Chapter 18

We did make it back in time for Kay's class, so I dropped her off at her place so she could pick up all her stuff and drive to school in her own car. I went back home, had some daylight left, so I washed the car. Wasn't too bad, just dusty, so it didn't take long. Had time to do a walk around the building, to make sure all was in order.

Yeah, forgot to tell Kay I owned a half of the place, so I keep up the maintenance end of things. It was part of that little inheritance from my grandfather. His former partner's family owns the other half, but they're not really into it, so I've made an offer to buy them out. Lynette received a similar place a couple of blocks away, but she and Andy, and little Seth, had a house not far out of town.

I noted a few things that needed doing, and made a note to check with the service I've used in the past to do the cutting, trimming, and lesser "grunt work" things that I just don't have time for. I went in to check my address book, then remembered – Hector had mentioned a young man from his church who needed to earn some money toward school. Never did get his name, though.

I was rummaging through my desk drawer to see if I could find Hector's address when I noticed the message indicator flashing on my home phone. I don't like to use the cell phone for all my calls, so I kept the digital phone. Sometimes I forget to check it. So now I displayed the messages, and saw there were three of them from the same number -- Gary – the guy who manages the marina where I keep Nocturne.

So I listened a little more intently that I might have, and they were all a variation of the same message, with the most recent also sounding the most urgent: "Rob, please give me a call as soon as you can!"

Thinking something must be wrong with the boat, I called him right then. He normally keeps the office number forwarded to his cell phone, so he answered immediately. "Rob! Been trying to get hold of you! We had some characters snooping around a couple of the boats, and it looks like they were trying to break into Nocturne, and at least one of the others. Someone scared them off, but we're not sure what they were up to. Can you come down and check it out for us? I know you left me your spare keys, but I'd rather you be here." I told him that I'd been out of town, and arranged to meet him that evening, so we'd have some daylight left to see what was up.

Kay's class time was nearly over, so I texted her and told her I'd pick her up at her apartment, if she wanted to go on an errand with me. I got cleaned up, picked up the boat insurance papers just in case, and headed over to Kay's. She was waiting, wondering what was up. First things first though – I kissed her. Got one back.

When I told her where we were headed, she grinned. "Why're we going to the marina, Cap'n? Somebody find yer parrot?" I had to laugh, even while I told her the errand was more serious than that. And she got serious in a hurry when I told her what Gary had said. "Just kids up to mischief?"

"Dunno, sweetie, he didn't say any more than that on the phone. Just wants us to check for any damage. That's why I've got the boat insurance papers, just in case he needs some numbers off them."

I parked where I normally did, in the members' lot behind the office, and we walked toward the door. Gary must have been watching for us; he came out just as we got there. "Hi, Rob. Glad you could make it this afternoon." He nodded to Kay and said "'Lo."

"Gary, this is Kaitlyn Sanderson, Kay for short. You'll be seeing her quite a bit from now on." Kay just smiled at him and sort of leaned into me, leaving no question as to why she would be a frequent visitor.

"Oh, yeah! You're the girl from Sunday night!" He looked back at me, "That was my next question – how's your head? You were pretty groggy when they loaded you into the ambulance."

"Doing okay now, but still a little tender to the touch. Of course, I've had excellent care!" Dang! This Kay-person is so damn cute when she blushes! And she returns a hip bump with the best of them.

"Hell," smile Gary, "if that's all it takes to get a nurse like Kay, I'll bang my head on the wall any day!"

Kay blushed even more, and said, "Oh, it takes a lot more than just a bump on the head, Mister Gary -- gotta be good with parrots too!"

He just looked at me, and I shook my head and changed the subject. "So what's going on with the boat, Gary? Kids try to break in?"

"I don't think so, Rob," he said, "and the guy who scared them off – another owner – told deputies it looked more like adults, big guys, than kids. They didn't have much to go on, and it didn't look like more than just scratches around the lock, as if whoever it was had just got started when they were interrupted." By this time we were at the boat, and he pointed out the scratches on the cabin hatch frame. "See? This is all we found. They do look fresh, but we couldn't be sure, do you remember them being there before?"

