Simon Says... Swim, page 17
She nodded.
He glanced over at her and added, “But today, you probably want to stay close and go up and down the harbor, right?”
“It’s stupid,” she acknowledged, “because he won’t be out there, particularly because I’m looking for him. It’s not as if I’ll see him in the act.”
“You can’t let it go from your mind, can you?”
She frowned. “It’s my day off,” she reminded herself firmly. “He’s not responding to any of my phone messages,” she confirmed, “so there’s a darn good chance that he’s holed up in bed and feeling sorry for himself.”
“Good,” Simon replied, “then let’s leave it be for now and just enjoy the day.”
And that’s what they did. They stopped, they sunbathed, they laughed, they motored on a little bit farther, and they just generally enjoyed the day. Then he finally looked over at her and asked, “Ready to turn back?”
She nodded, looking at the cloud cover coming in. “It’s a typical Vancouver day, so we’re about to get a ton of rain very soon.”
He nodded. “Let’s head back to the harbor then.”
When he headed in the direction of a different moorage, Kate asked, “What’s up with this?”
“It’s closer to my place.” He pointed out his apartment building. “I had arranged to take over Baxter’s moorage, but then switched with somebody else, so I could get closer to home.”
She frowned. “So, by rights, can we stay here overnight?”
He nodded. “We’re not allowed to just move in and live on these boats,” he explained, “but we could absolutely stay overnight on occasion.” He looked at her, then waggled his eyebrows. “We can go back out too.”
“Not with the storm coming in,” she said nervously. “I guess I just need to get a little more comfortable first, before we willfully brace bad weather.”
He smiled. “Don’t worry about it,” he told her, with a nod, “although I do like the idea of staying here overnight.” He finally pulled up to his new moorage spot, hopped out, and tied up the boat, then hopped back in again. “See? We’re all safely moored in.”
She looked around at the docks and the other boats and smiled. “I imagine it’s really pretty down here at night.”
“I see a lot of houseboats. Therefore, lots of people stay on their boats while they’re here temporarily, traveling up and down the coast,” Simon shared. “So it’s certainly an option.”
She was tempted to stay overnight; she really was. Then he took the decision away from her.
“I think we should just stay here. We should order in dinner, plan for a night on the boat, and then we can head on home tomorrow morning if you want, or we can go back out again.”
“I’m still off tomorrow,” she shared, “at least if nobody calls me.”
“Right.” He headed downstairs, and, when he came back up with two fresh cups of coffee, she smiled.
“Now that’s a good idea.”
Then they sat under cover, as the rain poured around them. They enjoyed the hot coffee and the rolling of the yacht out on the waves. It was a unique and very special event. When a shout came from the shore, Simon looked at Kate, grinned, and said, “That’s dinner. I’ll be right back.”
He dashed out amid the drizzle, then raced down the wharf and met somebody standing at the other end. He accepted several bags, paid the delivery guy, and rushed back. Kate watched with interest as he returned. As soon as he was here, they slipped downstairs to the big kitchen area, where he quickly dished up Greek souvlaki, Greek potatoes, and a Greek cucumber salad.
She looked at their dinner spread and smiled. “I guess it really doesn’t matter where you are. You can order in dinner delivered regardless.”
“You absolutely can,” he agreed, with a chuckle.
They’d just barely finished eating when another shout came from outside. “Ahoy, permission to come aboard?”
Kate looked over at Simon, and he grinned, then called out, “Come on in, Baxter.”
Baxter, a short man in his sixties, popped down, took one look at the two of them, and grinned. “Now this is pretty cozy, don’t you think? You don’t know how many times my wife and I have done this exact same thing. She’s never really liked being out in bad weather, so we sat in the harbor a lot,” he added, with an eyeroll.
“We live in Vancouver, so I don’t consider this rain bad weather.” Kate chuckled. “I’m Kate,” she added, “and I can’t say I’ve spent very much time on the water, so Simon’s basically humoring me.”
“We were out all day,” Simon shared, “and then the weather started to get a little ugly. We didn’t plan to stay overnight, but, the longer we sat here, the more we started thinking that this might be a nice day to stay put.”
“It is, indeed,” Baxter agreed. “I like the new berth, by the way. Closer to home, isn’t it?”
“It absolutely is,” Simon stated, with a smile. “I wasn’t sure if you could find me.”
“Oh, I would recognize this yacht anywhere.” He chuckled, then held out a package to the two of them. “I brought you a little something, like a housewarming gift. The yacht is like a new home in a way.”
Kate opened the bag and pulled out a lovely bottle of red wine. “Oh, now this is great. Thank you.”
Simon nodded, appreciative. “Will you have a glass with us?”
“Oh no, no thanks,” Baxter declined, raising his hand. “I just wanted to pop in and to say hello and to see how your virgin cruise went.”
“It was wonderful,” Kate replied.
And, with that, Baxter gave a cheerful wave and was gone.
She looked over at Simon. “He’s the first nice friend of yours I’ve ever met.”
He winced. “Wow,” he muttered in mock hurt.
“Think about it,” she stated, with an eyeroll. “Some pretty strange characters have been in your life.”
