The Dark Tide Free for a Limited Time (30 page)

Anxious, Hauck decided to take a run, leaving the hotel’s grounds and heading up along the coast road in a steady jog. He had to do something. Sitting around watching the GPS, letting his mind wander to inescapable conclusions, he was going insane.

The GPS had stopped a while back. Fixed. 18.50° N, 68.53° W. Some tiny sand reef in the middle of the Caribbean. Twenty miles away. About the least public place she could be. He had told her to call him and let him know she was going in.

That had been two hours ago.

In his job Hauck had been partnered on dozens of stakeouts and surveillances. Waited anxiously in cars while partners put themselves on the line. It was always better to be the one to go in himself. Still, he had never felt so helpless or responsible as he did now. He ran up the long, unevenly paved road that traveled the circumference of the tiny island. He had to do something.

Move.

His strong thighs picked up the pace. There was a large rise
that loomed in front of him, green with vegetation and sharply ascending, jutting out of the sea. Hauck headed up the hill toward it, his heart rate rising, a sheen of sweat matting the back of his T-shirt, building up on his skin. The sun baked down on him. Whatever breeze there was remained on the beach.

Every once in a while, he stopped and checked the screen of the GPS, which he had strapped to his waist. Still 18.50 and 68.53 degrees. Still at the same spot. Still no word. It was going on two hours now. He had tried to call. Just her recording. Maybe there was no signal where she was. What could he do, set out in a boat after her? He had given her his word.

So he ran. The seascapes were beautiful, vistas of wide-open stretches of green-blue water, a few verdant knolls rising precipitously from the beaches, an occasional white boat dotting the sea, the hazy outline of a distant island on the horizon.

But Hauck wasn’t absorbing all that. He was angry at himself for letting her go. For succumbing. The muscles in his thighs burned as the topography rose. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around his waist as sweat coated his skin.
C’mon, Karen, call…. Call!
His lungs grew tight.

Another hundred yards…

Finally he reached the top of the rise. Hauck pulled to a stop, doubled over, feeling angry, helpless, responsible.

He shouted out to no one, “Goddamn it!”

He doused himself with water. He seemed to be at the highest point. He looked back in the direction he had come from and saw the resort, tiny, far off, seemingly miles away.

Something caught his attention out on the sea.

Off the opposite side of the island. Hauck put his hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun.

It was a huge black ship. A sailing vessel. Like something he’d never seen before. Vast—it must have been as long as a football field, ultramodern, with three gleaming, metallic masts reflecting the sun. He was mesmerized.

He reached into his pouch and took out the binoculars he’d brought along. He looked out at the water and zeroed in.

Spectacular. Sleek and sparkling black. The name was on the stern. He focused.

The Black Bear.

The boat filled Hauck with awe, but also with a sense of unrest. From the edges of his memory, he knew he had seen it somewhere before.

He took out his cell phone and snapped a picture.

He
had
seen it—he tried to recall.

He just couldn’t place where.

“Listen, Charles, this is important.” Karen reached out and touched his arm. “We’re not the only people who know you’re alive.”

He ruffled his brow. “‘We’?”

She nodded. “Yes, ‘we.’” Karen told him about Hauck. “He’s a detective. From Greenwich. He was trying to solve the Raymond hit-and-run that happened the same day. The boy had your name and number in his pocket. He looked after me a bit in the days when we weren’t sure if you had died. Then all these crazy things began to happen.”

“What kinds of crazy things?”

“People were suddenly trying to find you, Charles. Or at least all that money. I told you, they were talking about millions. They were coming to the house. Then they threatened Samantha. At school. I didn’t know who else to turn to, Charles.”

He looked concerned. “People as in
who,
Karen?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t find out. The police, or Saul. But that doesn’t really matter now. What does matter is, this detec
tive, Hauck,
he
found out. Listen, Charles, they seem to be looking for you, too. Not just for the money.
You!
They’re tracing you through these bank accounts down here. This person, his name is Dietz…. Do you know him?”

“Dietz?”
Charles shook his head.

