“Markie, its not your fault. You and Mike did everything you could but not even the locals knew I was being held there… It was just luck he was so eager to beat on me that he didn’t wait for his garage door to open. I would have starved to death in that prison if that deputy hadn’t thought to check things out.” She stroked his check and then kissed it. “I’m touched by the Viking funeral. Thank you, both of you for that.”

“Grams lit the pyre.”

“Sounds like her.” She climbed off his lap and plopped herself into her own chair. “Now we’ve got us another bushel of oysters to kill and we’ve only just touched the whiskey.” She raised her voice so it carried into the darkness. “Mike I know you’re out there, I heard your bow ripple. Get on over here and give me a hug and then show your husband some love, will you?”

“Yes Ma’am!” came from the darkness and she could hear as he dug in with his paddle, quickly pulling up and tying off before stepping ashore. “I wanted you two to have a little time first…”

“Thank you for that Mike, you’re an angel.” She hugged him hard. “Now sit down, lets have a drink and get down to some serious eating!”

2 additional bushels were consumed and by the time dawn broke the whiskey was gone and the last beer was being drained. Charlotte showed them to a large bedroom with a king sized bed and helped both of them roll into it, watching them snuggle into each other with contented sighs before making her way into her own bed and falling fast asleep, still clothed and drooling into her pillow.

And Now ********

Still unsure why she had come here Charlotte changed into a swimsuit and made her way out onto the beach, ensconcing herself in a chaise lounge and poring over the imagery from her tablet again. Something about the patterns, the way the gore splashed and then ran through cracks and crevices was bothering her and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It reminded her of the scene that had occurred in the house behind her but there was something wrong.

After an hour of fruitless searching she decided to give her mind a rest and went for a swim, finding herself accompanied by a small pod of dolphins. They swam and frolicked until the shadows began to lengthen and she took her leave of the small family. She took a quick shower of lukewarm water to wash the salt off before going inside and changing back into her clothes from earlier. Her car was waiting for her, seeming almost eager as she strapped in and slowly made her way off the island, waving to Deputy Rowling as she passed him parked in his usual spot behind the “Welcome to Edisto Beach” sign. He tipped his hat to her and made a “call me” motion, smiling when she nodded.

Once out of his sight she started pushing it and was doing well over 170 as she blew through Adam’s Run. She enjoyed pushing herself, her reactions on these narrow back country roads and the police knew better than to bother chasing her. Her vehicle was quite distinctive and if one of them felt the need to issue a ticket they would… but it hadn’t happened yet. She had raced half of them growing up on these same roads anyway and had never accepted pinks when she won.

Within 30 minutes she was pulling back into her semi-concealed spot in the downtown garage and giving her machine a fond pat while plugging it in. There was time so she decided a little treat was in order and made her way over to the Market for a dalliance with a gigantic slice of triple fudge cake and a couple of chocolate appletinis at Kaminsky’s. She was still engrossed in the imagery from the crime scene, feeling there was something right in front of her eyes that was missing. The staff was used to her oddities and huge tips so she was largely left to herself, although they did seat her with her back to the wall given the things she was working on.

She preferred the dessert bar in part because of the clientele. In a normal coffee shop or bar she would be bothered by people looking for a date or a hookup or even just some conversation but here the rowdy drunks were mostly female and generally not on the prowl. It didn’t hurt that the desserts were not just the best in town but served in portions large enough to enable 2 to split a single piece of cake and still be stuffed.

She had been there for what seemed like only a few minutes when a large presence settled in opposite her, picked up her fork and proceeded to demolish the large piece of cake she’d left and killed her drink to wash it down. She looked up and grinned at Tommy as he rubbed his moderate belly.

“You know one of these days you’re gonna mistake some other woman for me and get a fork in your hand for that trick.”

“Not likely, you’re pretty distinctive. I don’t know how you manage to eat while looking at that stuff. Which brings me to my point.” He leaned forward and his voice lowered a little. “There are microdroplets all up and down the street and even the next street over toward the Battery. On the roofs, in the trees, all over. How the hell does that happen?”

