I've Died Here Before novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Five A.M.

We were dressed and in the elevator by four.

"Rule one," I said. "We go together."

"Together," Holden said.

"And we don't go in blind."

I dug the officer's card out of my coat pocket, the one from the hospital waiting room.

I sent him the garage video and Dean's text, and I typed one line under it.

Five a.m. The pier. A woman's life is on a boat. Please come quietly.

Holden watched me press send.

"You trust him?"

"No," I said. "I trust that he has a badge."

The car stopped a block short of the ferry landing.

The pier lay black and empty under a sky with no stars in it.

Holden got out first and came around to my side.

He did not take my hand.

He walked to the river side of me and stayed there, one step off my left shoulder.

"I hate that you do that," I said.

"I know."

"Keep doing it."

The boards were wet under our shoes.

At the far end of the pier, a white yacht sat tied up against the rail with its deck lights on.

Hattie was on the deck, zip-tied to a post by her good wrist, with a bloody cast and no glasses.

Dean stood on the boards in front of her, in his gray coat, with his hands in his pockets.

"There they are," he said, pleasantly. "Right on time."

"Let her go," Holden said.

"Come closer, Mr. Courtland. You can't hear me."

"I can hear you fine."

"Then it's you who's afraid of me," Dean said, "and I'm touched."

Hattie lifted her head.

"Addie," she said, hoarse. "Don't come any closer, you idiot."

"You first," I said, and my voice cracked.

"I'm fine. It's only a boat."

"This is a boat on a river at night," the voice said in my head, flat with dread. "That's the exact thing she told me not to do."

Dean glanced at his wristwatch.

"It's five minutes to five. My sister likes things on time."

"Where is she?" Holden said.

"Having breakfast with a board member. She'll be so sorry to hear about the accident."

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