Stuart Woods - Dark Harbor

The boat began to slow, and Holly tried to prepare herself mentally for what was to come. The boat slowed still further. It was in smooth water now, and, judging from the lessened vibration, the engine was at or near idle. She estimated that the time to make her move was as soon as he began to weight her body.

Then, to her surprise, the boat seemed to bump into something; she felt it through the hull, no more than a nudge. She heard a voice.

“Listen to me. I’m going to move you onto another boat, where you’ll be found in the morning.”

She felt his hands under her arms from behind as he lifted her and set her on what felt like the gunwales of the boat.

“Bye, bye,” he said, then pushed her backward.

She grabbed a deep breath, but what she struck was something hard. She had tumbled into another boat. She briefly heard the engine of the boat she had just left, then all was silence.

Holly sat up and leaned against something, probably the side of the boat’s cockpit. She put her face against it and crabbed her body along its length, until she came to an obstruction. She felt the adjoining surface with her face, and it was a pillow. She backed herself into the corner and began pushing up with her feet, slowly working her way to the cushioned surface. Twice, she fell back to the deck below her, but on her third try she made it to what seemed to be a broad, cushioned seat. She struggled upright and leaned against a corner, then she struggled hard against the tape binding her wrists.

Finally, convinced that she was not going to get free of her bonds, she did the only thing she could do: She whistled. Holly had learned, as a little girl, how to whistle very loudly. She could still bring cabs to a screeching halt in New York City with that whistle, and sound carried well over water. She was probably in a boat moored in the harbor, so somebody ashore might hear her. She whistled, then rested, then whistled some more.

BACK AT THE STONE HOUSE, Dino was looking once again at the satellite thermal images that had been sent to Lance from Langley. “Lance, Stone, come look at this,” he said.

Then Daisy, who had been sleeping before the fire, suddenly jerked awake, scrambled to her feet and barked.

Everyone turned and looked at her.

“What is it, Daisy?” Ham asked.

Daisy ran to the door to the terrace and began clawing frantically at it.

Ham got up. “What’s the matter, girl?” He opened the door, and Daisy was gone. Ham ran after her and stopped on the terrace.

Everybody else poured out of the study onto the terrace and stood, watching Daisy run.

“She’s headed down the dock,” Ham said. “Come on!”

The group ran after the dog. Suddenly, Stone could hear a whistle. Daisy had obviously heard it a lot sooner.

“It’s Holly!” Ham yelled and jumped into the picnic boat, where Holly lay bound but not gagged.

“Ham,” Holly was screaming, “is it you?”

Daisy was dancing around her, yelping, trying to lick her face, while Ham dug into a pocket for his knife.

HOLLY SAT IN FRONT of the fire, trying to eat a bowl of soup. Finally, she gave up, picked up the bowl and drank from it until it was empty. “That’s better,” she said. “All I’ve had to eat for days is chocolate bars… Snickers, I think”.

Stone spoke up. “Jesus, I saw Caleb buying a whole box of Snickers in the Dark Harbor Shop.”

“That makes him the guy,” Holly said.

Everyone was gathered around her, watching. Even Seth and Mabel had come in from the kitchen. “What else can I get you, Holly?” Stone asked.

Holly stood up and stretched some more. Apart from being sore after being restrained in one position for a long time, she felt remarkably well. “A drink,” she said.

Dino went to the bar and got her some Knob Creek on the rocks, her favorite.

“Are you ready to talk now?” Lance asked.

“Ready? All I want to do is talk; I’ve had my mouth taped shut for… how long has it been?”

“You’ve been gone a little over four days,” Stone said. “Was it the twins who took you? Did they put you in the boat?”

“Twins? The Stone twins? No, not them. It was one man, and he was very clever. The only time he spoke to me was through some sort of voice-altering device. I never saw him. I have no idea what he looks like. But the Snickers bars makes me think it’s Caleb.”

“Why did he let you go?” Stone asked. “Do you know?”

Holly nodded. “Oh, God. I need a computer.” She got up and ran toward Dick’s little office. The computer was already on. She went onto the Internet and started typing.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked.

“I bought my way out,” she said. “I transferred a million two to his Singapore account”

“What are you doing now?” he asked.

“I’m wiring the money back to my account,” she said. “I memorized the account number, and he gave me a password of PE65000, like the old Glenn Miller recording, Pennsylvania 6-5000, but I entered EE65000, so he won’t be able to access the account until he figures that out. I’m going to send the money back to my account.”

Ham stood in the door. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Where did you get a million two hundred thousand dollars?”

“Jackson left it to me,” she lied. Jackson was her dead fiance.

“Oh,” Ham said.

She typed a few more keystrokes. “There,” she said. Then she started typing again. “I think I’ll change the password back to PE65000,” she said. “That way, when he accesses it, he’ll find it empty. I wish I could be there to see his face.”

Responding to calls from Stone, Sergeant Young arrived simultaneously with Ed Rawls, and they were brought up to date. “Do you have any idea who this man is, Holly?” Young asked.

“No idea at all,” she said.

“Lance, Sergeant,” Dino said, “can you come take a look at the thermal images for a minute? I’ve found something interesting.”

Everybody gathered around the coffee table, where the images were spread out, along with Young’s map of the island.

“Here’s my question,” Dino said, pointing to a structure on one of the thermal images. “What is this? I can’t find it on your map.”

“Well,” Young said, “this is the most recent map of the island, completed less than three months ago, but you’re right, the structure in the image doesn’t appear on the map.”

“Look at this,” Dino said, pointing from one image to another. “We’ve got three days of thermal imaging here, and in every one of them we can see one hot spot-one person-in exactly the same position. It doesn’t move, day or night.”

“Maybe an old person, an invalid?” Young said.

Holly spoke up. “Or me. I’ve been tied to a bed all that time. Good God, it’s me.”

CALEB STONE MADE his way back to the obscured creek, past the overhanging brush and slowly up the little waterway to the boathouse. As he approached he could see a glow from a window. Someone had lit a candle.

He tied up his Whaler and went upstairs. Eben and Enos sat on an old sofa, looking tired.

“Hey, Dad,” the boys said simultaneously. They often spoke at the same time.

“Hello, boys,” Caleb replied.

“You got rid of her, huh?” Eben asked. Of the two, Eben was the more assertive.

“In a manner of speaking.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Caleb dragged up a seedy, overstuffed chair and sat down. “I let her go.”

The twins both sat up. “Are you out of your fucking mind?” Enos asked.

“Certainly not, and watch your mouth.”

“Easy,” Eben said to his brother. “I’m sure Dad had his reasons.”

“I certainly did,” Caleb replied. “One more murder on this island and we’d have the National Guard in here. They searched our house, you know.”