Stolen Child (Coastal Fury Book 13), Matt Lincoln [ebooks children's books free TXT] 📗

“Hello, friend!” Holm cried out to him, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked up. “Mind if we talk to you for a minute?”

The man jumped and nearly fell into the shallow water, not having noticed our approach and having had his back turned to us.

He wiped his brow when he turned to see us and chuckled.

“Now hey, there,” he said, smiling down at us. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come up. I got pretty lost in my own thoughts, I guess. You looking for something?”

The man hopped down from the boat more agilely than I would’ve expected for a man of his age. I would say he was in his late fifties or early sixties, though his hair was dyed blond, and he was carrying a bit of extra weight along his midsection. He was sporting a thorough farmer’s tan on his cheeks, neck, and lower arms where his t-shirt cut off, showing that he was probably out here a lot.

“Someone, more like,” Holm corrected, and the man’s expression grew dark as he wiped his sweaty hands off on his worn jeans and held one out to each of us in turn.

“Ah, I think I’ve got you,” he said, giving a knowing nod. “You’re looking for that kid that’s all over the news. I’m Marty, by the way, Marty Knox.”

“Hello, Mr. Knox, I’m agent Robbie Holm with MBLIS, and this is my partner, Ethan Marston, and our colleague, Nina Grosse, with the FBI,” Holm said as he shook the man’s hand. “And yes, we’re looking for Mikey, I’m afraid.”

“Well, I’m glad someone’s looking,” Marty said. “What are you all doing down here, though? I thought this all happened at the mall or whatever.”

“Yes, he was,” I said quickly, not wanting to reveal too much. “We’re just thorough.”

“Well, that’s good, too, I guess,” Marty said with a shrug as he shook my hand and then Nina’s, too. “I’m just sorry you have to.”

“So are we,” I said darkly. “We were wondering if you’d seen anything out of the ordinary.”

“You mean other than everyone being gone?” he asked, scratching the thin layer of hair on his head. “That’s been pretty unusual.”

“Yeah, I would imagine,” I chuckled, glancing back over at all the empty boats. “They all clear out yesterday morning?”

“About half of them,” Marty said, scrunching up his face as he considered this. “The rest a few hours after that, when all the shooting happened at the mall.”

Holm and I both glanced over at Nina.

“It was just one shot,” she corrected with the hint of a smirk. “People have a way of exaggerating things like that.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Marty said with a weak smile to match hers.

“Why are you still out here?” Holm asked. “Why didn’t you pack up with the rest of them?”

“Ah, I don’t know,” he shrugged. “It’s all a little beyond me, to be honest. I like coming out here, do it every day since I retired early. Plus, I figured that no kidnappers are going to want anything to do with me, so I’m probably safe.”

He gave a low, nervous chuckle like he was laughing so he wouldn’t yell or worse, to cover the worry we all had for this kid we didn’t even know.

“Fair enough,” Nina said. “So you haven’t noticed anyone else out today?”

“Oh, no, not today,” he said. “Not a soul ‘till you all showed up. That’s why I jumped so high when you did.”

We all chuckled again at the memory.

“Do you own this boat?” I asked, gesturing at the small gray motorboat.

“Oh, no, sir,” he said, shaking his head quickly. “These are Mr. Samuels’s boats. He just lets me borrow this one whenever I’d like, take it out for a spin every morning, as long as I clean it up when I’m finished. I’d love to buy it off him someday, but it would be a bad financial decision for me, I’m afraid.”

“It’s good of him to let you use it, then,” I said, giving him a small smile.

“Sure is,” Marty said with a nod. “He’s an old friend. He owns the shop not far down from here. Old fellow, and he should’ve retired a long time ago. His nephew does the books and runs things most of the time, but Mr. Samuels likes to go in everyday anyway and talk to the customers. I’m not sure he’d know what to do with himself otherwise.”

I shielded my eyes from the sun and looked down at where Marty was pointing. Sure enough, it looked like there was a one-story building down there somewhere, with a small sign with a boat on it hanging out above the front doors.

“Boat sales place?” Nina asked, wincing as she said the words since she didn’t know much about such things, hence why Holm and I were there.

“Oh no, ma’am,” Marty chuckled, shaking his head. “You think old Samuels would let me take a brand new boat every day? Hell no. It’s a rental place. This one’s pretty old, so he lets me take her, but she sure is a beauty, isn’t she?”

He reached up and patted the boat gently, and I smiled.

“Sure is,” I agreed. Sure enough, the boat was in remarkably good shape for its age, but more than that, she’d served Marty well when he needed her. I had a similar affection for my houseboat at that point.

“Is this Samuels fellow in?” I asked, and he shook his head again.

“Nope, they packed up for lunch about a half-hour ago,” he explained. “Talked to him and Danny—that’s his nephew—then. They do that every day. Should be back in an hour or so, I’d reckon, but without any business, who knows?”

“Did they mention anything unusual when you talked to them?” I asked. “Other than how quiet it is today, I mean.”

“Not much,” Marty said, scratching his head again. “Though I guess Danny did say something about a boat gone missing. He kept asking old Samuels who he lent it out to, but