Chapter 21 ! Griff was waiting for me in the parking lot.

It was dark, darker than 4:00 should

be, even this late in the year. He pointed up at the sky as I got out of my car. I glanced up, nodding. ! I know, its intense. Looks like its about to explode with water. Remembering I had given my jacket to Nicole, I opened my trunk and dug around in the box looking for something warm to put on. I found a hooded sweatshirt that I had bought in Oklahoma. Oh! I didnt mean to get rid of this! I pulled it on, resolving to go through those boxes again before I got rid of all my clothes. Somehow, getting my new life going made it less important to close every last door on my past. ! We decided to go to the Sandpiper, the little cafe near the marina. He had motored over from his sailboat in the skiff, suggesting we try going out to the middle of the bay, as close as the Coast Guard would allow, and take pictures from that vantage point. ! ! We settled into a window table and took menus from the waitress. That sounds good, Griff, Frank wants me to take pictures of the kids on the

boats from a distance. I have a good zoom. It wont get me right up in there, but it will bring out some details. I was excited to use my camera again. Remind me to get it off the boat. ! ! ! Griff rubbed his hands together and shifted in his seat. He looked up at me. What? I had a lot of questions and things to tell him about Frank. You go rst. I went up to the post ofce to take a look at the car that has been sitting there

since Dan was attacked. While I was inspecting it, a postal worker drove in and parked in the last space, the only one left next to that old land barge of a car. He came charging straight over to me, asking if it was my car. ! I told him no, that I was trying to get some information about it. He said join the club. Its taking up four spaces and I want it out of here. One of those spaces happens to be mine. He went on this jag, telling me how hard it is to do your job when people are in the way, on and on, such an attitude! I dont know what the post ofce does to people. Anyway, he wanted me to do something about it, although he seemed to think I had more authority than I do. Trick of the trade. I checked with my connection at the DMV, got the name of the fellow -- Bud Wakeman -- and his address. I checked out the street

address, off Bodega Highway on the way into Sebastopol, but all thats there is a metal scrapyard. So thats a wash. ! Wait a minute -- I pointed at him with my spoon. The waitress arrived with a shrimp salad for me and a big bowl of clams on a bed of pesto linguini for Griff. I sat back and inhaled the seafoody steam. Even after that hefty sandwich at Franks, there was still room for clams. Bless my fast metabolism, but I still live in fear of that point in the aging process when things begin to slow down, and the pounds pile on. In the meantime, I eat. ! I put my spoon down and mixed the salad dressing with my fork. The scrapyard youre talking about. That sounds like the one that Dan and Nicole were going to, photographing it for my book. Is it next to the dump? ! ! ! Thats the one. So, there is a connection. Interesting. Griff narrowed his eyes at Not yet, I said, smiling up at him, enjoying his curiosity. I also saw Robert up at the Quick Trip next to the laundromat. Thats always a me. Anything else you can tell me about it?

pleasure, he said. He gave up on winding the pasta on his fork, and began cutting it with his knife. He gave me a grim look. ! ! ! So tell me what happened! I put my fork down. I, on the other hand, hated Nothing much. Weve never had too much to say to each other. He sort of Its the owners that give Rottweilers a bad name, Griff, I told him. Theyre suspense. growls at me, and I bare my teeth back. Like a couple of rottweilers. gentle dogs. Robert, however, is no gentle dog. Im still not convinced that he hasnt had some part in this. ! ! ! He seemed more interested in you than in Dan, Griff said. He tore a piece of How so? First he tried to warn me about you. He said you were unstable, if I remember garlic bread off the loaf and inspected it, smelled it, and took a bite.

correctly, and that you had needs that were hard to meet. Told me to make sure you took your meds. He tried to make it sound like he knew volumes that I could never understand. Roberts such a case, Griff was mopping up pesto with his garlic bread.

Take my meds? He said that? Youre right, Griff, Roberts a case. He hasnt

known me at all since high school, and even then we had very little interaction. He gets something in his head and apparently carries it for the rest of his life. I was fuming. ! Carries grudges, too. He asked me about Dan, but didnt listen to my response. Like it was assumed he should ask. I dont know, Griff said, scooting his chair sideways and stretching his legs into the aisle, I dont give any credence to what his says, and his behavior has been getting more and more erratic. ! Okay. Enough about Robert. A lot has happened today. Mia, Dans sister, arrived. Shes at the hospital. Im going to ask about any conversations Mia and Dan had. Theyre very close. ! ! Griff nodded. Good idea. I went over to Frank and Dans ofce, and Frank was downright cryptic. Says

