Twilight at Blueberry Barrens (Sunset Cove #3)(76)
THIRTY-FIVE
Her chest tight, Claire peered over the side of the boat at the water churning onto the rocks. “Are you sure you saw someone fall? We need to get to town and help search for Kate.” She’d alternated between crying and wanting to scream ever since Jonas had called to say the stalker had Kate. Everyone was meeting at the sheriff’s office to coordinate search efforts. According to Jonas, the guy seemed to have realized what was happening. He’d forced Kate off the road on her way to the rendezvous point and vanished with her.
Claire should have done something to prevent this plan in the first place.
Luke stood at the bow with binoculars while one of the other men steered the boat. “I saw a man fall from those cliffs, honey. We can’t just leave him out here to drown.” His arm went up. “There! I see him. Three feet to starboard.” He seized a life ring. “Oh, man.” He kicked off his shoes and dove overboard with the ring in his hand.
Claire ran to the railing and searched for her husband’s head. He’d nearly reached the dark shape flailing in the water. With a few more strokes he was at the man’s side and had the ring around him.
Luke’s arm came up. “Pull us in.” Helping hold the man’s head above water, he swam toward the boat.
One of the crew members began to pull on the rope holding the life ring and the hapless victim in the water. It seemed like an eternity before the two men were floating near the ladder. Claire gasped when she recognized the pale face of the rescued man. “Drake?” She backed away to allow the men to assist Drake and Luke into the boat.
Drake collapsed onto the deck. His skin was bluish, and his eyelids fluttered. Claire knelt beside him and touched his face. It was cold. Was he in shock? He’d probably been in the water about twenty minutes by the time Luke had pulled him out.
Luke dripped cold water on her as he stood behind her. “Man, that was close. Someone grab a thermal blanket. Let’s get him warm. Hot coffee too.” He knelt beside Claire, his body emanating cold from the water. “I jumped in when I saw he was too far gone to try to grab the ring.” He tapped Drake’s cheeks, and the man’s eyelids fluttered again. “Wake up, Drake.” One of the crewmen brought a blanket, and Luke wrapped Drake in it, then held up his head to get some hot coffee down him. “Take a sip, buddy.”
Drake muttered something, then blinked and opened his eyes. He took a gulp of hot coffee, and his eyes became more alert. He struggled to sit up and Luke helped him. “K-Kissner.” His lips were blue and his teeth were chattering.
Luke’s expression grew grim. “We heard from him. We’re heading in to try to reach Kate with Jonas and the rest of the sheriff’s department.” He handed the coffee to Claire.
Drake shook his head. “W-what do you mean?”
He was probably still confused. Claire offered him another sip of coffee. “Kissner is sure they’ll find her.”
Drake’s eyes darkened. “Kissner has h-her.”
“No, no. He’s looking for her.” Surely his thoughts would clear shortly. She gave him more coffee.
The color started coming back to his face. He pushed the coffee away and shook his head. “Kissner pushed me off the cliff. He’s the stalker.” He shook off their grips and struggled to stand, and Luke helped him up.
Claire’s skin prickled with goose bumps. She looked at her husband. “What’s he mean?” Kissner was a friend—and a deputy.
Drake gripped the railing to steady himself. “I mean what I just said. Kissner was supposed to be setting me up to help watch over Kate, but he lured me to the edge of the cliff, then shoved me off the side. I should have hit the rocks and been killed instantly, but a big wave rolled in as I plummeted down, and I hit the water instead. It dragged me out to sea. We have to get to shore and look for her.”
A wave of dread shuddered over Claire. “How is this possible? He likes Kate.”
Luke directed the boat’s captain to head for the dock a little ways down the shore from where Kate was supposed to be waiting. “Stalkers often know their victims. They see them in normal circumstances and get obsessed.”
Drake shivered in his blanket and looked toward land. “We’ve been feeding Kissner information all along. I bet he got to work this morning and heard it was all a trap, so he laid one of his own. What story did he tell the sheriff and all of you?”
Luke grabbed another blanket and draped it over his shoulders. “He told us the stalker had forced Kate off the road, and she disappeared.”
“That’s impossible even if he hadn’t shoved me off the cliff. He came to pick me up, and Kate left only moments before me. He passed her on the way to get me. It’s the story he used to cover up what he’s done. He called off everyone else with that story, but he assumed I’d be dead and there’d be no one to contradict his tale.”
Luke asked one of the men to radio the sheriff and tell him what had happened. “It’s only been twenty minutes since I saw you fall into the water. He couldn’t have gone far with her. We were just getting into position when I saw you fall, so we never reached our viewing spot. We’ll look for her tracks near the granite steps up the cliff. We’ll find her. Have the sheriff call in some search dogs too.”
Claire went to the railing and gripped it with cold fingers. She stared toward the approaching cliff walls. What if they found Kate dead on the shore? She’d never forgive herself for letting this crazy plan go forward.