Booty Bones: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Page 28

“Graf?” I was incredulous. He’d come. Even when I thought he wouldn’t, he found me. Somehow he realized I was in trouble, and he came to save me.

  He grabbed the tie-line from Sweetie and was using the rocking of the swells to pull the sailboat close enough to the pier that he could retie us. To my amazement, a very unstable Arley forced himself to his feet and assisted Graf.

  “Grab the other tie-line.” I began to pull one from the water. If we could throw it to Graf, he could retie us. We might be able to get off the ship before it either wrecked or broke free.

  Tinkie, Angela, and I watched as Graf and Arley fought against the elements in a valiant effort to save us. We were helpless to act. Two men and a dog struggled to hold a sailboat as the back end of Hurricane Margene rushed to shore.

  Pluto, because he was a cat and disdained physical exertion, watched attentively. He’d done his part to send the sheriff into the deep, and now his work was complete.

  “They’re doing it!” Tinkie hadn’t forgiven Graf for his conduct, but she was certainly willing to appreciate his courage and help. “Sarah Booth, they’re going to save us!”

  “Oh, shit.” Angela pointed to the south.

  A wave at least eight feet high was headed straight at us. The boat was positioned to cut through the wave. We wouldn’t be swamped, but the surge would be treacherous.

  The water took us high and then dropped us into a trough. It was the sensation of a roller coaster as we plunged down, down, down. And when I turned back to the pier, Graf and Sweetie stood, defeated. The Miss Adventure had broken free.

  26

  “Get the main sail unfurled!”

  Angela snapped orders as she engaged the boat’s motor, which might give us clearance out of the marina and into open water. Then what? I didn’t want to think. And I didn’t want to stare back at Graf, who was standing on the marina as forlorn as my dog.

  The waves came at us hard, lifting us up and dropping us as rain lashed so hard my hands slipped on the coils of the rope that held the sail. Frantic to release the canvas, I struggled for all I was worth. Tinkie, too, worked the knots.

  The roar of the wind increased, and to the west I saw a waterspout form. The aquatic tornado wavered like a top, then rushed toward land. They often played out as soon as they touched land, but it was a fearsome sight.

  A sudden shift in the boat sent Tinkie sprawling, and she managed to grab hold of a tarp and hang on until I could get to her. When I had her on her feet, I looked back to land.

  Graf lifted a hand. A signal of what? Thanks. Remorse. Good-bye?

  “He tried. He did everything he could. That wave was just too much.” Tinkie put a hand on my shoulder. “He came back to save you, Sarah Booth. He still loves you.”

  “Yeah.” I didn’t know what I thought or felt. Staring at Graf in the rain and wind, I knew I loved him. Despite the betrayal and the pain, I loved him. If the water didn’t get me, then heartbreak surely would. “I think I’ll make a perfect mermaid.”

  “Oh, Sarah Booth.” Tinkie put her arm around my waist and squeezed. “We aren’t going to die, but I have no doubt your heart is broken. Help me set the sail. I can’t do it by myself.”

  As I turned to go to the mast, I stopped. “No!” I shouted the word at Graf, but it was too late. He dove into the water and began swimming toward the boat.

  “Angela, cut the motor! Graf is swimming toward us.”

  “Has he lost his mind?” Angela left the wheelhouse and ran to the rail. “Get a line. He’s going to have to climb up.”

  The boat rose and fell, lumbering into one wave sideways so that it washed over us and nearly took us all overboard. Graf seemed to make progress and then fall back. After ten minutes, I could see he was tiring. Tinkie appeared beside me with a flotation ring. Before she could swing it, Angela hefted it from her and gave a mighty heave. Her aim was good, and Graf hooked it with one arm.

  “Pull, ladies! Pull!” Angela ordered. And we obliged.

  “When he gets on deck, I’m going to kill him,” Tinkie huffed. “Of all the damn fool things to do, jumping into the ocean in the middle of a hurricane takes the cake.”

  She was absolutely correct, but I couldn’t stop grinning. Graf had chosen me. He’d come to save me. The storm brewed around me, but the emotional oppression that had flattened me was gone. Sure, we had a lot to talk through, but at least he would be around to talk with. After that, I might have to kill him for scaring me so.

