B00CZBQ63C EBOK (27 page)

Chapter
48

D
aniel jammed on the brakes as he spotted Laurie climbing into
her
father’s automobile. He leaped from his car and splashed through the puddles until he reached her window. “Please, tell me you’re all right.”

She drew a ragged breath. “Get in, will you? You’re getting soaked.”

He rounded the car and clambered into the passenger seat, slamming the door behind him.

Laurie jammed the car into gear and steered out onto the road without even checking for traffic. “Can you come back for your car later?”

Daniel twisted in his seat to face her. “Forget the car. What’s happening?”

“Let’s just say, I don’t want Samuel’s kind of help.”

Daniel sagged against the seat back, heart returning to an almost normal rhythm.

He glanced out the windscreen as they bumped down the road. “Where are we going?”

Laurie pressed one wrist against her mouth, but it didn’t stifle the hiccupping sob. “I don’t know. I just needed to get away from that house.” The Ford rattled down the road, lurching side to side over the ruts in the road.

He reached over and grabbed her wrist. “Pull over.”

She yanked the wheel to the side and let the wheels roll to a stop, covering her face with her fingers.

Daniel heaved a sigh as the motion ceased. He pushed open the door and stood, letting the rain wash over him. He walked around the car and opened her door.

Laurie hunched over the wheel, her face in her hands.

“Slide over.”

She shifted, giving him room to slide in before falling against his shoulder. “I’ve made such a mess. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

He shifted, turning so he could wrap his arms around her. “What’s the worst that could happen? Rumrunning convictions are mild. He shouldn’t see much time for that.”

She lifted her tear-stained face. “Samuel said he might not make it to jail.”

Daniel’s chest tightened. “What?” He reached for the ignition. “We’ll go back. Let’s hear him say that to me.”

Laurie grabbed his sleeve. “No. He’s already got other agents and police gathering out at Freshwater Cove. It won’t fix anything.”

The coldness of her fingers soaked through his sleeve. Reaching over, he covered his hand with hers. They sat in silence as the rain pattered down on the canvas top.

The seed of an idea coiled in the corner of his mind. Laurie had closed her eyes, resting her head against his shoulder. He gazed down at her face, feeling her warmth pressed against his side.
What if?

He reached for the throttle.

She lifted her head. “Where are we going?”

Daniel glanced over his shoulder and guided the Model T out onto the dark road. “I was just thinking . . . ” He lifted his right arm away from her shoulder to settle both hands on the steering wheel. “I think it’s a nice night to do some fishing.”

Chapter
49

C
lutching at the hood of the oilskin slicker with her frozen
fingers, Laurie used her other hand to grip the boat’s railing. Spray blew into her face, stinging her cheeks. She pulled the hood over her hair but immediately shoved it off, scanning the inky blackness. She hurried back into the boat’s wheelhouse.

“It’s going to be pretty tough.” Daniel lifted his voice against the sound of the wind. “I’m not certain we can find them in the dark.”

As he steered the boat into another swell, Laurie’s stomach rolled. The wave lifted them and sent them sliding down the opposite side. She swallowed hard, pushing down the nausea. “They’re out here, somewhere.”

She stared out into the night but saw only the foam on the whitecaps.

Daniel’s brow creased. “Do you swim?”

“Of course. Don’t you?”

“Not well. Granddad’s got a life ring strapped on the back, just in case.”

She wrapped her fingers around his arm. “No one could swim long in these conditions, anyway. Let’s focus on staying out of the water.”

Daniel nodded and faced the front, the strength of his jaw even more pronounced in the shadows. “Sounds good to me.”

Laurie stepped closer and weaved her arm around his waist as he gripped the controls. She struggled to connect the man standing next to her with the drunken college student from his past.

“There’s the Race Rocks light.” Daniel pointed into the distance.

She leaned forward as if the signal had a magnetic pull. “We’re near Victoria. Shouldn’t they be on the return journey by now? Did we miss them?”

“They’re like a needle in a haystack.” He yanked on the wheel, bringing them about while keeping a good angle on the swells. “I’ll take us a bit further west on the return. Maybe with the tidal currents, they’ve been pushed off course.”

“Johnny says if you don’t time the currents just right, you could end up rowing twice as far to get the same distance.” Laurie leaned down and plucked at her wet stockings. They clung to her skin, doing little to protect her knees from the icy chill.

“It’s a moonless night, too. They could be anywhere.”