Charlotte put her tablet down and blanked the screen. “Tommy, as soon as I figure it out I’ll tell you. Right now all the options I can think of just don’t fit. We’ll see what the lab gives us tomorrow. Did you get the filters for the drains sorted out?”

“I took your advice, went to a fabric store and got a few bolts of cloth that will do the job quite well. It all had to be cleaned and sterilized but the filters are in place as of 30 minutes ago. We’ve got a couple of people down there to remove them if it starts to flood so we don’t lose evidence to backflow. Even if it doesn’t bring us anything useful on this case it is certainly something we’ll keep in the toolbox. What other sort of tricks do you know?”
“Always glad to help out Tommy but I don’t know any tricks…” she smirked to herself at his expression. “I do know Nora is waiting for you and I’m sure she’s hungry. Go get some sleep Tommy.”

“She’s a lab, she’s always hungry! But you’re right, I’ve been going since 0 stupid thirty.” He yawned and she pointed to a car that had just rolled to a stop outside.

“Your ride is here.”

He looked at the car and her and smiled. “Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Likely.”

He stood to go and turned back to her for a moment. “Charlotte… just… please be careful, OK?” He walked away without waiting for a response and she watched him get into the car before it rolled away on its safely automated journey.

Just as she stood to follow a call came in and she toggled her earpiece to accept. “Well fancy getting a call from a sexy man at this hour. How was the evening?”

She laughed at his response. “So, something can take your attention away from food, eh?” Leaving her usual discrete cash tip at the table she made her way out onto the street and began walking back toward Unity Alley. “I’ll be there by the time you can get yourself out of the kitchen!”

She disconnected the call and slowed her normal businesslike walk knowing it took more than 5 minutes for Yves to get out of the kitchen much less the restaurant. She used the time to order a car for them then just strolled along looking at the remnants of the dining crowd. The serious party crowd was just starting to crank up and the admixture could provide some entertaining people watching.

The atmosphere was a little subdued but there was a humming in her nerves, a tension born only partly from the distant booming of the approaching storm that lit ominous thunderheads from within. She found herself watching passersby with an eye tuned to more than just idle people, looking for the threat she could feel lurking somewhere in the city she loved. She absently toggled the incoming call and was a little surprised to hear Mel’s voice.

“Meet me at the dock as soon as you pick Yves up. This storm is gonna get nasty and I want to get you two home safely before it hits.” She sounded like her usual laid back self but with an undercurrent of the same tension Charlotte felt.

“I’m not even going to ask. You plan on staying at mine?”

“Nope, going on to spend the night with Tina at hers. Not a night to be alone, you know?”

Charlotte laughed. “Right, I bet you’re all shakin in your boots! Strumpet!”

“You’re one to talk! Cya in a few!” Mel disconnected.

In another minute she arrived at the door to the restaurant just as Yves was escorting diners out and bidding them good evening. The car rolled up just as he turned to Charlotte and she allowed him to open the door before she slid in and he followed. Within five minutes they were at the dock where Mel was waiting with the canopy open. They were quickly seated and making headway through what had become an extremely rough chop until Mel was able to get up on the planes.

The ride became fairly tense as Mel gained speed but kept it quite a bit below the speed she had achieved that morning. Even riding foils it was rough, wind rising and buffeting the little craft to and fro. By the time they pulled up to Charlotte’s dock Mel was visibly stressed, clipping out a curt goodbye and taking off as quickly as they were clear.

Charlotte followed with her eyes until Yves drew her attention by pulling her around for a kiss. They made their way indoors but Charlotte didn’t fully relax until she got a text from Mel notifying her of a safe arrival at her girlfriend’s home. With that worry taken care of she was able to enjoy the dinner Yves had brought for them to share and soon they were sharing a smoke and a cocktail while watching the storm roll in from offshore. They both enjoyed the wildness of the marsh in this kind of weather and the lightshow nature was providing but after a time Yves clearly had other things on his mind and as he kissed her and stroked sensitive spots she gradually caught fire.

