August Unknown (32 page)

Chelsie seemed unimpressed. “Thanks to you, everyone knows
that.”

“You can’t keep her from Colin if she’s going to have his
baby.”

“Not for long, she isn’t.”

The breath rushed from her lungs. Chelsie only laughed at the
horror on her face.

“She’s driving into Seattle this morning to see a prenatal
paternity specialist for an appointment I was helpful enough to set up for her...at
an office that doesn’t exist.” Chelsie grinned wickedly. “When she finally gets
home, there’ll be nobody to back up her claim that she wasn’t here, drowning
you. But before she even learns you’ve died, I’ll wager she helps herself to a
big glass of milk. Calcium is good for the baby, you know. As soon as she
drinks from the carton in her refrigerator, she won’t be pregnant for long.”

“You’re a monster,” Emily screamed. “Why?”

Chelsie’s eyes gleamed, lit with fury. “Because Sonja isn’t
the only one your darling fiancé knocked up, but I aim to be the last one
standing. It’s me and
my
baby Colin’s going to end up with.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Jose opened the Mirthful Mermaid’s door behind them. “You
looking for Gran Millie?”

“Where’s Emily?” Geoffrey demanded.

“Miss August? She go to marina.”

Geoffrey set off at a sprint across the road and down the ice plant
covered hill to the marina’s sidewalk. Colin stayed with him the whole way. The
gate to pier fifteen sat ajar on its frame. He didn’t need to enter his code.

“Why would she take your boat out?” Colin asked.

“She wouldn’t. She couldn’t, not alone.”

He strained to see through the fog as he ran to the end of the
pier.
Penny Lane
’s carved wooden nameplate disappeared into the fog-shrouded
bay. He didn’t need to read it to recognize his own boat, and the empty slip
confirmed it beyond a doubt.

“There are two people on deck,” Colin stated.

“I can see that,” Geoffrey growled. As soon as he said it,
Penny
Lane
was swallowed in the mist. Like a mournful farewell, the hum of her
motor faded to nothingness.

Geoffrey turned around and started back up the pier. He took
out his cell phone and dialed 911. “I need Coast Guard emergency services, fast.”

He nearly barreled over Trenton Farwell on the way up the
steep ramp to the gate.

“Whoa, Geoffrey, where’s the fire?”

The Coast Guard put him on hold. “Trenton, I need to borrow
your boat. It’s an emergency.”

“Sure, sure thing. What’s going on?”

Colin stomped up the pier behind him. “I’m going with you.”

Geoffrey ignored him. There was no point arguing with him.
“Emily may have been kidnapped.”

“That cute little blond? I thought her name was—”

“Trent, we need to go now!”

Trenton was pushing eighty, but he kept pace with Geoffrey as
they ran to gate nine. He leaped onto his boat as Geoffrey untied the lines
port side and Colin unfastened starboard.

Feeling their urgency, Trenton wasted no time. His restored
Seahawk roared to life. The old man reversed out of his slip and throttled out
of the harbor at illegal speed, rocking sleeping boats with his wake.

“Is it this Sonja girl?” Geoffrey demanded as he settled into
a seat across from Colin.

He shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. “I
don’t know how it could be. Her car was still in the driveway when I drove past
her house before five this morning.”

Coast Guard services finally greeted him on the line.

“This is an emergency,” Geoffrey told them. “We have a small
craft lost in a whiteout outside Newport Bay with a possible hostage situation
on board.” Jesus, it sounded like a low-budget TV movie.

“The nearest cutter is assisting a trawler run aground a few
miles north,” the operator responded.

He already knew air rescue couldn’t do a thing in this fog. “This
is an emergency. A woman’s life is at stake.”

“We’ve got men in the water, sir. They’ll be en route as soon
as they can.”

* * *

“Cut the motor.” Chelsie switched the knife to her left hand
and flexed the fingers of her right.

“You’ll never get away with this. You’ll be caught, and you’ll
go to jail.” Emily’s teeth chattered with cold and fear. She didn’t turn the
motor off, hoping to distract her. The longer it ran, the more chances someone
would hear it and find them. “They won’t let you keep your baby in jail, Chelsie.”