God, please.
Laurie paced to the back of the boat. Out in the spray, she lifted her arm over her head, pushing her hair from her eyes. Her brother was out there in the darkness—heading into a disaster of her making.

A swell lifted them, nearly jostling Laurie off her feet.

You can calm the storm, God. You find lost lambs and bring them home.
Johnny was no lamb, but he did need divine intervention.

A flicker of light—like a candle in the darkness—caught her eye for a second before vanishing in the gloom. She clutched the side of the boat, willing the light to reappear. Would Johnny’s boat even have a light?

“Daniel!” The wind sucked the sound away. She slid across the deck, surging into the wheelhouse with the wind. “I saw something.”

“Point.”

She raised a hand and gestured in the direction of the phantom light.

He spun the wheel, the waves buffeting them as the boat bounced like a cork bobber on a fishing line.

She kept drawing quick breaths as the wind snatched the air from her lungs. “It was a light.”

He leaned against the wheel, trying to keep them facing the direction Laurie had indicated. “I sure hope it’s not the Coast Guard.”

She tucked her fingers under her arms, but little warmth remained.

“How far away?” Daniel lifted his voice over the storm.

“I couldn’t tell. It was just a flicker and then it vanished.” Laurie chewed on her lip, scanning the darkness. The wind even seemed to hold its breath, the air growing calmer as they bobbed along with the surges.

The flash blinked again, like a firefly in the night air. “There!” She grabbed Daniel’s shoulder.

“I see it, hold on.”

He gunned the motor for a few seconds, sending them surging toward the faint speck as it rose and fell in the darkness.

Laurie grabbed the flashlight and aimed it out across the water, illuminating the rain-pocked waves. She swung it from side to side, willing the longboats to appear from the darkness.

The beam lit up a craft struggling in the waves. Six men huddled in the boat, arms spread across the oars, faces twisted against the glare.

“There!” She fought to keep the circle of glow locked on the longboat refusing to let it disappear back into the storm.

Daniel guided them alongside. The men ceased straining against the oars, apparently resigned to not outrunning the more powerful vessel.

“Johnny!” Laurie threw back her hood and leaned over the side.

Johnny stared up at the larger vessel, his mouth a circle of slack-jawed surprise. “What—what do you think you’re doing?”

Daniel threw him a rope and pulled the boat in close. Johnny clambered aboard, followed by Big Jerry. The other men stayed huddled in the long boat, their collars turned up against the weather.

Jerry’s eyes bulged, his face mottled red and white. “What’s going on, Johnny?”

Laurie grabbed her brother’s arm and pulled him into the wheelhouse. “Samuel knows about the shipment. He’s waiting for you at Freshwater Bay.”

Johnny pushed back his hood. “What? How do you know that?”

Daniel spoke up. “That doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that you and your men don’t sail right into his clutches.”

Big Jerry snorted. “What are we supposed to do? Row back to Canada?”

Johnny wiped the sea spray from his face. “We could land at Crescent Beach, but we got no vehicles there.”

“She don’t know nothing. We ain’t changing plans now.” Jerry pulled his hood low over his head, his eyes shadowed.

A red-hot flare shot through Laurie. “Do you think I came out here for pleasure? Samuel Brown told me himself.”

Daniel gripped the rail as the boat rocked over a large swell. “Johnny, just dump the cargo and go in. If you’ve got nothing in your boat, they’ve got nothing to pin on you.”

Big Jerry’s balled his fists. “Do you have a clue how much money you’re talking about pouring down the drain?”

“But if Brown’s just going to take it, anyway . . . ” Johnny rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “I think Daniel’s right. If we got nothing, he can’t book us.”

The icy rain trickled down Laurie’s face. “He could still shoot you, though.”

Big Jerry lifted his arms. “This is insane. I’m the boss and I say we land as normal. That’s why we got a spotter. Lew will signal if G-men are on the beach.”

Johnny shook his head. “We could really dig in with the oars and see how far down the beach we can get by morning. Maybe put in at Port Townsend or LaPush.”

The portly man growled. “I tell you, we ain’t changing nothing.”

Laurie threw back her hood, battling the urge to shove Jerry over the side. “Then give us the whiskey.” The words spilled from her lips.

Daniel’s mouth dropped open.

Laurie’s stomach tensed. If Daniel objected to whiskey on his grandfather’s boat, her plan wouldn’t hold water.

Johnny and Jerry exchanged glances. Big Jerry hooked his fingers through his belt loops. “How do we know that you won’t just chuck it overboard as soon as we’re out of sight?”

