knew it had been something bad, and Jonna hadn’t wanted to talk about it. So maybe she wouldn’t help Sadie feel all that safe.
Fortunately, she didn’t have long to fret. In walked Gage Sessions, his presence filling her with relief and the overwhelming impression that she was safe with him. And why shouldn’t it? He’d saved her today, after all, and she could still sense the protectiveness, the heroism, pouring off him. But she didn’t want him to notice just how relieved she was to see him. More to the point...
“Gage, I remember.” She sat up in bed. “It’s starting to come back to me now.”
“You mean why you were on the boat?”
“Well, sort of. That part is still fuzzy, but what happened before.”
He moved closer to the bed, his form trim and fit, his jaw strong and his bright hazel eyes sharp. With his sun-bleached hair, he was the same guy from a few years ago, yes, but there was something different about him. He seemed more self-assured. Experienced. A thrill ran through her. Really, Sadie. Focus.
“Well, I’m listening.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall closest to her bed.
“Okay, give me a second.” She squeezed her eyes shut and dragged in a few breaths. “I’d gone to Karon’s house with her mother’s approval. Her mother had thought Karon’s death suspicious and I agreed. It’s hard to believe that Karon, a marine science major working at an environmental company, a good swimmer and certified scuba diver, had drowned. If she’d intended to swim at all for some sort of research, she would have at least had on a dry suit to keep her warm. Karon had taken time off and was staying at their vacation rental house on the coast. Her mother—who lived on the other side of Coldwater Bay in Joshua—was planning to meet her there when she could get off work. Karon never returned to the house but instead her body was found...” Sadie couldn’t even choke out the rest. She closed her eyes and tried to shove aside the deep anguish in her heart at the loss of her very dearest friend.
When she opened her eyes again and looked at Gage, his gaze was penetrating. Almost accusing. “So you went to her house for your own investigation.”
She shrugged. “Yeah. There wasn’t any crime scene tape or anything. The authorities ruled her drowning death an accident.”
“What happened next?”
She tried to picture everything in her mind. Tried to remember it all. “Her vacation rental house is right along the beach above the rocks. I remember thinking how apropos that the storm clouds were brewing in the distance. I couldn’t understand why no one in law enforcement found her death suspicious.”
“They’ll listen now, Sadie, since someone tried to kill you.”
She was glad she could talk to him and he really listened and believed her. It was just like old times, only much more serious. “Not just someone, Gage. The same person.”
“Keep talking.”
“I came back for the funeral. I’d been in Indonesia researching for a grant I desperately need—I’m a marine biologist now—when I got the call. Nothing could have brought me back. Nothing except the death of someone I love. Do you understand?”
His expression turned somber yet compassionate. He moved closer, appearing absorbed in her story. “Yes, I think I do. What happened next at Karon’s house? I want to know how you ended up on the boat.”
He questioned her like an investigator, keeping her on track. “Well, I remember something crashed outside the house. I thought it was a garbage can. I glanced out the window but saw nothing but branches scratching the glass with the gust of wind. I booted up Karon’s laptop and what I found stunned me. I guess it shouldn’t have.”
Gage inched closer. “What did you find?”
“The thing had been wiped clean.”
“And did you call the authorities?”
“No. That’s where my memories grow fuzzy and unclear. I had this creepy sensation that someone was watching me. I can’t say for sure but I think someone was there with me. I remember...someone. Just not who or even what they looked like. If it was a man or a woman. And the next thing I remember is waking up on that sinking boat with no radio or flotation devices. My head was pounding, and I felt woozy, weird, like the effects of a drug wearing off. Someone wanted me dead. Talk about the perfect crime.”
When she lifted her gaze to meet Gage’s, he appeared visibly shaken. “It would only have been the perfect crime if you had died. Sounds like you were definitely drugged. But did the person responsible intend for the drugs to keep you asleep until you drowned? Or had they meant for you to wake up and know the situation was hopeless, which could mean a personal motive for murder? Either way...” Gage cleared his throat instead of finishing the sentence.
His deep concern surprised her.
She would finish the sentence for him. “Either way, it means I’m still in danger once they know I survived.”
* * *
Gage paced the hallway outside Sadie’s hospital room. He hadn’t revealed his role as an investigator for the Coast Guard because he didn’t want to give her false hope that he would help her. Or that his SAC—special agent in charge—would assign him. Another CGIS special agent, Thompkins, had already investigated Karon’s death along with the sheriff’s office and ruled it an accident.
Could they have been wrong? That’s why Gage had wanted to question Sadie himself. That, and, well...they’d been friends. In that sense he would always be there for her, and it seemed that life had a torturous way of bringing them back together every few years.
He had no other responsibility to her and could have gone straight back to work, but for two things.
Her words to him about someone trying to kill her.
And the fact that it was Sadie Strand that he’d pulled from the ocean. He couldn’t believe it when he finally realized who the woman in the water was. He couldn’t believe it when he’d swum to her, fighting against the ferocious Pacific, and finally gathered her into his arms. He wasn’t someone easily traumatized.
But that incident had shaken him.
They’d grown up in the same small town in Coldwater Bay. Had gone to school together. He’d had a crush on her back then, but she’d never noticed him. Then they’d met again at the University of Washington in Seattle and had become close friends. Frequently shared long walks on the beach. And yeah, he’d gotten that crush on her again.
She hadn’t noticed that time either because she’d been smitten with someone else. At least that’s what he told himself. Maybe it had been a lie. Regardless, there was always someone else to catch her attention. Of course, that had been years before and Gage had gotten over her a long time ago. They’d been friends and he would always care about her that way. None of those residual romantic feelings remained, for which he was grateful. Still, finding her and saving her from near death had unsettled him.
He waited in the hall now for someone from the sheriff’s department so he could share what she’d told him and watch his reaction. A deputy sheriff strode straight for Gage. He knew the investigative deputy, Bob Crowley, and tried to work with him when their investigations crossed, but that wasn’t always possible.
“Good