“Shut up! You stupid bitch, I’m sick of your superior
attitude. You don’t know anything.”

“You still have the chance to change that, if you stop now.”

Chelsie’s expression remained stony. Emily’s efforts weren’t
working.

“Nobody suspects me now, and nobody ever will. It’s Sonja
they’ll lock up.”

Emily closed her eyes. It was true; she’d told Geoffrey so
many times it was a red-haired woman she suspected. She would die and poor
Sonja would go to jail. And Colin would fall into Chelsie’s trap. She would
snare him, and he’d live out the rest of his life with a killer.

Regret crushed like a lead weight on her shoulders, but one
thought soared above all the others: she would never see sweet Geoffrey again.
Never tell him she loved him. Never get the chance to tell him she would have
loved to marry him, make a little cousin for Jocelyn with him. Never look at
his smiling face again, never receive his magical kisses again.

Her death would be too much for him. He couldn’t endure the tragic
loss of a second love and survive as the wonderful, kind man he was. She
couldn’t bear for him to be hurt this way.

This couldn’t be happening!

“What are you going to do, bring
Penny Lane
back in by
yourself? Someone will see you.”

Chelsie shook her head. “I’m taking the dinghy.”

“Your fingerprints are all over this boat. They’ll check
everything. Geoffrey will make them. He’s too smart to fall for your
manufactured evidence.”

Chelsie’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll see.”

The sneer on her face cast Emily back to that stormy afternoon
when clouds as thick and black as industrial smoke had blocked out the sun.
Maraschino
tossed so violently she’d had to grab the fife rail to stay on her feet. In her
distress, she’d forgotten to anchor to the jack line. She turned around to secure
herself.

Chelsie stood at the main mast, staring at her with narrowed
eyes and bared teeth. Her lips moved, the words snatched away by the howling
wind. But Emily could see what had been said.

Goodbye, bitch
.

She opened her hand and Emily saw the main sheet slip through.
A flash of white came at her from the right, no time to block it.

“You let the boom swing free.” Emily gulped back the hurt that
was almost as intense as her fear. How could her friend betray her like this?
“You knocked me overboard.”

A sarcastic smile equally hateful replaced Chelsie’s vicious
sneer. “Congratulations. But a little too late to tell anyone.”

“All for Colin?”

Chelsie flipped the knife in her hand so she was fisting the
handle and punched Emily hard in the mouth.

She fell backward, across the low cabin roof and onto the
narrow length of deck. Brilliant shards of ice splintered in her injured arm.
One leg thrust out under the lifeline and she nearly went over.

The engine went silent. She looked up as Chelsie pulled the
keys from the ignition and threw them into the water.

“You bitch!” she screamed through the sudden quiet. “You never
appreciated him like you should have. You don’t understand what it feels like
to love him!”

Emily scrambled to her feet and backed away. Chelsie followed,
the knife thrust out in front. Her eyes blazed with insane anger. “And you sure
as hell don’t know what it feels like to love someone who doesn’t love you
back.”

The boat was small. Emily couldn’t avoid her for long. “You
think killing me will make him love you?” Her voice shook so badly she could
hardly form coherent words.

“He’ll never learn to love me with you around, even if I do
have his baby,” Chelsie spat back. “If you’re dead and Sonja’s in jail for
killing you, he’ll fall right into my arms.” She laughed. “It’s nothing
personal, I just hate you.”

“He’ll never love you,” Emily shouted back.

“Shut up!” Chelsie demanded. “Get in the water. I need to get
back before this fog burns off.”

“Chelsie, don’t do this. You can stop this before you make the
biggest mistake of your life!”

“Shut the hell up!” She jabbed with the knife. Emily continued
backing away, around the bow and down the port side.

“I can swim back to shore. If you don’t stop this now, I’ll
tell the authorities exactly what happened!”

Oh Geoffrey, if only I hadn’t left you this morning!
She longed to be in the safety of his arms, nestled comfortably in his warm
embrace, buried under soft blankets. Instead, a cold, watery death waited.

She remembered the night when Geoffrey accepted his award and
she’d first realized she’d fallen in love with him. She had suspected, even
without her memory, that she had never loved another man the way she loved him.