Laurie clamped a hand on her hip. “You don’t.”

“No deal. That booze ain’t leaving my sight and I sure ain’t gonna trust Little Miss Temperance here.” Jerry hooked a thumb at Laurie.

Daniel stepped forward, grabbing Johnny’s elbow. “Then I’ll buy it from you.”

Laurie gasped, her heart jumping. “You shouldn’t have to do that.”

Johnny turned, locking gazes with his friend. “What are you talking about?”

Daniel squinted through the driving rain. “Sell it to me, right here. You’ll make your profit and still get home in one piece.” He reached a hand inside his slicker. “What’s the price?”

Big Jerry laughed. “More than you got on you, Mr. Druggist. There’s twenty-five hundred dollars of liquor in this boat.”

“Twenty-five hundred?” Laurie stumbled, a swell knocking her off balance.

“No way.” Johnny shook his head. “Don’t do this, Daniel.”

Daniel opened his wallet and peeled out several large bills. “Here.”

Laurie dropped his arm. “Why are you carrying that sort of money around?”

Daniel leaned close and spoke into her ear. “When Amelia came to me, I knew I might have to take matters into my own hands. Cash is one of the few things that men like Brown understand.”

A tremor traveled down Laurie’s back, tears stinging her eyes. After how she had treated him?

Johnny gestured to the long boat bobbing in the waves. “Can you sell this lot at the pharmacy?”

“Let me worry about that. Just get yourself home in one piece.”

Big Jerry swiped the money from Daniel’s hand, an unholy gleam in his smile. “Pleasure doing business with you, Shepherd. I guess there’s more cash in ice cream sodas than I thought.”

He turned to the men waiting in the other boat. “Transfer the load, boys.”

Johnny lifted his hands, his skin raw and cracked. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Daniel.”

Daniel fingers stiffened in the cold as he jostled the heavy bags across the slippery boards and lashed them together. “Didn’t you have two boats tonight?”

Johnny grunted. “We could only get enough men together for one. That’s why the loads’s so heavy and we’re so far behind. Kind of makes me wonder if some of the boys aren’t on the take for Brown. I should have known we were pushing our luck.”

Daniel turned away, securing the knots holding the bags in place. The sight of the bulky cargo brought a sour taste to his mouth.

Johnny placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder, his voice carrying on the wind. “I never wanted to involve you in this, you know.”

Laurie tipped her head. “Why don’t you come with us? I don’t trust Samuel. He might just kill you all, anyway.”

Johnny leaned forward, resting his forehead against the top of her head. “How many times have I got to tell you? I can take care of myself.”

Johnny turned and reached his hand out toward Daniel.

Daniel grasped it, a lump rising in his throat.

“I’m trusting you, Daniel.” Johnny glanced down at his sister and tightened his grip. “Get her safely back to shore.”

Daniel released his friend’s hand, an ache lodging in his chest. He cleared his throat and leaned in to speak into Johnny’s ear. “Last trip?”

“One way or the other.” Johnny pressed a hand to his heart before lowering himself over the edge and landing two-footed in the rocking longboat. The other men sat huddled against the wind, blowing on their hands and rubbing them together. Johnny gripped the oars. “You’re a good man, Daniel.” He shouted against the wind.

Daniel lifted a hand in farewell.

Big Jerry cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. “Smooth sailing, Shepherd!” The man’s small snake-like eyes glittered in the near-darkness.

Laurie’s fingers touched his hand in the darkness, sending a shiver through Daniel. He squeezed them in his palm as he stared down at Johnny, already straining at the oars.
Protect him, Lord. He may be a sinner and a lawbreaker, God, but so am I.

Daniel turned and surveyed the row of bags lashed to the rocking deck.
So am I.

The wind died down as Daniel gripped the wheel and guided them along the dark coastline. His arms ached after hours of battling the controls and the waves. The beam from the Ediz Hook lighthouse pierced the night, escorting them through the murky water.

Laurie stood silent at his side, casting anxious, uncomfortable glances over her shoulder at the cargo hidden in the back.

Daniel didn’t need to look back. It called to him, taunting him in the depths of his chest—over two thousand dollars of illegal liquor.
I’m sorry, Lord. But what else could I do?

The boat negotiated the swells, the motor pushing them through the night toward their destination. Daniel tipped his hat further back on his hat and glanced down at the young woman leaning against his side. Her tremors seemed to have eased. Perhaps she had accepted that Johnny’s fate lay in God’s hands. She stared off into the distance, clutching at her hood.