Jack Beale 00 - Dangerous Shoals

rhythmic swoosh of the bow slicing through the water and the soft hum of the wind in the rigging said all that needed to be said. They traded places. Jack took the helm from Tom and Tom moved to where Jack had been in the cockpit.
    Jack was the one who first broke the silence. “I told you about how Max is sure she has seen Daniel.”
    “You mentioned it a few weeks back, but you didn’t think too much of it.”
    “Yeah. That was then. Now I’m not so sure.”
    “How so?”
    “She says she saw him again the other day in town. Before she could get out of her car and grab his attention, he disappeared, but she was sure that it was him.”
    “Okay,” Tom said tentatively.
    “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the idea that he might be around. After all that he put Max though last fall, I really have no use for the bastard. So I asked myself, why is he hanging around? Why so mysterious?”
    Normally Max was the conspiracy theorist, not Jack, so Tom nodded to encourage Jack to go on.
    “I think that he is being pursued. I don’t know exactly why or who is after him, but I have that feeling and I don’t like it. Prepare to tack.”
    Tom readied the sheets and said, “Ready.” Jack studied the swells and when the moment was right, he issued the command and put the helm over. Irrepressible swung onto a new tack, which would take them toward the Isles of Shoals.
    Tom trimmed the jib, and when Jack was satisfied that it was drawing well, Tom cleated home the sheets. He sat back, slightly red-faced from the effort, and said to Jack, “So you were saying that one, you now believe Max; two, Daniel is around; and three, you think someone is after Daniel?”
    “I guess I am. It does make a certain amount of sense.”
    This sounded incredibly far-fetched to Tom. “Jack, you have been around Max way too long. As you may recall, the search for Daniel was pretty intense, both in Belize and here. Nothing has ever been found that would suggest that he is anything but dead. I’m beginning to get worried about you.”
    Jack could tell that Tom wasn’t taking him seriously enough. “Tom, listen. There’s this guy I’ve seen several times, and Courtney has seen him as well.”
    “So.”
    “So I think he’s the one stalking Daniel.”
    “That’s a leap,” Tom said with a touch of sarcasm. “So now, because you and Courtney have seen some guy, you think that Daniel is around, and this guy is after Daniel.”
    “No. Yes. I don’t know.” The way that Tom said it, Jack realized how ridiculous it sounded, but he continued. “Max has been getting a lot of hang-up calls at work. She answers and she’s sure that someone is on the line, but whoever it is, says nothing, and then hangs up. The calls started just after the first time she saw Daniel. Then, the other night Courtney answered the phone and the same thing happened. As she was about to hang up, a man’s voice told her to tell Max to be careful. Then the line went dead.”
    Tom looked at Jack. “Really.”
    “Yes. Max is convinced that it was Daniel, even though Courtney didn’t recognize the voice.”
    “And this mystery person was telling Max to be careful.”
    “ Yes.”
    “So where does this mystery man who is following Daniel fit in?”
    “Courtney saw him first. She didn’t think anything of him except that he really gave her the creeps. Then, a few weeks back, when we went on a picnic in Prescott Park, I saw him. He really was creepy looking and he seemed to be looking at something, although I didn’t see anything. Our eyes made contact for a split second and it gave me the willies. Then he was gone. The other day I bumped into him in the parking lot at Ben’s. I had just finished a run and was cooling down and he walked out from behind a van and we ended up face to face. The way he reacted was, well, I don’t know how to exactly describe it. I don’t think he expected to see me and he couldn’t get away fast enough. It really spooked me and I rushed in to check on Max. She hadn’t seen him and I looked like a real idiot. But I know what I saw and felt. There is definitely something not right about this guy. If I were to describe evil, he would fit the description.”
    “Jack, I don’t know what you want me to say. On one level I can understand what you are saying. But, the reality is that all you have described are coincidences and suppositions. There hasn’t yet been any direct contact with Daniel. The guy you and Courtney have