I was upset that I couldn’t work as a cook but tried to think positive. When this shit blew over and I proved myself again, I could be back working a grill. Then I thought of Cathy. Had she been found yet or were my days numbered? I turned my mind away from the terrifying thoughts. I had to focus on finding a job. I looked online for some sort of manual labor. If I didn’t get a job soon my savings were going to disappear, plus I didn’t have the luxury of goofing around—one of the conditions of parole is that you have to show you’re trying to get a job. I tweaked my résumé and decided to go into town and get some printed off. It was getting warm now that it was the middle of June, so I left Captain on the boat.
The rest of the afternoon I dropped résumés off around town, but no one seemed to be hiring. Later, back on the boat, I wondered if Ryan had gotten a job. I wondered what he was doing in general. I remembered, when we were kids, if one of us was having a shitty time we’d go to the lake or the pier or anywhere and just feel better because we were with each other. I didn’t think I’d ever have that feeling with anyone again. I reached over and scratched Captain—not human, anyway. I also wondered who Ryan had been talking to. Was he getting closer to the truth? Was that why Shauna got me fired? She obviously didn’t like me working with her daughter and one way of solving that was to get rid of me, but I was sure she had a bigger motive. I thought of Ryan’s words: She’s got all the players back in town, so she can keep an eye on them and fuck us over.
I hoped she’d be satisfied that I lost my job and leave me alone now. But if the past had proven anything, Shauna didn’t give up that easily.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CAMPBELL RIVER
JUNE 2013
That night I was lying on my bed, Captain’s big head weighing down my arm. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I was using my other hand to turn the pages of my book. I heard some soft footsteps coming down the dock. I set the book down, listened. Captain’s head also lifted, his ears alert. The footsteps stopped near my boat. I sat up and reached for the baseball bat I kept near the door. Captain rolled over in bed, his body tense, a low growl in his throat, then a woof. I silenced him with a look. He paused, his mouth still open in an O, ready to bark.
I heard a light knock. Captain barked louder now. I let him for a moment, so whoever was on the other side got the idea there was a big dog in there. Then I silenced him: “Captain, enough.” He stopped, his eyes intent on my face. I tiptoed through my galley kitchen. The curtains were closed, so I couldn’t see who was outside. Captain followed, his toenails tapping on the wood floor.
“Who is it?” I said at the door.
“Ashley.”
What the hell? I opened the door. Ashley was standing on the dock, a hoodie pulled over her head. She was chewing on her lower lip, her face tense and pinched. I glanced up and down the wharf, making sure she wasn’t with anyone. Captain jammed his head through the door, sniffing at the air, breathing it in with big chuffs. He recognized Ashley’s scent and started a full-body wiggle, his tail slapping against the table.
“What are you doing here?” I said.
“I need to talk to you.”
I opened the door and motioned for her to come in. “Watch your head.”
She ducked down and entered the boat, looking around curiously, then sat at my little table. “This is cute.”
“It’s a boat.”
“It’s a cute boat.”
I grabbed a sweatshirt off a hook by the door, pulled it over my tank top, and sat down across from her. Captain had his head resting on her knee, eyes closed, and she was scratching behind his ears.
“I heard you got fired.” Her tone was a little higher-pitched than normal, anxious, her eyes roaming my face, checking to see how I was feeling.
“I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of stuff.”
“I know you didn’t do it.” She said it emphatically. Was she just trying to show loyalty or did she know something? If she was working late that night …
“What’s going on, Ashley?”
She stared down at Captain for a moment, then back at me. “Jeremy was finished in the kitchen, and Hannah wanted to meet her boyfriend, so he said he’d give her a ride. They left and I was still doing the count. I was going to call Aiden to pick me up, but then my mom came by.…”
Shauna had been in the restaurant that night? I sat up straight, my spine stiff.
“She said she was worried because I hadn’t made it home yet. I told her she shouldn’t be there, but she said she wasn’t letting me be in that building by myself at night, it wasn’t safe. She sat up at the bar while I finished counting out the till. Normally I take the money bag straight to the back, but we were talking, so I got distracted and I left the bag on the counter until I’d finished mopping the floor behind the bar. Then I went into the back and dumped the water out.”
She held my gaze, making sure I got what she was saying. I did—loud and clear. Shauna had been in front of the till with the money. Alone.
“When I came back, I put the bag in the safe. I was tired and wanted to go home, so I didn’t notice the cash was gone. I just locked it up. When we left the restaurant I double-checked that I had my keys—I told Mom another waitress had lost hers recently.”
So Shauna knew that there was a loose set floating around out there, a set that someone might now think had been stolen.