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Travis skimmed through and managed not to swear out loud as he hurried back to his vehicle.
Connor’s text explained the decoy bag had made it a block away from the marina and then stopped moving half an hour ago. Travis verified it on the app, then set his navigation for the fastest possible route.
He called Connor on the way. “The decoy bag is off the yacht?” he demanded as soon as the researcher answered.
“Yes.” Connor muttered something Travis couldn’t make out. “Confirmed.”
“Who took it?”
“No idea,” Connor admitted. “Working on it. The cleaning crew is still on board.”
“What about the groceries? They would’ve had access to the kitchen,” Travis pointed out.
“Everything confirms the note on the log that the groceries were delivered to the slip. No delivery folks came on board orentered the galley. Yacht cameras and the closest external CCTV confirms that.”
External CCTV.Travis almost laughed. Of course Connor had tapped into additional sources.
“I wish we had a camera in the kitchen,” Connor muttered.
“Previous chef claimed we were trying to steal his recipes,” Travis said. But he should’ve taken the extra step yesterday, to hell with how it might’ve offended Lila. He had to stop these mistakes where she was concerned. “Can you have someone check the potato bin?”
“Already done,” Connor replied. “Bag gone, bin full.”
“Someone got on that boat.” A security breach was never acceptable, even when the focus wasn’t locked on to the primary client. Travis wrestled with temper and embarrassment as he sorted through the facts.
“I’ll find out how.”
“And I’ll call back when I have the decoy bag.”
Travis ended the call just as the navigation app announced that he’d reached his destination. A parking lot. Great. At least it looked like a private lot that contracted with offices rather than a lot that catered to tourists. The app showed he was right on top of the AirTag, but Travis didn’t see anyone else around. Not even an attendant in the little box at the gate.
All he could do was keep looking. If he found the decoy bag near a specific vehicle, that would narrow Connor’s search area.
He walked up and down the aisles of parked cars. None of the vehicles in the lot had any kind of business logo or designation. Most were sedans, with a couple of minivans and motorcycles in the mix. Nothing here resembled the typical service providers that frequented the marinas. And none of these vehicles triggered any memory of the few he’d seen at the marina when he’d left earlier.
He also didn’t see any sign of the decoy bag, though the app insisted he was close. He did another circuit, surprised no one had called the cops yet. To an outsider it must look like he was casing the lot for a future crime.
Turning a slow circle, he tried to put himself in the thief’s shoes. Assuming Lila wasn’t connected to the thefts, the real culprit would be shocked and furious to find velvet wrapped potatoes where they were expecting high-value jewelry and watches. He would’ve been mad as hell and ditched the decoy bag, whether or not he’d spotted the tracker.
Travis was only a block away from the marina. Could the thief have tossed the bag out a window as he’d driven past? He moved toward the street, following the curb until he spotted a plastic bag near a trash bin anchored to the sidewalk.
He looked inside and found everything. He sent a text to Connor, along with a couple of photos. Connor could use his skills to identify the vehicle, and hopefully the driver, who’d dumped the bag.
Next, because he wasn’t in the mood for a lecture, he sent a text update to the insurance investigator. Until Connor identified a vehicle or the police could pull prints from the bag, this was a dead end.
At his car, he tossed the bag into the trunk and drove over to the police station where Detective Bradley, local lead on the case, took it into evidence.
While he waited for Connor to work the angles and searches, Travis returned to the marina. Parked in the lot, he thought about the way that tracker had jumped around. Someone had been making rounds or deliveries. The cleaning van was still there, but that was the only car he recognized.
He headed for the marina office and convinced the manager to let him take a look at the footage from the camera that monitored the parking lot. He watched a dingy van pull in andpark. The logo was for a fresh produce company. The driver got out, went around to the back and loaded a hand truck with boxes and started down the gangway. When he returned, the hand truck was still loaded, but the boxes and crates were different.
He called Connor and relayed the latest information as he walked back to the car.
“Yeah, I’m a half step behind you,” Connor said. “The produce deliveries come in and apparently, they take old produce out with them. Part of the service.”
“So someone emptied that potato bin and inadvertently handed over the decoy bag.”
“Or intentionally,” Connor pointed out.
