Page 47 of Presumed Dead

“Did she help him tie off?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll know more this afternoon.”

“Vale.”

“Yeah.”

“If she helped him tie off, she got a story off him. She’s smart enough to have asked the question a marina owner would ask. He’s smart enough to have had an answer ready.”

“I know.”

“Which means she’s now carrying a lie she heard on her own dock without anybody helping her hear it.”

“I know that too.”

“Does she know what it means?”

“She knows the math. She doesn’t have the AIS.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her the boat wasn’t there. I didn’t tell her about the AIS. She said she’s asking me later.”

“When is later?”

“This afternoon. Her words.”

A second pause. The second pause was Caleb deciding how much rope to give him.

“How much are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Vale.”

“Caleb.”

“If you tell her you’re federal, we lose the op.”

“I know.”

“If you tell her you’re after Doyle Pruitt, we lose Doyle.”

“I know.”

“If you don’t tell her enough to keep her on the dock today instead of on the phone with a deputy, we lose her, which means we lose the marina, which means we lose the entire front of the file.”

“I know that too.”

“Then know it harder. Find the middle.”

“I’ll find the middle.”

“Sleep first if you can. You’re not going to be sharp this afternoon if you don’t.”

“Roger that.”

The line went dead.