“Hardly be a surprise if I told you, sweetie.” Kerry winked.
“Trust me. You’ll like it.”
“Okay,” Dar agreed amiably. “But as hungry as I am right now, you could serve me pureed asparagus on wheat toast and I’d like it.”
Kerry chuckled. “I’m going to go shower and change.” She gave Dar a pat on the side and disappeared into the cabin.
Dar wiped off her hands and picked up the still-chirping cell phone. She opened it and dialed her voice mail, listening to the phone as she dried herself. Her brow creased at the voice. Instead of the expected Bud, it was Charlie.
“Hey, Dar? This is Charlie. Listen, they let me loose from this joint, and I’m trying to get hold of Bud to come pick me up. Gimme a call here if you’ve seen him. Cell’s not answering, and I’m figuring he got stuck in some damn poker game or something.
Thanks.”
“Huh.” Dar studied the phone. “Now what the hell is going on?” She dialed the number Charlie had left and waited. “Charlie?”
“Hey, Dar?” Charlie’s voice sounded relieved. “Glad to hear ya. You know where Buddy is?”
Dar took a breath. “Charlie, we thought he was with you,” she said reluctantly. “He left our room this morning, and he was just going to check on the boat. Haven’t heard from him since. I left him a couple of messages, but no answer.”
Hearing voices, Kerry stuck her head out of the door. “What’s up?”
‘Bud’s missing,’ Dar mouthed.
“Well, damn,” Charlie said. “Where the hell can he be?”
Good question. Dar ran her hand through her damp hair. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Listen, we can…” Her eyes shifted to Kerry.
“Um…”
“Go back, pick up Charlie, and find Bud.” Kerry completed the statement with a wry smile. “Lift the anchor, Cap’n Dar.” She patted Dar’s arm and disappeared again.
“Charlie, stay put. We’ll swing back by and get you,” Dar relayed. “We’re out off the western side of St. Thomas, so it’ll take a little while.” She acknowledged the grateful response and then closed the phone. She made her way to the ladder and climbed up, her mind turning thoughtfully to the new problem. Bud was a loner, no question about it. The fact that he’d disappeared someplace didn’t really surprise her, but he hadn’t told Charlie where he was, and that did.
He could just be in a bar somewhere, but Dar didn’t think so.
Too many things had been going south on her lately for it to be Terrors of the High Seas 251
something as simple as that. In fact, she was beginning to think their vacation was cursed.
All we wanted was a week of peace and quiet. Dar sighed as she adjusted the throttles. Instead, they’d found nothing but trouble and more stress than she’d bargained for. Just wasn’t damned fair.
DAR LOOKED UP as she heard Kerry climb the ladder, her motions slower and more hesitant than usual. “Kerry!” She grabbed for the throttles, slowing the boat as she watched her lover balancing an armful as she attempted to get up onto the upper deck.
“You’re gonna kill yourself!”
“Shh. I’m fine.” Kerry managed to get her footing. “Relax and keep your eyes on the road, honey.”
Dar increased her speed, but couldn’t resist keeping one eye on Kerry as she made her way over and settled next to her. “What’s that?”
“Well,” Kerry set down a big covered plate, “we don’t have time for me to make what I wanted, so I compromised.” She uncovered the plate, revealing two neatly made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some cookies.
“Mm.” True to form, Dar went right for the cookies, her eyes widening when she felt them. “They’re warm!”
“Well, yeah.” Kerry slid an arm around her. “I just made them.
Thank goodness for Pillsbury.” She put a Thermos on the console.
“I figure we’ll just have time to have lunch before we pull back into dock.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
Kerry leaned back, the wind blowing her pale hair off her face.
“Of course I didn’t. But we’ve gotten so little time to relax on this so-called vacation, I thought I’d better get in some lunch before we have to run off and save the world again.”
“Mmph.” Dar regarded the horizon with a grumpy expression.
“I was just thinking about what a crock this vacation turned out to be.” “Well,” the blonde reached over and gave her partner a scratch on the back, “at least we’re together.”
Dar made a low, grumbling noise.
“Honey, we’re trouble magnets.”
“Mm.” Dar made a face.
Kerry’s eyes twinkled a little. “We attracted each other, didn’t we?”
“You saying we’re both trouble?”
“Consider the last couple of days. What do you think?” Kerry asked wryly.
She had a point. Dar leaned back a bit, relaxing her tense grip 252 Melissa Good on the throttles.
“PB and J?” Kerry nudged her and indicated the plate. “Get ’em before they blow away.”
Dar agreeably selected half a sandwich and bit into it. “Wonder what the hell’s going on?” she mumbled. “Bud just being a jerk, or…”“With our luck on this trip?” Kerry laughed wryly. “Or.
Definitely or. Maybe he tangled with that nasty shark we paid off this morning. They sure didn’t seem friendly, and that thug seemed like the type to hold a grudge for no real reason.”
Possible. Dar nodded as she chewed. “Might be. Or maybe he’s checking on Rufus and the damn battery on his cell died.”
They looked at each other and Kerry sighed. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
Dar shrugged and took a cookie. It was a nicely browned, chocolate chip cookie, Dar’s favorite, despite Kerry’s experimentation with many other exotic types. “Guess we’ll just have to find out the hard way.”
Her phone buzzed, making them both start. Dar frowned, put the cookie down, and picked up the phone. The caller ID showed a private number, making Dar’s eyebrows hike up. She opened the phone. “Hello?”
“Hello, Roberts.” DeSalliers’ voice sounded cold and smug, not a good combination at any time.
“What the hell do yo—”
“Shut up!” the man bellowed. “You just shut up and listen to me, you bitch, if you want to see your little fag friend again.”
Dar felt Kerry move closer, as she heard the words even over the rumble of the engines. A sick feeling washed over her and her nostrils twitched, but she carefully bit her tongue and withheld a retort. Her heart rate sped up, making a faint thunder in her ears as she waited.
Kerry slid an arm around Dar’s waist and pressed her ear against the other edge of the phone.
“Roberts?”
“You said to shut up and listen.” Dar heard the icy clip in her own tone, though her voice had dropped to almost its lowest register.
“All right,” DeSalliers replied with a verbal smirk. “This is very simple. I kept it very simple so you’d understand it.”
Dar’s eyes narrowed but she remained silent. Beside her, Kerry made a noise halfway between a spit and a growl.
“You will give me what you found. When you do that, I will give you your friend,” the man said. “If you call the police, I will kill this piece of trash. If you mess with me, I will kill this piece of trash. If you do anything that makes me think you’re crossing me, I Terrors of the High Seas 253
will not only kill him, I will drag him over the reef to kill him. Do you understand me?”
“No,” Dar said. “That would require a graduate degree in animal psychology, which I don’t possess. Where do you want to make the trade?”
“Just for that, bitch, he gets two smacks with a pipe,”