Chapter 10 - THE BOATHOUSE
Dominic read the note once and tore it in half.
Emma stared at him. “That doesn’t make it less real.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t do something stupid.”
He looked at her.
She swallowed, but continued.
“They want you angry. They want you alone.”
Luca entered with two men.
“Gate three camera came back for six seconds,” he said. “SUV never left the property.”
Dominic turned. “What?”
“The gate opened. Vehicle crossed the sensor. Then reversed before the road.”
“They’re still here.”
Luca nodded.
Noah wiped his face with both hands. “I know where.”
Everyone looked at him.
He pointed toward the eastern lawn.
“The boathouse.”
Natalie used to take him there when he couldn’t sleep. Catherine had kept old rowing shells and fishing gear inside.
“How do you know?” Dominic asked.
Noah’s voice shook. “Aunt Brooke took me there yesterday.”
Emma crouched beside him. “Why?”
“She said she wanted to show me where she was going to have fireworks after the wedding.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“What else?”
“There were boxes. Lots of boxes. And Mr. Adrian was mad because one was wet.”
Luca looked at Dominic. “Harbor Nine storage?”
“Maybe.”
Dominic knelt in front of Noah.
“You stay with Emma.”
“No.”
“Noah.”
“They took Mom because of me.”
“No.”
“I told you about the key.”
“That helped us.”
“If I didn’t—”
Dominic took Noah by the shoulders.
“Listen to me. Adults made these choices. Not you. You did exactly what Grandma asked you to do.”
Noah’s lower lip trembled.
“Bring Mom back.”
“I will.”
Dominic and Luca crossed the rain-soaked lawn on foot.
The boathouse lights were off.
One side door stood open.
Dominic heard voices inside.
Mason’s voice.
“She doesn’t have it.”
A second man answered, “Then the boy does.”
Dominic recognized neither voice as Adrian.
He and Luca split at the door.
Inside, Natalie sat on a wooden chair with her wrists tied in front of her.
Mason stood near the dock entrance.
Another man searched a stack of boxes.
Natalie saw Dominic and deliberately looked away.
Good.
Mason did not know he was there.
Dominic moved behind a rack of oars.
The second man opened a plastic bin.
“Nothing.”
Mason swore. “Brooke said it would be here.”
Natalie laughed.
Mason turned. “What’s funny?”
“You people keep saying Brooke’s name like she’s in charge.”
“She is.”
“No. She thinks she is.”
Mason stepped toward her.
Dominic came out of the dark.
“She does that.”
Mason spun.
Dominic hit him once.
Hard.
Mason fell into a stack of life jackets.
The second man rushed Luca and caught a shoulder to the chest.
A table overturned.
Wooden paddles crashed across the floor.
Natalie kicked the second man behind the knee as he passed.
He went down.
Luca pinned him.
Dominic grabbed Mason by the collar.
“Who ordered this?”
Mason spat blood onto the floor. “You know.”
“Say it.”
Mason smiled.
“Your family.”
Dominic tightened his grip.
Natalie shouted, “Dom!”
He stopped.
Noah’s promise.
Don’t hurt her.
Stop them.
Dominic released Mason.
Luca cut Natalie’s restraints.
She stood and slapped Mason so hard his head snapped sideways.
“That,” she said, “was for my son.”
Then she slapped him again.
“And that was for making me sit on a chair that smells like dead fish.”
Even Luca almost smiled.
Dominic opened one of the storage boxes.
Inside were shredded legal documents.
Trust statements.
Courier labels.
Copies of Catherine’s signature.
And a photograph of Dominic’s signature enlarged on a transparency sheet.
Forgery practice.
Natalie whispered, “Oh my God.”
Then Emma’s voice exploded through Dominic’s radio.
“Dominic! The cottage!”
He turned toward the windows.
Beyond the rain, orange light rose over the eastern trees.
Catherine’s cottage was on fire.
—
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