Secrets in the Lowcountry--The River Read Online Free PDF Page B

shoulders to relax. “ W e shrimped close to the end, but w e sa w the redfish along the left bank. ”
    “Rod w ouldn’t have needed his fly rod; he could have caught one w ith his hand. ” Jeff appeared uncomfortable w ith the creek.
    “Almost there ,” she replied . A fe w minutes later , she called out, “ W e’ve reached the spot w here w e found the red fish. ” She squinted beneath her sunglasses. “Don’t see any today.”
    “ No boat either, but l ook at all the ‘gators ! ” Jeff point ed straight ahead w here the creek w idened once again .
    “They w ere bad last w eek too. ” Taylor idled the boat . “I told Rod even if he caught a red, the gators w ould eat the fish before he succeeded in land ing it.”
    “The only time I’ve even seen so many w as in an old James Bond movie. I hate ‘gators,” Jeff said, w ith feeling.
    “You’ve nev er forgiven them for eating Sam. ” Taylor ke pt her eyes on the alligators that remained floating on the surface . “‘Gators normally si nk to the bottom or else submerge enough that on ly their eyes sho w ed w hen people or boats approached. ” She peeked at him.
    “ That’s true.”
    Although he agreed w ith her, there w as wistfulness in his voice and an other w orld expression on his face.
    “ Sam w as th e best retriever a guy ever had. ” He defend ed his long gone bird dog.
    “He w as a s w eetie. B ut you never used him for hunting birds.” She gave the engine a little gas to keep if off the banks before idling the skiff once more.
    “No, but he w as great at return ing a stick or catch ing a Frisbee . Damn ‘ gators . Sam had another five or six years of life left .” A small , sad smile touched his lips as he remembered .
    Taylor stared at him in disbelief . “Jeff, Sam could hardly w alk. He w as at least 11 and since you and your dad found him w andering in the w oods, he might have been older.”
    “Don’t argue w ith me, w oman. My memory tells me that Sam could still jump and get any ball I’d thro w .”
    She shook her head . “Memories are strange things. ”
    His deep blu e eyes t w inkled w ith teasing . She realized he w as trying to relieve the tension and possibly her fear. Before she could tease him back, she hear d him yell.
    “Isn’t that a cooler stuck in t he mud, under that small overhang ?” Jeff indicated a spot about five feet a w ay and separated from the skiff by at least three feet of pluff mud.
    Taylor gasped. “ Rod and I used one just like that for shrimping.” She focused on the blue and w hite cooler, almost certain the chest w as Rod’s.
    Jeff looked around the sk iff. “Do you have a long pole? W e might be able to knock the box off the shelf and guide the cooler over to the boat.” His eyes chanced to glance at her w hile he surveyed the area . “Taylor.” H e touched her arm. “Are you okay?”
    She nodded feeling cold and s w eaty at the same time. “No, w e lost it last time w e w ere out. The p ole stuck in the mud and sank before w e could retrieve it.” Her w ords sounded foreign to h er. She could only see the box, out of reach w ith no w ay of being retriev ed .
    Moving closer to her, Jeff said, “ I’ll call your Dad and let him kno w w e’ve found something. He can pass on the information.”
    “Oh, Lord. ” Taylor sank onto the captain’s chair located directly behind the w heel. Jeff shifted to place himself squarely behind her in the event, she thought, she faint ed . She couldn’t keep her attention a w ay from the cooler. It couldn’t be Rod ’s , yet she recognized the gouges in the blue bottom. Although visible , they hadn’t broken through to the inside.
    Even w ith only a portion of her attention focused on the phone, she heard Jeff say, “ W e believe w e found Rod’s cooler stuck in the pluff mud. T he tide’s too lo w to get closer even if w e w ere n’t almost surrounded by a s w arm of ‘ gators . ”
    Her father must be talking for she no longer