“Wow. One of them unsolved mysteries, huh?”
Dex nodded. “Something like that. And when we found it, somebody didn’t want us talking about it.”
“So they’re going to try and find us, shut us up too?” Tommy was looking more awake than several seconds earlier. “You jokin’ me?”
“No joke. I figure, if we’re lucky, we have maybe an hour or two to safely get back to the dock and get our vehicles out of there. If we don’t, somebody’s going to notice there’s a lot of cars sitting around with no owners showing up to claim them. A real red flag.”
“Oh yeah, I see that.”
“Of course, that could be wildly optimistic. They might already know who we are, and they could have people staked out watching our cars to see if we show up.”
Tommy shifted uncomfortably, said nothing.
“And,” Dex continued, “if they get wind of our identities, they’ll be going through our houses like rats in a wheel of cheese.”
“These bastards mean business.”
“And let’s not forget — right now, we don’t have clothes, money, or even access to it. If these guys are top drawer, they can lock up our bank accounts, credit cards, everything.”
Tommy rolled his eyes. “You make it sound so easy for them, like hitting a beachball right over the plate.”
“Could be.”
“So what do we do?”
Dex shrugged. “Not a lot of options. We get off this island as fast as we can, get out of this gear. Once we find out how hot they’ve been looking for us, we gotta make some decisions that will greatly affect our futures.”
Tommy shook his head. “You know, I don’t know how you’re thinkin’ so clearly about all this stuff. Sounds to me like we’re in deep shit.”
Dex grinned. “I’d say that’s a pretty cogent assessment.”
Standing up, Dex scanned the immediate area. The trees were not so thickly spaced they couldn’t move north on the island without being seen. At least for a little while. Then there were some McMansion neighborhoods that would be very tough to negotiate in the daylight. And they couldn’t afford to wait all day for the cover of darkness.
He explained all this to Tommy, not really expecting much assistance, but he wanted to keep him in the loop. Dex looked at him and gestured north.
“We need to get moving.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Tommy stood up, stretched. “What do we do if we run into anybody?”
“Worry about it when it happens.”
They moved as far as they could in the wooded land until they reached a tree line bordering a large home enclosed by a manicured, landscaped lawn. To the east lay a paved road and the Bay. Dex held up for a second, assessing the scene.
“You know, I think we’re crazy to try to stay hidden. Somebody will see us and call the cops.”
“Can’t the cops help us?” said Tommy “I mean, c’mon, we haven’t done anything wrong.”
“At this point, I trust no one in the power grid, okay? Not till we find out who killed our friends.”
His last words kind of lingered in the air, and they seemed to affect Dex and Tommy with equal weight. It was as if actually articulating the truth of what had happened somehow made it all the more real. Kevin and Don and Doc and Andy — all dead, their bodies probably blown into chum for the bottom feeders. Dex squirmed at the thought.
Tommy looked as if he wanted to speak, but said nothing.
Dex pointed past the house and yard in front of them to a residential street. “Let’s just cut across to that road and start walking. The only way off this island is up the causeway road. We’ve got no choice anyway.”
“Guess you’re right.” Tommy followed him as he angled along the trees and the presumed property line to the road.
“We’ve got to get back to Annapolis as soon as possible,” said Dex. “We need to see if the cars have been covered yet.”
“You know the way to get there?”
“I have a good idea.”
They didn’t talk much for the next ten minutes as they walked along the shoulder of Broadwater Way. Tommy’s red dry-suit was brighter than Dex’s pale green, but both made them as conspicuous as highway maintenance workers. As the two of them moved deeper into the heart of the wealthy neighborhood, Dex felt more and more exposed. He could feel the gaze of clandestine eyes burning him from all directions.
As they passed a gated driveway, Dex saw a woman dressed casually, carrying a pair of gardening gloves and wearing a straw hat, stop to stare at them through heavy black iron posts.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” she said, erecting a flimsy smile.
Dex paused, smiled back, and approached the gate. “Actually, maybe you can.”
As he drew closer, he could see the woman was probably a well-preserved seventy or so. She didn’t back away or look apprehensive, and held her jaw high and proud like Katherine Hepburn in any of her films. She waited for him to continue, so he did.
“We lost our rubber dinghy,” said. “Had to swim ashore down by the point.”
“How unfortunate.” She looked at them as if they were a couple of little boys lying through their teeth. Despite her age, there was an impish, gamine quality about her.
Dex decided he liked her, and stood mute for a long few seconds. He smiled before speaking. “Sorry, but I thought I heard you ask if you could ‘help’ us…”
“So I did. My name is Eleanor. Eleanor Winthrop.”
Dex held out his hand, eased it between the bars of the gate slowly. “Dexter McCauley, US Navy, retired. This is Thomas Chipiarelli, Baltimore City Fire Department.”
“Very nice to meet you. Are either of you injured?”
“No ma’am,” said Tommy. “But thanks for askin’.”
“Very well,” said Eleanor. “What can I do for you? I could call the police, if you’d like.”
“Hmm, maybe that’s not such a great idea.” Tommy smiled and looked down as if embarrassed.
Dex looked at him, wondering what the hell he was talking about and hoping he wasn’t going to say something really stupid.
“Really?” said Eleanor Winthrop. “Why ever not?”
“Well, it’s hard to explain, but us guys in the Fire Department… well, we’ve kinda got this rivalry thing goin’ with the Police guys, you know?” Tommy paused, grinned his little boy grin that he probably used on younger women to great effect.
“Oh, I didn’t realize that.” Eleanor smiled. Apparently Tommy’s charm knew no age barriers.
“Yeah,” he said. “And I gotta tell ya — if word gets back to the Baltimore City precincts we were dumb enough to sink our own boat, we’d never live it down.”
Not bad, thought Dex. He joined Tommy in a chuckle of agreement.
“Oh my,” said Eleanor. “Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?”
She grinned like a schoolgirl flirting. Either she really liked Tommy and his line of bull, or she was as sly and suspicious as they come. Dex had no idea, but he figured it was time to find out.
“Actually, if we could get a ride back to Annapolis, that would be great. We lost our wallets and all our gear out in the Bay.” He paused to see her reaction, but she remained silent and unexpressive. “You think maybe your husband could give us a ride?”
She stood there looking at them between the black iron bars of the gate, holding her gardening gloves up near her chin as if in offering. Then she tilted her head, smiled wistfully. “No, that won’t be possible. My husband passed away right around Christmas last year.”