He smiled then, lifting the beer, swallowing. “I heard your scream. I couldn’t get in the front door—it was locked. I came around the house. Found the window. No great mystery.”
“Okay, then. The great mystery is why someone would suddenly want to attack me because you’ve come to the island.”
“I’m sure I had nothing to do with someone attacking you.”
“I’ve never been attacked before.”
“There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?”
“I’m still convinced that this first time has something to do with you.”
He shook his head, finishing the beer. “Nice attitude. God knows what might have happened to you if I hadn’t been here, and I still haven’t heard a ‘Thank you, Adam, for saving my life.”’
“But what if I was attacked because of you being on the island? Am I supposed to thank you for having put my life in danger?”
He leaned forward suddenly, with startling speed and agility that reminded her how dangerous he could be when he chose, that any time he gave the impression of casual relaxation it was just that—an impression.
“Samantha, use some damned sense, will you? Your father disappeared because he got close to something. And then Hank disappeared.”
She swallowed hard. “My father knew that no matter how good you were, it was never safe to dive alone. A dozen things might have happened. He could have had a heart attack. He might have gotten excited about a discovery and tried to come up too quickly. I’ve had to accept the fact that he probably drowned.”
“Where’s the body? Where’s the damned body?”
“You’re not listening. You’re refusing to see the obvious! The sea doesn’t always give back her dead, you know that!”
“Oh, Sam, come on! You’re trying to say that your father and Hank both disappeared because of some Devil’s Triangle bullshit.”
“It doesn’t have to be anything strange or mystical! People have disappeared—”
“Yes, and there were sea monsters before men discovered the truth about giant squids and whales. There’s an explanation for everything. You know it, and I know it.”
“Right. Like there might be a real explanation for the fact that you’re here.”
“You are persistent.”
“I’m in danger, or so you say.” Sam waited for him to say something reassuring. He didn’t.
“I just told you that three groups of divers—”
“Disappeared during the last year. Hank disappeared just over a year ago. So that’s four disappearances. I have an older gentleman here right now who can quote you statistics regarding all the disappearances here. Even some scientific experts believe that there might be magnetic poles or something like that in the waters around here. Why should your missing divers have anything to do with my island?”
His silver eyes were sharp, and he groaned in exasperation. “Pay attention, Sam. They were all heading for waters just north of Seafire Isle.”
“I head for waters just north of Seafire Isle almost every day.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I haven’t seen or heard a single thing that was the least bit strange.”
“I’d say your father did.”
“My father has been gone for years.”
“A long time, yes. But we’ve just agreed that Hank and the other divers all disappeared within the past year.”
“So what the hell do you know about Hank?”
“He was looking for the Beldona, wasn’t he?” Adam demanded.
“He—he…”
“Well?”
“I don’t know exactly what he was doing. I had already gone the day he disappeared. He took one of the little motorboats and his diving equipment, and he never came back. Neither did the boat.”
“Are you trying to tell me that Hank Jennings just decided to motor away?”
She stared at him, folding her arms over her chest. “No, I don’t believe that he just motored away.”
“Was he looking for the Beldona?”
“I just told you—”
“What was he doing on the island?”
“He—he was a researcher. He studied the Steps and everything beneath the sea.”
“The wrecks?”
“Of course.”
“The Beldona?”
Samantha let out a frustrated cry. “Yes, yes! He was as fascinated by the stories of that stupid ghost ship as my father was! She’s sunk beneath the sea, hidden, exactly where she belongs, and I wish to hell that people—especially people around me—would leave her alone where she lies!”
“You probably know more about that ship than anyone else on earth. You know that, don’t you?”
“I’m not a researcher or a marine biologist. I run a resort, and I don’t know everything there is to know about that ship, and I don’t want to know anything more than I do about her.”
“No one knows everything. But I imagine a lot of people consider you to be the current expert on her. You are your father’s daughter, after all.”
Sam sighed in complete exasperation. “When did this conversation start being about me? I want to know what you’re doing here, and you’re switching everything around so that you’re questioning me! It’s not going to happen. If you’d just tell me—”
He stood up suddenly, impatiently. Almost violently. She took a step back, but he didn’t even seem to notice. His empty beer bottle clinked on the top of the coffee table as he set it down. He dragged his fingers through his dark hair, staring at her. For a moment, just for a moment, she saw a flash of passion within him, yet she couldn’t begin to pinpoint exactly what that passion was for.
“All right, Sam. Someone on the island has been corresponding with SeaLink for several days now.”
“SeaLink?” Sam murmured, confused. She knew the name, but she couldn’t place it right away. “The marine supply company?”
“Marine supply company!” Adam muttered.
“They are a marine supply company, aren’t they? A big one. They sell boats, scuba equipment, maps, electronics.”
“Yes, yes. It was founded in 1970 by James Jay Astin. He’s also a treasure hunter. He and his employees have managed to dig up a fair amount of salvage from at least a dozen of the ships that have gone down off the coast of Florida.”
“I read an article about him in one of the diving magazines. He turns his finds over to the government, endows all sorts of museums—”
“And he keeps what he wants in his private collection, or sells it on the black market around the world.”
She wasn’t going to argue with him when she didn’t really know anything about Astin—except that he appeared to be a model citizen.
“Astin was friends with your father.”
“How do you know?”
“They