Page 63 of The Summer Inn on Plum Island
“I did,” Ben told her and patted the pockets of his cotton slacks. “But it was taken and…” His eyes widened as he felt his wrist. “Oh no!”
“What?” Dawn was forced to take her eyes from the horizon and nearly vomited.
“The bio tracker,” Ben said, showing her his wrist. He glanced at his left wrist. “They’ve even taken my watch.”
“Surely it would’ve alerted Scott?” Dawn reasoned.
“Yes, but when was it taken off?” Ben said, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “Look, we’re not going to sort anything here. Let’s go see if the kitchen is stocked.”
“Why?” Dawn asked him suspiciously as he stood at the door to the cockpit.
“So I can get you something to stop the nausea,” Ben told her. “To be honest. I need something too, as we seem to have something in common—seasickness.”
“Oh!” Dawn looked at him with raised brows. “Lead the way.” She followed Ben as he made his way to the galley. “You never answered my question.” She drew in a breath to ward off another bout of nausea. “But as you seem to know your way around, I’m going to guess this is Alex’s yacht.” She shook her head. “Great! I hope it’s not loaded with freakin’ C4 again.”
“What?” Ben looked at her, stunned. “Why on earth would you say that?”
“You don’t know what happened to Alex’s last superyacht?” She looked at him in amazement.
“No. I didn’t care. Alex Blackwell is not one of my favorite people.” Ben shook his head as he went through the cupboard. “Huh!” He snorted, reaching into one. “Look here. Ginger root tea.”
“You stole Alex’s boat and kidnapped his sister!” Dawn spat. “How did you expect Alex to react?”
“Well, he split my lip open when my hand was cuffed behind my back in a courtroom filled with people,” Ben pointed out as he made them some tea. “Then testified that I was some weird peeping-Tom stalker of Bailey.” His jaw clenched, and his hazed eyes flashed with anger. “What I would’ve expected was for him to ask where someone got the code key for his monstrosity of a yacht or how they got past his wall of security to get to the yacht.”
“He said his security team had been knocked out,” Dawn stated.
“Had they?” Ben stopped what he was doing and looked at her with raised eyebrows. “I wouldn’t know because I’d been knocked out.”
“There was nothing in your tox screen to indicate that you were,” Dawn pointed out.
“Yeah. Four days later, they took samples for the toxicology—four days they left it for.” Ben’s eyes flashed with anger once again, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. He put a steaming mug of ginger tea in front of her. “Drink it. It will help.”
Dawn stared at the cup, wondering if she could drink it, not realizing that Ben took her hesitation as her mistrust of him.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Ben hissed and swapped mugs. “There.” His eyes narrowed. “Would you like me to take a few sips from both mugs?”
“No… I…” Dawn looked at her. “I was wondering if I could stomach it.”
“Oh!” Ben said. “Just sip it slowly while it’s still quite hot, and it will soothe the queasiness.”
“You don’t look like you’re feeling sick,” Dawn noted as she took a cautious sip of the tea. As the hot liquid slipped down her throat, she had to admit to instantly feeling its effects.
“I take medication every day,” Ben admitted. “But it’s starting to wear off.”
“What medication?” Dawn asked, genuinely interested.
Ben told her what he was taking and how much it helped him. Dawn watched him as he spoke and was struck at how much he’d changed, along with that same shuttered look Wade had. Scott’s words about Ben potentially being innocent ran through her mind, and her heart went out to him as a wave of guilt hit her. Dawn had been one of the people who had seen Ben and her brother as guilty.
What kind of sister am I?Dawn’s mind raced.I sided with the Blackwells!
Memories of the final day of the trial ten years ago hit her.
“Dawn, listen to Wade,” Harriet implored. “He’s your brother, for goodness’ sake.” Her eyes had brimmed with disbelief and were shadowed with disappointment. “Don’t you or anyone else see all the holes in this case?”
“Harriet, thank you for wanting to plead Wade’s case,” Dawn replied. Her heart was heavy with defeat and despair over her younger brother’s involvement in this vile act. “But I’m afraid there’s no out for him this time.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” Harriet had shaken her head, and the disappointment had turned to disgust. “You know, Dawn, you show so much compassion and understanding to everyone else. Why can’t you ever do the same for your baby brother?”