“He was a part of the Raymond hit-and-run. He was a witness, in Greenwich. But the thing is, he was also there at Jonathan Lauer’s, too! They were both arranged hits, Charles. Not accidents. But you know that, don’t you? You know what they were trying to protect. And now I think they’re down here, Charles, trying to find you. They somehow know, Charles. You’re in danger.”

Charles pushed up his cap and massaged his brow, as though running back in his mind through a series of events, and the conclusion he seemed to come to alarmed him. “They know about the fees,” he said, looking at her glumly.

“What fees, Charles?”

“A lot of money, Karen. Money I
earned,
” he said, “I didn’t steal. One and a quarter percent, on a couple of billion dollars. Accumulating over the past eight years. I always kept it offshore. It was for our island,” he said. “Remember?
We’re talking over sixty million dollars, Karen
.”

Karen’s eyes grew wide.

“I never cared about the money, Charlie. I never cared about your stupid island. That was never going to happen. That was just our stupid dream.” She looked at him. “What I cared about was
you,
Charlie. I cared about us, our family. These people are onto you. They can trace you, as I did. What are you going to do, Charlie, run from them the rest of your life?”

He hung his head, ran a troubled hand across his scalp. A wistful smile appeared in his gray eyes. “You know I came back once, Karen. Sam’s graduation. I looked up the date on the school’s Web site.”

“You were there?”

He nodded fondly. “In a way. I took a car up and watched you come out after the ceremony from across the street. You had on a short yellow dress. Sam had a flower in her ear. I saw my folks there. Alex…He’s gotten so tall….”

“You were there!” Karen felt a pang grab at her heart. “Oh, Charlie, how long can you let this mess keep going on?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he said. Then, “Tell, me”—his eyes brightening—“how’s his lacrosse?”

“His lacrosse?”
Tears of confusion formed in her eyes. “I don’t know, Charlie, he’s second string, attack. He’s on the bench mostly. Sam had a good year, though. She scored the winning goal against Greenwich Academy. She—” Then she caught herself. “Oh, Charlie, why are we doing this? You want to know how it was? It was hard, Charlie. It was fucking hard. Do you know how they would feel if they could see you here now? It would kill them, Charlie. Sam, Alex—they would die.”

“Karen…”

Some strange force impelled her, and she leaned toward him, Charlie scared and confused, and they both took the other into their arms. It felt so strange, to have his arms wrapped around her. So familiar, yet so awkward. Like a ghost. “It’s been hell, Charlie. First with you gone, then…You hurt me so.” She pulled away, something between pain and accusation flashing in her eyes. “I can’t forgive you, Charlie. I’m not sure I ever will.
We had a fucking life, Charles!”

“I know it’s been hard, Karen.” He nodded, swallowing. “I know what I’ve done.”

Karen sniffled back some tears and wiped her eyes with the heel of her hands. “No,” she said, “no, you don’t know. You don’t even have a clue what you’ve done.”

He looked at her. For the first time, he seemed to look her
over
. Her face. Her figure. How she looked in her dress. A faint smile came to his eyes. “You still look good, Karen.”

“Yeah, and you don’t wear glasses anymore?”

“Lasik.”
He shrugged. “Occupational necessity.”

She smiled. “Finally drummed up the nerve, huh?”

“You got me.”

Karen’s smile broadened, a ray of sun reflecting brightly off her freckles.

“I want you to be happy, Karen. I want you to move on. Learn to love somebody. You ought to have happiness in your life.”

“Yeah, well, you picked a wonderful time to suddenly have all this concern for me, Charlie.”

He smiled ruefully.

“Listen, Charlie, it doesn’t have to be like this. You can turn yourself in. This detective, Hauck, he’s here with me now, Charlie.”

Charles looked concerned.

“You can trust him, Charlie. I promise. He’s my friend. He’s not here to bring you in. You can explain what you did. You didn’t kill anyone. You falsified collateral, Charlie. You lied. You can give back the money. Pay a fine. Even if you have to spend time in jail, you can get back your life. The kids, they deserve their father, Charlie. Even if we can’t go back the same, they’ll forgive you. They will. You can do this, Charlie.”

“No.” He shook his head weakly. “I can’t.”

“Yes you can. I know you, Charlie.”

