Page 59 of The Words We Lost

“No, he wasn’t.” Cece scowled at him. “He took the boat out this morning, with all those men in waders. The storm probably gave their fishing gear a good run for their money, too. I bet they only got back an hour or so ago, so they’d have time to get ready for the dinner thing tonight.”

Joel started the engine, his voice nearly too low to be heard. “That charter trip was canceled.”

“And how do you know that?” But the instant it was out of her mouth, she felt like an idiot. “Oh.” Joel’s newest role was playing chauffeur to the guests who purchased excursion packages through the hotel, including boat guides, fishing tours, and private parties. Captain Hal was a sought-after hire, and her uncle often said their bottom line proved it.

Joel took a hard left out of their driveway and cruised downhill at a speed Cece didn’t realize he knew how to drive. He was usually a grandmabehind the wheel. A great-grandma most days. But not this night. His eyes were like two focused lasers beaming through the quick cadence of the windshield wipers.

She double-checked her seatbelt. “Where are we going then, Joel?”

“To Ingrid’s.”

Her gaze snapped from the dark road back to his profile. “You know where she lives?” Something like hurt wiggled its way up through her diaphragm. Had Ingrid invited Joel over to her boathouse and not her?

His long pause only heightened the burning sensation all the more until he added, “I know, but Ingrid wasn’t the one who told me.”

A thousand questions traveled through her mind at once, all pleading for answers. When Joel turned down an unmarked road she’d never noticed before, he slowed his speed considerably, dodging trees and debris. Even still, branches pawed at Joel’s car like a horror movie, scraping the windows and doors like long, grotesque fingernails as gravel turned to dirt and then eventually to rocky sand. Somewhere in the distance she could sense the water, couldfeelits looming presence. Only this water wasn’t the Sound. The smell was all wrong, as was the direction of the wind.

This was some kind of isolated inlet.

A slough.

“This can’t be right.” Cece’s whisper sounded more like a plea as Joel parked and flipped off the headlights. “She lives on a houseboat with her dad. You must have taken a wrong turn.”

But all he said in reply was, “Lock the doors as soon as I’m out and wait for us to return.”

“No way,” she hissed. “If you go, then I—”

“I’m serious, Cece. If I don’t come back in ten minutes with Ingrid, then—”

“Stop it, you’re scaring me.” She peered hard into his shadowed face. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He released his seatbelt and gripped his door handle. “Hal’s ... he’s been suspended. He no longer has access to the charter boat, and he’s not allowed on Campbell property. At least, not until he’s willing to have a truthful conversation with my dad.”

Ice crystallized in Cece’s chest. “About what?”

He huffed an exasperated breath. “I don’t have time for a full Q&A right now. I need to find Ingrid.” His expression was stern, but she could see the fear building behind it. She could hear it, too. “Please, just ... stay here.”

And then he was out of the car. But even with his use ofplease, there was no way on earth Cece wouldn’t follow him. She’d watched and read enough espionage to know she’d need to keep her distance and walk on the sides of her feet, rolling her steps inward as to not upset whatever loose debris could be underfoot. Darn the reflective vinyl of her mother’s bright red raincoat. She certainly wasn’t in suitable gear for such a task.

She could hear the isolated shore to her left through the thick forest of trees, but it was too dark to make out anything more than the reflective strips on the heels of Joel’s Nikes. At least the rain had subsided—for the moment. She followed him up a sandy embankment and stopped short at the hazy light coming from what looked like a relic of a tugboat. It was half in water, half beached on the shore like a bloated, white whale. Even bathed in reflective, silvery moonlight, the rust, chipping paint, and at least one missing window turned Cece’s stomach inside-out.Please, God, don’t let this be right.Perhaps her cousin had mixed up whatever directions he’d been given, because Ingrid couldn’t live anywhere near this dilapidated heap of metal. The thing didn’t even look seaworthy.

A ray of golden light shone from the bow, making Joel into a shadow puppet against the side of the vessel. She hissed his name. He didn’t respond. But then another sound cut through the darkness. Raised voices and odd banging and clanging.

“I said go secure your things!” a sickeningly familiar baritone shot into the cold night like a dart.“We’re leaving.”

Cece heard Ingrid’s voice but couldn’t catch every word. She strained to string them together as she pushed closer. “This boat ... not safe ...”

“It will be as soon as you help me lighten the load.”

“Is that why ... all over the floor?”

“This boat will last us until I can secure another charter,” Hal said. “I have a contact with a lead.”

As Cece grew closer, her friend’s voice sharpened, the words crisperthan before. “A contact or a gambling buddy? You can’t win back the boat you lost, Dad. It’s gone.”

Hal’s volume dropped too low to hear what he said next, but whatever it was sparked a fire in Ingrid. “But you promised. Youpromisedwe could stay here, that we could make a life here and start over!” Silence descended until Ingrid’s voice quaked. “What did you do, Dad?”

“The world is far too big for you to think so small. There are plenty of places left for us to see—”

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