Suspicion At Sea - Amie Nichols Page 0,3

the SEAL team, I like to do classes to keep my skills sharp. Not that I will ever lose them, I'm sure. My training was extensive and grueling, and I've saved people in some of the worst situations imaginable.

I bought my yacht when I got back to Bailey Island a little over a year ago. When I was honorably discharged from the Navy, I had nowhere else to go. So I came home after being gone eight years.

If it wasn't for my sister I'm not sure I would have come back. I probably would have found somewhere, anywhere other than the small island I grew up on.

“Justin.” I turn toward the dock, hearing a familiar voice call my name.

“Sheriff,” I greet when I turn around and see my father dressed in uniform. He hates that I will only call him that. I haven't called him dad since I was in high school. I've been avoiding Sheriff Ben Bennett, dodging his phone calls for the past few days.

My father and I have butted heads since I was a boy. My mother died of cancer when I was young. Thank God for my sister or there would have been a good chance my father and I would have killed each other years ago.

“Son, you've been avoiding my calls,” my father says, stepping off the dock onto the deck of my boat. I haven't seen him much since I got back. I stare at him and notice the wrinkles that are starting to set in around his eyes. His hair shows the gray, and he has a pot belly that is causing his shirt to be too tight. My father has always been in great shape, but looking at him now he seems to age right before my eyes.

“Been busy, you know.” I know he knows that I haven't been busy at all. He cocks his head at me knowing full well that I'm full of shit. I don't work, except occasionally at a friend's tourist shop on Orr's Island where I teach tourists how to wakeboard during the busy times. It's fun, and the college girls that come in for lessons always mean a good time for me.

Besides my pension from the Navy, my sister and I received large inheritances that were put in a trust fund for us when our grandfather died. When I turned twenty-one I invested, and now if I do need money I only take from the interest accrued. Other than hanging out at The Gull, a local tavern owned by one of my friends, Jim Dobbs, I don't do much else besides jog, swim, and tinker on my boat.

“Yeah, I know you are soooo busy,” he mocks me. I know what he's been calling about. The McGill brothers went missing a few days ago, and I'm not sure if he's here to arrest me as a suspect or ask my opinion. The oldest brother, Jade, is also my slimy, asshole brother-in-law who has slowly drained my sister's inheritance to nothing, using her money to buy his fishing boat and a large warehouse for the start-up of his fishing company.

He somehow ended up with an exclusive contract to a well-known seafood chain, becoming their sole provider of lobster. The worst part is that all the money he's made, he's supposedly been putting it back into the company. Conveniently an account that Suzy has no access to. With me constantly riding her to find out when she would be getting her investment back, she finally started asking questions. He had a whole slew of lies ready for her. Such as wanting to buy another boat, or needing to repair this or that. Even she was starting to figure out she wasn't getting her money back. When Jade started staying out all night, Suzy really wokeup. They were high school sweethearts, and I think at one time Jade really loved Suzy, but his backwoods family never approved of her.

When they were trying to get pregnant, with no luck, Suzy went to a specialist only to find out she had female problems and was the reason she couldn't get pregnant. It made their relationship even more strained. Mary McGill, Jade's mother, made Suzy feel like less of a woman every chance she got. Suzy went into a severe depression, and didn't start getting better until I got home.

I had been helping her the past few months with finances, trying to figure out how she could get her money back in the