“Long as we can. The medics went up under power just after dark. Sent out the first couple of raft loads when the tide turned at midnight. Say one thing for your Joe boss—once he decides, he gets right on it.”

So it was really happening. Yankee Stadium. Rubio’s dream den home. Poppy and Spunk should be on their way up with the medics. It was like finding yourself at the back of the parade when you didn’t even know you’d joined it. Hannah and Julian could have already left the island.

“You heard about Rubio?” Of course she would’ve, but I needed to make him part of the conversation. He’d seem a little less dead, somehow.

“Did. And I’m real sorry about it.”

“Yeah.”

“Meanwhile, good you brought in that Adder clunker. Rousseau’s gang got at it, fixed it up right, even found some of that dirty fuel, so it can be like one of those big engines you used to see pushing the heavy stuff up the river.”

Adders. Oh god. Another thought I’d shoved aside.

“Tugs,” I said thickly. “Tug boats.”

“Yeah. Those.”

“Glad she could be of use,” I murmured, recalling the horror of her diesel exhaust mixing with the thick odor of blood. Daniel eased closer, his palm light on the small of my back.

Breakers gave me one of her deep looks, felt more than seen in the darkness. “Anyway, the tide is helping. Running high and strong. They got it all timed out, who goes when.”

Daniel was insistent. “Really no word at all from the others?”

“Just the Gimme girls. They’re coming. As for the rest . . .” Breakers shrugged. “Still not convinced, I guess.”

But we were leaving, the Joes and Smiths and what was left of the Macys. Some of us already on the water. Poppy and Spunk might even be there by now.

What about Rubio’s funeral? Would it get lost in the shuffle?

A stir rolled across the Lagoon like a freshening breeze. We turned and squinted into the night. Hushed cheers, a ripple of motion flicking back torchlight, a path being cleared through the work site. Breakers strained to her feet on Melville’s roof for a better look.

“Someone . . . two in a canoe.”

“Let me see.” I nudged Daniel for a leg up onto the roof. Two paddlers. Jake in the bow. I knew that taut profile. The stern was a woman. “Pretty sure it’s Jake. And . . . wait, it’s that undercover woman. Cass, I think her name is. They might have news.” I watched them glide in. “Poor Jake. He hates boats.”

Daniel laughed. “Only when he needs to.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”