Page 73 of The Sailor

Chapter Fourteen

Zach had his hands deep in a bowl, hand mixing the ingredients to make homemade ravioli for the dinner he’d planned for Marit, when his phone rang.

Thankfully, he’d taken it out of his pocket earlier and it was sitting on the counter. But, still swearing at the timing, he looked down at the screen. He planned on letting whoever was calling just leave a message.

Upon seeing it was Eliot, Zach frowned.

He pulled his hands out of the bowl and grabbed a towel, quickly cleaning them enough so he could answer the phone. Eliot, Jonah, and Marit should’ve left by now. They should already be out on the water, preparing to haul their first pots.

“Hey, Eliot. What’s up?”

“You know, just another day in paradise,” the older man said with a small laugh. The easygoing tone of his voice made Zach relax. “Is Marit there? I’m guessing she overslept, since she’s usually here before us.”

And just like that, Zach was immediately tense again. “She already left. A little while ago. She should be there.”

“Huh. She’s not. We waited a bit to see if she’d show up and when she didn’t, decided to call.”

Zach was already on the move. If Marit wasn’t at the dock, and she wasn’t here at his apartment, she had to be somewhere between the two. “I’ll head out and see if I can find her.”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Eliot said, trying to reassure him.

He was anything but sure of that. “I’ll see you shortly,” he told Eliot. “If I don’t find her on the way to the dock, we’ll need to expand our search. Call the police.”

“Shit. You think something’s really that wrong?” Eliot asked, confusion and fear in his own voice now.

“Yes. Marit takes pride in being the first one to the boat in the morning, you know that. When she left here, she was happy and healthy. She set off like she always does—on foot. If she’s not there . . .” He let his words trail off, not wanting to say out loud all the awful scenarios rushing through his brain.

Then something occurred to him as he was jamming his feet into a pair of boots.

“She had any issues with Pearson lately? He been harassing her at work?” Zach wanted to think Marit would’ve told him if he had, but even though she’d sworn not to keep any further harassment from him, after she felt so bad about keeping the texts a secret, he still wondered if maybe she was downplaying anything happening at work.

“No. Nothing. We see him now and then, but he’s been keeping to himself. He hired another new lobsterman, but I think the guy quit earlier this week.”

The idea that Pearson might blame his own shitty leadership and fishing skills on Marit, making his lack of success her fault, flashed through Zach’s head. If he was pissed and frustrated, it was possible he might take it out on the one person he blamed for all his “bad luck.”

Marit.

But ultimately, he agreed with Linc. Something else had to be feeding his behavior toward Marit. There was no way he’d be this obsessed just because of her gender or an old fisherman’s superstition.

But then . . . why?

“Is his boat there now?” Zach asked.

“Now that you mention it . . . I don’t see the Men At Work. Lucas doesn’t usually get up as early as we do to head out.”

“Fuck,” Zach swore. “Right. I’m on my way.”

But he had a sick feeling that he wasn’t going to find her knocked out on the sidewalk on his way to the dock. This involved Pearson. He felt it down to his bones. He’d done something to Marit, and all he could do was pray the man wasn’t as deranged as he thought he might be.

“Okay, see you soon,” Eliot said.

Zach clicked off the phone and grabbed a sweatshirt and threw it over his head before heading for his door. He clicked on Linc’s name in his contacts as he slammed his apartment door behind him.

“Do you know what the hell time it is?” Linc asked in lieu of a greeting.

“Marit’s missing.”

“What?”