The remainder of the storm went unnoticed, at least by them. When Charlotte awoke she lay there for a moment in the cool morning light listening to rain still pounding down outside. Yves stirred and mumbled as she gently moved his arm and slid out from under, making her way to the bathroom without waking him. Her thoughts were back on the case until he joined her in the shower and they spent a time enjoying each other before turning to the business of getting clean which was in itself quite sensual.

By the time she was dressed Yves was just plating duck egg omelets for both and pulling a pan of crispy bacon from one of the ovens, croissants from another. He slid the plates onto the table and sat opposite her.

“You went to Edisto yesterday?”

She found herself unable to look at him for some reason and didn’t reply for a moment as she addressed a croissant, immersing herself in the taste and smell. “Something told me to go back there and… I don’t know. Its not as hard as it used to be. I swam with a dolphin family and it was freeing somehow. I think I finally realized the ghost haunting that place wasn’t actually him… it was me.”

“So it was good?” She pulled her eyes from the food and finally looked up into his face with a question on her lips. “I know what it is, to be a ghost. You feel like you should not have survived and wonder if you really did…”

He looked so sad in that moment, it was instinctive to reach across the table and capture his hand with her own. “No one should have to know that feeling…”

They held hands for a moment, each of them taking comfort from the simple contact. When they finally did release and go back to eating it was a moment before either of them spoke.

“I don’t want you to go anywhere Yves…” She trailed off and then gathered herself. “I mean… I want you to stay. More than just overnight, I mean. However long… you know…” That was as much as she could get out and she sat there watching as he examined her and chewed.

“I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you… but I think I have been clear about what I want. Are you sure you want this?” He took another bite and this time it was him sitting there watching while she toyed with her food.

“This is so much harder than I thought it would be…” she had taken to ripping the remnants of her croissant into little pieces. “Yes, I’m sure I want this… you… I have been for a long time now. Its just extremely difficult for me to truly let anyone in. Into my home, yes, but more importantly into my heart. To even admit that I want that was so hard to do... I’ve been so terrified I kept you at arm’s length and I shouldn’t have.”

She had finally finished ripping her croissant to shreds and was now breaking off little pieces of bacon to stack on a bite of omelet. She finally lifted her fork and stuck it in her mouth, chewing slowly as she watched him finish eating. He wordlessly rose and took both of their plates at a slight nod from her, placing them in the sink before he turned and took her hand, pulling Charlotte to her feet and into his arms. She clung to him tightly and they just stood there for a time taking comfort in each other’s embrace.

“I really need to get a better boat then…” he chuckled and she relished the sound, the smell of him.

Charlotte pulled back and looked into his eyes. “I, um, have something to show you…” She led him down a corridor to a heavily reinforced hatch and keyed the combination. Thick bolts retracted and she hauled against it with all her weight causing it to swing silently open. The familiar surroundings of the “parking lot” were revealed but floating moored next to her sleek 2 seat ‘foil was another with similar coloring and a larger model that would seat 6 easily with significant cargo.

“Mel has been working on these for me… I had the larger model in the works for a while now but you need a runabout too…” She trailed off uncertainly.

He swept her up into a hug and just held her for a moment. “Thank you Cheri… No one has ever given me a boat before! I don’t even know what to say!”

She laughed at his glee and deadpanned “Say you’ll let Mel teach you how to pilot it.” He looked at her with mock hurt and she giggled at him again. “These things are massively overpowered and as touchy as a racing bike on steroids. The autocompensators make them easy to pilot at a decent speed but if you are in rough conditions or need a serious turn of speed it’s a different animal. Screwing up in those conditions can get you killed.”

He sobered and looked at the boat with new respect. “Why won’t you teach me?”

“I really suck as a teacher. Besides, you need to learn good habits, not my habits. Would you like me trying to teach you how to drive Oscar?”

“I think not. I’ve never seen better but I don’t have a clue how you do it and I don’t want to know. Your driving scares the hell out of me!” Yves shook his head as she laughed at his response. “I will ask Mel.”

She unexpectedly hugged him tightly. “Thank you Yves… I couldn’t stand to lose you…”

He was a little lost at her sudden turn and could only hold her as she clung to him. When she finally did let go she looked up into his face, gave a quick nod of satisfaction to herself and detached to lead him back out of the “parking lot” before she secured the hatch.

