Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

know.”
    “Damn it, Abbey!”
    “Jonas Harrington! You watch your mouth in this house,” Carol admonished. “I won’t have you browbeating Abigail. I won’t have it even if you are the sheriff.”
    “Watch it, Aunt Carol, he’ll threaten to arrest you,” Hannah said. “He’s always threatening me.”
    “With good reason,” Jonas said. He leaned over to kiss Carol’s cheek. “You, I would never arrest.”
    “Are you going to tell us what’s going on here in Sea Haven?” Kate asked. “Does it have something to do with the old mill?”
    “Yes, tell us what’s going on, Jonas,” Joley said. “If we’re all going to be looking over our shoulders, we may as well know what it’s all about.”
    Jonas sighed. “I wish I knew what to tell you. Several months ago, Gene Dockins and his youngest son, Jeremy, thought they saw one of the local fishing boats rendezvousing with a freighter out at sea. They became suspicious and talked to me about it and I notified the coast guard. Gene never said another word to me about the incident and, to be honest, with everything else going on up and down the coast I didn’t give it another thought. Then about a month or so ago, Jeff Dockins—”
    “He owns the local gas station, Aunt Carol,” Sarah supplied. “He’s Gene’s oldest son, remember?”
    “Of course I remember him, dear,” Carol said. “He’s very handsome.”
    “Aunt Carol!” All seven sisters made the protest.
    Carol burst out laughing and her hand fluttered to her hair. “I’m not as young as I used to be, girls.
    You’re flattering me. I hardly think at my age I’m going to cause another scandal in Sea Haven.”
    “You never cause scandals, Aunt Carol”—Hannah blew her a kiss—“just stir things up a bit, which is good every now and then.”
    “I’m certainly not going to win any beauty contests,” Carol said, “but I do intend to renew my Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    acquaintance with a few old friends.”
    “Jeff is happily married,” Jonas felt compelled to point out. He wiped his brow, not in the least surprised he was sweating. The Drake women could do that to a man. All he needed was the additional trouble of Carol and her love potions. The rumor was, there had been more than one scandal and quite a few fights over her. In fact, Inez, owner of the grocery store, loved to tell how two of the local men broke out the door and three windows at a dance in a brawl over Carol. There were many such tales and Jonas had heard, and believed, them all.
    “I never go near married men,” Carol said. “It can be fatal. It would have been to any woman who came after my Jefferson.”
    “Then you haven’t met Sylvia Fredrickson,” Joley said.
    “She was in Abbey’s class and even as a teen, she was after married teachers. It seems to be her goal to break up every marriage in Sea Haven.”
    “Not anymore,” Hannah said smugly.
    Jonas shot her a quelling glance. “Did you have something to do with that rash that keeps appearing on her face?”
    “You mean the one in the shape of an open-handed slap that comes out whenever she flirts with a married man? Why ever would you think I had anything to do with it?” Hannah examined her fingernails.
    “I can’t wait to meet Frank Warner again,” Carol said. “He’s such a sweetheart and he sent me an invitation to his fund-raiser at the gallery next Tuesday. I’m really looking forward to seeing him. We had dinner right after my husband died and he was very interested, but I just wasn’t up to a new relationship.
    I do love artists. They’re so inventive.”
    Jonas buried his face in his hands. “Where the hell are Matt and Damon? I need some men in this household. I’m drowning here.”
    “Matt’s at work and Damon had some wonderful idea that he had to share with his former bosses.
    Something to do with a satellite security system.” Sarah shrugged. “He left last night in the middle of the night for San Francisco. A helicopter was picking him up and taking him to some undisclosed location for a meeting.”
    “I thought he was completely out of that work,” Kate said, leaning forward, concerned. “He was so scarred when he came here, both physically and emotionally. Are they pressuring him to come back to work?”
    Sarah shook her head. “His brain just works on things. He can’t help it. He knows the defense systems inside and out and when he figures out things