Dead Low Tide Read Free Page B

arms at the officers standing around under the tent. “Shouldn’t they be looking for my little girl?”
    “There’s a bird in the air. Should be along any minute,” answered Officer McDonald. “If that canoe is in the creek, we’ll find her with that big spotlight. You can count on it.”
    “By bird, you mean a helicopter?” said Mom anxiously. “Where is it? I don’t hear anything. Wouldn’t I hear it if it was on the way?”
    Officer McDonald pointed toward a bright light approaching from the west. “Look, I know you’re worried. If it were my daughter, I would be, too. But the local radio station is always coming up with crazy stunts to boost their ratings. Starting tomorrow there’s a zombie festival in Savannah. Could be that some DJ got a little too carried away.”
    “Are you saying this is somebody’s idea of a joke?”
    “I’m not saying one way or the other. I won’t know for sure what we’re dealing with until we get more boats in the water. In the meantime, I’ve called in a canine unit. It would be helpful if you would let their dogs go through some of your daughter’s things. You know, in case she’s stuck on that island and hiking around trying to find a way off.”
    “Frank, take Nick back to the condo and get him out of those smelly clothes. You two can wait for this dog squad. I’ll stay here.”
    “I wish I could let you do that, ma’am, but we need everyone off this beach except official personnel. I’ll have one of my officers follow you back to where you’re staying.”
    “But I want—”
    “Come on, Sylvia, let the man do his job.”
    Mom jerked her hand from Dad’s. “Fine. But I’m not waiting around in that condo all night. If I don’t hear something about my daughter soon, I’m coming back, and when I do, it’ll take a lot more than a couple of officers to keep me away.”
    Mom and Dad started up the beach toward the marina parking lot. I fell in behind, then felt Officer McDonald tapping me on the shoulder. I paused and turned.
    “That fellow standing over by the cart path?”
    I looked to see where Officer McDonald was pointing. All I could make out was the silhouette of a person.
    “He runs the Outdoor Activities Recreational Center. Came on board last summer after we had some trouble with vandalism and petty theft. Windsurfers and kiteboards and such kept walking off. If I was you, I’d apologize to him for taking that canoe.”
    “Yes, sir. I will.”
    “But you might want to wait until we get it back, first.”
    You mean if you get it back
.

CHAPTER THREE
AN INVITATION TO TROUBLE
    H ow’d the dinner go?”
    The Buick remained deadly quiet on the ride back to the condo. No matter how many times I apologized for dragging Wendy down to the boathouse (I was working on my third apology), Mom and Dad couldn’t seem to bring themselves to forgive me. I couldn’t blame them, really. Saying you’re sorry and meaning it aren’t the same, and lately I’d made it a habit of doing things against my parents’ wishes.
    Dad answered my question about dinner by asking (
again
) what I was doing in an abandoned boathouse with my sister when we’d both been ordered not to leave the condo.
    “Told you, I was working on an article for
Cool Ghoul Gazette
.” Trying to change the subject, I asked, “Did they make you an offer?”
    Dad, wearing a serious scowl on his face, studied me in the rearview mirror. Mom sat in the passenger seat, her head resting against the window. I couldn’t tell if she was crying, but the way she kept putting her hand to her face led me to believe she was.
    “Come on, Dad, give me something. Did they offer you a job?”
    The wrinkles around Dad’s eyes deepened, hinting at a smile. “They want me to head up their sales referral department.”
    “Head it up? Have you ever done anything like that before?”
    “People adapt to survive, Nick. Part of the evolutionary process.”
    “It’s straight commission,” Mom said, still