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“I’ll always call you.”

The connection ended.

I lowered the phone.

Behind me, the patio doors opened.

Nathan stepped onto the sand with Mom and my sisters following him. Thomas woke when Ward turned on the exterior lights.

The old man pushed the blanket from his legs.

“What happened?” he asked.

Nathan stared at the photograph on his phone.

I hurried toward him.

“Let me see.”

He hesitated.

“Nathan.”

He turned the screen toward me.

The Coast Guard had photographed the ring against a white evidence card. Tarnish darkened the grooves, but I recognized every mark.

The compass.

The five stars.

And a deep scratch across the eastern point.

My point.

Mom made a broken sound.

“That belonged to Dad.”

“I know,” Nathan said.

Thomas gripped the arms of his chair.

“What did you say?”

Nathan carried the phone to him.

“The dive team found a body inside Blackwater. He was wearing James’s ring.”

Thomas stared at the photograph.

All the color left his face.

“Where did they find him?”

“In a sealed chamber beyond the old harbor.”

“How long has he been dead?”