Dawn by McKayla Box

Chapter 23

I’m grateful my dad is working late so I don’t have to explain what the hell I’m doing.

After lunch, I head home and try not to look at the clock. I take a shower, rinse out my wetsuit, and clean out my car. I fold my laundry and clean up the kitchen. I try to watch TV, but can’t focus. I pace the house. At eight o’clock, Bridget texts me that she’s outside and I head out.

“Nervous?” she asks as we pull away.

“Very.”

“Same.”

We don’t talk as we drive toward Trevor’s house. It feels weird, doing this without telling him. I feel like I’m spying on him. Which I guess I am. But it’s too late to back out now.

“Gina and Maddie are at Brett’s?” I ask.

“Yeah. Gina texted me when I got to your house. She even brought binoculars.”

“I guess she really is made for this.”

“Uh huh,” Bridget says. “Where should I park?”

“Maybe go past his house, then make a U-turn, and we can park on the street before we get back to his driveway?”

She nods and we pass his house. His truck is parked in the driveway.

I feel like I want to throw up.

She makes the U-turn and just as she parks, my phone vibrates in my lap.

I look down.

The text is from Trevor.

I slide my thumb over the screen.

Told you I’d text you so that’s what I’m doing. Leaving now. Not sure when we’ll be back, but I’ll text you when I’m back. Don’t worry. Sleep. Love you.

My fingers trembleas I text him back.

I will worry and I won’t sleep. Text me as soon as you are back. Love you, too.

I waitto see if he’s going to say anything more, but the dots never show up.

I take a deep breath, exhale. “Okay. He just said they’re leaving now.”

“Oh, boy,” Bridget says. She sighs, too. “Okay, I’ll text Maddie and Gina.”

It seems like forever, but finally, I see headlights illuminate the darkness in Trevor’s driveway and his truck’s reverse lights light up. He backs out of the driveway and heads away from us.

“Gina says Brett’s leaving, too,” Bridget informs me.

“Okay,” I say. “Now all we need is—”

But I don’t finish the sentence because Sunny is already sprinting down the street toward us. She yanks open the back door and throws herself in.

“Shit,” she says, huffing and puffing. “Sorry. I didn’t want to come out until he was gone.”

“You’re fine,” I say, then motion for Bridge to drive. “Go, go.” Then I realize they haven’t met. “Bridget, Sunny. Sunny, Bridget.”

“Hey,” Sunny says.

“Hi, Sunny,” Bridget says as she slams the accelerator to the floor.

We lurch forward away from the curb and the engine roars as we try to catch up to Trevor. Just when I think maybe we’ve missed him, I see his tail lights glowing red up in front of us.

Bridget hits the brakes and throws us all forward.

“Shit,” I say, bracing myself against the dash.

“Sorry!” she says. “I don’t want to get too close!”

“It’s alright,” I tell her.

“How close should I be?” she asks.

“I have no idea.”

“Does he know this car?” Sunny asks.

“No,” Bridget says.

“If you can let one car get in between us and him, that should be good then,” Sunny says. “He won’t see us back here and if he doesn’t know the car, he probably won’t pay much attention to us.”

“Have you…done this before?” I ask.

She laughs. “No, but I love spy movies.”

“You’re gonna love Gina,” I say. “Were you able to find anything out?”

“I couldn’t get any info out of him before he left,” Sunny says. “And he never left his phone where I could get a look.”

I texted her from Esposito’s to see if she wanted in and she immediately responded, saying she did. I figured having her along would accomplish two things. She could get to know the girls and she could share what she knew about what Trevor had been doing.

“This is around the time he’s left before,” she says. “It’s always around 8. And then he gets back after midnight. I was awake one time, but I think I fell asleep the other times. I think I heard the door one night.” She pauses. “And I know this is going to sound weird, but he…was wet.”

“Wet?” I ask.

“Like he’d gone swimming or something,” she says.

“That’s weird,” I say. She had mentioned a boat when we talked at Trevor’s earlier, and I’m just about to ask her about that when Bridget hands me her phone.

“It’s vibrating. It’s probably Gina. It’s unlocked.”

I see Gina’s name on the screen.

Brett’s at the beach. He’s parked. Assuming Trevor is coming. Just fyi.

“She saysBrett’s parked at the beach,” I say. “So we probably want to make sure we don’t run right up the back of them.”

“Okay,” she says. “I’ve got it.”

I text Gina back.

It’s Presley. Got it. We’re behind Trev now. Def heading that way. We’ll keep back.

Got it.

“I feellike we need walkie talkies or something,” I mutter.

Both Bridget and Sunny laugh, but I can tell from the sound that they are nervous laughs. We’re all a little on edge.

We tail Trevor toward the beach until we’re certain he’s heading to the lot. Bridget pulls over and shuts the car off on a side street. I text Gina and let her know where we are.

“Now what?” Sunny asks.

“No clue,” I say. “I guess we wait.”

Which we do for all of about ninety seconds until my phone starts ringing and all three of us jump.

It’s Gina.

“Hey,” she says, quietly. “Brett is getting in Trev’s truck. They’re leaving Brett’s truck here.”

“Okay. Why are you whispering?”