  It took all of us hauling on the life-preserver rope, but we got Graf to the boat, and he climbed aboard.

  Events blurred as we fought the wind and seas to keep the boat from capsizing. Angela and Graf were able to angle the Miss Adventure so that she rode the waves rather than plowed through or wallowed in them. Graf had more experience as a sailor than the rest of us, and his split-second decisions and knowledge saved us time and again. Even with his expertise, it was a long two-hour ride in freezing rain and gales.

  By late afternoon, the storm had passed. On the southern horizon, the sun came out with the promise of a perfect fall day.

  “I have a sense of what Noah went through,” Tinkie said as she came to stand beside me at the bow. Our palms and fingers were rope-burned and covered with popped blisters. “If men judge a woman by the softness of her hands, à la Scarlett O’Hara, I’m doomed.”

  “We’re pretty much a mess.” The pain would kick in soon enough, but at least we were alive to feel it.

  Graf came out of the wheelhouse and walked toward us. He put an arm around each of us. “That was a close call.”

  “Yeah.” I found my throat had closed with emotion.

  “How’d you end up untied and loose in the storm?” he asked.

  I cast a glance at Tinkie. She nodded and told him the sequence of events.

  “You could have been killed,” Graf said. “All three of you.” It was a statement of fact, not an accusation.

  My heart faltered. “Yes, we could have been murdered, but you came to help us.”

  “Tinkie, could I have a word with Sarah Booth?”

  Graf had come to save us, but not to stay. I knew it the moment our eyes connected. Tinkie left us, and we were alone in the Gulf, now returned to a beautiful blue. A few seagulls had even found the boat to circle and beg for food. The natural world was returning to order. My world—it was about to change.

  “Who is she?” I asked. It was pointless to dance around the matter and pretend.

  “Her name is Marion Silber. She’s a screenwriter and an old friend.”

  “Friend?” I couldn’t stop myself.

  “She was more than a friend several years ago. We were close.”

  I had a few bitter remarks, but I couldn’t say them. If I spoke, I’d break down. So I let him continue.

  “It was before I came back to Mississippi to find you. Several years before that. When I left New York and went to Hollywood, I met Marion. She’s a talented writer, and she wrote several scripts for me to star in.”

  “Quite the team. A double threat.” I meant to sound light, but I was far off the mark.

  “She has a child, a daughter. Katlyn. She’s mine.”

  That stopped me. An overwhelming tide of anger, pain, bitterness, sadness—a thousand emotions swept over me. Graf had a child, a daughter. A beautiful girl with flowing dark-blond curls who danced at the edge of the water, just as I’d imagined our child would. We’d planned to have children together, but that future had been washed away with the storm.

  I felt his hand on me, and I knew I’d staggered. “You never said a word about a child.” The betrayal was almost too much.

  “I didn’t know.” He turned my face so that I had to look at him. “I love you, Sarah Booth. I will never love anyone with the depth I love you.”

  “Why couldn’t you tell me?”

  “Once Marion told me about Katlyn, I had to think things through. Just to be certain, I ran a DNA test. There’s no doubt. When I had the results, I was going to t
ell you. While I was waiting, though, I felt as if I’d betrayed you, even though I’ve never been unfaithful. Never wanted to be. I’m in love with you, but I was eaten up with guilt. I had to figure out what I owe my daughter.”

  The curse of my life would be the men I fell in love with were men of honor. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”

  “I could never stop wanting you.” His fingers curled in my hair, and he pulled me against his chest. “But I couldn’t be close to you until I had an understanding of my obligation to Katlyn and how I intended to act on it.”

  “And Marion? She should have told you about your child.”

  “She should have. When we parted, it was with anger. When she found out she was pregnant, she was too angry to tell me. And up until recently, she and Katlyn have been the perfect family unit.”

  “You had a right to know about your child.”

