The Narrows Read Online Free PDF Page B

with the current in a synchronized fashion. Terry’s boat, The Following Sea , was second from the end of the second row. An ominous feeling came over me as we approached and then bumped up against the fantail. On this vessel Terry had died. My friend and Graciela’s husband. It used to be one of the tricks of the trade for me to find or manufacture an emotional connection to a case. It helped stoke the fire and gave me that needed edge to go where I had to go, do what I had to do. I knew I would not need to look for that in this case. No manufacturing necessary. It was already part of the deal. The largest part.
    I looked at the boat’s name, painted in black letters across the stern, and remembered how Terry had explained it to me once. He had told me that the following sea was the wave you had to watch out for. It came up in your blind spot, hit you from behind. A good philosophy. I had to wonder now why Terry hadn’t seen what and who had come up behind him.
    Unsteadily I stepped off the inflatable and onto the boat’s fantail. I reached back for the rope to tie it up. But Graciela stopped me.
    “I’m not going on board,” she said.
    She shook her head as if to ward off any coercing from me and handed a set of keys toward me. I took them and nodded my head.
    “I just don’t want to be on there,” she said. “The one time I went to collect his meds was enough.”
    “I understand.”
    “This way the Zodiac will be back at the dock for Buddy to use if he shows up.”
    “If?”
    “He isn’t always that reliable. At least that is what Terry said.”
    “And if he doesn’t show up, what do I do?”
    “Oh, just flag down a water taxi. They come by about every fifteen minutes. You won’t have a problem. You can just bill me. Which reminds me, we haven’t talked about what I’ll be paying you.”
    It was something she had to bring up to make sure, but she knew and I knew that this wasn’t a job for pay.
    “That won’t be necessary,” I said. “If I do this, there is only one thing I’d like in return.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Terry once told me about your daughter. He said you two named her Cielo Azul.”
    “That’s right. He picked the name.”
    “Did he ever tell you why?”
    “He just said he liked it. He said he knew a girl named Cielo Azul once.”
    I nodded.
    “What I would like for payment for doing this is to meet her someday—when this is all over, I mean.”
    That gave Graciela a moment of pause. Then she nodded her agreement.
    “She’s a sweetheart. You’ll like meeting her.”
    “I’m sure I will.”
    “Harry, did you know her? The girl Terry named our daughter after?”
    I looked at her a moment and nodded.
    “Yes, you could say I knew her. Someday if you’d like I’ll tell you about her.”
    She nodded and started to push the Zodiac off the fantail. I helped with my foot.
    “The little key opens the salon door,” she said. “The rest you should be able to figure out. I hope you find something that helps.”
    I nodded and held up the keys as if they would open every door I would ever encounter. I watched her head back to the dock and then I climbed over the stern and into the cockpit.
    Some sort of sense of duty made me climb the ladder to the upper helm before I went inside the boat. I pulled the canvas cover off the control station and stood for a moment next to the wheel and the seat and envisioned the story Buddy Lockridge had told me of Terry collapsing here. It somehow seemed appropriate for him to collapse at the wheel, yet with what I now knew, it also seemed so wrong. I put my hand on the top of the chair as if resting it on someone’s shoulder. I decided that I would find the answers to all of the questions before I finished here.
    The small chrome key on the ring Graciela had given me opened the mirrored sliding door that led inside the boat. I left it open to air out the interior. There was a briny, funky smell inside. I traced it to the rods and reels