Page 88 of Happy Harbor
“Totally newbie question, but is it possible it just floated away?” Josie asked, feeling like an idiot.
Leonard looked at her, a quirk of a smile on his face. “No, dear. That doesn’t happen.”
Normally, Josie would not take too kindly to some strange man calling herdear, but Leonard was an older gentleman, and he didn’t mean any harm by it. Back in the city, she would’ve set him straight really quick.
Walker scanned the water carefully. “Hey, what’s that?” he asked, pointing into the distance. Since the sun was going down, there was just the silhouette of a boat coming around the corner of the river, the marsh grasses partially obscuring their view.
“I believe that’s my boat!” Leonard said, putting his hands on his hips. He was one of those skinny old men whose pants were too big and sagging in the rear.
“So they’re bringing it back?” Josie asked, very confused by the whole situation. What kind of thief stole a boat and then brought it back?
As soon as they could see who was on the boat, it became very apparent to Josie that this was a group of partying teenagers. How in the world they had managed to get the keys to the boat she didn’t know.
They all waited there, quietly watching as the boat approached and then bounced against the dock. Walker ran up to it, pulled the rope, and tied it around the metal hook attached to the Riverwalk.
“Y’all stole my boat!” Leonard scowled at them.
“Sorry, dude,” a teenage boy said as he stepped off the boat. Three girls followed him, and then another boy.
“I think you owe us an explanation,” Walker said, crossing his arms. He was a large guy, so he could be imposing when he wanted to.
“We didn’t mean any harm. We just wanted to go fishing,” one girl said, shrugging her shoulders like it was no big deal. All of them were obviously tipsy, if not drunk. Josie would recognize the signs anywhere.
“You realize you just committed a crime, right?” Josie said, stepping out from behind Walker.
“We brought it back!” the girl said, trying to minimize the situation. “Besides, I’m pretty sure if you call the police, your daughter is going to jail,” she said, snickering.
“What are you talking about?”
As if on cue, Kendra and Scotty stepped out from the shadows. Kendra’s face was white as a ghost, and she wouldn’t make eye contact with her mother. Josie was seething with anger. Here she had thought her daughter was doing better, and she was committing crimes now?
“I can explain,” Kendra said, walking closer to her mother. Josie crossed her arms, trying to keep herself from strangling her only daughter.
“You can explain how you were just on a stolen boat with a bunch of other drunk teenagers? I’m dying to hear this.”
“We’re not drunk. Scotty and I didn’t drink a drop. These kids came up to us while we were sitting on that bench over there and said this was their cousin’s boat. They invited us to go out fishing, and we thought it would be a good way to meet new people. Once we got out there, we realized these were not the people we wanted to meet, but they wouldn’t bring us back until I threatened that one over there,” Kendra said, pointing to one of the girls.
The girl sneered. “I’m not scared of you!” she said, holding onto one of the boy’s arms.
“The sheriff is on his way over, and you kids are in big trouble!” Leonard said, before stepping onto the boat to retrieve his wallet. Thankfully, it was sitting where he’d left it, untouched.
“Leonard, can I have a word?” Walker asked.
Leonard followed him to the other side of the dock. A moment later, he came back.
“You kids get out of here, and don’t come back! You hear me?”
The kids scattered like roaches under a flashlight.
“Why did you let them go?” Josie asked, throwing her hands in the air.
“Do you really want your daughter caught up in this?” Walker asked.
“If she did it, she needs consequences.”
“Mom, I told you the truth!”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but she’s telling you the truth,” Scotty said. “Those kids are bad news, but we didn’t know that. We’ll even take one of those breath tests to prove we didn’t drink. And a lie detector test. We were basically held hostage on that boat until Kendra got in that girl’s face. It was amazing,” he said, looking at Kendra with adoration.