  He nodded. “I agree. But there are extenuating circumstances. Marion fell in love with someone else. For a long time, he was Katlyn’s father. It seemed the perfect solution. But that relationship ended, and as Katlyn grew up, Marion realized that it was wrong not to tell me. Hollywood is a very small world, and she looked me up, meaning to introduce me to Katlyn. She discovered that I was in love with you. Deeply in love. And she knew that telling me about Katlyn would change my life. So she never contacted me. She didn’t want to interfere. She and Katlyn were happy. It wasn’t until recently that Katlyn began asking about her father. She turned seven, and Marion didn’t want to lie to her.”

  “Does she know you’re her father?”

  “Yes. I told her. And I had to tell you.”

  From the center, I’d been suddenly pushed to the periphery of Graf’s life. “What are you going to do?”

  “I want to be part of her life.”

  I nodded, because that was the only correct answer. “And what does that mean for us?”

  “I don’t know. Can you accept this? Can we work through it?”

  I wanted to say yes, but I couldn’t until I had more answers. “How does Marion fit into your life?”

  “I don’t know. She’s Katlyn’s mother. I haven’t figured out the hard parts. I’m not even certain who I am after the shooting. It wasn’t the pain that worked on me; it was the idea that everything I believed about me, my future, my place in the world was destroyed in a moment. I couldn’t grasp that, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I did a poor job of adjusting.”

  “I understand. To be injured so seriously, perhaps crippled. That’s impossible to get hold of all at once. But you’re going to be fine. You’re a hundred percent now.”

  He nodded. “I will fully recover. I believe it now. I didn’t at first. I should have had more faith, but for a while I was lost.” His dark hair fluttered in the wind. “I also know I can’t expose my daughter to danger, to people trying to kill you or me or her.”

  I’d thought this through, and I had been ready to give up my career as a private investigator. What had happened to him wasn’t just or fair. I had brought it down on him because of my work. “I can change careers.”

  “Oh, Sarah Booth, I don’t think anyone will ever offer me more, but I came to another truth in all of this time I’ve spent searching for answers. To ask you to do that is to change who you are. That’s not something I want on my conscience. I’ve talked about this with Oscar, and he’s as scared for Tinkie as I am for you. But somehow he’s able to step aside and let her work. Maybe he has more faith than I do or is less afraid. Maybe his heart is stronger. I just know I can’t ask you to change who you are, and I can’t change who I am.”

  “If you want to live with Marion and Katlyn, just say so. Don’t put it off on me or my career.” He’d made me angry. I couldn’t change the past, but I was willing to reshape the future. Now, suddenly, that wasn’t enough.

  “I’m not involved with Marion. That time has passed. I have no romantic feelings for her, though she had hoped differently. And I want you to know I wasn’t aware she would be here on Dauphin Island. My agent told her I was here, recuperating, and she came without my knowledge. But I am deeply involved with my daughter. I always wanted children. Just watching the expressions on Katlyn’s face or listening to the things she says—it’s a love I never anticipated.”

  I turned away. “I could love her as my own daughter.”

  “I don’t doubt that for an instant.” He folded me into his arms. “I need some time, Sarah Booth. I’m going back to Hollywood and work. Once I’ve settled into a routine with Katlyn and my job, I want you to come out. We’ll see how we fit then. I need to get my feet under me, to learn how to be Katlyn’s dad. And you need to honestly assess how much you can change without harming yourself.”

  Whether Graf could see it or not, I realized he was crafting a life that didn’t include me. “If that’s what you need.”

  “Give things a chance to settle.”

  “Yes,” I said. “Things will become clearer.” But I didn’t need Jitty to predict the future. I could feel it in my bones. “I love you, Graf. More than I ever realized.” I turned in his arms and kissed him long and deeply.

  And then I walked to the wheelhouse. Angela and Tinkie were pointedly looking out at the calming Gulf waters, where a Coast Guard cutter had appeared on the horizon.

  “We have to find Sweetie and Pluto at the marina. And make certain Benson and Phyllis get their just dues,” I said, surprised at the steadiness in my voce.

