Hide and Seek. Desiree Holt
it. You don’t move two inches without me. Someone just shot at us, remember?”
Every bit of color leached from her face. “They want to kill me.”
He shook his head. “I think they want to kill me and get their hands on you. So for the immediate future, we’re stuck together with glue.”
Two of Sheri’s patrolmen were barricading the gate that opened out onto the docks and doing their best to hold back the shouting crowd. In a moment two men he recognized as Vigilance agents joined them.
“It’s okay,” he told Deacon Broder, one of the Vigilance men. “The boat on fire is her dad’s. Let us through.”
That took a lot of squeezing to get past the pushing and shoving.
“Who are these people?” Logan asked.
“Some of them have boats in the slips near Princess Devon. We told them they can’t go out on the dock yet, but they’re maniacs.”
“Yeah, I can see they’re upset. I’ll get Sheri to calm them down.”
Devon was already running down the dock to where flames licked the air, mingled with the thick black cloud. Logan jogged down to catch her. As soon as he neared the fire he could see that the boat was destroyed. Not even the hull was intact, floating in blackened pieces in the water. A small fireboat was in the water between the docks spraying the Princess Devon and Lady Hannah. Men in board shorts and Arrowhead Bay T-shirts were on the dock with hoses hooked up to spigots, spraying all the other boats in the area.
What a fucking mess.
Sheri was talking to a tall man in a uniform who he assumed was with the Coast Guard. He hated to interrupt her but she had to do some damage control.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Sheri, you need to calm the beasts down back there. Let them know when they can get to their boats.”
She glanced back to the gate and nodded. “Okay. Logan, this is Lieutenant Commandeer Russell Deering of the Coast Guard. He’s our new liaison while we wait to see what search and rescue does or does not turn up. Russell, Logan Malik is a top Vigilance agent. You can tell him anything.”
“Hold on a sec, Sheri.” Logan shook hands with the man and introduced Devon to him. “Could you keep an eye on her for a second? This is her dad’s boat.”
Deering lifted a quizzical eyebrow but nodded. “Sure.”
Logan guided Sheri a few feet away. In concise sentences, he told her about the car chasing them down Seacliff Road and shooting at them.
“I think they were making another try at Devon. If they got rid of me in the process, so much the better.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just can’t believe how stupid they are to try something with the same vehicle. Although neither of them would win a contest for brains. We all need to be extra alert.”
She nodded. “Did you tell Avery yet?”
He shook his head. “Haven’t seen her but I will.”
“Good.” Then she turned and hurried down the dock to the demanding crowd.
Devon had been doing her best to get as close to the edge of the dock as she could, despite Deering’s best efforts to keep her from it.
Logan grabbed her and pulled her back. “Don’t want you falling in the water.”
“He’s right,” Deering agreed. “Sorry about your boat, ma’am. But I do need you to stand back from the slip. That fire’s not out yet and sparks are still flying.”
Devon did as he asked, backing right up against Logan. She had her arms wrapped around herself as if shielding her body from the cold, even though it was in the nineties. She stood there, rigid, unmoving, just watching. Logan didn’t give a fuck who was watching. He wrapped his arms around her, heartened when she didn’t try to move away, and pulled her against his body. It was as much to give her warmth as it was to protect her.
He was busy every minute scanning the crowd, looking for the two men from this morning or anyone like them. He recognized some of the people. After all, he’d been living in Arrowhead Bay for two years. He was more interested in strangers, anyone who looked like they didn’t belong. With all the snowbirds that was a little more difficult, but his eyes were trained to pick up nuances in stance and body movement. He also relied on his well-honed instincts. They hadn’t failed him yet.
And all the time he was hyperaware of Devon’s very appealing body pressed against his.
Deliberately he put all thought of her body out of his mind and concentrated on the here and now.
He was still convinced the fire was to draw her out of the house. Maybe they hoped in the crowd they could snatch her. Of course, it occurred to him whoever was behind this could hire a couple of locals to grab her, too. He was pretty sure they didn’t want her dead until they found out where her father was. He’d be overly careful whenever they were out of the house.
At last Russell Deering, who had been watching and checking on things, walked back over to where they were standing, a look of sympathy on his face as he spoke to Devon.
“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the Princess Devon is a total loss. Lady Hannah can probably be salvaged but she’ll need a lot of work.”
“Do you know how the fire started?” Logan asked.
“Not yet. But we’ll have a crew looking at what’s left of it as soon as the fire is completely out. Miss Cole, we’ll get a report to you as quick as we can for your insurance company.”
“Insurance?” She tensed in Logan’s arms.
“Yes. You’ll need to file a claim for both boats.” He looked at Logan, then back at her. “I know we have search and rescue out looking for your father. We still don’t have any new information for you. We’re still searching, but I’m sorry to say I’m not hopeful.”
Devon drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thank you for keeping me informed.”
“I want to go on board Lady Hannah,” she told him as soon as Deering had walked away.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. There are still sparks flying everywhere so the danger of fire isn’t really over.”
She bit her lower lip, a habit that tended to make him hard as a spike. “Do you think it will be all right sitting here like this?”
“Yes. There are too many official figures and too much of a crowd around here today. They might not even let you on it right now. Tomorrow would be better. You have the keys Sheri gave you, right?”
She nodded.
“Then I think we should go home and come back tomorrow. All you’ve had to eat today is a muffin and you don’t want to get sick. Plus, I want to get you out of this crowd as soon as possible.”
She shuddered. “Yes. All right. But—”
“But what?”
“What if they’re waiting for us on the road?”
“Here comes Avery.” He tilted his head at the figure walking down the dock. “We’ll get her to send a follow car with us.”
“A follow car for what?” Avery stopped next to them.
“A black SUV popped out of the trees across from the house and tried to shoot us off the road.” He gave Avery a half grin. “Just in case they’re waiting to try again, we need someone to follow us and cover our asses on the way back to the house.”
“Okay. Good thing we’re light on assignments this week. The crew is at the house working on the new security system. I told them to bring everything they could think of with them so they could get started right away.”
“Good deal. Then I’ll go ahead and take Devon home. Maybe I