Deep Waters

in me."
    Charity paused, cocked a brow, and gave him a look. "Funny. I wouldn't have said that you were each other's type."
    "I used the word in the other sense. Apparently Swinton has some questions about me. He searched my house on Friday night."
    "He what?" Charity whirled around, her eyes huge. "You're joking. He went through your things? How do you know?"
    "I got a pretty big clue when I stood in my garden and watched him crawl out of my house through the front window."
    "Good lord." Charity put down the small bowl, turned her back to the counter, and braced herself against the tiled edge. "That's incredible. I can hardly believe it."
    "He seemed a little nervous, but I got the impression it wasn't the first time he'd entertained himself with an evening of B and E. After he finished at my house, he went down to Charms & Virtues and took a look around,"
    "That's outrageous. Absolutely outrageous. Did he take anything?"
    "No."
    "Did you call Chief Tybern?"
    "No."
    She spread her hands. "But what he did was illegal. You can't just ignore it,"
    "I figure Swinton and I will be even in the breaking and entering category after tonight."
    "Wait a second. You don't mean that you plan to ... to—"
    "Search his motor home while everyone's watching the show down on the beach?" Elias swallowed the last of his wine. "Yes. That's exactly what I plan to do."
    Charity decided that the scene on the bluff at eleven-thirty that night was a cross between a low-budget horror film and a carnival. The special effects consisted primarily of fog. The thick stuff blanketed the waters of the cove and swirled around the herd of vehicles occupied by the sightseers from town.
    The Voyagers' RVs and trailers loomed in the mist. The weak lamps above the entrance to the campground rest rooms glowed bravely, but the light did not penetrate far.
    From what Charity could discover, the Voyagers were all down on the beach. She could hear their hypnotic chants rising and falling above the sound of the gentle waves. The flute player was still off-key, she noticed. The drummer was trying to compensate with volume. The fog reflected an eerie glow created by flashlights and camp lanterns.
    Charity glanced back over her shoulder at the array of cars and trucks parked along the bluff. Most of the town had turned out to see the Voyagers off on their trip through the galaxy. Many adults waited inside their vehicles or visited with friends. A few men had gathered near the entrance to the primary bluff path. They were drinking beer and roaring with laughter. Dozens of small children dashed about playing tag in front of the first row of parked cars.
    The teenage contingent had braved the chill and the fog to cluster near the fence that overlooked the beach. Their shouts and jokes mingled with the serious chants of the Voyagers. Several drank cans of soda that they had purchased from the tailgate refreshment stand Bea and Yappy had set up.
    Radiance had joined the teenagers to hang over the railing. Ted, sporting a T-shirt that read Beam Me Up Scotty, There's No Intelligent Life Down Here, was keeping Bea and Yappy company. Newlin's beat-up pickup was parked on the outskirts of the gathering. He had apparently elected to stay inside the truck until midnight arrived.
    "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Charity asked for the fiftieth time.
    "How hard can it be?" Elias led the way between two rows of RVs. "Breaking and entering is not what you'd call a high-tech profession. At least, not the way I plan to do it."
    "What if you get caught?"
    "I'll think of something."
    "I don't like it."
    "I told you to wait in the car." She scowled at his sleek back. "I'm not going to let you handle this alone."
    "Then stop whining."
    "I'm not whining." She pulled the collar of her jacket higher around her neck and peered anxiously into the foggy darkness between two trailers. "I'm merely attempting to bring an element of common sense to this situation."
    "It sure sounds like whining."
    That did it. Charity set her teeth. She had used every reasonable argument she could think of to dissuade him from this reckless project. And he had the nerve to accuse her of being a whiner. She vowed she would not say another word on the subject, not even if he got himself arrested and called her to bail him out of jail.
    Elias turned down a narrow, grassy aisle between two rows of campers and came to a halt with no warning. Charity stumbled against him with a muffled gasp. He reached out