The Siren's Call (Last Chance Motel Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

someone’s backyard where she could ask for help.
    Jenny looked up at the darkening sky. An increasingly strong wind hampered her progress, making the kayaks seem even heavier.
    Hearing a motor, Jenny turned and spied a passing speedboat. She waved furiously, hoping that the boat would stop, but the people on board waved back, hands full of what seemed to be beer cans, not realizing that she needed help.
    Jenny resumed pushing the kayak again, but with the strong wind, she was no longer able to control the direction of the kayaks, which kept veering to the left instead of going straight.
    Jenny shook River again. “Mr. Egan. Mr. Egan!”
    When River didn’t respond, she pulled herself to the front of the kayaks and began hauling both behind her. Her feet slid in the sand, so she tried swimming with the rope tied around her waist. That didn’t work well either. It was taking too much time and wearing her out.
    Increasingly frantic and not knowing what to do, Jenny finally spotted a house with a small dock at the water’s edge. It was all she could do to drag both kayaks to the dock and secure them. After checking on River, Jenny ran to the house and pounded on the back door.
    But no one answered.
    As the sky continued to darken, it began to rain in earnest as Jenny burst into tears from frustration. Looking beyond the house’s shrubs, she spied a tee shirt business next door that seemed to be open. Shoving through bushes that scratched her arms and legs, Jenny ran and burst through the business’s door, yelling.
    A cashier and a customer paying for a shirt both looked up, startled.
    “Help, please!” cried Jenny. “My friend is sick.”
    The cashier quickly called for someone to watch the register while she and the customer ran after Jenny into the rainstorm. They followed her to the neighbor’s dock and down to the bay where they met a terrifying sight.
    River’s kayak had turned over, and he was floating facedown in the water!

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    E va paced back and forth, occasionally looking out the office window. In between waiting on a guest and answering the phone, she made repeated trips to the lagoon and waded out into the water, looking west.
    Jenny’s failure to come back with Mr. Egan made her very anxious. Returning to the office, she poked her head inside the attached manager’s apartment, where Lillian was sitting at a table going over that month’s invoices.
    Lillian looked up from her work and recognized Eva’s panic. “Anything yet?” asked Lillian.
    “No sign of them,” confided Eva, “and I don’t want to go rushing after them, but the storm is coming in.”
    “Didn’t Mr. Egan promise to be back before the storm?”
    “He assured me that they would be back in plenty of time.”
    Lillian smiled as she reached out and gently touched Eva’s arm. “Then he’ll be back.”
    Eva impulsively turned to look out the office window and nervously chewed her nails. “I know, I know, but what if something happened?”
    Lillian got up from the table and joined Eva at the window. “I know we mothers are conditioned to always think the worst, but nine times out of ten, it turns out there’s a simple explanation, like they stopped off and got some lemonade, and then lost track of time.”
    “They can’t lose track of the sky. It’s really getting nasty-looking out there, and the wind is way up,” Eva argued.
    “Maybe they stopped off at Mary’s?”
    Eva shook her head. “Mary’s house is five miles away. Way too far for them to paddle, and even if they got to it somehow, they would have to stash the kayaks somewhere and then walk up the embankment to the highway and cross it. That would be too much for Mr. Egan.”
    “Let’s call Mike. Maybe he’s heard from them.”
    “He’s all the way down on Big Pine Key working on a house. I hate to bother him with this. After all, I was supposed to watch her. Oh gosh, what have I done letting her go with Mr. Egan? I don’t even know the man. What if he’s