Prime

Second Time Around

Sea Gypsy

Celeste

Again, I stopped. But this time not for the midnight with pops of light. This time for what was painted on the bow. I’d missed it on my first pass. How could I have missed it? Big swirly letters adorned the boat’s nose.

Candy cane. Mustard.

VP.

There was no doubt in my mind. Celeste was Peter Fairchild’s boat.

PETER FAIRCHILD CLEARLY intended to call this home. He had built a sturdy flight of boarding steps. The door at the top was closed, but I hadn’t come all the way out here to stare at a closed door and go home. Since when did a closed door stop me from going inside a place?

Quickly, I glanced around the marina. I was pretty much alone for the time being. I pulled out my phone.

Again, the other end rang and rang. No answer. I pulled the phone away from my ear and checked the time. Even if he’d slept in, he’d be awake now. Maybe he was still in a meeting. Or he’d busted someone and had been busy writing reports.

Still. He would have called me back.

“Hey,” I said to his voice mail. “Just letting you know I found the boat. I was hoping we could go in together, but you would appear to be . . .” I glanced up at the yacht, which looked a lot bigger once I had decided aloud that I was going to be boarding it. “So anyway, call me if you get this. Or just . . . come here. The boat is called Celeste.” I pulled the phone away to hang up, but thought better of it and brought it back up. “Hey, and call me either way, okay? I’m just . . . you haven’t given me shit all day and it feels weird.”

You’re worried, Nikki. You can say it. You are hard-core magenta-and-gray-spotted worried. It doesn’t have to mean anything, other than that you’re human.

“Yeah, but when did I turn into that?” I asked aloud as I hung up the phone.

I pushed thoughts about what could be happening with Chris out of my head and walked up the stairs, my heart pounding harder with each step. If I was right, and Luna was on this boat, what then? I could hear Chris now: Once again, Nikki, you’re barging into a situation based on one of your hunches and without a plan. I hesitated halfway up, and then kept going. Apparently barging into situations without a plan was working well for me.

Or at least I was surviving.

I tried the door. Of course it was locked. I knew it would be. Who would leave a luxury yacht unlocked and available for anyone who wandered by to steal out of? Still, I was disappointed. It was never fucking easy.