Page 55 of Hidden Tide
Storm closes her eyes.
“That’s where they pried off the wall panel,” she says. “They were looking in the wrong place.”
“For now,” Ward says.
Keating stands and addresses the officer. “Call the boarding team. Tell them not to touch the passageway floor until the evidence technician photographs everything. Then have them check the linen cabinet for the release catches.”
The officer steps into the hallway with his radio.
Storm stares at Thomas. “I’ve lived aboard Sea Whisper for years. Grandpa trusted you with its secrets, but not me.”
“He was protecting you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that as though it makes lying acceptable.”
Thomas’s face softens. “James loved all five of you more than anything in this world.”
“Then why did he leave us to clean up this mess?”
“He didn’t expect to die.”
The words silence the room.
Mom grips the back of a chair. “Dad had a heart attack.”
Thomas looks at her.
It lasts only a second, but I see it.
Doubt.
“You don’t believe that,” I whisper.
“I believe James knew someone was closing in on him.”
Mom’s voice trembles. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because the doctors said his heart failed. There was no reason to question it.”
“But you did,” Nathan says.
Thomas turns toward him. “James came to my boathouse two nights before he died. He gave me a sealed envelope and asked me to hide it.”
Keating’s expression hardens. “Is that what someone was searching for at your boathouse?”
“It could be.”
“Do you still have it?”
Thomas nods.
“Where?”
“The safest place I could think of.”
Keating waits.
Thomas looks down at his cane.