He reached a hand across the table to hold one of hers. “Yes, they were, but they were all past friends. I think most of the people I have around me currently right now are pretty decent people.”
“Good,” she declared. “I’ll take the credit for that.” He looked at her, and she flashed a grin in his direction. “After all, I’m in your life now.”
He grinned and nodded. “Exactly. Now what do you think about giving that berth downstairs some good old testing?”
She batted her eyelashes at him. “That’s all you’ve been thinking about, isn’t it? The whole time, all you could think about was giving that bed a try.”
“Hey, we took the yacht out for a romp. Now I think we should take the bed for a romp too.”
She burst out laughing and added, “Good idea.” Only her next words were muffled, as he half stood and half leaned across the table, sealing her lips. Minutes later they were beside the bed, shedding clothes as fast as they could get them off, yet hampered by the need to touch each other as more skin was exposed.
He nudged her backward, until her knees hit the bed and she collapsed on it, her arms reaching up for him. He sank down on her, his lips immediately latching on to a pouting nipple, suckling deep. She cried out, her hips rising up against him, but he wouldn’t be deterred. His hands reached for hers to hold them high above her head, as he poured his attention on both breasts, ignoring her mewling cries for relief.
Then she laughed, arching up beneath him and flipping him onto his back, scrambling to sit astride him, before he could protest. All protests died as she sank deep onto his erection, making them both shudder in an agony of joy.
“Now move, damn it,” he groaned.
And she did. Taking them both to soaring heights, she matched her rhythm to that of the waves rocking the yacht—carrying them both higher and higher, before crashing them over the cliffs to the waves below.
*
Simon woke in the wee hours of the morning and pulled the bedcovers up over the two of them. He and Kate had done a good job of tossing around the bulk of the bedding during their testing activities. As he laid back down again, he felt the familiar closing up in his throat. “No, no, no,” he whispered harshly. “This isn’t the time.”
Hell, there was never a good time. He gently massaged his throat, trying to get that horrible closed-in feeling to disappear. Almost as soon as he touched his throat, he felt the water gurgling up on the inside. He sat up and started coughing and coughing, trying to clear his throat, feeling the same damn panic rising.
Then Kate’s hand, firm, calm, and patient, landed on his shoulder. She whispered, “See through it, Simon. Just relax and don’t get sucked into it.”
He shifted and was no longer sitting on a bed. He was floating in the water, and nothing was around him. It was completely jet-black, and nothing was out here. He shook his head and whispered, “I’m in the middle of the ocean. Nothing is here, no one’s around, nothing I can see.”
“But there is,” she stated. “Someone is there. Someone who either put you there, someone who dropped you there, or somebody who left you there.”
“He’s gone. Whoever it was is gone.”
“Take a closer look,” she murmured soothingly. “Don’t let your fear stop you.”
He wanted to argue that it wasn’t fear and that nothing was stopping him, but she was right. When he turned and looked again, he saw a dock, and sitting on the dock was a little boy, staring down at him.
“A little boy is on a dock,” he murmured, as if afraid of speaking too loudly would make the vision disappear in front of him. “He’s just sitting there.”
“Talk to him. See what his name is and why he is there.”
“He’s staring at me in horror.”
“Of course he is. Maybe, just maybe, you’re in trouble, or maybe you’ve suggested he go in the water. Who knows,” she said. “Talk to him. See what his story is.”
Simon swam a little closer. The little boy pulled his legs up from below the dock, so his hands were around his knees, as he stared down at him. Simon smiled up at him, but the look of horror on the little boy’s face made Simon realize that, whatever the little boy was seeing, it wasn’t nice and calm. Simon whispered, “Hello.”
The little boy shrieked and bolted to his feet, still frozen in place, as he stared down at him.
Simon gave the boy a smile, then asked in a whisper, “What do you see?”
“A ghost,” the boy cried out, his lips trembling. “It’s a ghost. Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, it’s a ghost.” Then he took off, racing to the end of the dock.
Simon snapped out of the vision and looked around, feeling his heart constricting in his chest. “Crap,” he whispered, as he rubbed his temples.
Kate squeezed his shoulder and asked, “What was that?”
“A little boy on a dock saw me, and I clearly freaked him out. He said I was a ghost and took off screaming, calling to his mommy.”
“Oh,” she suggested, “maybe that little boy saw a body come to the shore.”
“And yet he talked to me?”
“No,” she clarified. “Seems you talked to him.”
“Right. I guess that’s the difference.”
“How did you feel in the vision?”
“I was just floating, like I had no control over where I went.”
“Which could mean either you were a drowning victim or … somebody lost in the water, before he drowned.”
“It was pretty awful,” he murmured.
“Did you recognize the little boy?”
Simon shook his head. “No, but the vision was gloomy, dark. I don’t know why I would see a vision of the little boy.”
“I don’t know either,” she admitted, “unless maybe you were connecting more with a victim in the water and not with the little boy.”
Simon nodded, then laid back down, taking several deep breaths to try and calm his system. When he lifted a shaky hand, he whispered, “I can’t believe how cold I am.”