She’d been right. Emily bit back a sob as she realized she
would never see him again.

“Which way is shore, Emily? Swimming with that cast will be
pretty tough. And this time, you’re not wearing a lifejacket.”

Somewhere in the fog, a speedboat approached. Chelsie glanced
over her shoulder. It was the split second Emily needed. She wrenched open the
cabin compartment and removed the flare gun. She looped the index finger of her
left hand through the ring of the safety pin and wrenched the gun away with her
right.

“Don’t come any closer!”

Chelsie’s eyes went wide as Emily pointed the flare gun at
her.

The speedboat’s roar faded to a dull hum. Emily’s heart sank.

“You won’t shoot me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Emily tried to sound resolute, but her voice
still quavered. The truth was she would never be able to pull the trigger.

Voices carried through the fog—it was Geoffrey and Colin, and
they were shouting for her!

“Over here!” she screamed.

Chelsie belted out an inhuman shriek. She threw the knife
aside and lunged for Emily. Chelsie grabbed her wrist and forced it up as the
flare gun went off. Chelsie crashed into her with the full weight of her body, and
Emily’s second shout for help was cut short as the breath was kicked from her
lungs.

Ocean and sky twisted in a blur as they went overboard.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Cold water closed over her head and the thunder of bubbles
rushing to the surface was deafening. The frigid water instantly brought her
senses alive.

I will get through this. Geoffrey is coming for me!

She kicked toward the surface, fighting against the sling
still attached to her shoulder.

Out of nowhere, Chelsie came upon her, forcing her back down.
Emily’s lungs burned with the need for air. Chelsie had been a competitive
swimmer in high school. Restrained by the body sling, Emily was as good as
drowned.

She fought to the surface for a too-quick breath before Chelsie
reared over her again, forcing her under. The crazed girl surged out of the
water like a dolphin, heaving all her weight onto Emily’s shoulders.

Panicked, Emily kicked, desperate for one more gulp of air.
She managed to come above the surface in time to glimpse Chelsie’s fury-filled
face surging forward again. In the blurry distance,
Penny Lane
seemed
miles away.

She tried to scream as she came above the surface again, but
ended up with a mouthful of salty water that tumbled down her throat like a
rock. Dark spots swam before her eyes as she choked underwater. Chelsie’s
kicking legs were closing fast.

Chelsie kicked above her and threw her weight onto Emily’s
shoulders again. Coherence slipped away and Emily wasn’t sure which way was up.

Suddenly the Velcro tore free and her arm came free of the
sling, but her vision was growing darker as her brain starved for oxygen. There
was a pattern, she realized dimly. For every surge out of the water Chelsie
managed, she then sank back under before she could kick back up again.

Emily kicked away, trying to get out from under the bigger
girl. If Chelsie managed to get her balance above Emily’s shoulders, there
would be no escaping her.

She surged away, waiting through what seemed an eternity
without air as Chelsie sank back under.

With the last of her strength, Emily kicked above the surface,
drank in a beautiful mouthful of life-giving air, and fought against the pain
to lift her arm above her head.

She slammed her cast against Chelsie’s skull just as the girl
came through the surface. There was a gurgled gulp and Chelsie disappeared back
under. Emily brought her feet up and kicked out with the last remaining ounce
of strength she possessed. Both feet hit something soft, and suddenly she was
free, back paddling through the water. She drew in three, four, and five deep
breaths. Air had never tasted so wonderful.

Penny Lane
was far away and disappearing quickly in the
mist. Emily’s arm hurt like the devil, but she knew if she didn’t make it back
to the boat, she was as good as dead.

* * *

Geoffrey’s heart sank when he saw the empty deck of the
drifting sailboat. The yellow key fob bobbed in the water nearby. Trenton
angled the Seahawk around to the portside so they could board easily.

“Emily!”

The deck remained empty, no answering call from the boat.

Splashing called his attention. “Trent, there!”

Emily was in the water, dogpaddling awkwardly. She was
struggling toward
Penny Lane
and didn’t appear to see them.

Trent adjusted course and headed for her, reversing throttle
perfectly to bring the Seahawk to a quick stop beside her, and then cut the
motor.