“I have no real reason to leave the house today...” Charlotte looked over her shoulder at him as he followed her down the corridor.

A little later they lay intertwined on her bed catching their breath and Charlotte was absorbed in the way light fell across his chest as his breathing began to slow, half in a daze and still not quite sure she hadn’t had an out of body experience. “I could get used to this…” she groaned out and he chuckled.

“I don’t think I could Cherie… My heart won’t stand it…” Yves laughed again and she relished the sound, velvety and rich. “But I would die a very happy man!”

“You don’t get to die anytime soon Mr Montgolfier!”

“As you wish… I suppose I will only be mostly dead, eh?” He chuckled again as she swatted him lightly.

“You’re hardly a Dread Pirate… but you are my Wesley.” She kissed him deeply before rolling away and to her feet. When she came out of the bathroom he was engrossed in a news story about the killings, staring at the screen with morbid fascination at the scene as it had looked the previous day, then at a flash of a reporter standing in the rain gesturing at the now much cleaner building and sidewalk.

“Police have no solid leads on what they say are the grisly murders of 3 men. Their remains were deposited all over the front of the Post Office here on Broad Street in an as yet unknown way. Police tell us the investigation is ongoing and ask that anyone who saw anything night before last on Broad Street between 4:00 and 5:00. If you have any information call the local police or our tip line here at channel 5. For Live 5 News, I’m Debbi Jacobs.”

The scene cut away to the anchor desk and a man began droning on about street closures due to flooding. That was hardly news to anyone who had lived in the area more than a year or two and they tuned it out by habit, Charlotte with the old familiarity of a native daughter and Yves with the casual disregard of a transplant who’d grown roots.

Yves looked over and saw the suddenly grim expression on Charlotte’s face. A wisecrack died unuttered and he swore under his breath in French before rising to take her in his arms. It was some moments before she could manage to relax and return the hug, breathing deeply to calm herself. “Feel better?”

It took a second for her to realize he had spoken and she pulled away to look up into his face. “About as good as I’m going to get…” She pulled away and stood looking out into the pallid day.

He busied himself for a moment at the table, then drew her to a futon that looked out over the water, grey and restless, distance obliterated by hissing rain. They both sat there in silence, her thought-fugue uninterrupted while he lit up and they shared a smoke. About halfway through she looked at him, clearly back in the room mentally.

“I don’t know where to start Yves. There has to be something I’ve missed…”

“Or something you saw but didn’t understand what it meant at the time. Stop trying to see the pattern and let your subconscious work on it for a little bit. You know this Cherie, I have seen you work before.” His hand worked around as he talked and began to tease out the knots of tension that had formed in her neck and shoulders as she relaxed into his ministrations.

“You’re right… if you weren’t here I’d just be going over and over the same information, trying to cudgel an answer out of my brain. Thank you Yves.” She turned and kissed him lightly.

“Nice to know I’m useful for something…” he teasingly murmured.

“I wouldn’t care if you weren’t, you know…”

“Useful?”

“Or helpful, or a world class chef, or amazing in bed…” Charlotte paused. “Well okay, maybe that last one would make a difference…” She squealed as he tickled her gently, rolling over and around to sit astride his lap, facing him.

“I mean it Yves. I want you for you, not for anything you can do or provide… just you, here, with me. Everything else is a bonus.” She kissed him gently and looked into his eyes.

He returned her regard, losing himself in the green-flecked amber of her gaze. “I am hopelessly in love with you, you know…”

“I…” she had to almost force the words out “I am hopelessly in love with you too Yves. It is still very hard for me, so be patient when I freeze up, ok?”

“For you Cherie, I will wait until the mountains themselves erode to nothing. I understand what it is to be hurt so badly you do not think you will ever be able to love, to trust… to truly live again…” a tear made its way down his cheek “But it does get better. You know this, you have come so far from the invisible girl who ghosted in and out of people’s lives and restaurants.”

