine failure is not optimal.”
“And the mechanic for this rusted piece of junk?” Dante focused on the phone so he didn’t have to watch her whizz past traffic. But he was utterly aware of the fearless driver in the seat beside him. The devil woman really needed a red streak in her hair.
“Understand that South Carolina probably has more mechanics than peach trees, and if I say I have the best in the business, that means you’ll find none better anywhere. Worry about human failure. I want to commit murder.”
“I know the feeling.” Voices screamed in his head. He could almost believe KK and Lucia were here, blasting him with their cries. He didn’t even have to understand their words. He felt them in his gut.
Children weren’t kidnapped for any good reason, and he knew without any doubt that his children had not left of their own accord. They might have poked through the fence to explore, but they would have been found by now if that had been the case. Evie’s neighbors and her dog trainer cousin were canvassing the streets, flashlights and tracking animals in hand. The dogs had found no scent.
“You’re mentally blocking me.” Pris gunned the truck through an intersection as the light turned red. “I don’t know what that means. Most people can’t do that.”
“I don’t know what it means either. I simply go inside my own head when outside influences are too distracting. I learned it whilst staying with my mother’s family. They’re as intrusive as you and yours.”
“I do that too. Maybe we all learn to do that. People talk too much as it is. Tapping into their thoughts only increases the noise factor, so I don’t usually bother. But you’re an enigma, so I get curious.” Apparently spotting a police car, she slowed down through a small town, then floored it once outside of city limits.
“Is this the road a limo would take?” he asked, not wanting to question her curiosity, because he’d have to admit his own about her. And as welcome as the distraction would be, he wanted to concentrate on his children, as if thinking about them would keep them safe. Were they sleeping? Crying? Scared?
“Right now we’re on the main highway, such as it is, but it doesn’t go straight in the direction we want. The truck is geared for off-road. I’m taking the hypotenuse. Prepare yourself.”
He recited the Lord’s Prayer in Latin out loud as she careened off the highway down a rugged gravel road.
“That’s good. I like the Latin. It’s soothing, like a monk’s chant. Keep it up.” She skidded through a muddy creek and out the other side.
Chickens scattered. Or maybe they were turkeys. He didn’t know his farm fowl.
“You know where this marina is?” he asked, hanging onto the door grip as she swerved around a farm truck parked in the lane. They were fortunate it was after dinnertime and everyone must be home, watching their televisions.
“Beaufort isn’t that big. Find the marina address, plug it in. We see boats, we check the name on the sign. I’m betting Vincent doesn’t know the low-end places so it’s just a matter of finding the right turn-off.”
“I just don’t understandwhy.” Dante fielded more texts. Reuben apparently was keeping track of everyone’s location by some mysterious means. Roark was a long way out from Atlanta, but the others had diverted their paths and were converging on Beaufort.