Dan makes enemies -- of authorities, parents and kids alike. He kept intimating that lots of people would want to see harm come to Dan, but when I pressured him for exactly who, he was totally vague. Then he jumped up and removed some les from his desk. It was clearly something he didnt want me to see. I want to know whats in those les. But listen to this, Griff. Frank got a call from a stranger before Dan and I came in. He told this guy that we were sailing in, when we were expected, and where wed dock. He felt terrible about it. ! Griffs eyebrows went up. He nodded. Thats important. Youre natural at this, Cherry. But be careful. Youre not a private investigator. I hope you wont do anything without talking to me rst. I was in this business too long. He waited for me to respond. I glared at him. I saw that guy, Devery, who owns the sloop on my dock. He keeps slinking around. He was at the store down from Spud Point marina. Looked right at me, and then made a deliberate point of ignoring me. He seems hostile. I dont know what his trip is, but Im going to watch out for him. Somethings up with that guy. ! Oh, crap, all these warnings. Griff, what do we really know? Have you made sense of any of it? The facts: Theres a car parked up at the post ofce, owned by a man who has an address that Dan has been to before. Thats about all we know, isnt it? Other than the fact that lots of people could be mad at Dan? ! Yes. And thats a good way to look at it: Exactly what details do we have, and where do we go from here. Youd make a pretty good sleuth, I have to admit.

I put down my napkin and took a drink of water, watching Griff. The waitress

came around lighting the glary little candles on the tables. I looked out the window. Good grief! Its nearly dark, lets go! We paid up and walked out into the cool evening air. ! As we walked down to the marina, I noticed a very tall, thin man in a light-colored jacket walking along the docks. He stopped and looked at Lightning for a moment, then hurried up the ramp and walked toward the marina ofce. I didnt recognize him, and gured he probably just liked the way the boat looked. She did attract attention in a marina like this, full of funky shing boats. We hiked down to the skiff and I climbed in the front. Griff started up the outboard and we motored out across the water. We could see the two ships, lit up at the dock across the bay. Lots of people were coming off the boats, probably regrouping for the best view. Only a few groups would go out on the boats for the show. The Coast Guard was out in force, big boats in the channel and some volunteers in shing boats helping to keep the waterborne onlookers out of the range of fallout. They wanted this to be safe and fun for everyone, not a night of disasters. ! Griff maneuvered the little boat expertly. I couldnt have done better myself. I relaxed in the moment, content to have a real sailor at the helm. The festivities began with a short grouping of reworks. The big show would come later. The tall ships made their way out to the main bay and got in position for the mock battle. ! ! ! At the rst round of small cannon re, I remembered I hadnt grabbed my camera Griff went into action. Lets go get it. Itll take ve minutes. Theyre just getting I nodded, and in seconds we were speeding away from the group. I could hear off the boat. I pulled on Griffs arm. Griff! Crap, I dont have my camera. started. kids yelling their parts over the megaphones. Avast, matey, and things like that. I held onto the bow, enjoying the light spray coming over into my face. With darkness settling in, the gloom of day was gone and an appropriate blackness settled over the bay. The reworks had lit up just under the low, dense clouds, making a ery glow over everyones heads. ! Griff stopped at the end of the dock where there was an open tie-up.

! again. !

Wait here, Ill run down to the boat and be back in a ash, I told him. I sprinted

down the dock, my lungs and calves complaining, promising myself Id start running In one movement I hefted a leg into the cockpit, ducked under the boom and

grabbed the combination lock, leaning on the hatch. The hatch shot forward with the weight of my body, nearly pitching me headrst into the galley. Weird. I never leave it like that. I might leave it unlocked, but I always close the hasp. And since my computer had been stolen, Id been locking the boat. Who knows. Things have been so manic lately, I must have forgotten. I reached under the navigation table where I had tucked away the camera, praying that it was loaded with fast speed lm, and ung the hatch closed again, pressing the hasp closed rmly this time. ! I heard the return cannon re. Some twenty minutes or so left now. I hoped to get a good shot at the end when the reworks go wild and light up the boys faces with smoke and ash. ! ! I stopped on the end of the dock to take a picture. Griff waved me toward the Looking up, I noticed that the lights from the coastside businesses cast a delicate skiff. Come on, we can get closer. Get in. orange glow along the bottom of the cloud cover. I turned in a circle, taking in the visuals, and realized that Lightning was perfectly framed for a photo. Waving at Griff to wait, I switched to the wide angle view on my adjustable lens. I focused to take in the graceful stern of Lightning and clicked the shutter. ! BOOM. I felt myself being lifted off the dock by a hard, hot force. My arms ailed outward, I fell hard to the dock on my backside. The heavy camera fell against my chest. I tried to turn on my stomach but for some reason I couldnt move. I strained around toward Griff, saw him coming out of the skiff toward me, his hand reaching. BOOM. In a painful, percussive slap of wind, I felt my body scrape along the dock toward the water and saw Griffs face, a terrible grimace, lit orange and yellow by the light behind me. Everything was moving in slow motion, all sparkles of white and yellow, then everything was black. My hands were wet, I felt my shoulders being lifted up. ! I smelled something burning, heard loud crackles. My back was hot, my ribs ached. There was something tight around my chest. I tried to open my eyes but everything was black. I closed them, opened them again. Griffs arm was around my chest, we were in the skiff. I could hear strained voices, high sounds, gulls crying, or

