Part 14 (1/2)
Charlie glanced toward the kitchen door, then shrugged. ”We can handle it,” he finally said. ”It's just the loan we took out to start up this place.” He plucked at the pocket on his shorts. ”Taking a little longer to pay back than we'd planned, but we'll work it out.”
Dar studied her father's friend. ”He wasn't from Bank of America.”
Charlie snorted softly. ”h.e.l.l no. Two beat-up Navy scrubs- you think they'd give us a loan?” he asked. ”We just went to the co- op. But anyway...” He determinedly regained his good humor.
”Everything settle down from last night? We chit chatted with Bob for a while. He's quite a talker.”
”Charlie.” Dar leaned against the wall. She plucked a pencil 88*
from Charlie's pocket and picked up a piece of torn envelope that was sitting on the counter next to them. ”Here.” She wrote down a phone number, then handed the envelope and the pencil back to him. ”If that shark starts biting your a.s.s, call me.”
Reluctantly, he took the paper. ”Dar, I appreciate it, but we can handle this. Bud'd sooner cut off his arm than ask for help.” He hesitated. ”'Specially yours.” His face was apologetic.
”Too bad,” Dar told him bluntly. ”Tell him to grow up and get over it.”
Charlie winced.
”I have to ask people I can't stand for things every day.”
”It's not that he doesn't like you, Dar,” Charlie protested hastily. ”He does. We both do. He just can't forget stuff in the past with your dad, and...”
”I am not my dad,” Dar broke in, leaning forward. ”In case you hadn't noticed.”
”No, I know that.” Charlie sighed. ”I know that, Dar.” He ventured a smile. ”Though you did grow up to look a whole lot like him, y'know,” he insisted stubbornly.
Dar sighed inwardly, then gave up the effort, deciding on a different tack. ”Yeah, that's what people tell me,” she admitted.
”Listen, we're heading out. Anything you guys need out there we can drop off on the way back?”
Now that the conversational topic had changed, Charlie relaxed. ”WD40,” he joked, tapping his artificial knee. ”Always running out of the d.a.m.n stuff.” He cleared his throat. ”Listen, Dar, you guys were asking about pirates last night.”
”Hm?” Dar crossed her arms.
The big ex-serviceman glanced around. ”They ain't always what they seem,” he said.
”What do you mean?” Dar asked.
”Chuck!” Bud's voice interrupted. ”Fish man's here!”
Charlie glanced at the kitchen. ”Them jerks last night, they ain't the kinda pirates we know about,” he said quickly. ”That's all I'm saying. Good luck, good trip.” He put a hand on the door, then took a last look at Dar. ”Tell your dad I said hey.”
Dar watched him disappear, then released a sigh, letting her glance travel around the inside of the tattered and somewhat threadbare restaurant. With a silent shake of her head, she turned and left the room, emerging back into the sunlight. The island's emptiness surrounded her, and as she walked back toward the dock, her mind turned over the puzzle pieces that, though scattered, were beginning to nudge at her with their curious nature.
She spotted the loan shark as she walked onto the dock. He was standing next to a small, racy looking runabout with another man, half his size. They were both looking at the Dixieland Yankee, and*89 they turned to watch Dar as she approached the boat.
”Hey, baby,” the bigger man yelled over. ”That your boat?”
Dar paused and looked at him over the top of her sungla.s.ses.
”Yeah,” she replied briefly, as she paused to unloop the bow line.
”Want a good man to drive her?”
Dar tossed the line onboard then walked to the stern, released the boat, and leaped onto the back deck. ”No thanks.” She dropped the line and dusted off her hands, turned her back on the two of them, and ignored their ribald laughter.
Kerry emerged from the cabin, an almost fierce grin crossing her face as she spotted Dar. ”Thought I heard you,” she greeted her lover. ”We outta here?”
”Oh yeah.” Dar made her way up to the flying bridge. ”Let's go find some better scenery.” She took her seat and started up the engines, adjusted the throttles, and eased the boat out of the dock.
At low tide, maneuvering in the cramped s.p.a.ce was even more difficult, and she had to really concentrate to avoid taking out part of the dock on her way out.
She cleared the last pylon and turned into the channel, feeling the wind pick up as she increased speed and headed out across the green-blue water.
KERRY CAREFULLY PLACED her deck chair on the stern, half turned so she could look up and watch Dar at the controls of the boat. She settled into it as Bob took the seat next to her, and she resigned herself to a trip full of small talk. ”So, Bob-you never did get around to saying last night. Were you on vacation?”
Bob leaned on the chair arm. ”Vacation? I wish.” He sighed.
”No, it's...” he glanced around, ”kinda stupid, really.”
If he tells me he came out here looking for his one true love, I'll chuck up on him, Kerry thought, all the while keeping a pleasant expression on her face. ”How stupid could it be?” she asked.
He edged a little closer. ”Remember what I said about my grandparents?”
”From Boston,” Kerry promptly replied, lest he repeat his tale.
”Yeah.” Bob nodded. ”My grandfather was lost at sea.”
Kerry straightened a little. ”Oh. I'm really sorry to hear that,”
she said sincerely. ”How did it happen?”
”He was the captain of a...um...fis.h.i.+ng boat,” Bob admitted.
”Not very glamorous, I know, but he was really successful at it,” he added. ”Anyway, he was out here on a trip to the islands and he just never came back.”
Kerry leaned back in her chair and tucked one leg up under her. ”Wow.” She shook her head. ”That's really sad. They never found the boat or anything?”
90*
Bob gazed at her. ”They know where it went down. This guy who was a witness contacted my grandmother and sold her a map-”
”Sold her?”
Bob shrugged. ”Yeah, I know, probably a sucker deal. But she gave me the map, and I decided I'd come out here and see what I could find.”
Kerry frowned. ”You don't even know if it's accurate.”
”No, but it's something,” Bob said. ”Problem is, I came out here and found out that the spot he supposedly went down has been licensed by some salvage outfit.”
One of Kerry's eyebrows hiked slightly. ”Really?” she said. ”A salvage outfit, huh?”