it was a Sunday, so the marina was jammed with people arriving and leaving and some just working on their boats. He did say a couple of guys were asking about him, but he thought they were just friends.”
“Did you talk to anyone who has a boat in a slip near his?”
“The ones we could find.”
“God.” Devon tamped back the rising fear. “I can’t believe this could happen. He’s an avid sailor and very, very safety conscious.”
Her father had been sailing for as long as she remembered. When he still lived in Tampa he was out on the water every Saturday, sailing down the coast, sometimes with business associates but more often with her mother. That was how he’d discovered Arrowhead Bay. But he almost never went out during the week. Saturdays were his days on the water. And, after her mother passed away, sometimes on Sundays. It was something both her parents had enjoyed, and Devon often thought it was a way for him to recapture her presence.
“I know,” Sheri agreed. “Everyone knows that about him.”
“And the other boat?” Devon asked. “The Lady Hannah?”
“Still here. There’s not even a sign anyone was on it.” She paused. “We know he’s an excellent sailor. The Coast Guard thought maybe he’d fallen overboard, but—”
“I guess that’s possible, except he was a nut about water safety. He’d be careful.”
“That’s what I told them,” Sheri agreed.
“The Coast Guard started searching immediately, right?”
“Yes, but it’s a big ocean. They brought in another cutter to search as well as one of their Dolphin helicopters. I promise you it’s a full-out search and rescue operation. And there’s another thing.”
“What?” What else could there be?
“I don’t know if you caught it, but there was a story on the national news yesterday that Vincent Pellegrino, one of your father’s vice presidents, was killed in a one-car accident.”
Ice chilled her blood. “Are you saying the two things could be related? That my father didn’t just fall overboard?”
“I’m saying we have to look at all possibilities. This is too much of a coincidence to ignore.”
“Did you call his office? Ask his admin if he’d decided to take an unannounced vacation?”
“I did, but she knew nothing. And they are all in a turmoil over Pellegrino’s death.”
“But who would want to kill him?” Nausea bubbled up in her throat. “Either of them?”
“We don’t know, and that may not be it at all. I’ll just have to connect all the dots.”
“Holy crap, Sheri.”
“One other thing. His house was meticulously clean, as if someone had gone through and sanitized it. But—this is weird—his computer was on his desk but the internal hard drive has been removed.”
“What? What the hell?”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“What about the external hard drive? It should be right next to it.”
“Nada,” Sheri told her. “Gone, gone, gone.”
Even as she tried to dial back the sick feeling creeping through her, Devon was already dragging her suitcase out and pulling things out of her drawers and closet. She ran through her mind all the projects she had in process, which could be put on hold, who she needed to try to renegotiate deadlines with.
“I’m coming down there right now. I can’t just sit here and wait around. I’ll finish packing as soon as we hang up and be on the road right away.”
“Good. I think you need to be here. Corporate is sending some people down here and I know they’ll want to talk to you, too. Call me or come see me as soon as you get here.” Sheri paused. “We’re all over it, Devon. I just wish we had more to go on.”
“I know. It’s just…” Just that she’d already lost one parent and didn’t know if she could deal with losing another. “I think I’ll go to the house first and take a look around.”
“Sounds good. I’ll wait to hear from you.”
The minute she hung up from Sheri’s call, she packed the suitcase and threw it and her computer stuff into her car. Less than thirty minutes later she was headed south from Tampa on Interstate 75. She alternated between the threat of tears and full-blown panic as the conversation replayed like a looping tape in her head as she ate up the miles.
While she drove, she kept trying to reach her father. She had both the cell phone and the house phone on speed dial, but she got nothing. Where the hell was he? She’d been on the road for about an hour when her cell rang. The readout showed Sheri’s name so she pushed the remote button to answer.
“Have you found him?” she asked, forgoing any kind of greeting.
“I wish. No, I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
Now what?
“What’s going on?”
“We’ve got a couple of reporters sniffing around here, asking about your father’s disappearance.”
“How did they find out so fast?” Devon asked.
“A million ways. This is the age of the Internet. Maybe they were after your father to ask him about the death of his executive. I wouldn’t put it past them to rent a boat and go check on the search.”
“Damn, damn, damn.” Devon pounded a fist against the steering wheel.
“You said it,” Sheri agreed. “Anyway, I’ll bet anything the first story will hit the newspaper tomorrow and they’re looking for more details.”
“Oh my God. Sheri, I can’t talk to them now.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep them off your back. But it’s possible if they give it a big play, someone seeing it might remember something.”
“You’re right,” Devon agreed. “I’m just not good with stuff like that and right now my mind’s in too much of a whirl to even speak coherently. I’ll probably say the wrong thing and make the situation worse.”
“I understand. We can’t shut them out, and but I will do my best to keep them off your back for as long as I can.”
“Thanks.” Devon blew out a breath.
“If they catch you, the best thing is to tell them no comment. I’m sure they’ll hit the Cole International offices in Tampa. Just let the people there make any statements.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Don’t forget. Call me or come by as soon as you get here.”
“I