  Tinkie held out her cell phone. “We called it in, but Randy Chavis beat us to the punch. He hid out until Benson took Arley to the pier. Then he broke into Arley’s office and kept trying until he raised the Coast Guard and the ABI. He managed to haul the sheriff and Phyllis out of the drink. The Coast Guard has them. They were pretty battered by the pier pilings, but they’re alive. Randy filled the authorities in on what had transpired, and they’re both under arrest. They’re holding them at the marina. And Sweetie and Pluto are just fine.”

  “Good work,” I said.

  “Thank you, Sarah Booth and Tinkie,” Angela said. “You figured out who killed my father, and I’ll be able to get Larry out of prison.”

  But it wasn’t a happy ending. Not in the least. Not for a single one of us.

  27

  When we arrived at the old fort, stars still spattered the night sky, but the herald of dawn was lightening the east. Any moment, the sun would peek over the horizon.

  “Ready?” I asked Angela. She held the stolen spyglass, ready to sweep the horizon at first light. We’d placed John’s aquatic painting over the nautical map and found the placement of the shoreline of Dauphin Island when Couteau was alive. We were ready for sunrise. Ready to prove our hypothesis that the angle of the sun and the mark on the spyglass would yield the watery grave of the treasure.

  The sun began to chase the night away, and Saturday morning dawned clear and calm. Hurricane Margene had defied all predictions, rushed to make landfall hours earlier then predicted, and finally cleared out leaving minimal damage. Now, fall was in the air. Angela swept the horizon with the telescope while Tinkie and I watched. Our job was over. Phyllis Norris was behind bars. Benson, too. Remy’s body was discovered tied to the anchor of his own sailboat and sunk underwater. He’d thrown in with Phyllis and Benson to rob John Trotter, and they’d killed him and his sister in an elaborate frame to put Angela and Randy behind bars. Now Randy and other officers were working to dismantle the corrupt law-enforcement machine the sheriff had built up over two decades.

  Once Angela went back to work as a journalist, I felt sure other heads would roll. There would be a clean house, at least in Mobile County. At least until a new crop of crooks could organize and move in.

  “What do you see?” Tinkie was almost jumping up and down, a perfect imitation of Chablis, who had a tendency to hide her intelligence by acting hyper.

  “Wait a minute. The sun has to have the correct angle.” Angela was surprisingly calm as she fiddled with nautical implements. She
’d taken a crash course from her friend and former postman, Terrance Snill.

  “What will you do with the treasure, if there is one?” I asked.

  “I’m going to help Larry pay his debts and compensate his attorney and donate the rest to Project Innocence. That organization takes on cases where people have been falsely convicted.”

  “Nothing for yourself?”

  The masculine voice made my heart drop—Graf was gone, but I still hadn’t accepted it—but it was only Snill, come to help us with the last of the treasure hunt.

  “I have everything I need. Or I will when Larry is released.” Angela’s grin changed her whole personality. “It should be soon. And they’ll clear his record. You know, he isn’t bitter at all. He said going to prison saved him from drinking his life away.”

  “Larry’s a wise man to take all of this as an opportunity,” Tinkie said. “I took it as an opportunity to increase my valuable antique collection, thanks to Mr. Snill.” She looped her arm through his. “What’s in your hand? A love letter to me?”

  My partner was full of herself—an obvious overcompensation because I was suffering the loss of Graf. She frisked and flaunted to keep the atmosphere lively as we waited for Angela to discover whatever she would find.

  “It’s some research for Sarah Booth. About that slave girl, LuAnn.” He handed the paper to me, though it was too dark inside the fort to read it.

  “She was sold to Alabama and later sold again to a plantation in Mississippi. She had a little girl, who I believe ended up being sold to a Delaney of Sunflower County.”

  A chill swept through the little dark room. Each of us felt it, and we all reacted. “What was that?” Angela asked.

  I knew exactly who had graced us, but I couldn’t say. “What happened to LuAnn?” I asked.

  “She died in childbirth. The little girl, her name was—”

  “Jitty.” I could feel her in the room. So this was what she’d wanted me to find out. History. The daughter of a stolen princess. The daughter of a pirate. A child who lost her parents much earlier than I had lost mine. No wonder Jitty and I had such a strong bond.