Between the Page by E.C. Fisher

Author:E.C. Fisher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: E.C. Fisher

Chapter Thirteen

Adam McIntyre was at the helm of the fishing trolley, Go Gettin’, as dawn was breaking on the horizon. He stood in awe at the change between night and day as the sky slowly transitioned from dark purple to bright orange and red.

“I wonder what other wonders I might encounter on this job,” he mused. The Go Gettin’ was a medium-sized boat with a pilot house close to the stern and large open deck near the bow with a set of steel doors for the cargo hold. A large oversized crane was positioned on the port side and currently hanging within the perimeter of the boat. A couple of the deckhands were already up and preparing the fishnet for today’s catch.

“Top of the morning, rookie,” Captain Edgar Daniels said as he entered the pilot’s house.

“Good morning, Unc—Captain Daniels,” Adam answered.

“You should be thanking my sister, talking me into letting her boy onto my vessel. Quite the nerve, that girly.”

“Mom never lets an argument end without winning it.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve never won against her. Some big bro I am.”

“She never really talks about this place. Do you know why?”

“Might be the stories of a particular island close by.”

“What stories would that be?”

“I really shouldn’t be telling you this but … it happened when I was younger. Your mom was still an infant at the time. Back in the earlier 70’s, an eccentric scientist made residence on an island a couple hundred yards away from our port town. He would visit once or twice a month to collect mail from the post or buy groceries. He never talked to anyone, or greeted them, for that matter. He kept to himself. Cranky old bastard. Anyway, this went on for over two years until he suddenly stopped showing up. To be quite honest, it took the town four months to realize he hadn’t been there.” He chuckled at his remark, then stopped when he realized he was laughing about a dead man.

“They mounted a small search party. They didn’t want to cause any trouble if they were wrong, so no one informed the sheriff. Three days went by and the search party still hadn’t returned. They waited until the end of the week before informing the sheriff. The sheriff, a few of his deputies, and a group of volunteers mounted a search, as well. When they didn’t return either, the mayor held a town meeting. There they discussed that the island would be forbidden to venture to and that no matter the circumstances, no rescue attempts were to be made.”

“Has anyone figured out what happened?”

“What part of ‘forbidden’ don’t you understand, rookie?”

“Why would this cause Mom not to talk about her hometown?”

“One of the volunteers was our father.”

“Grandpa. Oh, I see. She lost her father to that island.”

In the midst of their conversation the signal flare that Callus fired went off. The trail of white smoke and crimson ember of the flare brightened the sky behind him. The flash of the flare exploding caught Adam’s attention.

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