Page 54 of The Summer Inn on Plum Island
“What?” Dawn said, her brown knitting together in disbelief. “Look again; there must be a mistake, or Wade found a way to get past the system.”
“No, your room was accessed at five minutes past nine this evening, though,” Liam looked at the screen with raised brows. “With the spare card.” He flipped to the safe access where the spare vital cards were kept. “I don’t recognize this access code to the safe, though.”
“What?” Dawn said, leaning in to see. “That’s the new code that Mary gave me today.” She frowned. “I thought no one could see this?” She looked at Liam. “Like the pin to your bank card.”
“Like a pin to the bank card, I can see the codes,” Liam told her. “But only me.”
Tiny prickles of dread tingled up his spine as realization dawned on him. Neither the hotel nor Liam was the target of whatever was going on—Dawn was.
“I didn’t access the safe,” Dawn told him.
“I know,” Liam said. “I can see when it was accessed, but we weren’t at the hotel. We were in Newbury Port.”
She frowned and looked at the folder. “What’s in the folder?”
“Wade gave it to me,” Liam told her and opened it. “This is kind of weird.”
“What is?” Dawn leaned closer, nearly making him lose his attention.
Liam forced himself to concentrate. “These are your brother’s docking papers as well as his GPS report to show the distances the boat’s traveled, where it’s been, etc.”
“I know that,” Dawn told him. “What’s weird about it?”
“This yacht hasn’t been to Newbury Port,” Liam told her, giving her the records before pulling the police folder from his drawer. “These are the papers the detectives gave me.”
Dawn took both papers and examined them. “The one the police gave you isn’t the Black Ocean Two.” She showed the boat specifications to Liam. “First, Alex’s boat is a lot bigger than the one that docked in Newbury Port.” She pointed to the name. “Also, Alex hates Roman numerals. And if you looked at my brother’s papers, you’ll see that the original boat is Black Ocean Two while the one in Newbury Port is Black Ocean II.” She cocked her head as she looked from one document to the other.
“You’re right,” Liam said, going over what she had pointed out. “There are subtle differences meant to trick the mind.” He flipped through the rest of the reports. “What’s this?” He looked at the report. “Bio Tracker Report.”
Dawn’s eyes widened, and she grabbed the report from him. “Which folder did you get this from?”
“Wade’s,” Liam told her. “What is it?”
“No, no, no,” Dawn hissed. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “I’m such an idiot.”
Liam glanced up at her and saw her face drop as tears gathered in her eyes. He stood and took the top of hers. “Dawn, what’s wrong?” He glanced at the report. “What is that?”
Her voice was barely a whisper, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “A bio tracker is a device designed by my older brother.” She swallowed and swiped at the few tears that had escaped. Her voice wobbled. “Scott makes all his security detail wear them when they’re assigned to a detail. It tracks the person’s whereabouts and can only be taken off by someone with a special device.” She held up the page. “In this instance, the only one with the key is Scott.”
“Okay,” Liam looked at her questioningly. An image of a small band on Wade’s arm flashed through Liam’s mind, and his eyes widened with realization. “Is it a small band?”
Dawn nodded. “You’ve probably seen it on Carl.”
“And Wade,” Liam stated.
“I didn’t even see it.” Dawn sniffed as she pursed her lips, trying to hold back the tears. “This report states that each one of Wade’s crew members, including him, has one.”
“Hey,” Liam said, his voice softening. “This is a good thing, isn’t it?” He wiped a tear from her cheek. “It means Wade had nothing to do with what’s happening at the hotel.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “Yes, but it means I did it again.” Her face crumpled as she hiccuped and could hold back the tears, and she closed her eyes. “I just judged my brother and instantly thought the worst of him.”
“Dawn!” Liam pulled her to him. “You’ve obviously had a lot of issues with Wade, or I doubt whether you’d be so quick to condemn him.” She nestled her head on his chest, and he felt her shoulders shake. “Hey. We’re going to sort this out,” he soothed.
“I think I pushed too far this time.” Dawn’s voice was shaky.
“Why is Wade still here if he’s delivered the boat?” Liam asked.
“He has to stay with the boat until it’s been handed over,” Dawn said and stilled. She stepped back and looked at Liam. “Where is the crew list?”
