Chapter 20: The Edge of the Pier

Killian's POV

I stood on a dark street three blocks from the water and counted the minutes on my phone.

Two unmarked cars sat behind mine with their lights off.

A detective leaned in at my window.

"Mr. Hayes, we can't let her stand out there alone."

"She asked for three streets."

"If the woman has a weapon..."

"She has a five-year-old and a boat."

"If you send anyone," I said, "Chantal will have him on the water in four minutes, and you will never see him again."

He heard that I meant it, and he stepped back from the window.

My phone buzzed with a message from Mireille.

It said: Come.

I was out of the car before it stopped shaking.

I ran.

The harbor walk was a wall of people, and I went through it with both shoulders and no apology.

A man swore at me, and a child on someone's shoulders cried out.

Behind me I heard the detectives shout my name.

I did not stop.

I vaulted the rope at the end of Pier Nine and landed on wet planks.

The wind off the water took my breath.

Mireille stood twenty feet from me in her boots with her hands open at her sides.

Chantal stood at the far edge of the pier beside a small white boat.

Sammy was awake on her shoulder.

He had his thumb in his mouth and his eyes on me.

"Killian," he said around his thumb.

"Hi, Sammy."

"I'm in a boat vest."

"I see it. It looks good."

My voice was steady, and I did not know how.

Chantal's eyes went to the two men at the rope, and she tightened her arm around the boy.

"I told her no police."

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