the coup de grace. “Joy…You know I have Detective O’Rourke of the Suffolk County Police on my speed dial now. Don’t make me use it!”
Before Joy could stammer a reply, I hung up. For all she knew I was dialing the detective right now.
“What next?” I asked Jim, my blood pumping with adrenaline.
He observed the mansion. “I’d say your daughter will be leaving in about…” He grinned. “Yep, there they go.”
With my naked eyes I saw the Mini Cooper’s headlights spring to life. Jim shoved the binoculars at me, started the boat’s engine. A moment later, we were cutting through the surf on the way down the coast to David Mintzer’s section of beach.
“Look over there!” I cried.
Jim followed my finger, saw the power boat bobbing on the waves in front of David’s mansion. No running lights were visible, it was not even a smudge on the water. I only spied the boat because it was silhouetted against the pool lights on David’s patio, which were shining brightly. Usually the house was dark by this hour of the night.
“Whoever it is on that boat, they don’t want to be seen,” Jim said.
“I know, and that’s usually your MO, isn’t it?”
Jim’s eyes narrowed. He glanced in my direction. “Yeah, Clare. I’d call that suspicious.”
He cut the engine and swerved our boat. Its momentum pushed us silently to shore. “Hold on,” he quietly warned, and we ran aground with a lurch. Then Jim went below and I heard him fumbling around. He emerged chambering a bullet into his handgun.
“My god, Jim—”
“Clare, get below deck and stay there.” His voice was quiet, but its tone had gone hard, sharp.
“But—”
“Now!”
I went down the short stairs, waited until I heard Jim leap off the deck and splash into the shallow water. Then I crept back up to the deck again. I moved into a crouch, my head low. I could see Jim on the shore, playing his flashlight in the sand. Then he extinguished the lamp and vanished into the shadows.
Fearful I’d lose sight of him, I crawled down the side of the boat and slipped into the water, my sneakers sinking into the cold, shallow tide.
I moved across the sand, to the place where Jim had vanished. Despite the pool lights in the distance, I couldn’t see a thing. I wished I had a flashlight, too, then I remembered the tiny blue glow of the cell phone screen. I whipped it out and flipped it open.
With the faint illumination I saw tracks in the sand. Webbed tracks. Flipper prints. As far as I could tell in the gloom, they led up to the rolling dunes fronting David’s mansion. I followed, stumbling along in what I hoped was the same direction Jim took.
Among the dunes, I glanced toward the pool and saw the reason the lights were on. David was lounging in the bubbling hot tub, a drink in his hand. I thought about calling a warning, but David was too far away to hear me—the rhythmic tumbling of the surf would surely swallow my voice. All I would accomplish was to warn the stalker that he was being stalked.
I crossed an empty stretch of sand, then entered another row of dunes and stopped abruptly. Silhouetted against the glare of the deck lights, I saw a figure rise up, rifle with a scope clearly visible. I watched in horror as the figure aimed the weapon at David.
“No!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.
The gunman turned to face me, bringing the rifle around too. But before he could aim, Jim dived over the dune and slammed against the stranger. A loud crack split the silence as the rifle fired into the air, its flash bright among the mounds of sand.
Jim knocked the rifle to the ground, grabbed the intruder by his shoulders and turned him around. When Jim saw the man’s face, he cried out, “Kenny, what the hell are you doing!?”
Kenny? Kenny Darnell? Jim’s paparazzi partner threw a punch at Jim, and the two began to fight.
I cried out for help, but a uniformed security guard had heard the shot and was already cresting the dune, flashlight beam pinning the struggling men.
“Freeze!” cried the guard, pulling his gun.
Kenny panicked. He broke away from Jim and stumbled across the sand.
“Freeze or I will shoot you!” the guard shouted.
“For chrissakes, Kenny!” Jim shouted, “Stop! It’s over! This guard will shoot you in the back. Give it up!”
But Kenny kept running toward the water. I saw