Sunset Hearts Read Online Free PDF Page B

would do to her body if she did.
    Fear hadn’t set in, yet. She wouldn’t let it. If she died—something not on her daily to-do list—it wouldn’t be because of Paulie Scorsini.
    What she’d do when she got back to dry land was another matter entirely. Nothing but her say so against everyone on both boats that they’d killed a guy. She couldn’t even begin to tell authorities the victim’s name or where to look for his body.
    Several times she had to flip over on her back and float for a while to rest. Staring up into the cloudy night sky, she hoped to find the strength to go on. No one would come identify her body if she washed up somewhere.
    She had no one.
    For that reason alone, she damn sure wouldn’t let the fuckhead win by dying out here.
    At some point before dawn, she felt the winds start to kick up. As grey light crept into the eastern sky, she thought she saw land but couldn’t be sure. Despite the warm water, she felt herself shivering from hypothermia. When she caught a wave just right and it carried her on the crest, she spotted the dark shapes of land, maybe a mile or two away. Dropped into a trough, she started laughing, then screamed when her feet hit something. Only when it happened again and she put her legs down did she realize the water was just a little deeper than she was tall. Something broke loose inside her. She scrambled, frantic, half-swimming and half-running through the water to get closer to land.
    Unfortunately, the waves made her job difficult. As dawn broke with a grey and overcast sky, the waves threw her onto a rocky oyster bar. Despite her feet getting cut, she stood up, the water at chest level. She laughed almost maniacally as she took several long, deep breaths and shivered in the wind. Land had grown closer. She didn’t see any houses, just what looked like wilderness, but it was land.
    Then another large wave overtopped the oyster bar, pushing her off toward the coastline.
    Her hope renewed, she swam her ass off.
    After a while, as the waves picked up even more, and with her feet and legs cut to hell and back by the oyster beds, she gave up trying to fight her way to shore. The current and wind seemed to be carrying her in that direction, so she let them do the work for her. She felt exhausted, thirsty, cold, and all out of fight. She flipped onto her back to float and let the waves carry her toward the sawgrass flats becoming visible in the morning light.
     
    * * * *
     
    The alarm went off at four the next morning. Alan rolled over and blindly slapped at it without opening his eyes.
    He felt Jerald sit up next to him. “Want to go back to sleep? I’ll wake you before I leave, let you sleep in a little.”
    Alan rolled over and peeled back an eyelid. “No, I’m getting up.”
    “Another drawback if I live here, you know. My crazy hours.”
    “No crazier than mine, chickenshit. Getting up with you means I have time for an extra cup of coffee in the morning and someone to scrub my back in the shower,” Alan joked.
    “What time tonight?”
    Alan had to think for a moment, sleep still fogging his brain. “What time tonight what?”
    “Tom Kelly’s barbecue.” Jerald walked into the bathroom without bothering to shut the door. “You still want to go, right?” he called back.
    Alan’s heart raced in a good way, now wide awake. “Yeah. If you do.” He tried to make it sound casual.
    “Yeah, but only if you go make me some coffee.”
    Alan smiled as he jumped out of bed to do it. He heard the shower start. Finally, some progress. He’d forced himself not to push Jerald. Last night’s confrontation was a fluke, his frustration overwhelming him.
    Only it had paid off.
    He waited until enough coffee gurgled into the pot to pour Jerald a mug, black. He carried the mug into the bathroom, where he climbed into the shower with him.
    Jerald’s blue eyes looked worried. “You won’t cancel your charter? I can’t talk you into not going out?”
    “I’ll be