After I sent the text, I typed in the next set of numbers on the paper, surprised to see Madeline Island come up. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. He could have been charting the islands since he was offering pleasure cruises. There were more than three pages of numbers I would have to put in, which meant not all of them were islands. Maybe they were just his coordinates of islands, areas of the lake to avoid, and that kind of thing.
Mathias walked toward me and slid the phone back in his pocket. “That was Milas’s brother, Emil. He doesn’t want the boat. He said that’s just bad juju.”
I nodded my agreement. “He’s right, it is, but do me a favor and don’t get rid of it just yet. Rent a slip if you have to until I get this figured out.”
“Get what figured out?” He eyed the pages in front of me.
My chest puffed up a bit when I answered his question. “I finally figured out what all these numbers are.”
“Well, you’ve got me beat. I still don’t know.”
“They’re GPS coordinates,” I explained, pointing to the letters after each one. “Latitude and longitude.”
He slapped himself in the forehead. “Of course, he was charting courses.”
“I think so, but I can’t be sure until I convert all these points.”
He flipped through the pages on the table. “This is going to take a while. It might not be worth it. What is it going to tell us? His routes for client cruises? I don’t honestly care.”
I lowered a brow at him. “Mathias, think about it. If he were just charting cruises, there would be no reason he had to write it all in Danish. He’s hiding something in all of this, and I will find out what it is. Also, look”—I spread the papers out—”see how every so often there’s a name handwritten in the margins rather than entered through the computer? The names mean something.”
He paused for a beat before he nodded. “That is weird. Okay, you’re right. We’ll keep going. I’ll print off a map of Lake Superior and the St. Lawrence Seaway. We put a pin on every island or location that matches a coordinate. We can do it faster if we work together.”
“Agreed. Can I use your scanner? If I scan these documents in, I can copy and paste the numbers rather than type them all.”
He gathered them up and put his arm around me, ushering me into the house. “Let’s finish this business so we can get on with our lives together,” he whispered, kissing my temple.
I was all too happy to oblige.
♥
“What’s the good of having tests if they don’t give you the results?” Mathias set his wineglass down on the patio table in frustration.
“Mattie, I told you they wouldn’t tell us anything. We’ll get a call or a letter in the mail.”
His hand went into his hair. “This is frustrating.”
“Welcome to healthcare,” I teased. “Try to relax, okay? There’s no sense being stressed out.”
He smiled and winked at me. “I’ll try, but I’m stressed out.”
“I hope getting to see Mor doing so well helped, though.”
“She looked good for having such major surgery less than twenty-four hours ago. Don’t you think so?” he asked, as though he was desperate for reassurance from me.
It was late by the time we got home, and I was tired after a long day at the hospital. We visited with Mor and Far, took Far to lunch while she napped, then went back to see her again before finally deciding to head home. The doctors said she would be released sometime in the next couple of days.
“She’s a strong woman, Mattie. She’s also as stubborn as her son is, so I have no doubt she’s determined to get out of there ASAP.”
“I agree,” he said with a nod. “About as determined as you are not to have more tests.” He snapped his fingers then. “I didn’t tell you. While you were in the CT machine, I arranged to get the yacht transferred to a slip at our marina. It’ll arrive tomorrow. Do you want to go look at it?” he asked, taking my hand. “Would that help in any way?”
I shrugged uncomfortably at the thought of stepping on that boat. “I don’t know. I’m creeped out by the idea, but none of this makes a lot of sense to me right now, so maybe? I’m sure the cops would have found anything of any great evidentiary value, though.”
“I know. All the same, the yacht will be there if you decide it would help to check it out.”
“I’ve got a page left to go with the coordinates, but I’m confused about something.”
“Shoot,” he said, finishing his drink.
