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Marty played his guitar and sang on deck, and Katie joined hiame of chess Jamie, Liam, David and Sean closed theh for about an hour, planning and charting, and when they were through, Vanessa was ready to return to the Conch Fritter and head into bed
It was nice to sleep with the captain, she decided The iven the convertible couch in the main cabin, while Ted and Jaden were portside and Jay and Zoe were in the slim bunks on the starboard side
Vanessa went to bed by herself because Sean took first watch on the Conch Fritter while Liah
Watches were in four-hour shifts As she curled comfortably into the master cabin’s bed, Vanessa realized that the schedule for watch duty included everyone--but soroup would be on one of the decks at all times
Did he distrust someone he had hired on? she wondered Or was he always that careful and wary?
She thought about Jay wanting to sell their film; a major distributor could mean really decent money, and she knew that he needed thehis own films
It just disturbed her
She stared at the s lamp She noticed that there was a newspaper there, beneath one of Sean’s books She glanced at the book and noticed that it was on the numerous wrecks in the area She pulled out the newspaper beneath it
The headline on the page read, "Missing!"
Beneath it was a picture of two couples standing on a dock They hite casual boating clothes and hats, and they were all older, attractive people with happy smiles
Sean had told her about more disappearances Disappearances in the area She scanned the article Both Mark Houghton and Dale Johnson were experienced captains They loved traveling together, and though they had made more distant trips, they were sun and ater people and set off every couple of ether to tour a part of the Caribbean
They enjoyed ca on Haunt Island
She winced and set the article down She’d been so busy lately that she hadn’t seen anything on the disappearance Of course Sean had known about it
There had always been disappearances But now this A year after the Delphi
Two years after the ia
She closed her eyes and tried to sleep
A while later, she felt Sean crawling in beside her, and she sidled up against the war ti, almost time for their first dive as a complete crew
She wondered if she was afraid
No, Vanessa thought She wasn’t afraid of diving She wasn’t afraid of figureheads in the water, or even the absurdity of her drea Haunt Island
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The dive thatwas beautiful and uneventful They went down to several of the wrecks on the Shipwreck Trail in Biscayne National Park Reefs were beautiful, and though y helped, ships and boats still had to be wary The Alicia, built in Scotland, had slammed into the Ajax reef and the outline of the ship hosted a massive ecosysteroupers and more It was a beautiful wreck to film, and it was one that Vanessa had filmed before They had shot scenes of their characters off enjoying theend and the horror of the ghosts who had come back to tear them to shreds
That afternoon, they docked at Dinner Key in Miae across the straits--in the Ber They had a late lunch at Monty’s on the water, and after, Sean announced that they were all welco as they were aboard and ready to leave again first thing in the ested that she and Katie and whoever else wanted to should explore the area, go to a club, do so enjoyable
He didn’t tell her what he had planned She decided to ask hi one another
"So? Where are you going, what are you up to?" she asked him
Sean hesitated "I’m off to see a Coast Guard friend of Liam’s," he told her
"I should come," she said
He shook his head "He’s told us that they didn’t get anything"
"Then why are you seeing hi Spend the afternoon and evening with Zoe and Katie--and whoever you wish Jaoing to keep watch over the Conch Fritter Ted and Jaden have solue," he said
She frowned "I don’t need to be careful here, do I?"
"You need to be careful everywhere," he assured her "Just stay in public places, and calldisturbs you at all At all--okay?"