I saw the ferryboat coming in and the dock crew preparing for its arrival. People walked back to their cars and walk-on passengers gathered near the dock. This ferry was twice as large as the one I had seen before. Did it change size and shape like the library and Caldwell Crest? Or was it an absolutely normal fact of the harbor having more than one ferry?
It was time for me to get back home since I had work to catch up on. Continuing to help my business partner run our magazine remotely was taking some adjustment. It seemed to work fine as long as I kept to my schedule. Which meant today was a writing day and I had an article to finish. I needed to get it done since tonight was the girls’ night I had planned with my sisters. I had my eye on the ice-cream stand and thought I’d grab a cone and enjoy it on my walk home. One single scoop of fruit sorbet would be sensible.
I walked across the street and up to the window. The list of available choices was astounding. There were a dozen flavors I wanted to try. The names alone demanded that I be adventurous. I ended up ordering a scoop of Razzle Dazzle Raspberry topped with a scoop of Chunky Chocolate Caramel.
I was pulling a few napkins from the dispenser when the ticket office loudspeaker crackled to life. I expected to hear a boarding announcement. Instead, I heard something unexpected. “We regret to inform you that all of today’s sailings have been cancelled. Please exit the terminal area. Tickets may be exchanged or refunded online or by calling the ferry office.” The voice repeated the message with more urgency, “Please exit the terminal area immediately.”
At that moment, Sheriff Jaxson Redford’s car pulled up to the terminal with lights flashing. A second patrol car pulled up alongside his. As much as I wanted to know what was happening, I knew it was prudent to stay put and out of the way.
I looked up to see Vessie coming out of her café. She walked across the street and stood next to me.
“What’s happening?” she asked me.
“I have no idea. An announcement was made cancelling the rest of the day’s trips. They asked everyone to leave the boarding area.”
An ambulance pulled up to the curb and I saw Jaxson directing traffic to move cars out of the way to allow the ambulance room to pull up close to the disembarking ramp. The ferry staff was preventing cars and people from getting off the boat, and I recognized the two huge men in mechanic’s uniforms who I had seen in the café.
The only people disembarking appeared to be a group of crew members. I could see the two mechanics plus Kerbie’s short, bright, red head in the group. Several of the workers were carrying something large between them.
“What is that they’re carrying?” I asked Vessie.
We heard a collective gasp from the people around us and someone said, “Oh, my God! They have someone on a stretcher!”
The crew walked directly to the ambulance and the medical workers loaded the stretcher into the vehicle. Once they had loaded the patient, the ambulance pulled away. The crew made another announcement, directing the lingering people to leave the area.
Vessie and I walked across the street and sat on the bench in front of her café.
Once the ambulance left and they had cleared the immediate area, we saw Jaxson walking across the street toward us. His hat was in his hand and he was wiping the back of his sleeve across his brow. He looked intense. When he had this look on his face, it was like he was a different person from the lighthearted friend of my brother. He was in Sheriff Redford mode.
“Hayden. Vessie.” He nodded at us. That was uncharacteristically terse for him. “Can I get your largest coffee to go? It’s going to be a very long day.”
“Sure, Jax,” said Vessie. “What happened over there? It looks like someone was injured?”
“Actually, a death onboard. They found the body during the voyage. Severe head injuries. We’re not clear if the attack occurred during the voyage or before sailing.”
“Was it a passenger?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “It was the Nakita Morozova. The ferry captain.”
My ice-cream cone slipped out of my hand, the pink and brown colors squashing together in a forgotten heap on the pavement.
8
Latifa was hiding under the bed. All I could see was the tip of her nose and her big round eyes. She was the best listener, unless she was being overly dramatic.
“I am not being dramatic, Sister. This stuff is real,” she huffed, as she crawled out from under the bed and sat at my feet.
I seriously needed to learn how to veil my thoughts from her. That would be hard to do since I had no idea how this telepathy communication worked. Most of the time I was glad I could talk to my cat, but there were times when I would have liked to filter her out.
“Filter me out! Hayden, you crush me.” Her little shoulders drooped, and she looked up at me in the same sweet, vulnerable pose that the cat in the Shrek movies uses to manipulate people. No wonder she had mastered the look. It worked.
“I’m sorry, Latifa. You know I love