“Fuck, I don’t know,” she says. “Okay. We’ll follow Trevor. You guys get in behind us, but stay way back. I’ll let you know where we are if you lose us.” She hangs up.

“Brett’s getting in Trevor’s truck,” I tell them. “They’ll follow them and we’ll hang back.”

Bridget sighs. “Okay.”

“You alright?”

“Just nervous,” she says. She turns toward the backseat to look at Sunny. “Not every night in Sunset is like this.”

“Damn,” Sunny says. “I was starting to think this move wasn’t gonna be so bad after all.”

Bridget and I laugh.

“This is the first time we’ve ever followed anyone,” I tell her. “We’ve had some crazy shit here, but this is a new one for us.”

I see Trevor’s truck drive through the intersection, followed by a gray Cherokee. Bridget counts to ten, then pulls away from the curb.

After five minutes of trailing well behind the other two, it seems clear to me that we are headed for the marina on the south side of town. The road we’re on only goes in that direction and dead-ends when you hit the docks.

“Marina,” Bridget says.

“Just what I was thinking.”

My phone rings and Gina’s name is on the screen.

“Marina,” I say when I answer.

“Yeah,” she says. “They’re parking now.”

I turn and look at Sunny. “You said you heard something about boats, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t even know what I heard,” Sunny says. “I just heard him say something about a boat when he was on the phone a week ago or so.”

“You hear that, Gina?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says. “Okay. They’re getting out. Definitely locking the truck. Oh shit.”

The hair stands up on my neck. “What?”

“They’re getting wetsuits out of the back of the truck,” she says. “That’s fucking weird.”

“But no boards?”

“No boards.”

“Can they see you where you’re at?” I ask.

“No,” she says. “Maddie stopped us way back and we are sort of hidden by some trees.”

“Okay we’re coming behind you,” I say. “Sit tight.” I hang up. To Gina, I hiss, “Turn your lights off.”

“What?”

“So they don’t see us coming.”

“Oh, right,” she says.

The road goes dark and it’s a little eerie as we approach the marina. We see Maddie’s Cherokee parked on the right side and pull in right behind it. Up ahead, I can see a parking lot and then the docks beyond that, jutting out into the harbor, with rows of boats bobbing gently in the dark water.

“Now what?” Sunny asks.

“I have no idea,” I say. “Let me go check with them.”

I open my door carefully, then close it as softly as I can. I crouch down and creep up to Maddie’s car. I tap on the passenger window and Gina nearly goes through the roof. I hear the doors unlock and I open the rear passenger door and crawl in, pulling the door closed behind me.

“You couldn’t text me and tell me you were coming up to the car?” Gina says. “Jesus.”

“Sorry. Okay. Where are they?”

Maddie points. “Look between those trees. You can just see his truck there. They’re about ten yards to the left.”

I look where she’s pointing and I see them.

“They just pulled the suits on,” Gina says.

“And Brett just drove straight to the beach from his house?”

They both nod.

“This is so weird,” I say. “I don’t get it.”

“They’re walking toward the docks,” Maddie says.

We watch and see them walking along the edge of the parking lot, then turn toward the docks.

“We won’t be able to see much more,” Maddie says. “If they go through the gate into the marina, we won’t be able to see anything.”

I take a deep breath. “Okay. I’m gonna go down there.”

“What?” Gina says. “How? No! What if they see you?”

“They won’t,” I tell her. “Just don’t leave without me.”

I push open the door before they can object any more. I close the door carefully, stay low, and move as quickly as I can toward the parking lot. I see Trevor and Brett at the gate to the marina and I slide next to a tree. They are at the keypad that allows access into the marina. As far as I know, they don’t own a boat. But Trevor taps the keypad and then the gate opens. They go in and close the gate behind them.

I’m frozen in place for a moment, then I start moving again toward the parking lot. There are a few cars parked in the area nearest me and I make my way to them, sliding in between vehicles and staying low. I go as quickly as I can toward the gate, but I already know I can’t go any further because I don’t have the code. I can’t see them any longer, as they’ve disappeared onto the docks in the dark, so I get a little braver and stand up so I can move faster across the asphalt lot.

When I reach the gate, I try the lever, but it’s locked. The keypad glows bright in the dark, but I have no idea what numbers I’d even hit to try and get in. So instead, I press against the bars of the gate and squint into the dark.

At the far end of the dock, I think I see a little movement, but I’m not sure.

But then I hear a boat motor start.

And now I definitely see movement as a boat backs out of a slip at the very end of the dock. I can’t tell what kind of boat, but I don’t think it’s very big. I move away from the gate and jog down the iron-rod fence that runs the length of the lot, separating the parking lot from the marina and the boats. I have a better view now and I can see a small boat backing up. It’s maybe fifteen feet in length and sits low on the water.

And I’m pretty sure it’s Trevor standing behind the wheel.

Brett is in the front of the boat, sitting.

I can’t see them clearly, but I can see enough to know it’s them.

Trevor maneuvers the boat out of the slip and the boat growls quietly in the water. Then it turns and moves slowly away from the docks. I can see Trevor’s back as he stands behind the wheel. A trail of white water leaks out from behind the boat, a long line in the black water.

Then the engine gets a little louder. The boat moves faster, then disappears into the night.

And so do Brett and Trevor.