Charlotte gently kissed the tear away and brushed his lips with her own. “Thank you. I know it does but I have times still when I just need to retreat, shut the world out…” She kissed him gently again “but not you. I never want to shut you out Yves.”

She slid backward, put one foot to the floor and spun away, pulling him up with her. “Now, you need to learn a few things about this house.”

Several hours later they were in the kitchen, Yves displaying his prodigious knife skills while Mel, Charlotte and Tina looked on with something approaching awe. He looked up at the 3 women while seemingly blindly chopping away. “So Tina, Charlotte tells me you designed the place?”

Receiving an affirmative nod he continued. “I think you did an excellent job. It has a very light and airy feel, not at all what I would have expected from a hardened bunker. The job of camouflage you did on the island is impressive… I would never have guessed a ramshackle looking little island shack would harbor such a home if I hadn’t been here already. I am impressed in every way.”

He swung his attention to Mel. “You designed the weapons emplacements?” He swept his cutting board clean and turned to the cooktop for a moment, swinging back as loud sizzling noises came from a skillet.

Mel puffed on her pipe for a moment, emitting sweet smelling blue smoke. “Not exactly. I designed the weapons. The emplacements and the overall defensive design? That was all Charlie.” She gestured with the stem of her pipe. “Your girl here is absolutely fiendish. She built the surroundings for a mile out in a virtual sim and spent a year trying to crack it, making improvements every time she succeeded. Then she put it out there for gamers and gave that another 6 months. Lots of SF types seemed to like playing that sim and they got really creative on both ends, trying to crack the design and building improvements to it.”

“Wait… this is the house from SwampSeige? It doesn’t look anything like the sims!” he paused and considered for a moment. “Of course it doesn’t… you took all the lessons you learned and used them for a new design.”

Mel nodded and continued. “We both knew her from designing and building the original place but it was years later that we met her in person. She turned up at Tina’s place one morning, scared the hell out of both of us. I was out on the dock looking at the water one moment, turned around and there she was with a net bag full of crabs in one hand, spear gun in the other and like 6 knives strapped to her legs and arms. Nothing else but a tiny string bikini. I almost fell right into the water I was so shocked, Tina runs out with gun drawn and there they are, spear gun against 9mm at like 30 feet.”

Yves was chuckling to himself envisioning the scenario as he spun around, popped the results of his knifework into another skillet and gave the first one a good shake and toss. The aromas were beginning to build and there was yet another batch of ingredients ready for prep so he worked on. “I would have loved to see that one! Who backed down first?”

“Have you seen her in that getup? Scary as hell and dead sexy. I don’t think I could have pulled the trigger if I’d had to… and I suspect it wouldn’t have done any good if I had. I think I’d want a hell of a lot more firepower than that to go against your girl here.” Tina laughed ruefully. “There I was being all Betty Bad-Ass and she just gives me this big lazy grin like a tigress licking her chops after a tasty meal. Damn near pissed myself.”

“Didn’t stop you from ogling her the rest of the night!” Mel hooted and slapped the counter.

“Me? I thought we were gonna have to push your eyeballs back in their sockets!” The couple teased each other for a moment while Yves paused, looking at Charlotte in an odd way. She caught his look and licked her lips just the tiniest bit, smiling as she watched him adjust himself subtly. The interplay wasn’t lost on the other couple as Tina watched and burst out laughing.

“Go easy on the poor guy Charlie! We want to eat before you drive him to a stroke or something!”

Charlotte pretended to be aghast. “Me? I haven’t done anything at all! I’m just sitting here!” The other 3 just looked at her until she burst into a fit of giggles.

“I knew it! She does do it on purpose!” Mell got out between her own laughter.

“I do not!” Charlotte thought for a second “Well mostly I don’t… I can’t help it if people get all bothered with me sitting there doing nothing. Blame it on the surgeons.”

“I’ve seen your before pictures. I couldn’t tell much difference…” Tina was quieter now, almost somber.

“Yeah… you haven’t seen the photos from when they took me out of house at Edisto. My own mother wouldn’t have known me.”

