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Hidden Tide

Page 78

by Susie McIver

Silence settles over the room.

One piece aboard Sea Whisper.

One inside Willow’s restaurant.

Another somewhere in Ivy’s studio.

A fourth in Hazel’s apartment.

A fifth already stolen.

We thought Grandpa separated the pieces to hide them.

Now the authorities are bringing them together.

Ben’s gaze shifts to the tracker.

“We may not be solving the puzzle,” he says. “We may be assembling it for them.”

Before anyone can respond, Keating’s phone rings again.

He answers.

His face changes immediately.

“Is anyone inside?”

A pause.

“Hold the perimeter. No one enters until the bomb squad clears it.”

Ivy’s voice rises through Ward’s phone. “What happened?”

Keating ends the call.

“San Francisco police reached your photography studio.”

“And?”

“The front door was open.”

Ivy gasps.

“They found your telescope in the center of the floor,” Keating continues. “It was positioned beneath a light.”

Nathan looks at the photograph on his phone.

“What was the light pointing toward?”

Keating’s gaze settles on the five-part drawing from Grandpa’s card.

“A map of Blackwater.”

9

CALLE

“The greatest danger is rarely the storm you can see. It is the wave already beneath your boat.”