Page 91 of Trick of Light
“Come on, my love,” she said tenderly as she helped him to his feet. “Let’s get out of here before the structure decides to collapse under us. That blast…”
“Wild, wasn’t it? When that bomb went off, I felt the entire building shiver. I wasn’t sure it would stay standing. That pirate phrase ‘shiver me timbers’ finally made sense to me. All I could think was, I hope she’s out.”
“I was out, and guess who’s here to rescue us? Detective Chen with a boat.”
“Good. We still have to find Tamara.” He winced as he set down his left leg. Then again with his right one. “I should have used my wounded leg to kick open the door. Now they both hurt.”
“I got you.” She pulled his arm over her shoulder. “Just lean on me. I’m stronger than I look. I’m going to have to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just realized the worst part of this whole thing. Okay, one of the worst parts, if you don’t count Tamara in danger and your bleeding leg.”
“What? Please tell me, I need some distraction here.” They made it to the first landing, where he paused to catch his breath.
“Not only is the bad guy in this podcast a police officer, but there’s an abortion involved. My poor mother.”
He nearly choked with laughter.
“And then there’s you,” she added tenderly.
“Me? Am I a problem?”
“You’re a big problem, the kind that isn’t going away and that she’s just going to have get used to.”
“Are you saying…”
The hope on his dark-grained face made her heart turn over. “I’m saying I love you. I fought it at first, but that’s through. Just make sure you don’t hurt yourself or pick up any more bombs, at least not until we tell Tamara.”
“Something tells me Tamara already knows.”
Gabby considered that, and agreed he was probably right. Smiling to herself, she wondered if that had been part of Tamara’s conversation with her purple sweater. Never underestimate a crone.
They made it to the ground floor, where Barnaby turned toward her and swept her into a kiss. His arms felt so strong around her, his warmth sheltering her from the wind coming through the open door. And this was how it was going to be, today, tomorrow, next week, next year…the future rippled before her like sunshine on the ocean.
From outside, Chen’s voice blared through a bullhorn. “Ahoy, the lighthouse. Are you okay in there? Not to ruin the moment, but I’m hella seasick right now and I don’t know how to dock a boat. I commandeered this one but the deckhand ran away when I said I was a police officer. Making it up as I go here.”
“Coming!” Barnaby yelled after they reluctantly ended their kiss. With her still supporting him, they limped across the floor toward the door, which, Gabby noticed, was slightly off-kilter now. Had the force of the detonation affected this structure? That blast must have really done a number on this historic old building.
As they stepped outside, she noticed that a slender crevice had opened up between the concrete of the foundation and the grass. It almost looked like an old crawlspace or a root cellar or a…
“Barnaby,” she whispered as she pointed to it. “Doesn’t that look like a good hiding place to you?”
39
“Give it up, Hooper,” Detective Chen yelled at her partner from the deck of the lobster boat she’d commandeered. Barnaby was at the wheel now—he’d insisted—while Gabby backed up Chen with the detective’s personal firearm. It hadn’t surprised him that Gabby knew how to shoot; he loved learning new things about her. If they could just get safely through the next moments…
When Gabby had recited the key passage from Marianne’s journal to him, he’d recognized the location immediately. The lonely pine tree brooding over the ocean, creating a dark reflection if the day was calm. It wasn’t far from where he’d climbed up the rocks after that long-ago kayak accident.
They’d raced across the bay toward that spot and sure enough, there was Tamara, kneeling on the ground with a shovel, while Hooper stood over her with his gun.
“We know what a piece of crap you are now,” Chen shouted. “Disgrace to the fucking badge. Let that old lady up. We found the treasure and it’s not here. You lose, loser.”
Barnaby had to admit he liked Chen’s style.
Hooper swung his gun toward the boat. Barnaby wrenched the wheel so if Hooper fired a bullet, it would hit the tempered glass windshield or the fiberglass of the cabin, and not the exposed human beings on the deck.
Hell, he figured it was his lucky day. He’d already survived a bullet wound and an explosion, so bring it on.
