Page 55 of Dauntless
Mavis raised her eyebrows and hummed.
Joe exhaled slowly.My face fell when he took his hand away.He stood, placing his hand on my shoulder.Squeezed it, and then leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
Mavis’s eyebrows vanished into her hair.
Joe crossed to the pantry and pulled the box of Cornflakes out.Then he returned to my seat and slid the box toward me.
He must have got a concussion or something when he hit the rail.“Um, thanks, but I’m not really hungry.”
Joe rolled his eyes and pulled the box back.He opened it, pulled the bag of cereal out, and shoved the box at me again.
I peered inside.My heart flip-flopped, and I sucked in a sharp breath as I saw a very familiar book in the box.I pulled out Henry Jessup’s diary.“Oh my god!”
I caressed the cracked spine for a moment before running my fingers over the cover.Then I opened the book, revealing brittle, browning pages full of cramped and faded writing illegible to a quick glance with modern eyes.
“The diary,” I whispered.I blinked, and tears of relief and joy stung my eyes.I closed the little book and held it to my chest.“Joe, you found the diary!Be honest, did you think about throwing it in the ocean, just once?”
“No,” he said.“Not even for a second.”
I surged into him and kissed him, one hand still cradling the diary to my chest and the other tangling in Joe’s hair.“You saved the diary.And, yes, my life, but also thediary.And all my dreams of getting to put on a museum exhibit just once, even if nobody comes.”
Joe’s mouth quirked.“Well, so long as you dedicate your thesis to me, I guess.”
“I could do that,” I said, leaning back and beaming at him.“I mean, it will look really weird to publish a thesis about a murdering rapist criminal mutineer, and then dedicate it to him as well, but I’ll make sure people know I mean you, and not him.”
The detective cleared her throat and held out an open plastic evidence bag.
My face fell.“Really?”
The detective nodded.
I sighed and slipped the diary carefully into the evidence bag.“Bye, Henry.See you soon.”I looked at the detective.“You’ll take care of it, right?Like, no reading it with sticky fingers or anything?”
“I’ll take care of it,” she assured me, sealing the evidence bag and folding it over before sliding the diary into the pocket of her coat.
Joe took my hand and squeezed it.“It’ll be fine, Eddie.”
I leaned against him.Drew a deep breath then exhaled.“Yeah,” I said at last, choosing to believe it wholeheartedly.“It’ll be fine.”
Epilogue
RED JOE
Ihated the summer and the smattering of tourists it brought from the mainland.I waited at the end of the jetty on Wednesday afternoon, wishing I’d remembered my sunglasses.The light bounced off the water, stabbing into my eyes.Young Harry Barnes was just tying up now, and the first couple of tourists, a retiree couple in matching pink polo shirts, were wandering down the jetty, oohing and aahing at the village and the lighthouse.
I nodded as they passed me.
Beside the jetty, Hiccup swam in circles like a seal.Only her snout and her eyes protruded from the water, and her tail trailed behind her like a broken rudder as she made bow waves.
Another couple followed the first.This couple was young.The woman had a baby strapped into a carrier on her back, and the man was loaded up with camping equipment.
Short Clarry’s dream of turning Dauntless Island into a tourist hotspot hadn’t really panned out—at least not yet—but I didn’t think anyone minded.There had been some talk at government levels about getting us some more services, but their bureaucracy moved even more slowly than things on the island, and so far nothing had changed.Maybe it would and maybe it wouldn’t, but in the meantime, life went on the way that it always had on Dauntless, as slowly and surely as the tide.
The boards of the jetty creaked underfoot as I finally walked down to Young Harry’s boat.The tourists were off now, leaving the locals unpacking their groceries and purchases from over on the mainland, and—in one case—their luggage.
“Joe!”Amy shrieked with delight when she saw me, leaping onto the jetty and hurrying down to meet me.Her thin summer dress was tugged tight against her body in the breeze, and did nothing to conceal her condition.
She launched herself at me, and I caught her and swung her around.
