“What’s it say?” Fitz whispered.
“The arraignment judge set a ten thousand dollar bond on Kurt.” Ronan sighed. “He has no criminal record, so the judge didn’t have a lot of leeway. You only have to pay ten percent to get him out of jail, which is a thousand bucks. I can’t imagine he’ll stay in jail for very long.”
“Fuck,” Jude mumbled under his breath. “He’s gonna be pissed at Lainie for getting him locked up.”
Ronan had been afraid of the same thing. “I just hope she’s not the one who bails him out.”
“All we can do is keep our eyes open for signs of trouble,” Fitz said. “We’re out of our jurisdiction and out of state, there’s nothing we can do here, aside from what we did this morning, which was to call the police.” He gave his head a sad shake. “Lainie has your number to call if she needs help or wants to talk.”
Nodding, Ronan shoved his phone back into his pocket. Over the course of his career, he’d investigated his fair share of domestic violence cases. Unfortunately, violence against women was something that would never go away. All Ronan could do was raise the kind of daughter who wouldn’t allow anyone to treat her that way and a son who would never raise a hand to anyone unless it was in self-defense. Ronan felt helpless when it came to Lainie and Kurt.
Fifteen minutes later, everyone walked out of the store with shopping bags, mostly t-shirts and toys. The girls got pink shark stuffies, a hammerhead for Aurora, a whale shark for Everly, and a tiger shark for Lizbet.
The rest of the morning flew by as everyone shopped until they dropped. Everly and Aurora found a shop that sold pretty sundresses. They grabbed three each, with Cope doing the samefor Lizbet. Everyone’s favorite stop was the candy shop. The kids got different types of gummy candies, all weighed by the pound. Ronan’s eyeballs had nearly popped out of his skull when he saw the cost. He felt bad for whichever set of parents hosted the moving sleepover that night and hoped it wasn’t his and Ten’s turn.
After all the shopping, it was off to lunch. Thankfully, Fitz had made a lunch reservation at The Red Parrot, so they didn’t have to worry about waiting in a long line for a table with hungry, cranky kids and crankier detectives.
Settling around the table, Ronan called out drink orders, Shirley Temples for the kids, and iced teas for the adults. When the waitress walked away, Ronan grabbed his menu. “Look at all the lobster and crab dishes!” Ronan was in crustacean heaven.
“Lunch is on me,” Jace said. “Help yourself to anything.”
“Lobster for me!” Aurora said. “Maybe shrimp too.”
When the waitress came back for their order, Ronan ordered lobster rangoons, lobster quesadillas and fried pickles for starters. Jude also ordered lobster bisque, Ronan had considered that, but it was too hot for soup. Nearly everyone ordered lobster for their entrée, the kids’ with mac and cheese and the adults having theirs steamed or baked and stuffed. Judging by the plates on the tables around them, no one was going to be hungry for dinner and maybe not even breakfast the next morning.
While they waited for the meal to come, Ronan colored with Ezra. The placemat had an ocean scene filled with dolphins, fish and mermaids.
“Oh my goodness, Dad! It’s Sophie!” Everly half-shouted, grabbing Ten’s arm.
“Where?” Ten asked.
“On the television. Look!” Everly pointed toward the large screen mounted on the wall across from the table.
“Hurricane Sophie barrels up the east coast,” Ten read. “Wait a minute, Sophieisn’ta little girl for you to play with?”
“Guess not,” Everly said with a shrug.
“Everly knew a hurricane was coming and this is the first you’re telling me?” Ronan asked, feeling off-balance.
“The day before we left on this trip, Everly mentioned meeting Sophie on this trip. I assumed she was talking about a kid her age. Neither of us had any idea she was a hurricane.”
Ronan leaned close to Ten. “I didn’t mean to accuse you. This looks like it’s going to be a monster storm when it hits New England.”
“I hear you. I’m worried too. We need to make a plan of action.” Ten turned his attention back to the television.
Ronan watched in horror as the news broadcast images of Sophie’s path of destruction through the Outer Banks of North Carolina. People were being evacuated from their homes by boat. Streets were flooded in Norfolk, Virgina, and beaches as far north as New York were red flag warned for rip currents. “Holy shit,” Ronan muttered as the forecaster showed a projected path for the storm. Long Island, then the southern New England Coast. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts were all in the bullseye. The meteorologist was unsure which state would take a head-on hit.
“Why is this the first I’ve heard about this?” Jude asked.
“I haven’t seen or read any news since we got here,” Fitz said. “The world could have ended and I’d be the last to know.”
“Me too,” Cope agreed.
It had been the same for Ronan. Very rarely did he tune out completely from the news and social media, but he’d wanted to have a true vacation where he left his worries and cares back in Salem and focused on sand, sun, and surf. Unfortunately, a fourth “S,” Sophie, was about to smack him back to reality. “What do we do?” It was Thursday and they weren’t scheduled to go home until Monday. The news was saying the storm could arrive in Rhode Island by Sunday.
“We’re not going to panic, for a start,” Fitz said. “Let’s keep an eye on the forecast and see what happens over the next few days. For all we know, the storm could hook right and stay out to sea.”
“Sophie is taking the same path as the hurricane in 1933, the one that hit our hotel and killed Vivienne,” Ten said, sounding ominous, almost as if he thought Sophie had a mind to repeat history.
