CHAPTER 138: FINAL

From a distant point where the bluish-gray water merged into the bright sky near Deadman's Rock, a small motorboat prowled toward Amoteh. It was only a dot at first, and Jarek watched with interest, his mind focused on Leigh.

The boat came closer, the sound of the motor humming as it continued directly toward him. Tourists, he thought, without enough sense to—he studied the figure in the boat, and decided it was probably a boy coming back from fishing.

Then a slender white arm shot high to wave and the burnished red of Leigh's curls caught the sunlight. He ran toward where the swells were carrying the boat to shore, then waded in to tug the rope, hauling the boat safely to the wet sand.

He couldn't speak, glancing at Deadman's Rock, and understanding immediately that her course had come straight from the passage where Annabelle had died. He pivoted back to Leigh, who had raised the outboard motor with surprising expertise.