Twenty Years Later(101)

Christopher nodded. He turned to Walt.

“Thanks for all your help.”

“Sure thing,” Walt said. “You know where I live if you need anything.”

Christopher turned to Avery. She felt him kiss her forehead. He didn’t say anything more. There was nothing left to say. Instead, he climbed onto his new vessel. Avery untied the lines as the engine rumbled to life.

“Stay safe,” she said.

Ten minutes later, Claire-Voyance II was motoring out of the marina. Once it was in the open water, Avery saw the main sail climb the mast and fill with air. The front sail followed and the boat heeled slightly to the left as it took on an eastern tack and headed into the morning sun.

“So,” Walt said. “How long are you staying?”

“I’m off for a week.”

“Then what?”

“You tell me,” Avery said.

Walt took her hand as they walked along the dock. “I was thinking I should start spending some more time in the States.”

Avery looked at him with slivered eyes. “I thought you hated New York.”

“I do. I was thinking California is more my style.”





CHAPTER 78


Sister Bay, WI Friday, October 29, 2021

THE BROWN UPS TRUCK DROVE NORTH THROUGH THE DOOR COUNTY peninsula. The driver’s stops included the towns of Fish Creek and Ephraim before heading up to Sister Bay. It was 2:30 p.m. when he turned into the parking lot of Connie Clarkson’s sailing camp, grabbed the overnight envelope from the stack next to him, scanned the bar code, and dropped it on the front porch of the main office. He rang the bell and hustled back to his truck. He was pulling away when the front door opened.

Connie looked down to see the UPS envelope on the ground. She picked it up and walked back into the kitchen, where she dropped it on the table. A kettle of water was on the stove and had just started to whistle. She turned the burner off and poured the boiling water into a mug with the strings of two tea bags hanging over the rim. She allowed them to steep for two minutes, then pulled the tea bags from the mugs and dropped them in the garbage. She brought her mug to the kitchen table and sat down. She tore the thread from the top of the UPS envelope. Pushing the edges together, she saw that there was a single piece of paper inside, along with a business-sized white envelope.

She turned the package over and the contents slid onto the table. Lifting the paper, she unfolded it. It held a short, handwritten message:



Dear Connie, You’ve done more than anyone else would have done. More than either of us expected. We owe you everything, and can never repay you. But we can at least give you what was taken. Love, Claire & Christopher





The boat, Connie assumed, had made it safely to Jamaica. She put the paper down and reached for the envelope. She stuck her finger under the edge and ripped it open. Inside was a cashier’s check. After she pulled it from the envelope, she looked long and hard at the number printed on it. She had trouble comprehending that it was real. It was made out for $2 million, the exact amount she had handed over to Garth Montgomery years ago.





CHAPTER 79


Santorini, Greece Wednesday, December 15, 2021

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NEARLY TWENTY YEARS NATALIE RATCLIFF WAS late delivering a manuscript. Her impeccable track record of punctuality had been broken this time, and for good reason. So much had happened since summer to thwart her creativity and productivity. But now, finally, she was attempting to put the finishing touches on her latest Peg Perugo story. And just in the nick of time. The world was waiting. The book was slated for publication the following spring.

Over the years, Natalie Ratcliff and Victoria Ford had developed a routine. Victoria wrote the first draft of each manuscript and sent it off to Natalie, who reworked the story, picking out the flaws and inconsistencies. This many years later they both knew Peg Perugo equally well. But they each knew her differently. The advantage Victoria held from having originally created the affable character more than twenty-five years earlier was matched by Natalie’s understanding of how to mold Peg Perugo’s character for maximum commercial appeal. Together, they had developed a smooth back and forth that, while never fully escaping disagreement, always avoided argument. Until this year. Until the sixteenth Peg Perugo novel. This time there were deep disparities on how they each thought the plot should be structured. E-mailing their opinions and attempting to work through the problems from thousands of miles away had only added fuel to the fire, so Natalie arranged a trip to Santorini to sort out the details.

Victoria and Natalie sat in the splendid Ratcliff-owned villa on the tiny island of Santorini. They had spent the week reading and rereading the manuscript, tweaking and reworking the story in an attempt to find common ground on which they could both agree. Natalie had fought hard to convince Victoria that they should stick with the formula that had produced fifteen best sellers and had sold a hundred million copies. Victoria, on the other hand, wanted to go in a different direction. A darker, edgier direction that had been absent from all the previous Peg Perugo stories.

Natalie had noticed this change to Victoria’s writing since summer. An edge to Victoria’s writing that didn’t match the voice from the previous decade and a half of work. They wrote hard-boiled mysteries, not dark thrillers. And they had been spectacularly successful at it. Their readers expected a certain genre, and using their beloved protagonist in such a dark way would not be well received. But no matter how many times Natalie pointed this out, Victoria refused to listen. She simply came back with darker ideas still.