AllFreeNovel
Share Us
MIRANDA WADED THROUGHthe tall grass and then picked her way down the gravel path as she followed him to the houseboat. It was a small, rectangular one, painted a long time ago in a drab brown. The paint was flaking away, revealing rusting aluminum beneath. Flat roof, faded yellow shutters framing the windows. All that surrounded the thing, on the land side, was gravel and weeds. There was a small deck at the front. It didn’t look like a happy place, or one that would command much of a price on Airbnb, but hey, this was Seattle and Lake Union. People not from the area would see a houseboat in this location and thinkSleepless in Seattleand be all in.Online photographs can lie.And at that thought, one word arose in her mind—irony.
The boat had no motor or means of moving, so she assumed it had been in this location, just beneath the Aurora Bridge at the very end of Lake Union where it narrowed into the Fremont Cut, for a long time, years maybe.
Despite its kind of industrial location and sad appearance, it still had a certain charm, being right here on the water.
Trey stood near the door, a cracked glass one with black tinting. His impatience was revealed by the way he shifted his weight and the shiftiness of his gaze.
Miranda hesitated.
“Are you coming?” he asked. “Or not?”
She licked her lips, unsure. “Is my dad really inside?”
He opened the door. It swung inward. “Only one way to find out.”
The yawning maw, opening into darkness, she took as a warning. All of her common sense told her, for the thousandth time that day, to turn and run in the opposite direction. Now that they were away from the harbor and its crowds, she suddenly felt very alone.
And very vulnerable.
The wind whispered in the trees above. Traffic on Dexter Avenue, above and behind her, flowed, unaware of her peril, her fear, her predicament.
He stepped a little more inside, waiting. “Hey, Connor, your girl’s here,” he called. There was no response.
Common sense and love were at odds with one another. And now was a perfect example of that. Logically, sheshouldgo, get help, call the cops. But love for her father and the possibility of losing him or saving him from harm prevailed. Going for help, she reasoned, would take too long, especially if her father was in that boat at the hands of this man.
Sighing at her own weakness, she continued down the path and followed him inside. She wished she had some kind of weapon concealed on her person. But the time for preparation was passed.
It was shadowy, dingy inside. The interior was lit only by three windows. One was a big picture, facing the shimmering water and belying her fear. The other two were on either side, high up, filmed over with dust and cobwebs.
The only light source, really, was the large window up front. The sad interior was bleak—a floor of cracked linoleum, mildew-stained paneled walls, a tiny kitchen with a one-burner stovetop and a mini-fridge. There was a messy full-size bed, a small round table, two folding chairs, and a futon, its cushion flat and worn. The whole place smelled like damp and dirty towels.
She took a couple more steps, her breath caught, muscles tensed. She could see the entirety of the interior and knew she was too late, knew she was in trouble.
Other than Trey, there was no one here.
“You should have known,” he said softly behind her and then laughed.
She was about to turn to face him when she felt the blow, hard, to the back of her head.
She groaned and then the world tilted and went black.
Chapter Thirty-Two
TREY STARED DOWNat Miranda. He felt nothing other than numb. All at once, it was as though she were a stranger, someone with whom he’d had only the most passing of acquaintances. He didn’t see her as a nemesis or an annoyance or a nuisance.
He didn’t see her as anything at all.
Not a daughter.
Not a woman.
Not a student.
Not a would-be writer, following in her father’s footsteps.
Not a human being.
This distance was necessary, he supposed, because of his plans. Soon, Miranda, looking close to death on the boat’s grimy floor, legs splayed, sundress hiked up near her waist, would actuallybelifeless.
