Jack Beale 00 - Dangerous Shoals

Jack took one spin around his boat to inspect it. Other than some obvious and generous plops of bird poop, she appeared to be just as he had left her. That was about to change.
    The two men climbed onboard. As Tom secured the dinghy, Jack went to unlock the companionway. The lock was closed, but when he went to turn the tumblers, it fell open. “What the … ?” He removed the lock, pushed the hatch back, and began removing the hatchboards. He stopped short when he looked below. “Son of a bitch!” he hissed.
    Tom had just finished securing the dinghy to the stern and was moving to join Jack when he heard Jack’s outburst. “What happened?”
    “The boat is trashed,” said Jack as he pulled the last hatchboard out and began climbing into the cabin.
    “Trashed?” replied Tom as he hurried to the companionway, arriving just as Jack disappeared below. Cabinets were open, drawers pulled out, and the contents of each were strewn about the cabin. Tom surveyed the scene from above as Jack moved toward the forward cabin. Then he climbed down as well.
    “Those miserable pricks,” said Jack as he returned to the main cabin, “You’d think that they’d leave it as they found it.”
    Tom looked at Jack, and with a bit of a defensive tone in his voice said, “I don’t think the police did this.”
    “No. And why not?” Jack shot back, his temper still flaring.
    “Because they just wouldn’t,” said Tom as calmly as possible. “Let’s go back up into the cockpit before we disturb anything else, and I’ll call the police.”
    Jack didn’t say anything. He climbed out into the cockpit and sat down while Tom followed and called the police on his cell. Jack sat silently, his mind racing at warp speed as he considered the possibilities. None of them were good. His first thought was that if the police didn’t do this, then that probably meant that Kurt was still around. Max didn’t know, and now he and Tom were stuck in York, waiting for the police with no way to get home to warn her.
    “Tom, give me your phone. I need to make a call. I left mine at home today.”
    Tom handed Jack the phone without saying anything. His mind was occupied with its own set of concerns.
    Jack dialed and after listening for a few moments slapped the phone shut. His mind was racing, imagining the worst. Instinctively, he dialed another number. “Hey, Court,” he said, trying to sound as normal as possible.
    “Hey, Jack. What’s up?”
    “You home?”
    “Yes.” There was a hint of question in her voice.
    “Is Max back yet?”
    “Let me look. No. I don’t see her, but I expect to see her tonight at work.”
    Jack was silent as he thought about what to do next.
    “Weren’t you getting the boat today and wasn’t she taking you up to York?” asked Courtney.
    “I am. She did. Listen, I have to talk to her. Are you sure she isn’t back yet?”
    Courtney noticed that his speech seemed a little rushed. “I haven’t seen her, but I thought she and Patti were going to hit the malls on the way back. Have you tried calling her cell?”
    “I did and there was no answer.”
    “Well, she’s due in to work before too long and I’m about to head over to Ben’s now. I’ll have her call you if I see her. Any message?”
    Trying to keep his growing concern from becoming obvious, he said, “No. I just had a quick question for her.”
    He must not have done a very good job, because Courtney didn’t let him off the hook. “Jack, you’re full of shit. Something is up and you need to tell me now. Why do you need to get hold of Max?”
    He paused, thinking to himself. “How does she do that?”
    “Jack?”
    “Okay. Court, someone broke into the boat. Tom and I are waiting for the police to arrive and I don’t know if we’ll be able to leave today or if they will want to keep the boat again, and if they want to keep it, I don’t know for how long. I just wanted her to know we’ll be delayed.”
    Court knew that he was telling her the truth, or at least most of it, and she also knew that it would be better to just accept what he told her for the time being. “I’m so sorry. I’ll let her know when I see her.”
    “Thanks. I’ll call later as soon as we know what the plan is. Bye.”
    Handing the phone back to Tom, Jack sat down without saying anything,
    “You think Kurt did this?” Tom’s voice broke the silence.
    “Kind of hard not to.”
    “That means he didn’t get what he was after from Daniel.”
    Jack nodded