“Cold, as in the body that you were connected to was cold?” Kate asked.
He frowned at her. “That’s right. I was connected to the body. Maybe that was the weird floatiness I felt. The body, … it wasn’t alive.”
She winced and added, “So, chances are, the little boy may have seen a dead man floating.”
He stared at her, nodded slowly. “I think so. I think that’s exactly what happened. He saw a dead body.”
“And then, when you spoke, either that little boy recognized the body or heard your voice.”
“Maybe,” Simon agreed. “I don’t know. You would have to talk to the little boy, not me.”
She smiled. “Except that you were talking to the little boy. Did you get any thoughts, any impressions from the body?”
“Yeah, cold,” he repeated, then shuddered. “Cold, motionless. I was just floating in the water, and I had no control.”
“And that’s because you weren’t alive any longer, correct?” she asked.
He nodded slowly. “One would think so, yet why was I then able to connect to the little boy through a dead body?”
“Oh, right,” she said, staring at him, and then shook her head. “Who knows, Simon. The vagaries of your gift elude me at times.”
He snorted at that. “The vagaries of my gift elude me all the time,” he complained, with a groan. “But I suspect the answer in this lies in the fact that the body was probably recently deceased, and potentially the spirit was still attached.”
“Maybe,” she replied, looking at him doubtfully. “You’re sure you weren’t connecting to the little boy or maybe to this man’s connection to the little boy?”
“I don’t know.” Simon shook his head, feeling a chill from the water that no longer surrounded him. He felt the yacht rock gently under them. “Seems that the storm’s gone.”
“I don’t know,” she murmured, as she cuddled up close, pulling the blankets up over both their chests. “It’s a very peaceful way to sleep regardless.”
“It is, isn’t it?” he murmured, as he held her close.
She whispered, “Your skin feels clammy.”
“That’s how the body felt too.” When she shivered ever-so-slightly, he gently rubbed her back. “I’m not dead. Remember that.”
“It’s a weird thing to think that you may have connected with a dead man, or maybe he was just unconscious?”
Simon frowned. “I guess that’s possible too, but then he wouldn’t have been alive for long.”
Kate took a deep breath, then asked, “What are the chances that this little boy was Dr. Burnett from years ago?”
Simon sat up slowly and stared at her, … clearly in shock. “I have no idea why you would even say that.”
Clearly he was disturbed at the very idea.
“Maybe the floating body was unconscious and is still alive?” she asked, her voice rising with the question.
“Crap. I don’t know. Nothing ever makes any sense in my visions. Not at the time anyway.”
“No, but what does make sense is, you saw a little boy on a dock today, and you were stuck inside a floating body.”
“Great,” he muttered, as he looked at her. “You expect me to sleep better after that?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” she said in mock horror, “but, if we’re going to get some sleep, we should try because it’s already four in the morning, and that tends to be the witching hour in my world. I often get phone calls between now and six.”
He settled back down on the bed again, pulling her into his arms. “Sleep then. Either sleep or we can find something better to do with our time than talk about visions that make no sense.”
She chuckled, then kissed him gently. “We already spent many hours making love,” she murmured. “Let’s get some sleep. It would be best for both of us.”
She curled up tightly against him, closed her eyes, and drifted off. He soon followed.
Chapter 15
Kate woke several hours later and stretched, then smiled as she realized where she was and that she’d woke on her own, without any frantic phone calls from her team members. Simon was still sound asleep, yet Kate got up, dressed quickly, and walked out on the deck. Looking around to see what the day would bring, she noted it was sunny, warm, and yet a typical mid-November day, so definitely not bathing suit weather, at least not at this hour.
She made coffee and took her first cup and sat on the top deck, thoroughly enjoying both her coffee and the change of venue. She was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she’d adapted to the yacht. Wanting to walk a little bit, she refilled her cup, then headed down the wharf and walked along several of the marina docks, looking at all the boats tied up for the night. Obviously a few people had stayed on board, but, for the most part, the boats were empty; some were even covered up. As she walked toward one of the beaches, the marina and its boardwalk kept going around the corner. As she got to the other end, she heard shrieking.
Instinctively she ran toward it and found a little girl, clutching her mother. The mom was telling her, “It’s all right. It’s all right.”
Kate asked her, “What’s the problem?”
“She thought she saw somebody go into the water over there. I can’t go over there and look, not with her.”
Kate dashed to the other end, where the rocks were, and somebody bobbed in the water at the other end. Kate called out, “Are you okay?”
The man nodded and replied, “I just came for an early morning swim.”
“Okay, good,” Kate noted. “Just no drowning, okay?”
He laughed. “No, no drowning,” he hollered back.
As she turned and headed back, the mother waved and took off with her child. Kate wandered along the wharf area and noted somebody at the other end of one of the docks, where the boats were. Her cop’s instincts got a hit, and, as she got closer, she realized he was calling out to somebody.
“Are you okay? Are you okay?” He had a walking cane in his hand. He reached out, as if encouraging the person to grab the cane. Yet, as soon as he grabbed it, he fell back off again.
