Page 51 of Lost Truth
“Wait!” Tom sat up in his chair. “I heard the women found in the cave under the surf shop came off of a ship. You don’t think this has to do with them, do you?”
Hayden held up a hand. “Once again, we’re just fact-finding. What happened at the surf shop was out of the ordinary, and we’re looking for things out of the ordinary.”
Tom looked at the other men.
“Well, thereisthe boat that ran aground up the coast.” Silas’s droopy eyelids tightened. “It’s a forty-two-foot sport-fishing boat and has been rumored to be linked to smugglers. Smuggling what, I don’t know. Could be people like those women, I suppose, but I never heard such a thing mentioned.” He looked at his fellow birdwatchers. “Any of you guys hear anything about that?”
“Not me,” Tom said.
“Me either,” Larry said. “But I thought everyone in town knew about that boat since they have crime scene tape strung all around it and a sign warning people not to board it.”
Tom studied Larry. “Don’t tell me you ignored the sign and boarded it? ’Cause that sounds exactly like something you would do.”
Larry’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “I thought about it. I mean, who doesn’t want to see inside such an expensive boat? But I didn’t do it.”
“So your wife was with you, then?” Tom chuckled.
Larry nodded and laughed.
“Is this boat within our city limits or the county’s jurisdiction?” Hayden asked, no humor in his tone or appearance.
“County,” Silas said. “Not sure who’s in charge of getting rid of it, but it hasn’t happened. If it involves smuggling, maybe they had to call in the feds, and you know how fast they work.” Silas rolled his eyes.
“How long has it been there?” Hayden asked.
“At least a month,” Tom said. “If you want a more exact date, you could check old newspapers. They did several stories on it.”
Silas crossed his arms. “They should’ve done a follow-up on why it’s still there. It’s a magnificent boat for sure, but it still makes our beach look like a dumping ground.”
Cady glanced at Hayden to see if he thought this was an interesting lead. But if he did, his expression didn’t give it away. If indeed the boat was involved in smuggling, maybe Mina had been called in to search it. She could possess evidence that made no sense at the time but could be relevant to the human trafficking ring.
“What about Kai Nakoa?” Cady asked. “He was good friends with Dad. Was he a bird watcher too?”
“Nope,” Tom said. “That guy was happier on water than on land.”
“Is there anything else unusual you all can think of?” she asked before they voiced additional questions about Kai.
“Nah.” Tom frowned.
Hayden stood and gave Tom a business card. “If you’d give it some thought and get back to us if anything comes up, I’d appreciate it.”
Cady pushed to her feet. “Perhaps, if you would review any pictures you took while birdwatching with Dad in the last few months, you might have captured something to help.”
“We’ll be glad to check them.” Tom got up and saw them out.
After he closed the door, she turned to Hayden. “Do you think we should see Mina in case she has additional information on this beached boat?”
“She’ll know something, for sure, but let’s head back to the inn and have Nolan call her. If the information is important to an investigation, she might not share it with us. But that could tell us something.”
Cady doubted Mina would disclose the info with anyone. Especially if it was related to the cave investigation. All Cady could do was pray and hope Nolan was more persuasive than he’d been in their earlier meetings.
Hayden watched Nolan deep in conversation with Mina as they walked into the conference room. Nolan hadn’t been too happy about calling Mina to ask about the boat, but he said he wasn’t about to let a potential lead pass them by. Plus, he’d heard back from Sierra. They would take on processing the shop and cave, but they couldn’t get anyone on scene until the following morning. Still, it was a big win to have the Veritas team handle forensics.
Cady, along with the rest of the team, were seated around the table where they’d been tossing out their many thoughts on the forty-two-footer that had run aground.
Hayden couldn’t believe such a big boat could get beached until he searched YouTube and saw several even bigger boats plow into the sand. That might answer one of his questions, but he had no idea why the owner would abandon such a pricey boat unless he was engaged in illegal activity.
“We need to get a registration number and find out who owns that thing.” Cady took out her notepad and pen, but her gaze shifted to Mina, watching her every move.
