If the cops came, Patrick would be arrested for stealing, but he didn't care. He carried the crate to his truck, placed it in the back. Marisa began to climb in over the side, and he grabbed her arm.

“You can't ride back here,” he said. “Come in front with me—I'll drive slow, they'll be okay. Better than they were in the van . . .”

She shook her head, her eyes flashing with wild emotion. “I have to ride with them,” she said.

Patrick started to argue with her, but he suddenly knew she was thinking of Tally. It wasn't her fault that Jessica's puppy had died, but Patrick knew the feeling of wanting to make up for the pain and mistakes of the past. So he kissed her and handed her his jacket to sit on, promising he'd drive as carefully as he could. She stuck a few papers in his hand, telling him she'd grabbed them out of the van.

Backing the truck out of the narrow road, he kept the lights off. He felt every rut, every root across the track, hoping Marisa and the baby seals weren't being jostled too badly. His adrenaline was surging as he thought of Lafarge's words and the squalor in which he'd kept the seals. He wondered about that dolphin in the picture Liam had seen, trying to figure out what was going on.

Once he hit the open road, he turned on the truck lights, including the one in the cab. The papers Marisa had handed him were scattered on the seat beside him, and he glanced down as he drove. One envelope bore the same logo as the one on the side of Lafarge's van—a smiling dolphin standing on its tail. The letterhead said “Sea Canyon Resort.”

Patrick wanted to read the letter, but he knew he had to drive—and he knew he had to call Liam. His eye had caught the name of the addressee and suddenly one thing fell into place.

But Marisa was rapping on the window behind Patrick's head, telling him to hurry, the seals were dying. So he called to her to hold tight, and he drove out of the fjord's valley and down the other side of the mountain toward the village of Cape Hawk, as fast as he dared. And then his cell phone rang.

It wasn't until after everyone went to bed and Liam had the cottage to himself that he made the phone call he'd been waiting to make all day. His heart was heavy with worry over the look in Lily's eyes after their meeting with the lawyer. He took his cell phone out onto the porch and dialed Patrick's cell phone number.

“Hello?” came the deep voice.

“Hi, it's Liam,” he said.

“You read my mind,” Patrick said. “I was just about to call you.”

“You sound as if you're driving,” Liam said. “Are you in Cape Hawk?”