Much Ado About Felines (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 4) by Kathi Daley Page B

Cody told me that Gus said Danny missed his Sunday charters.”
    “Yeah. He didn’t show up for the entire day.”
    “Do you have any idea where he might have gone?” I asked.
    “Not a clue. We talked on Saturday. He told me he was having dinner with you and that he might stay at Maggie’s due to the storm. He mentioned he had a busy day on Sunday and that he planned to take every charter he could while folks were still looking to go out. I never saw him come back on Sunday, but I had an early group, so he might have returned while I was gone. It really doesn’t make sense that he’d flake out on his groups unless he had a really good reason.”
    “Yeah.” I sighed. “The whole thing makes no sense.”
    “Guess you could ask Gus if he saw Danny on Sunday before the charters he missed. Gerrie was around as well.”
    Gerrie was a sixty-four-year-old widow who lived in the boat at the end of the dock closest to the wharf. She was a seasonal resident who left the island every October and returned the following May. During the five months she was on site she liked to sit on her deck and people watch. If Danny had come home on Sunday morning she’d know about it.
    Unfortunately, Gerrie wasn’t at home, so I headed over to the marina office to chat with Gus, who was always around. He was an interesting sort of person, as salty and crusty as an old whaling captain, but as far as I knew, the closest he ever got to the sea was his office at the entrance to the marina. He’d once let it slip, after he’d had a few shots, that he didn’t know how to swim and was terrified of the water.
    “Hey, Gus,” I greeted him.
    “Young Hart.”
    “I came to ask if you saw Danny at all on Sunday.”
    “The kid missed his charters. Caused a huge hullabaloo that I had to deal with.”
    “I know. And thank you for taking care of things. I was wondering if you saw him before that, though. He spent the night at Maggie’s, but I know he planned to return to his boat once he left there in the morning.”
    “Didn’t see him.”
    “And you haven’t seen him since Saturday?” I confirmed.
    “Nope. If he’s going to miss any more charters someone needs to call his customers to give them a heads-up. I don’t want to have to deal with the fuss I did on Sunday again.”
    “I will. He has a reservation today, but I’ll stay to deal with it if he doesn’t show up. If you see or hear from him will you please call me, or ask him to call me? I’m really starting to worry about him.”
    “I’m sure the boy is fine. Probably just tied one on and forgot all about his customers. If I do hear from him, I’ll call you.”
    I thanked Gus and returned to Danny’s boat to wait. Cody was on his phone, so I sat down on the edge of the deck and cuddled with Max, who was thrilled to have me around in the middle of the day. I looked out at the water and wondered if I should call Finn. Danny would kill me if I got him involved and it turned out he’d simply been shacking up with some chick he’d met somewhere along the way. Danny did have a tendency to throw responsibility aside when it came to his infatuations with the women who seemed to fade in and out of his life.
    Cody hung up and walked over to join me. He sat down next to me.
    “I don’t suppose that was Danny?” I asked hopefully.
    “Finn.”
    “What did he want?”
    “He got a lead that Garrett Goldman had been seen hanging around with the same guy Jimmy had been right before his death, so he went out to his place to talk to him. When he got there he found Garrett unconscious in his living room. He’s alive, but just barely. They’re airlifting him to the hospital in Seattle.”
    Garrett Goldman was a crusty old fisherman who owned a large lot on the north shore of Madrona Island. His land had its own dock, which gave him easy access to the open sea. Jimmy and Garrett had been friends, so it sort of made sense that they might have been involved in the same business