“Well, that’s Sir CC. He’s the mascot for the Cleveland Cavaliers.” Haley holds it close to her face and then puts it down on the bench. Everyone picks it up again, but hell if I’d know a Sir CC from a Sir Zed.
I read down the list of details I have on each of the guys from the other raft. “Cleveland is in Ohio, and the photo of the other girl is from Pittsburgh, both of which are close to Youngstown and Erie right?” I look up at Calvin.
“Doesn’t mean that he’s the one who did it. But it certainly looks suspicious.”
“Fucker. Mitch. He knew more than his CV led on. But why?”
I lift the ripped index card. “Money.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Calvin glares at the card and picks up the photo.
“Oh, it matters,” Easton growls. “There’s something weird with these photos. Being the owner might not prove he’s guilty, but it feels like he is. If he is, he’s going to pay.”
“And how exactly is he going to pay? In coconuts?” Calvin drops the photo.
“I’d prefer mangos. We don’t have enough of them.” Dante moves between Easton and Calvin. “Better yet, some wagyu beef.”
“When we get home, we’ll give the evidence to the police.” Haley takes the picture and puts it in the box.
Calvin grunts.
“We can get it sorted when we’re back on the mainland. And until then, I’m going to keep working on the code,” I say and close the agenda. In less than a month, it will be out of days.Well, almost—there’s a January page too. When we found it, I really never imagined we wouldn’t be going home. We had the ship, and while getting the crank to turn felt difficult, it wasn’t impossible.
“That’s exactly the right thing to do.” Haley kisses me on the side of my cheek. “Now, tomorrow’s Island Festival Day and I have something else I need to make.”
“Can I help you, Little Bird?”
“You know, I think you could. Are you done with whatever you two were working on?” She leans to the right, as if she can see behind the tree to where Sam and I set up a workshop.
I glance up at Sam. “Done enough. But you’ll see it tomorrow.”
“Not now?”
“No, not now. Have some patience, Little Bird.” I grab her around her waist and pull her onto my lap. “How can I help you?”
“Not here. You’re not the only one who likes surprises.” She takes my hand and tugs me away from the other guys. Fuck if I don’t like it. I’d make her anything, just to see that smile on her face.
She grabs a small box from the corner of Dante’s kitchen slab and runs up to the living room platform with a small sack, then comes back again.
“What are we making?”
She holds a finger up to her lips and walks us down the path to the beach. “A little float.”
I’m awake early. There’s no rooster, at least not yet. One of the little chicks is bound to be a bloke. Then we’ll have a built-in alarm clock for sure.
I lift my head. When we were on the boat, I woke up early. But then, so did most of the crew.
I blink, but it’s really early. I’m shocked at how empty the platform is. Only Calvin’s asleep across from me. Not surprising—he was still up when I went to sleep. And down the path toward the derelict back where Sam and I made our surprise, I can see the evidence of what he was working on. There’s a pen made of bamboo and vines, and our chickens are happily scratching away at the dirt.
“Morning, Zane.” Haley pulls me into a hug.
The area around camp is completely transformed. She’s hung garlands around the kitchen area. Leaves of different colors and sizes hang around the camp, waving in the breeze like banners around the pitch for a special game.
“It looks amazing here.”
“Thanks.” She jumps a little.
“You ready?” Sam peers at us from around the base of the treehouse.
