Myrtle Beach, South Carolina A quick walk through of the marina netted few results, leaving Mindy and Jenny to sit in the parking lot with the windows of the rented sedan rolled down as they plotted their next move.
"So, he didn't tell you anything about what he planned to do when he got here?"
Jenny shook her head. "Not really, other than that he was going to take my uncle's sailboat out. Maybe he's just floating out there somewhere, waiting this guy out."
Mindy noticed the growing frustration in the other woman's voice and raised the level of optimism in her own words to try and dispel it. "I have an idea."
"Right now, about anything would sound good other than just sitting here," Jenny said.
"See that place down there?" She pointed over the steering wheel at a small, pink, tent-covered wagon on the beach at the foot of a short pier. A string of twinkling lights hovered over a row of shiny yellow jet skis.
"I see it."
"Let's rent one of the jet skis and start looking for Christopher."
"At night? Are you crazy? We could hit something!"
"You got any better ideas?"
"No, but -" She paused, took a deep breath, and bolstered her courage. "Okay, let's do it. It's a good idea."
Mindy shook her head. "Not it's not, but it's pretty much the only choice we have right now. If we had more time, we could find a boat, but time is not our friend."
"No," Jenny said with more determination than she felt. "I want to do this. We have to find Christopher, and I know we can't just go to the police for help, because we have no proof that this Matthew Fox guy has hurt anybody." She rounded her shoulders and raised her chin. "We can do this."
Mindy was silenced by the other woman's outburst, but she was not surprised. Jenny had finally acknowledged the grim consequences of waiting, and she also realized that the police would be powerless at this point. She was impressed though, with her new partner's resolve.
"Ready?" Jenny asked as she opened the passenger door.
"I'm with you."
Matthew stood at the end of the pier and looked out over the ocean. The air was a few degrees cooler than it was on land and it felt good against the stubble on his face. He wondered though, as he watched the myriad of floating crafts, how long Spencer Grim was going to follow him.
He first noticed his longtime associate when he cut across the beach and headed for the pier. The man had to know Matthew's mission in Myrtle Beach and had shown up himself to try and stop the game.