“I can’t do it, Karen. I’ll be in jail for twenty years.
I can’t.
Besides, I’d never be safe. Nor would you. This is better, whatever it seems.” He looked at her and smiled. “And just to be honest, Karen, neither of us would want to explain this to the kids.”

“They would want their father, Charlie.” She drew in a breath. “What are you going to do, run for the rest of your life?”

“No.” He shook his head. Then a light of understanding seemed to go on in his eyes. “Listen, there are some things, Karen. You say these people are looking for me. If anything happens to me, I have these safe-deposit boxes, in different places around. St. Kitts. Panama. Tortola…”

“I don’t want your money, Charles. What I want is for you to—”

“Ssshh…” He took her hand and stopped her. Squeezed. “You still have the Mustang, don’t you?”

“Of course I have it, Charlie. That’s what you said. In your will.”

“Good. There are things you’ll want to know. Important things, Karen. If anything should happen to me. The truth. The truth has always been right inside my heart. You understand that, Karen. Promise me you’ll look. It’ll explain a lot of things.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Charlie? You have to come in with me. You can testify against these people. You can go into custody if you have to. But they’re going to find you, Charlie. You just can’t keep running.”

“I’m not going to keep running, Karen.”

“What do you mean?”

He glanced at his watch. “It’s time to be getting back. I’ll think about what you said. No promises.” He got up, looked out at the water, and waved. On the
Sea Angel,
Neville signaled back. Karen heard the engine start. Farther out, a larger craft had come into view from around the bend. “That one’s mine,” Charlie pointed. “Pretty much my home for the past year. Check it out on the way back. You might get a kick out of the name.”

Karen’s heart kicked up, worried, as she watched her launch putter in. She was positive there was something she had failed to say.

“Promise me about the car.”

“Promise you
what,
Charlie?”

“You’ll need to get in.” He took her by the shoulders and put a hand softly to her cheek. “I always thought you were beautiful, Karen. The most beautiful thing in the world. Except for maybe the color of my baby’s eyes.”

“Charlie, I can’t just leave you here.”

He took a glance up at the sky. “You have to leave me, Karen.”

Neville coasted the
Sea Angel
back in near the shore. Charles took Karen by the arm, led her into the warm cove water. She went ahead, wading into the lapping surf, reaching for the bow. Grinning, Neville pulled her up onboard. She turned back to Charlie. The small boat began to move away. She looked at him standing on the shore. A wave of sadness swept over her. She felt she was leaving something there, a part of herself. He looked so lonely. She was sure she was seeing him for the last time.

“Charlie!
” she called out over the engine.

“I’ll think it over.” He waved. “I promise. If I change my mind, I’ll send Neville back for you tomorrow.” He took a step into the shallow water and waved again. “The Mustang, Karen…”

Then he flipped his dark Ray-Bans down over his eyes.

Karen held on to the railing as the
Sea Angel
’s twin engines kicked up, creating a wake. Neville backed the craft around, and Karen ran to the stern as the boat picked up speed, the sight of Charlie on the beach growing smaller. He waved to her one last time. Karen finally gave herself over to the urge to cry. “I did miss you,” she said softly. “I did miss you so much, Charlie.”

As the
Sea Angel
sped away from the cove, it passed within close distance of Charlie’s boat—larger, the kind he’d always dreamed of, heading in. As they drew near, Karen was able to make out the name, written in an ornate gold script on the wooden hull.

Emberglow.

It almost made her laugh, as warm, fond tears welled in her eyes. She took out her cell phone and framed a shot to remember, not knowing what she would do with it, or who she would ever show it to.

Karen never noticed the small plane circling high in the sky above her.

Karen didn’t arrive back at the hotel until well into the afternoon. Hauck was in his room by then, seated in a cane chair, his feet propped on the bed, going over some work to distract himself. His worst fears had faded. Karen had called in as soon as she hit open water to let him know she was all right. She sounded vague, even a bit distant emotionally, but she told him she would say more about it when she got to the hotel.

There was a knock on his door.

“It’s open,” he said.

Karen stepped into the room. She looked a little weary and conflicted. Her hair was tousled, out of place. She dropped the bag she was carrying onto the table by the door.

He asked, “So how did it go?”

She tried to smile. “How did it go?” She could read it—anyone could read it, what he was really asking.
Had anything changed?

