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Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

“Good morning,” she added.

“Morning.” He moved to the counter and picked up the coffee pot, pulled a mug out of the cupboard and poured. “You’re up early. Did you sleep well?”

“OK. You?”

He couldn’t tell whether there was a hint of reproach in her voice. He supposed it didn’t matter; she was entitled. Most parents didn’t stay out all night with the regularity that he had for most of her life. “I grabbed a few winks at the shipyard office. It was a late night.” He wondered whether she believed him.

“It’s been busy a lot lately.”

“Aye, it has. Not a bad thing for business, though.”

“That’s good, I guess.”

“It is.”

“Particularly because I have a favor to ask. I need to borrow five hundred dollars.”

He was lifting his mug to his lips, and her request caused a hitch; he spilled some coffee on his hand.

Five hundred dollars, in the grand scheme of things, was a pittance, but he couldn’t recall her asking for money before. She was not materialistic. She had worked from the time she was sixteen, and he generally provided enough spending money to meet whatever additional modest needs she had. “Five hundred,” he said pensively. He licked the spilled coffee off his hand. “What’s it for?”

“I’d rather not say.”

He looked at her carefully. Reading people was a particular strength of his; he could not have succeeded in his line of work had it not been. And yet the one person he found hardest to read was his own daughter. “You want me to give you that kind of money without knowing what it’s for?”

“I would, yeah.”

“I’m not sure I can do that.”

“You don’t trust me?”

He thought about it for a moment. “I trust you more than I trust anyone else.”

“That’s not saying that much, is it?”

“Maybe not. What’s the money for?”

He could see her struggle as she weighed whether to tell him or not. And then she took a deep breath and spoke the two words the father of every teenage daughter dreads most.

“I’m pregnant.”

EIGHT

From the outside, Mariner Tavern looked like it had been condemned and abandoned. The two-story building listed to one side at the base of Pier Six in Charlestown’s old naval yard, its few windows blacked out, the small sign over the door long darkened, lettering missing, clinging to the broken shingles in resignation.