“Still… its only partly your looks. It’s the way you carry yourself, like you’re always dancing but ready to do violence in an instant. You just have this presence about you, like a coral snake. Beautiful, but the sort of beauty any sane person runs away from as fast as they can.” Tina’s tone had regained a little of its jocularity but was still serious.

“How odd.” Charlotte mused. “That’s totally not how I see myself, or what I want to project…”

“That’s why you have such an impact. Anyone who watches you for more than a second can tell there is no artifice with you. I don’t even think you’re capable of lying on purpose except by omission. I think you’re the most… uncomplicated person I’ve ever met.” Tina smiled at her again. “Trust me, that’s a good thing!”

Yves chimed in “She’s right, you know. I’ve seen you walk into a crowded bar… its like a tigress walking into a gathering of housecats. People instinctively clear space around you without even realizing it. At the same time you can sit in a chair in the middle of the place and its like no one actually sees you. Fun to watch even if it is a little spooky.”

He had his attention fully on the cooktop at this point, all 6 burners occupied by now. Delightful smells filled the air as he shook and flipped, stirred or otherwise manipulated pots and pans. 2 ovens were occupied and close to finishing their timers as he added sherry to one skillet and cognac to another causing great billows of flame as the alcohol caught fire. Conversation lagged as they watched him work and a few minutes later the meal was ready, plated and on the table.

After a moment to admire his plating they all dug in. Appreciative moans filled the air as they all savored that first intense burst of flavor before following Yves’ lead in taking a sip of the excellent wine he had decanted earlier.

“Wow… I think this might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted. You are an absolute genius Yves! I didn’t even know half of this stuff was edible.” Mel took another sip of her wine and savored for a moment before returning her attention to the plate.

“Charlotte taught me about what was safe to eat but the idea is as old as cooking. Now they call it being a locavore but mostly it is the way people have eaten for all of human history. It is just using what is locally available.” He shrugged and continued eating.

“Whatever. False modesty does not become you Yves.”

That drew a laugh from the table and another shrug from the now red-faced chef. Good natured banter between the four accompanied the remainder of the meal and the stunning pluot tart he produced for dessert paired perfectly with an almond and cinnamon infused absinthe.

Once finished Mel and Tina made short work of the dishes and shortly the 2 couples were ensconced in lounge chairs, each nursing another glass of absinthe as dusk descended upon the marsh, welcomed by the sounds of its nocturnal inhabitants going about their business.

They sat there well into the night drinking and smoking, getting quite thoroughly smashed and enjoying each other’s company along with the cooler night air that was becoming prevalent this time of year. The easy flow of conversation between friends made the hours pass quickly until the two couples unsteadily made their separate ways to bedrooms which were fortunately soundproofed as well as the rest of the house.

When Charlotte awoke the next morning sunlight was streaming into the room and her eyes were a little sensitive but overall she felt quite good. Yves had already gone but had left a note.

‘Cherie, Mel is teaching me how to drive your wonderful present. See you in town this afternoon? Yours, Yves Montgolfier’

She smiled fondly and took care of her immediate physical needs, then donned a swimsuit, stretched and made her way to the end of the dock before jumping in and swimming strongly but quietly out into the day. An hour later she made her way to land and began to run, settling into a long loping stride that was deceptively fast on the sandy trails. 90 minutes later she arrived back at her starting point, then changed footwear and mounted a road bike. The outbound leg was upwind today against a 15-20 mph breeze but she stayed above 35 mph regardless, letting her mind slip into an endorphin fueled half trance.

After an hour she reversed course and upped her tempo, occasionally reaching over 50 mph when the wind gusted at her back. She arrived back at start in well under 45 minutes then spent a few minutes stretching and cleaning her bike before stowing it back in the hidden shed. Footwear stowed she was back in the water for another hour, ending where she had begun. As she approached she heard then saw a small boat making its way toward her home with an small trolling motor, clearly trying to be stealthy.

