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ONE
Was she making a terrible mistake?
Sienna Evans hesitated, her fingers on the gearshift. The bright beam of her headlights cut across the mostly empty parking lot, illuminating the chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Beyond the gate, moonlight gently caressed the ocean water, and the boats moored in the marina. It was nearly midnight. Not another soul in sight. Exactly what Albert Greer was hoping for.
The fisherman was jittery when he’d phoned earlier in the day claiming to have information about a missing person’s case. Ruby Morales. The police hadn’t located the twenty-two-year-old administrative assistant, but that hadn’t stopped Sienna from taking the case. As a private investigator, she rarely said no. Persistence and determination helped her succeed where the police failed. She’d find an overlooked clue, or more often than not, a witness who refused to speak to authorities would provide information to her.
Someone like Albert. Given his criminal history, Albert wasn’t fond of law enforcement. He’d insisted on meeting Sienna on his boat in the marina. The rusty vessel wasn’t designed to be a house, but Albert had recently been evicted from his apartment and was temporarily crashing there.
Sienna suspected the sly fisherman wouldn’t give her the low-down until she’d slipped him some cash. She’d stopped by the ATM on her way to the marina. Her bank account was running dangerously low, but money was a small price to pay if it meant uncovering the truth about what’d happened to Ruby. The young woman had been missing for three weeks, and while most victims were killed within hours of their abduction, there was evidence Ruby was alive and being held captive. Albert’s information could break the case wide open. Sienna prayed it would.
Lord, please guide my words and actions. Help me convince Albert to share what he knows.
Fortified, Sienna killed the engine of her SUV and exited the vehicle. Wind whipped through her thick mane of curls. Goosebumps pebbled on her skin, and she quickly zipped up her coat. January in Sandalwood, Texas didn’t bring snow, but temperatures dropped at night and the ever-present humidity added a dampness to the cold that cut right to the bone.
Loose gravel crunched under her boots. The entrance gate to the marina was cracked open, exactly as Albert had promised it would be. Sienna slipped inside the fence line. The boat rental office was dark, as was the tackle supply shop. Her footfalls were silent as she stepped off the pavement and onto the floating dock. The wood and steel structure shifted underneath her, gently rocked by the waves rippling across the water.
Boats of every shape and size rested in their slips. She passed several dinghies, a few speedboats, and a houseboat before turning toward the industrial side of the marina. Small fishing vessels lurked in the water, hidden from the moonlight by several warehouses built on the shore. At one time, Sandalwood maintained a healthy fishing community. Industrialization and large conglomerates had driven most of the independent fishermen out of business. A few, like Albert, hung on though.
The darkness enveloped her as Sienna followed the floating dock to a remote area of the marina. The eerie sense of being watched tickled the back of her neck. She turned and looked. A shadow slipped into one of the nearby warehouses.
Was she being followed?
Or worse, was Albert setting her up in some way? What if he had something to do with Ruby’s disappearance and was luring Sienna here for nefarious purposes? The thought sent a chilling spiral of fear coursing down her spine. She hadn’t uncovered a connection between Albert and the missing woman, but her investigation was in its early stages.
Her ex-fiancé’s frequent warning popped into her mind.
Refusing to play by the rules may get you killed.
Eli had always delivered the words with his trademark scowl, normally after discovering some risk she’d taken in pursuit of justice. Sienna never heeded his words. She couldn’t. The families that hired her were desperate for answers, and she knew firsthand what it was like to be left praying for answers. Her own sister’s murder case had lingered unsolved for years before Sienna finally caught the killer. She refused to let another family go through that pain.
Some things are worth the risk.
That had always been her reply to Eli, right before planting a kiss on his lips to erase the worry etched on his handsome features.
It’d been five years since they’d last spoken. Not since they’d broken up. A pang of sadness tangled with regret at the turn their relationship had taken. She shoved it back. It was better Eli had walked away. Marriage would’ve meant a lifetime of compromise with a man who didn’t see the world in the same way she did. At the very least, he would’ve urged her to take fewer risks.
Like this one.
Sienna glanced over her shoulder again. This time, nothing stirred. Nerves jittered her insides, signaling some unknown danger she couldn’t see. Or maybe she was simply creeped out by the dark buildings, the soft lap of the water against the hulls, and the eerie scent of rotten fish floating in the air. The shadow she’d seen earlier could’ve been a figment of her imagination.
It probably had been. Creeping around the marina in the dead of night was enough to give anyone the willies. Especially since her primary suspect in Ruby’s disappearance had a houseboat on the other side of the large and intricate floating dock. Sienna didn’t have proof Dallas Redding had anything to do with the young woman’s kidnapping, but she hoped Albert might be able to shed some light on his fellow seaman’s whereabouts on the night Ruby went missing.
Then again, Albert might lie through his teeth from the beginning of his statement to the last. He wasn’t a trustworthy individual. He’d been arrested for blackmail and fraud. Violence wasn’t part of his criminal past, but still… people could be surprising.
Sienna’s fingers brushed against the small of her back before she remembered her holster wasn’t there. Her Glock had been stolen this afternoon from the glove box of her SUV while she’d visited her father at the hospital. He’d suffered from a heart attack three days ago. Thankfully, he was on the mend, but the hours in surgery and the days since had been emotionally draining for everyone in her family.
Coming out of the hospital and seeing her SUV’s broken window was a complication she hadn’t needed. The thief had stolen her radio, her handgun, and her battery. All things that were easy to sell. Sienna couldn’t have cared less about the radio and the battery. Those could be replaced easily.
The stolen Glock was a different matter altogether. Guns were sold on the black market to criminals who later used them to commit horrible deeds. She’d immediately reported the theft to the local police department. Then placed calls to the local pawn shops in the slim chance the engraved weapon was sold for immediate cash. No such luck.
Sienna was trained in karate and could hold her own in a hand-to-hand fight, but it was times like these, she appreciated having her Glock as well. Although there was no obvious sign of danger, it was hard to shake the feeling of foreboding crawling across her skin.
Ropes creaked as she drew closer to Albert’s fishing vessel. The street lamps were a distinct memory, the only illumination a faint light emanating from the cabin below deck. The mast, even without its sails, cast a long shadow. A muffled plop emanated from the water. It skated along the edge of Sienna’s heightened nerves. She peered into the darkness at the far end of the boat. “Albert?”
Her voice was hushed but strong enough to carry across the distance.
Silence answered.
