David Dun - The Black Silent

"We may find more at the beach house. Grant told me Ben had used him to fly lots of people to Orcas. A bunch of people knew Ben was up to something big. Even Grant. He said there's some manifesto Ben worked up."

Sam's eyes widened at that.

"They had a big confab at the beach house. Now I see it in a whole new light.

Oceanographers discussing the bottom of the sea. I think the papers related to that get-together are in the filing cabinets in the garage. We need to look there."

Sam nodded, still pondering the word manifesto.

"Of course, Ben never bothered to give me the slightest hint about any of this." Haley set her jaw in the familiar expression and shook her head.

"I know that hurts," Sam said.

"Wait, don't tell me-it was for my own protection." She shook her head again and kept driving. After a moment she said, "You know what?"

"What?"

"I'm sure now that the beach house meeting had to do with Ben's secrets."

"It means we definitely need to check the beach house." Sam was feeling almost human again with the powerful blast of the Blazer's heat. "So what did these 'few good men' talk about, then? The end of the world in a giant cloud of methane?"

"Something like that, I guess." She saw Sam's look and sighed. "Really, I'm trying not to be upset about Ben keeping me out of it. At least some things are making more sense."

"Do you know anything about a meeting with Nelson Gempshorn and Sarah James together on a Sunday? I found a note in Ben's pants at Sanker."

"Nelson Gempshorn and Sarah James together?"

"That's what the note said."

Haley shook her head. "Nope."

"You're sure. Not on a Sunday?"

"Not on any day."

Sam looked at her.

"Well, not with Sarah and not on Sunday. I met with Nelson Gempshorn. It was after that time when I found them with the IV I didn't mention it expressly because they asked me to pretend the meeting never happened."

"So tell me what did happen."

"I feel so stupid now," she said. "I believed the whole thing was about cancer and Nelson wanting to hide it from his family. But he spent half the time telling me what a great man Ben was, in epic terms, as if he were Julius Caesar. I couldn't relate cancer to the epic 'historical figure' stuff. Now, of course, a different possibility is emerging. But still it tells us nothing concrete. That's another reason I didn't mention it."

"I think Ben planned for you and Sarah to meet with Nelson today."

"You're kidding."

He showed her the piece of paper while she was driving. "See the bit about the flowers?"

"That's no surprise. Sarah would be elated, because I don't think Ben's been that overt, but it's hard for the rest of us to miss."

"I have a hunch that had everything unfolded as planned, he would have had you and Sarah go away from here today," Sam said. "We just never got there."

Haley thought about that for a moment.

"I think somebody may be following," Sam said. "Headlights behind us. Douse your lights. Before the next intersection, take the corner hard left and ditch him."

Haley did as he said. They could see almost nothing without the headlights. She turned and found the road, but slowed because of the visibility problem.

Traveling past the intersection, the car following, not a marked police car, turned hard, lost control, and slid off into the forest edge.

"Take off," Sam said.

She turned on the headlights, accelerated, and followed the road to where it made a ninety-degree turn to the right, and then after one more intersection, rejoined Mud Bay Road.

"Not good," Sam said. "They probably have the license number."

"We'll be at the Williamses' place soon. I'm going to take the long way around because the shortest route brings us near Ben's."

It took only about ten minutes to find the private gravel drive. Sam now had a steady blast of heat on his legs and torso that made it tough to leave.

As they exited the Blazer, lights came on overhead, from a motion detector, Sam assumed.

"That's not helpful," Sam said, hating the light and the signal it would give to anyone who might see the place from around the bay. It was unnerving and that, no doubt, was the purpose.

The Williams home sat on a flat nestled between a few trees to either side and overlooking the quiet bay. A quarter of a mile down the bay, Sam saw a trawler-design yacht riding at anchor. In the light of the full moon, he could see that she was a substantial little ship, maybe seventy feet long and probably a multimillion-dollar vessel.

"Do you know anything about that boat?" Sam asked.

"No. Maybe someone in for Thanksgiving?" She pointed inland. "There's a house up a bank there-you can see the lights behind a couple trees."

"We better hope they don't notice our lights and make phone calls."

"Those people keep to themselves; I doubt they'll be calling anyone."

The Williamses' two-story house had been well-designed and obviously built by a rich man. A lawn sloped toward the beach and above it grew well-groomed gardens fenced in to keep out the deer. A covered porch featured handmade balustrades; copper gutters that reflected gold in the night light. Houses such as this, on the waterfront, were either built long ago or recently by the wealthy.

They walked along the path from the parking area and intermittent shallow steps formed of rock. Haley went to a man-made garden pond, which had a ceramic frog in it. In the bottom of the frog was a key. They opened the door to exquisitely planned, early-American decor. Haley went straight to a thermostat and turned on the heat. Then she went out the back onto the covered porch.

"Hopefully, the caretaker won't come around for the few minutes we're here," she said when she came back in. "We are really in luck. He's left the hot tub on. Either that or the local teenagers have figured out a good thing."

"First get me some bandages to fix your arm. We need antiseptic," Sam observed.

"Fair enough."

She disappeared again.

Haley found a bathroom and switched on the light. As she did so, she realized that anyone near the house might have seen it come on. A momentary glance took in a frightened, bedraggled woman. Her hair was a mess and it got worse from there. She tried to rub some of the dirt from her face as best she could and then used warm water and soap to finish the job. She wished there were time for a shower.

Quickly she looked in the cupboard under the sink and came up with a large first-aid kit. She switched off the light and looked out over a back porch rimmed with forest.

She audibly gasped. Standing five feet from the window and to the side was a shape that looked like a man. She looked closer and in the moonlight saw him back into the shadow of the house.

She ran back to Sam.

"Someone's out back, just standing there."

Immediately Sam seemed to come to life. He slipped out the front door, still sopping wet. For a moment she stood there in shock, wondering if they should flee. Then, determined not to be left behind, she followed him around the front corner of the house.

Before she arrived at the back, she heard struggling.

"Stop it!" It was a kid's voice. "Let go!"

Sam appeared, holding the hand of a teenager in some type of fighting hold where the boy's hand was scrunched to his side and behind.

"Tell the lady what you were doing."

"Going for a walk. Ouch!"

"You got one more chance to tell her what you were doing," Sam said. "If you don't, I'm taking you to the sheriff."

"I was looking in the window. I'm sorry."

"Go home," Sam said. "Think about whether you really want to be known as a lizard who sneaks around spying on women in the night. The neighborhood pervert."

Sam let him go and the kid disappeared like a wild trout from the hook.