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Hidden Tide

Page 58

by Susie McIver

“Yes, sir.”

“What about Ivy’s birthday card?” I ask.

“They found a box containing several cards and photographs in the guest cabin. It looks as though someone went through it, but the contents are still there.”

Ivy lets out a relieved breath through the phone.

“Did they find the lighthouse card?” Keating asks.

“They’re checking now.”

Thomas leans back in his chair, but he doesn’t look relieved.

“What is it?” I ask.

“The intruder searched Storm’s quarters and the main cabin,” he says. “Then pried off the passageway panel.”

“They didn’t know how to open the compartment,” Ben says.

“No, but they knew one existed.”

“Who else knew?” Keating asks.

“James. Me.” Thomas looks at Mom. “Possibly her husband.”

Nathan steps closer to the photographs. “And my father.”

No one says what we’re all thinking.

Three of those men are dead.

Thomas is the only one left.

Ben moves around the table and crouches beside him. “From now on, you don’t walk into a bathroom without telling one of us.”

Thomas raises an eyebrow. “I’ve been handling myself since before you were born.”

“And I’d like you to continue doing it.”

“I don’t need a keeper.”

“Good. Because you’re getting several.”

I expect Thomas to argue, but he gives Ben a slow nod.

The tension inside me eases slightly.

Ben rises and returns to my side. His hand settles against my lower back.

The gesture is protective, but it doesn’t make me feel weak. It makes me feel as though I’m not carrying all of this alone.

Keating’s phone rings again.

He answers and listens.

“We’re ready,” he says. “Go ahead and open it.”

Everyone watches him.