Jack Beale 00 - Dangerous Shoals

off.
    “So, what did you do today? Where’s Patti?” he shouted up to her.
    “Not much. Had lunch and just hung out. Patti is working tonight. I’m off. What would you say to a cookout, just you and me?”
    He thought he detected a subtle something in the way she made the suggestion. “Sounds good to me.” This would also give him the opportunity to ask her about the disc without any distractions.

CHAPTER 66
    “WHAT THE HELL IS that damned fool doing?” Gladys thought to herself. She considered herself the bird expert of Rye Harbor and in her opinion, this was not the right time of year for spotting birds out in the marshes. Yet, there he was again, putting his canoe in the water.
    * * *
    “What are you up to, Jack Beale?” he murmured as he watched Jack and Max leave the boat and climb up the ramp to the pier. “First you take something off the boat, and then you bring it back.” From the direction they were walking, it was an easy guess to figure out that they were going back to Jack’s.
    He dipped his paddle into the water and with leisurely strokes, his canoe glided across the harbor, toward the marsh. He knew the spot from which he would be able to easily observe Jack’s place. To anyone around the marsh watching the lone canoeist, paddling slowly across the still water, he looked like someone enjoying the last moments of a perfect summer’s day. The truth was, his legs ached, he was hot and tired, the mosquitoes were attacking and these people were really trying his patience.
    While he paddled, his thoughts drifted. His heart rate quickened as he remembered that night down in Hampton Beach and the satisfaction and release he had found.
    He smiled and took a deep breath. It would be so simple to rush over and confront them. Fortunately, those emotions only lasted a moment before the professional re-emerged. He refocused. He had to know for sure before risking everything. Deep inside he knew that they had what he wanted, they had to, and the sooner he could get it, the sooner he could get out of this backwater town, but he had no proof. Maybe this would finally be the night that they would reveal what they had and he could be done with it.

CHAPTER 67
    KURT WAS DRIFTING into position as Jack and Max arrived home. It was so quiet that he could hear them across the water even without the earphones. Not every word, but enough to know they would be leaving soon to go shopping. He saw Jack pull a grill out from the shadows while she went inside. When she came back out, they had an animated conversation. Then they both went back inside. Kurt rummaged through his bag and found the earphones and put them on. The bug was still working, but there was a faraway sound to it.
    “What happened to the lamp?” asked Max.
    “It got knocked off the table this afternoon and it broke.”
    “You didn’t tell me that.”
    “I was over here fixing the CD player from the boat. Somehow two CDs were jammed into it at once. Cat was being a real pain in the ass. She wouldn’t stay off the table and every time I shooed her off she just jumped back up. Finally I went to grab her and she jumped, which caused me to hit the lamp and it broke.”
    “So what you are saying is that you broke the lamp, but it was Cat’s fault?”
    He paused and grinned. “Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m saying.”
    * * *
    “That fucking cat. That explains a lot,” mumbled Kurt to himself. Then he added, “So Jack, that’s what you were doing this afternoon.”
    In the moment before they said anything else, Kurt felt both concern and elation. The bug. They must not have found the bug, since he was listening to it, but it was only a matter of time before they did, which could be a problem. Then, he smiled. Jack had found the CD.
    At that moment a loud scratching sound, interspersed with loud knocks and taps, shattered his ears making it impossible to hear any more of their conversation. He pulled the earphones away from his ears to lessen those ear-shattering sounds. He swore under his breath, and then, calming down held them away from, yet close enough to his head so he might still hear anything else they said.
    * * *
    “What’s Cat got?” Max asked.
    The scratching, raps, and taps started again. “Probably just a piece of the lamp. Do you have your grocery list?”
    “I do. Are you ready to go?”
    “Yes. I’m starved.”
    “Then let’s go.”
    * * *
    Kurt listened to their footsteps going down the stairs and heard the door