He got up right after and returned to the kitchen area, so it didn’t matter, anyway.
I skimmed the quick email.
Hey Darlin’,
Donna Lee said I should send this your way. It’s a file from William from the night he died. He sent it to me himself. William was much sicker than any of us realized. I’ll spend the rest of my life feeling like I let him down.
—L
Attached to the email was a video file. I clicked on it and turned up the volume.
The picture was fuzzy and dark at first, but then the camera moved away and the video’s imagery came into focus. I sat cross-legged on the couch and increased the brightness on my phone to make up for the dark surroundings of the video.
“Anything good?” Dane asked.
I shushed him and paused the video.
He laughed. “I’m gonna jump in for a quick shower since I didn’t get one this morning.”
“Okay,” I grunted and then immediately did my best to put that knowledge out of my head. I could not work on solving this case while thinking of Dane naked just a few feet away. We hadn’t talked about our kiss the previous night, and I refused to be the one to bring it up.
He kissed me, so he had to mention it. Those were the rules.
The shower turned on, the condo quiet except for the water in the upstairs bathroom. I sucked in a slow breath. This video might break the case wide open.
I hit play.
The video picked up with shaky camerawork. Probably from someone’s phone.
I squinted, trying to see the area. The first plane came into focus, and I gasped. I recognized the images on the screen.
The location was unmistakable.
The USS Yorktown. On the deck where they had the planes.
We’d been there just a few days ago. The planes tied down on the main airway deck were the same as when Dane and I walked through them.
The massive aircraft carrier loomed in a ghostly night with a full moon. It reminded me of the moon on the night before over the waters beside the Battery. The video panned slowly across the main flight deck. Shadows crawled between the various aircraft.
“Tonight’s the night,” a deep male voice said.
I shivered. It had to be William.
Then, there he was.
William Drake.
He turned the phone on himself and smiled at the camera. His position resembled my own cross-legged position, but he was between two jets. William adjusted the phone. It seemed like maybe he had placed it on a tripod.
His arms rested on his knees. William’s eyes were open, but it was almost like his attention was beyond the camera, unfocused. His mouth moved, but I couldn’t make out the words.
I turned up the volume and brought the phone closer. My heart thundered in my chest.
William leaned closer to the camera. The microphone picked up a gust of wind. Metal on the ship’s deck creaked.
I’d watched scary movies that weren’t as creepy as William’s video.
“They’re loud tonight.” William’s voice came through, low but steady. “They know I’m here and listening.”
