The withering glare Kyle shot him before returning his attention to the beach was all the confirmation Keith needed. “O’Malley said his men didn’t find her on the beach, nor did they spot her in the water.”
Keith left the obvious unsaid: there was a greater likelihood that Moira drowned than survived. But Kyle refused to give up hope. He moved to look over the other side of the ship, half expecting to find Moira clinging to the ship. When he spotted no one, he moved to the stern, then to the bow. But no one awaited rescue. Keith called to his men to look over the sides of their boat, but the twins and their crew recognized it was pointless. Moira would have called out if she’d been nearby.
“Maybe she made it around the jetty and to the coast on the other side,” Kyle suggested. “Dermot might not have seen her if she was already on the shore. He said nothing about searching the beach there.”
“Because there are no beaches, Kyle,” Keith reminded him. “It’s sheer cliff face. She’d more likely be battered among the rocks than hiding on a beach.”
“Then I want her body recovered,” Kyle uttered. He looked toward the jetty and pictured what lay on the other side. An image of Moira’s lifeless body trapped between boulders floated before his eyes. “This is my fault.”
“It’s Dermot O’Malley’s fault, him and her bastard of a brother,” Keith corrected. “Where exactly would you have put her ashore? The land might not belong to the O’Malleys, but they make use of it as if it were. Don’t you think an unattached, young woman would garner attention wherever she went? Then who would have protected her?”
“A right lot of good my protection did her,” Kyle yelled. He slammed his fist on the gunwale before ordering a dinghy lowered. “You can come with me or you can stay, but I’m going to look for her.”
“And you know I’m coming with you,” Keith retorted. The twins climbed down the rope ladder into the rowboat with Snake Eye, Tomas, and another one of Kyle’s crew members, Stephen. The last man was mammoth, with blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He resembled his Viking ancestors. He had the strength of ten men and a short temper. While Kyle didn’t favor him most of the time, Stephen was strong and surprisingly agile for his size. If they encountered anyone as they searched, Stephen would be an asset.
The five men remained quiet as they rounded the jetty, the expanse of sea only widening. The distance from the end of the jetty to the cliffs was further than Kyle recalled. He remembered Moira saying she swam when she was younger, but he couldn’t imagine how she could have swum the stretch of water that lay between him and land. The water was frigid even when the air temperature was warm. He knew she had boots on since they’d found none on the deck. They would have felt like leaden blocks once they filled with water, and he feared they would have acted as an anchor pulling her below.
When they neared the cliffs, Kyle called out to Moira over and over, but no one called back. They drew as close to land as they dared without being dashed upon the rocks. Nothing fluttered in the breeze or made a sound. Kyle felt the men looking at him as he strained to see in the distance anything that might signal that they’d found Moira. The men took turns rowing as they moved along the coastline until Kyle had to admit there was no chance Moira had swum as far north as they searched. During his turn at the oars, he propelled the rowboat through the water toward the jetty. He repeated her name several times, looking for any nook or cranny she might have found. But there was nothing, just the jagged rocks.
“Where do we go now?” Keith asked quietly as they came alongside the Lady Grace.
“We can’t remain here, and if we go any further south, we’ll encounter the O’Malleys again,” Kyle mused. “We sail north to Wicklow. We’re less than an afternoon’s sail since the wind is with us. We dock and go ashore. Get horses and ride back this way. If Dermot had her hidden in the dinghy, we couldn’t see. If she makes her way to the beach, then she’ll take the path I showed her this morning. Either way, if she’s alive, she’ll be nearby.”
“If