Lethal Legend Read Online Free PDF Page B

then, but I reckon I can find it again easy enough.”
    The wake from a passing steamer set the small sailboat to rocking with a violent motion that had Diana’s heart, and the remains of her breakfast, lodging in her throat. Water sloshed into the small craft as it tilted at a precarious angle, soaking her feet and spattering the rest of her with icy droplets.
    “Why is the water so cold?” she gasped. “It is June!”
    “Come August, it might be warmed up a bit. Not before.”
    Wet and miserable—the brisk breeze propelling the sailboat toward its destination cut right through her garments, right through her skin, chilling her to the bone—Diana lapsed into silence. Caleb seemed confident. He was a native of these parts. She’d just have to trust he could get her where she was going.
    Ten minutes later, to take her mind of her chattering teeth, Diana asked another question: “Do you know anything about the man who owns Keep Island?”
    “Rolling in money. Owns the Miss Min . Cap’n Cobb says he pays a bonus every time he wants her schedule changed.”
    That explained Cobb’s refusal to go against orders. She supposed she couldn’t fault him ... unless he was in league with the criminals Mr. Palmer had mentioned. Diana tried unsuccessfully to picture the stubbornly polite captain as a smuggler. She thought that if he grew a full beard, he might fit the popular image of a pirate, but that stretched the imagination even further.
    “What about the island itself? 
    Caleb shrugged. “Heard it had a curse on it.”
    “What kind of curse?” Hadn’t Maggie mentioned someone cursing Jedediah Somener?
    “Don’t know. ‘Keep away from Keep Island.’ That’s all they say.”
    “You might have mentioned that before we set out.”
    “Don’t put much stock in such foolishness. Besides, you offered to pay.”
    And the price, Diana thought cynically, might have been even higher if Caleb had remembered this “curse” in time. If Caleb hadn’t just invented it for her benefit, then Graham Somener’s desire for privacy was probably behind “Keep away from Keep Island.” She smiled in spite of her acute discomfort. It sounded more like an advertizing slogan than a threat.   
    Her smile vanished and her thoughts scattered as the tiny craft suddenly dipped and shook. The wind tried to tug Diana’s hat right off her head and the waves peppered her with a fine, cold spray.
    “Fine day for a sail,” Caleb declared.
    Diana decided she’d hate to see a poor one.
    After what seemed an eternity, they arrived at what Caleb claimed was Keep Island. By then, the hem of Diana’s skirt was drenched, most of the pins had been shaken loose from her hair, and the tip of her nose had turned bright pink from exposure to the sun and wind. Although her hat was made of sturdy straw, the brim was not quite wide enough to protect her face from the elements.
    On shaky limbs, she clambered out of the sailboat, so grateful to be on solid ground again that she gave Caleb a generous tip.
    “You want me to come back for you?”
    “No!” One by one she pushed the hairpins back into place, but without a mirror she had no idea whether or not she’d made a neat job of it. “No,” she said again in a calmer voice. “There’s no need to return.” Captain Cobb might not have agreed to bring her to Keep Island, but she was certain he would not object to taking her off.
    She watched until the sailboat was well on its way back to Bucksport, then picked up a decidedly damp gripsack and trudged inland along what appeared to be a rough path. Her goal was a flight of wooden steps leading to the top of a low cliff.
    Although it gave evidence of being regularly used, the way was uneven. When Diana’s foot came down wrong, an ominous popping sound reminded her that she had to be careful of the ankle she’d twisted back in March. She worried that if the surface didn’t level out soon, she’d end up in an undignified heap and heartily wished