Her normal swimming style was close to silent so Charlotte had escaped notice so far but she exhaled, then inhaled as deeply as she could, submerging with barely a ripple and making her way under the murky water to the scant shelter of a few tufts of marsh grass. It was enough and she made her way unobserved through a small channel to a camouflaged hatch sunk in the water. She manipulated the controls with her toes and felt the tug of water filling the chamber below her before the hatch opened and she took a few deep breaths before diving through. Once inside she punched a single button and the hatch swung closed before powerful pumps pulled the water rapidly out of the airlock.

Within 2 minutes she was standing there dripping onto the deckplates as the inner hatch swung open allowing her access to a surprisingly spacious tunnel. Charlotte ran down the tunnel at top speed, through another airlock that allowed both hatches to be open since there was no pressure differential. She sealed both hatches behind as she made her way through a corridor to the primary nerve center of her defensive systems.

She took a quick moment to strip and dry off with one of the towels she kept in here for any sort of liquid based emergency and sat, calling up external views and setting defensive systems on ready standby. This allowed her to take the house to full alert within 20 seconds and still maintain an extremely stealthy posture, looking like the rickety shack it pretended to be. She replayed the feeds from audio pickups and listened to the men bickering about some package they were supposed to pick up.

One of the men finally checked his phone and discovered they were several miles away from where they needed to be because he’d managed to turn the GPS off so it wasn’t updating their position. After a few minutes of them swearing at each other they abandoned stealth and roared back in the direction they came from using an overpowered outboard. Charlotte kept an eye on them until they were well away and left the systems to follow their acoustic signature, confirming that they were indeed heading for the destination indicated in the date cloned from the active phone.

She took a moment to trigger a cleaning cycle in the outer airlock and sent cleaner bots to mop up the trail of water and mud she’d left. Housekeeping taken care of she made her way to the bathroom, tossed her muddy suit into a sink full of water and took a full 30 minutes to luxuriate in the needle sprays of the showerheads as the water temperature gradually increased. This time of year the water was getting fairly cold and even with the vigorous activity of the past hour her skin was chilled.

She emerged from her shower, dressed and browsed through her inbox sorting the various messages before digging into the highest priority as she savored a cup of yogurt. The first was the lab report on the particulates gleaned from the drains. It confirmed the initial assessment that everything was consistent with the use of a wood chipper that would produce particles larger than sawdust but smaller than wood chips.

That wasn’t actually a clue in itself although it did provide some possible pointers to the type of equipment that might have been used. Another analyzing the patterns of distribution and the blood droplet scatter gave exactly the result she was beginning to suspect. There was no way for anything on the ground to have been the delivery vehicle while still leaving the total absence of a trail. The remains had also not been dropped from a height greater than 80 feet and at no significant speed. That ruled out a crop duster or other conventional aircraft and the lack of noise report ruled out a helicopter.

That left a drone but anything which could carry the amount of weight that had been dumped was large and noisy enough to be seen and heard especially when the city was at its quietest in the predawn hours. Charlotte spent another hour or two going over the available information without gleaning any novel insight before she washed her dishes and made her way to her runabout. After double checking to make sure the house was fully secure she centered the small boat in the empty end of the area, then triggered the doors.

A portion of the roof slid inward then retracted beneath the stationary portion while a frame large enough to allow a 25 foot boat raised itself and the water it enclosed through the roof into daylight. Marsh grasses hid the boat completely and would have hidden a much larger boat if needed. The front end of the platform opened once the water level equalized and she used the small trolling azipods to quietly make her way out of the enclosure, still sheltered from view. The lift retracted and the hatch cover slid back into place, barely visible when looked at directly.

She followed a path out through the grasses which after a couple of sharp turns debouched some distance from her island into another passage and thence to more open water. Once she was some distance away she started the engine and slid the canopy forward to seal out the wind and noise of her passage. She set the throttle at 11% and made an increasingly fast passage out of the marshes and past the surfline, already up on her planes with the much lighter craft. Once in open water the planes crawled outward to provide additional stability and the craft rose a little for visibility and wave clearance.

Assured by her instruments that no traffic was detected she moved the throttle up to 35% and held there. There was no great hurry and the storm had left behind a beautiful day so she cruised along at just over 50 knots in comfort, enjoying the way the sun sparkled on silty brown seawater. 25 minutes later she throttled down and settled to 30 knots, steering well clear of an outgoing freighter and a few small craft as she passed Fort Sumter before bearing off to port and entering the Ashley River.

