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Salvatore crosses his arms and stares at one of the cameras. “How hard is it to turn them off?”
“Why?” I ask, my tone teasing as I take the cooler into the kitchen. “You thinking of getting up to some things that you don’t want Brennan to see?”
“No. I want to make sure that other people haven’t been in here while you were gone and turned the system off. I told you, sleeping together isn’t going to happen again.”
“You say that like you think I want to sleep with you,” I say as I put the food in the fridge. “You would be mistaken if that’s what you think.”
“Yeah, okay. I’m going to go figure out the camera system. What are you going to want to do after that?”
“There’s an illegal fishing setup not far from here. Well, it’s alleged. Anyway, I want to go take pictures of it.”
Salvatore frowns. “Look, it’s good that you’re passionate about investigative photography, but I don’t think that is a good idea. You’ve been getting threatening messages. You want to increase those by taking pictures of something that isn’t your business?”
“Yes.”
He looks at me like I have three heads. “Brielle, that’s insane.”
“Yeah.” I grab a bottle of water and crack it open, taking a long sip. “I’m still going to do it either way, though. This is important. I can submit those pictures to one of the local news outlets.”
“I thought the point of you being in hiding was for you not to do anything to expose yourself.”
“I’ll be careful,” I say as I head for the back door. “I’ll be outside soaking up some of the sun until it’s time to go. I leave at eight. You can come with me or not, but either way, I’m walking down the beach to the marina.”
He sighs, his shoulders slumping. “You know, sometimes I wish I never agreed to this.”
“That makes two of us.”
* * *
The marina isdark when a boat slowly heads in. I stand behind some crates, leaning around the side of them to take some pictures. Salvatore hides with me, sipping on a beer that he brought with him.
“Now what?” he asks when I stop to check the pictures I took.
“Well, we have to watch them unload.”
“We’ve already waited four hours for them to get back. How long do you think it’s going to take for them to unload?” he asks before taking another sip of his beer.
“You could have stayed at the house and waited for me to get back.”
He gives me an unamused look. “You know I’m not going to do that, Brielle. I’m only asking because if you think the answer is going to be ‘a while’, then I’m heading to that diner over there to get us some burgers.”
“Sorry,” I say, giving him a sheepish smile. “I don’t think it will take too much longer but I think that picking up some burgers on the way home sounds great.”
He nods and leans back against the stack of crates, sipping his beer and looking out at the water. I watch the boat with the camera close to my face. As soon as the first person appears on deck, I start taking pictures.
It’s only once the nets start coming up in the middle of the night, fish being deposited onto the dock that I know I have the pictures for the story I’ve been researching.
“Alright,” I say, turning to Salvatore with a smile. “Let’s go grab burgers and head back to the cottage. I have everything that I need.”
“For the record, if Brennan ever asks about this night, I’m going to lie and tell him that you snuck out.”
“That will probably get you in more trouble with him,” I say as we walk toward the diner. “Then he will think that you’re not good at what he asked you to do.”
Salvatore looks at me and shakes his head. “You know, I think I preferred when you were pissed off about this whole babysitting thing.”
“Why be pissed off about it now when I could be amused by it? Neither of us likes this situation, but if it can entertain me, why not let it?” I grin at him and head for the diner.
We grab some food and walk back to the cottage in silence. The night is warm and the stars are shining bright. The sand is soft against my feet and the waves crash against the shore.
