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The entire trip here, he’d been haunted by Hope’s tears and coldness when she’d left the cottage. He’d called her a couple of times, but she hadn’t answered, frustrating the fuck out of him.
With a sigh, he focused on Travers. “What’s up?”
“You might want to have a look at this.” He shone a bright light on the starboard teak railing.
A perfect Z was carved into the wood. He glanced up. “The hell?”
Travers turned off the flashlight and moved away, leaving Rafe’s thoughts tumbling. A minute later, he returned to the area where his father was sitting across from Gabriella Vaughn, another of Celeste’s operatives. Sleek and smart, she had proven her talents in the depths of the Middle East, working with a Special Forces team to help earn the trust of Iraqi women. Though her abilities to be empathetic and sincere were vast, they were backed up by lethal resolve. There were situations, Celeste believed, where women were much more effective than men, and Gabriella was one of Fallon’s secret weapons.
“Your father was telling me about the first night he took Lillibet out,” Gabriella said.
The first of many nights that he cheated on my mother? He plucked the glass of whiskey from Theodore’s trembling hand, then dumped the contents over the side.
“I need that.”
“You need your fucking head straight,” he countered. It was possible that Lillibet had duped Theodore. But the appearance of the Zeta symbol complicated matters. “Let’s go through this again.”
“Jesus, Rafe.”
“You got up at…what time?”
“I don’t know. Nineish, ten. Like usual.” His father repeated the events in the order he’d told them before.
“What does she know about the Society?”
Gabriella leveled her sharp gaze at Rafe.
“The Zetas?” Theodore pulled his head back. “Why would she know anything about the Zetas?”
“You never discussed it?”
“Damn, boy. You know I want nothing to do with my old life.”
“Come with me.” Rafe led the way to the rail where the symbol had been carved.
“Who the hell did that?” Theodore demanded. “Did those motherfuckers do something to my Lillibet?” He balled his fists at his sides.
“Dad, listen—”
“I’ll kill someone.”
“Can you say for certain it wasn’t here yesterday? Last week?”
“I don’t inspect every bit of the boat every day. But I’d have noticed that.”
“You may want to sit down again.” Rafe sent a message to Celeste before joining his father.
Theodore snatched up the bottle of whiskey and drank straight from it.
Threading his hand into his hair from frustration, Rafe went through what little he knew about Lillibet not being who she said she was.
“I don’t understand.” His father’s face fell, and Rafe felt as if he’d announced there was no fucking Santa Claus.
“It appears you were set up,” Rafe said, hard and flat. The goddamn problem was, he didn’t know by whom or why. Had Lillibet been working with someone from the Zetas? Or had a Zeta known who she was and made sure she wouldn’t become a problem?
With the story spinning circles in his head, he returned to Travers. “Anything?”
“No. Ms. Fallon is on her way. For now, she’s advised against contacting the police.”
Since Lillibet was an adult and there were no overt signs of foul play, and considering she hadn’t been gone long, he doubted they would do more than take a report. And they might interfere with Celeste’s investigation.
“I’m going to launch a search of the water, and we’re checking the security logs for the dock. Not that they are reliable. Any number of cardholders hold open the gate for others.”
Rafe had witnessed exactly that. People hauled coolers, pool toys, party supplies. Holding the door was a cordial, polite thing to do. “Are there video recordings?”
“We’re checking that too.”
With a nod, he returned to his father.
Gabriella was leaning forward with an inviting smile. “Mr. Sterling. I appreciate that this is difficult, but we need to know everything you know about Lillibet, no matter how small. Anything she said about her childhood. Friends. How she got the job at your club.”
