Soundkeeper by Michael Hervey

board, they would have seen her from the air. They rode back to the Beaufort Municipal Marina in silence.
    “Hell of a way to start retirement,” Jimmy said when he stepped out of his old patrol boat. Rebecca was surprised to see them back so soon and knew without asking. Hall wondered how many times this scene had been repeated during Jimmy’s career.
    Hall felt compelled to do more but didn’t know what he could do. As much as he wanted to help, his boat wasn’t designed to take on the open ocean. The state wildlife agency and the Coast Guard were responsible for investigating boating accidents and for continuing the search for the body. Hall hated even to think it, but the water temperature was in the low sixties, and it didn’t take hypothermia long to overpower the hardiest of souls. He feared he’d lost a friend and that possibly something more precious had been lost. He couldn’t go home if there was a chance she was still out there, alive and in need of help. He filled the tank on his patrol boat at the marina and headed back out into the sound.
    Most of the shrimp boats had returned to Low Country Seafood when he passed by after midnight on his way home. After securing his boat at his dock, he took the shrimp out of his cooler and carried it inside. A newcomer to the coast, shrimp were still an extravagance to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to eat. Would he ever see Gale again? Belker seemed to sense his mood and was content to quietly follow him around the house.
    He’d forgotten about the turtle until he heard Belker barking and went outside to investigate. Hall found a guidebook on a shelf in the den, and in a few minutes he’d identified it as an olive ridley turtle, not rare but still listed as an endangered species. He’d never cleaned a turtle before, and after an hour he looked like he’d been on the losing end of a knife fight. He dumped the meat and entrails into the water, put the shell on top of an ant hill in his back yard and looked at his watch. After eighteen hours Uncle Sam had gotten his money’s worth. Soon he and Belker were snoring together on the couch.

Chapter Twelve
    Gale woke in a panic, unable to remember where she was and why she was there, and her panic did not subside when she remembered. She rolled out of her cocoon, and looked over at Arnold who was lying motionless on the chaise lounge chair. There was just enough light spilling through the lone window for her to see everything in her cell. Her bladder was so full it hurt, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it.
    She said, “I have to use the bathroom.”
    The lumpy form under the covers did not move.
    “I need to use the BATHROOM!”
    Arnold kicked his legs until he was free of his blanket and sat on the edge of his makeshift bed with his head in his hands. Then he walked over toward her, and Gale pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders, but Arnold walked right past her and stopped at a piece of plywood that was lying on the floor. He gripped the edge and pulled it up, revealing a jagged hole, walked back to his side of the room and returned with a roll of toilet paper. He handed it to her, went back to his lounge chair and covered himself with the blanket.
    The handcuff on her ankle had rubbed her raw, and the rusty chain clanked as she walked across the floor. Her toilet was a hole in the floor, about eighteen inches across. The marsh mud was visible though the opening. Low tide. She thought she could squeeze through the hole if she ever got free from the chain. She waited until she was certain that Arnold had gone back to sleep before she squatted and hovered over the hole.
    The horrible odor she smelled was her own body. She stunk from getting sick on herself, from the tainted mud in the barge, from fear. Maybe smelling like a horse rode hard and put up wet was a good thing in her current situation. She couldn’t bathe, check her email, or brush her teeth, but she was able to perform one of her