"No, I think you're right – they're new since the weekend. I'd have gone over them with a sealer if I'd seen them before." I unlocked the hatch and we dropped down into the cabin. "Nothing seems disturbed here, either. Must be whoever it was did get interrupted before they could do anything bad. I remember you saying something about a surveillance cam for after hours. Did they ever get one installed for you?"

Gary shook his head "No," he said, "a couple of the boat owners heard about it and put up a fuss about 'too many damn cameras' and the marina owner dropped the idea. Bet he picks up on it again! They'll just have to fit their boats with blackout curtains if they're gonna be doing anything all that embarrassing! Of course, a couple of the wives might be interested in what some of them cameras might pick up. Some of 'em get right ... um, sorry, Kay, don't mean to be too coarse and graphic."

"That's okay, Mister Gary, I'm a college student. Heard lots worse."

"I'm sure you have," he said, "and it's just plain Gary. The 'mister' was my dad."

"Heard that before too!"

Gary just smiled and turned back to me. "So, are you satisfied that no damage was done here? I mean, can I get the owners off my back and get things back to normal?"

"Sure, for now, I guess." I took out my cell phone and took a couple of pictures of the scratches, and of the hatchway in general, "just in case something does happen, we can compare it with the way it is right now."

I checked the locker to make sure I had some repair materials to fix the minor damage. Didn't like to leave things undone any longer than I could help. Told Kay that if she was up to it, we'd plan a weekend on the boat so I could fix it. She smiled and said, "If that's what it takes, I'll do some scratching myself for next weekend!"

"Just don't do it after dark, Kay," said Gary, "I think we're hiring a night watchman for a few weeks, just in case. Heard 'em talking about it, and I expect they'll give me the go ahead for it now. Figure if it is just kids, we don't need anyone packing heat, maybe just a retired cop, or even a kid out of high school. All they need to do is keep an eye peeled, and call in if they see something out of the ordinary. If it's more than just kids, well, then a phone call is still safer anyway."

Hmmmm! Sounds like another possibility for Hector's young friend. I told Gary about him, and he said he'd check into it if that's what they decided to do. He said "I know Hector. We buy fresh fish from the Geraldine once in a while, and he's there quite often. Nice guy – was a good thing that crew came along when you got hurt, Rob. There are a few that might not have been so nice. But Hector and his uncle are good folks."

We chatted for a while, mostly about the weather and the boats, and who was around the marina a lot. Started to get along toward supper time, and we hadn't had anything to eat yet, so Kay and I decided to move along and grab a sandwich at one of the small mom and pop places on the way back to her apartment. Said goodbye to Gary, and asked him to keep us up on any further developments in the vandalism thing, then left.

I asked Kay where she'd like to stop, and she said that she'd heard that TGI Friday's had just added a new Korean taco to their menu, and that it was supposed to be pretty tasty. I'd never been there, so we went. Going back! Both of us loved those things! I'd had bulgogi before, and these were an excellent rendition of that, served in a soft flour tortilla. They served them with a jasmine rice pilaf, and for Kaitlyn that was the thing that put them over the top. She saw the smile on my face as I tasted them, and said, "Gotta look for a recipe for this stuff!" I had my mouth full, so I couldn't voice my opinion, but I think my very vigorous nodding was taken as a "yes".

After supper we drove back to her apartment, where she acted like she really didn't want to get out of the SUV. But that's okay, I was acting like I really didn't want her to! We sat there for a while, and she said "Finals in a couple of weeks, then graduation. Then..."

"Then you'll be moving on, find some dude, take him home to mama, and..."

I got swatted. "Been there, done that, mama approves of my dude, dude! Any more smart remarks?"

"Maybe, unless you kiss me to shut me up!"

She about dragged me over the console, and after a few soul-searing moments she pulled back and took a breath. "Consider yourself shut up, Cap'n! End of topic! Wanna start another one?"