were they screams? Griff was trying to get the motor running, I heard him curse. I felt my hand in the water and pulled it in, pushing against Griffs leg to try to sit up. He let me, holding my shoulder with one hand while he pulled the cord on the outboard with the other. Finally it kicked over. I saw him looking toward the dock and followed his gaze to see a terrible re, boats burning. A foul smell, toxic, burned my nose, my eyes streamed. Thoughts came and went, falling apart like wet paper as I tried to understand what was happening. I looked at Griffs face, lit orange and yellow. He looked at me, shaking his head. His lips were moving. All I could hear was a rushing sound, like a dam releasing oodwaters. I cupped my ears. Griff leaned toward me and yelled. ! ! ! ! Hold on, Cherry. Weve got to get away from the dock. May be more explosions. Explosions? The cannons? They started a re. The camera still hung around Cherry, can you hang on? Im going to let go of you. I nodded, acutely aware that I did not want him to let go of me. I looked around at

my neck. I held it away from my tender chest.

the hills, the houses with Christmas lights on them, the lights at Spud Point, the brilliantly lit tall ships, people on the big docks. The crescent moon, only a tiny triangle left as the clouds covered it again. I realized with sickening clarity what I had just seen. It was Lightning. Lightning. It was Lightning, wasnt it? My boat. My boats gone, isnt it, Griff. I watched the dock, reaching out as we slid away from it. ! Your boat may be, but youre not. A few seconds earlier and you -- Griff stopped. A Coast Guard boat was speeding up to us. Sirens began to whine on shore. Someone with a megaphone called from the boat. ! ! Stop your vessel and prepare to come aboard. I looked up at the young man and knew in my dazed state that we were being

subjected to typical Coast Guard activity. The orange, red and white boats used to mean assistance, the sailors friend, but these days they seemed to be in the business of harassment. It made me angry, my head throbbed, and I wanted to get away from them. Griff was saying something.! ! ! Listen to me! Her boat was blown up, for chrissakes! You people think were Man with a megaphone again. We will assist you on board. Prepare to come up trying to escape? Were coming to get you! the ladder.

! !

Look, you idiots! Shes injured! It was her boat that blew! God, you people are A man with a short white beard and a Coast Guard hat appeared on deck. He

astounding! Griff was shouting. motioned the young guys away and stood at the rail, taking the megaphone. Do you have injured? ! ! ! YES, Griff screamed at him. Well deploy. Hang tight buddy. Thank God, one sane mind amidst the wreckage, Griff shook his head, idling

the boat around in a tight circle. A thin line of blood ran down his cheek from a jagged cut below his left eye. I turned to look back at my dock. A small group was gathered around my boat, waving ashlights. ! ! Griff, please, let me go back and see what happened. My stuff, there may be Cherry, Griff said, Im sorry. We cant get near the boat right now. Look, he something I can salvage. Please? pointed, the Sheriff is getting everyone off the dock right now. I looked. Bent gures hurried up the ramp. Steam and smoke puffed off the boat. The Sheriff knelt, lled a bucket with salt water, and threw it across the charred lengths of boards that made up the dock. ! I saw the Sheriff leaning over the water near the stern of what used to be my home. He rolled up a sleeve, seeming to sh something out. I squinted, trying to catch some clear view in the waving ashlights. I could see part of the boat, still oating, the metal hull seemed peeled back like a sardine can. Nausea built up in me as I realized I missed being on board by seconds. In the face of this very real danger, I began to feel a strange calm radiating through my body. I thought back to the sail with Dan, how adamant he was that the electrical on the boat was faulty and dangerous. Could it have caused this? My mind wouldnt accept it, I had a deep certainty that something much more deadly than an electrical short was at fault here. Something deliberate, something premeditated. I already knew that someone had been on board Lightning, perhaps looking for something, or planting something deadly? I told myself I would not stop until I had every question answered. With that promise, my mind seemed to dull again, back into the body pains and bombardment all around me.

END OF EXCERPT -- If youd like to read the next ten pages, I can upload them. Let me know on the Kickstarter page for GROW TIME under Suzanna Stinnett. Thanks!