It was good to hear Dot’s laugh. She’d had a rough couple of months. “I’ll see you then,” Penelope said and hung up.
Sam was frowning when she turned back to him. “You’re worried about whatever was buried.”
He hesitated only a moment before he nodded. She appreciated he wasn’t trying to keep her in the dark in order to protect her. “More weapons?”
“Possibly. Dot didn’t mention whether the cache out at the Ridge was booby trapped. Maybe I overreacted.”
“She said we shouldn’t uncover anything we found.”
“That might be to do with contaminating evidence,” Sam replied.
“Should I call her back and ask?”
“She won’t answer. If we know it’s not booby trapped, she’ll think we’ll open anything we find and mess with the evidence.”
“And would you?”
He grinned. “Yeah.”
Penelope shook her head. She wanted to forget about all this for a day. “So, did you have plans today?”
Sam sighed. “I should get a few things ready on the boat for tomorrow,” he said. “Assuming my suspension has been lifted.” He raised his eyebrows, but smiled as he did so.
“It has.” She paused. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know you then.”
“You did what you thought was right,” he answered. “I get that, especially after what you’ve been through.” He kissed her. “Besides, I had been planning to get between the calf and the orca before Rob stopped me. No hard feelings.”
“I hated to disappoint all those people who booked.”
“We got most people on other charters, and those we couldn’t, we either refunded or gave them a voucher so they could re-book the next time they were up here. Some come up every year.”
“How about comments on social media?”
Sam grimaced. “We posted a statement to explain the situation. Not everyone will believe it, but there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“Do you need a hand with the boat?” She wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.
“There’s not a lot to do. Rob and I have been going over things the past few days and I wanted to see if I can remember by myself.”
Well then, she could get to those fish after all. She wouldn’t deny the disappointment, but she could also continue working on the baby blanket now Amy had given her a few pointers.
“I should be done by midday if you want to get lunch,” Sam said.
“Sounds great. Call me when you’re done.”
Sam washed their dishes and then kissed her in a way that made her want to drag him back to bed. When they broke apart, she said, “I’ll give you a lift.”
She put her knitting in her backpack and drove Sam to the marina. When she arrived at work, she called the twenty-four-hour lab number to confirm they received the samples.
“We haven’t received anything from Retribution Bay,” the person she spoke to said.
“Are you certain? It should have been couriered straight there when it arrived last night.”
“I’ve been through last night’s work, and there’s nothing from your area.”
Penelope hung up. She didn’t want to disturb Declan on his day off. Luckily she’d kept some of the fish aside in case the samples she’d prepared got lost. She spent an hour preparing samples for the lab and running the few tests she could run up here. The results were odd. High levels of a chemical she didn’t recognise. She printed the report, packed up and called Declan on her way to the airport to get her new samples on the next flight.
“The lab didn’t receive the samples,” she told him. “I’ve packed a new batch and I’m taking it to the airport now.”
