But it wasn’t the prospect of the police discovering the truth that had sent the terror out to paralyze his system.
After all this time.
And all these years.
Ashley kicked hard, trying to create space between herself and the threat. Her lungs were burning. She’d been caught off guard. She had to get a gulp of air.
She propelled herself beneath the boat, then broke the surface on the starboard side. A second later, she gasped out a scream, then sucked in a massive lungful of air as viselike arms wrapped around her legs and dragged her under. Squirming and fighting wildly, she went down. She couldn’t see in the water.
Then, suddenly, she was released. She kicked upwards, breaking the surface in time to see a head bobbing in front of her.
“Ashley?”
“Jake?”
“Damn you, Ashley.”
“Why are you yelling at me? You attacked me!”
“Why were you skulking around my boat in the dark?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Looked to me like you were.”
She wanted to kick him, but he was too far away. Besides, her legs wouldn’t have the power to hurt him against the pressure of the water. He was already swimming the few feet to grasp the ladder at the back of the boat. She followed him. When he reached a hand down to help her up, she was too affronted to accept. She ignored him and climbed on board under her own power, straightening to confront him where he waited, dripping onto the deck.
“Someone pushed me off the boat,” she told him.
He shook his head. “There’s no one here. Except for you, and when I came aboard, you were already in the water. I assumed you were whoever has been coming aboard the Gwendolyn.”
She was dripping, as well. She pulled a piece of stray seaweed from her hair.
“I came by to ask if you’d found out anything. Your friend, the fingerprint man was here.”
“Skip.”
“Yes, Officer Conrad. Like an idiot, I got it into my head to try to clean the place up for you. Then I came topside, and I heard something. I went to see, and I was pushed overboard.”
“Ashley…look for yourself. The docks are empty. There’s no one here.”
She folded her hands over her chest. “Right. So if I were to go by logic and appearances, you pushed me.”
“You know I didn’t.”
“Right. But you think someone has been on your boat. That’s why you had the fingerprint guy out. So why should it surprise you that they were skulking around and pushed me overboard? And then disappeared. Somewhere.”
He turned, staring at the water. “Shit,” he said softly. He left her standing there and leapt to the dock with a lithe, flying leap that would have done a martial artist proud. He ran along the dock, still staring at the water. She stood there, shivering and uneasy.
When he returned, it wasn’t by the dock. She saw him dive into the water, then start swimming back in her direction.
“What are you doing?” she demanded when he was close enough to hear her.
He climbed aboard.
“If someone was here and didn’t leave by the dock, then he—or she—had to swim away.”
“Then you believe I was pushed?”
“I only go in the water here to scrape the hull. I can’t imagine you’d jump in for a pleasure swim.”
“What do you think the person is looking for?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Something I have that I don’t know I have. Or something they think I have that I don’t.”
“Did you find anything?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. If they’d come up here, there should have been wet footprints on the dock, but there aren’t any. The problem is, whoever it was could have stayed in the water a long time and come up almost anywhere in either direction. Not to mention the fact that there are hundreds of boats in the vicinity. But I will find out what’s going on.”
“I’m sure you will. And how very kind of you to believe I might have known what I was talking about.”
He turned, heading for the door to the cabin. “Do you want to stand there dripping all night?”
She was about to tell him exactly what to do with himself, but he added, “You’re welcome to the first shower.”
She shook her head, gritting her teeth, and walked forward. Water streamed from his pocket as he reached for his keys. His eyes touched hers as he opened the door. “Sorry. I just hated thinking I had a criminal and then found out I’d tackled you instead.”
“I’ll just bet it feels better to tackle a criminal.”
“I didn’t say anything about how it feels,” he returned.
She ducked slightly as she entered the cabin. He came in behind her, heading to the galley area to peel off his soaked jacket and kick off his ruined shoes. “The best shower is in my room.”
“Actually, I think I’ll just sprint back to my own room. I don’t have any dry clothes here,” she reminded him.
“I own a clothes dryer,” he told her.
“Wow. Tempting.”
He unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall, then moved toward her. “I know something that’s even more tempting.”
“You’re being just a little bit egotistical, aren’t you?”