“Here,” she said, placing the gun he’d given her on the table by the bed. “He didn’t kill those people, Ty. He committed fraud with those tankers to cover up his losses, and he admitted he
went up to Greenwich after the bombing like you said—with that man’s ID. To
meet
with Raymond, Ty, not to kill him. To try to get him once and for all to convince his father to stop.”

Hauck nodded.

She sat down across from him on the edge of the bed. “I believe him, Ty. He said he saw the whole thing happen and that he realized there was no turning back. These people had threatened him. I showed you that Christmas card. The note about what they did to our dog. He thought he was saving us, Ty, however it sounds. But everything he said—it fits.”

“What fits is that he’s up to his ankles in a shitload of trouble, Karen.”

“He knows that, too. I tried to get him to come in. I even told him about you. I told him he hadn’t killed anyone, that all he’d done was commit fraud, that he could give back the money, pay a fine, do some time, whatever anyone would want. Testify.”

“And…?”

“And he said he’d think about it. But I’m not sure. He’s scared. Scared to face what he’s done. To face our family. I think it’s just easier to run. When the boat pulled away, he waved. I have the feeling that was his answer. I don’t think I’ll see him anymore.”

Hauck drew his legs back, tossed his papers on the table. “Do you want him to come back, Karen?”

“Do I want him back
?” She looked at him and shook her head, eyes glazing. “Not the way you’re thinking, Ty. It’s over between us like that. I could never go back. Nor could he. But I realized something there. Seeing him, hearing him…”

“What’s that?”

“My children. They deserve the truth. They deserve their father, whatever he’s done, as long as he’s alive.”

Hauck nodded. He understood that. He had Jessie. Whatever he’d done. He drew a breath.

Karen looked at him, aching. “You know how hard it was for me to do that, Ty?”

Something held him back. “Yeah, I know.”

“To see him.” Her eyes filled up. “To see my husband, in front of me again. To hear him out. After what he’s done…”

“I know how it was, Karen.”

“How?
How was it, Ty?”

“What is it you want me to do, Karen?”

“I want you to hold me, goddamn it! I want you to tell me I did the right thing. Don’t you see that?” She let her hand fall to his leg. “Anyway, I realized something else out there as well.”

“What was that?”

She got up and sat down on his lap. “I realized I do love you, Ty. Not something close.” She smiled, sniffing back a tear. “The whole shebang.”

“Shebang?”

“Yeah.” Karen nodded and drew herself close across his chest. “Shebang.”

He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her face against his shoulder. He realized she was crying. She couldn’t help herself. He held her, feeling her warm body and the lift in his own heart as hers beat steadily against him. The dampness of a few warm tears pressed against his neck.

“I do,” she whispered, cuddling against him. “Impossible as that may seem.”

He shrugged, bringing her face gently against his chest. “Not so impossible.”

“Yes it is. Totally frigging impossible. You don’t think I can read you, mister? Like an open book.” Then she pulled away. “But I can’t let him simply disappear again. I want to bring him home to the kids. Whatever he’s done. Their father’s alive.”

Hauck wiped a bead of moisture from her freckled cheek with his thumb. “We’ll find a way,” he said. “We will.”

She kissed him lightly on the lips, rested her forehead against his. “Thank you, Ty.”

“Not so impossible to me,” he said again. “Of course, for the kids maybe…”

“Oh, man!” Karen shook her head, brushing a wave of hair out of her face. “Am I gonna have a bunch to explain when they get back or what?”

T
HAT NIGHT THEY
stayed together in his room. They didn’t make love. They just lay there, his arm around her waist, her body tucked closely to him, the shadow of her husband hovering ominously, like a front coming in across the sea, over their calm.

Around one, Hauck got up. Karen lay curled on the bed, sleeping heavily. He drew the covers off and pulled on his shorts and stepped over to the window, looking out at the moonlit sea. Something gnawed at him.

The Black Bear.

The boat he’d seen. It was in his sleep. His dreams. A dark presence. And it had come to him in his dream, where he had seen it before.

Dietz’s office. A photo pinned there.

Dietz’s arms wrapped around the shoulders of a couple of cronies, a sailfish dangling between them.

Dietz had been on it.