The Coast Guard station fell away to her right and Charlotte eased the throttle back, reducing speed as she approached the marina and finally throttling down far enough to lose lift from the planes. She cut the main engine, extended the azipods and allowed the canopy to slide back as she maneuvered into one of her slips. She triggered the docking systems and strong magnets attached to docking cables activated, pulling the lines to the sides of the slip and holding them in place while tensioning the lines so that the small craft sat not quite touching one side and as stable as the dock itself. After a final downcheck she climbed out and onto the dock, bringing a large shoulder bag/backpack along. Once she verified the boat was locked and secured she made her way out to Lockwood and caught the DASH down to East Bay, getting off at Queen Street and making her way to Unity Alley.

It was still too early in the day for the restaurant to be open so the front of the house was abandoned as she let herself in and made her way back to the kitchen. It wasn’t exactly quiet in the kitchen but unlike many kitchens the noise was almost entirely that of cooking. Requests and acknowledgements were calm and unhurried, lending an illusion of languor but if you paid attention the movements of the chefs were well practiced and economical. The activity was actually winding down at this point with almost all prep completed so there would be time for a 45 minute break before getting ready for service in 2 hours.

Charlotte greeted a few of them as she walked past toward the small office where Yves was putting the final touches on the presentation he had planned. He heard the door open but was focused on his work so she was able to surprise him, slipping her hands down over his shoulders into his shirt and caressing his chest, plucking lightly at the wiry hairs. He leaned back and turned his head to share a kiss, then turned back to his work, saving and closing before sending it to the printer and turning to kiss her properly.

“Did you have fun this morning?”

The smile on his face was answer enough. “Mel had me up to 60% throttle today. She says I need a lot more practice before I’m ready to go faster than that but I think maybe I need a little touch of insanity too…”

“Smart boy! What’s for lunch?”

Yves rose and held her hand, leading her out into the dining room where a table was ready for them, tall glasses of iced tea with beads of condensation making their slow way down the outside of the glasses. He pulled out her chair and pushed it in as she sat before taking his seat and a sip of tea. Charlotte followed suit and savored before taking another sip and letting out a small sigh.

“Apricot?” she questioned.

“You like?” Yves quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Its delicious! Light and just sweet enough, the tea is strong enough to stand up to the ice but not bitter. Seriously though, whats for lunch? My stomach has decided I’m trying to starve it and is staging a rebellion!”

He laughed at her expression as a large plate slid in front of her immediately after her last word. A large sandwich occupied the plate, held together with decorative skewers and paired with lightly herbed roasted potato wedges and a largish quarter pickle.

“Plumwood smoked pork and bacon, fried green tomatoes and field greens with an onion and fennel aioli on grilled sourdough. I’m calling it the Unity Club. Taste it and see what you think!” Yves watched as she managed to get a bite of the double decker sandwich and grinned at the beatific expression that came over Charlotte’s face as she chewed.

“Oh wow… I think I could marry this sandwich…” She took another bite and Yves followed suit.

Sometimes the quality of a dish can be judged by conversation at the table. By that measure it was a raging success since neither of them spoke and the only noise was that of eating and Charlotte’s appreciative moans. They took their time and were still finished in just a few minutes, Charlotte leaving her customary spotless plate and neatly folded napkin and leaning back into her chair with a sigh of satisfaction.

“I’m totally gonna get fat if you keep feeding me like that…”

“Not a problem, I will simply have more of you to love!” Yves grinned at her. “Besides, I’ve seen you take down eight thousand calories a day for weeks on end and actually lose weight. I’m guessing you did your usual insane workout this morning?”

“Funny, I seem to remember someone keeping up with me on my ‘insane workout’” she did air quotes and smirked at him “Out of the water anyway…”

“I couldn’t move for 2 days after that. Never again.”

“Typical man, can’t handle a little pain…” Charlotte laughed at his expression. “Hey it took me a long time to get to that point… and to be fair, a lot of pain. There was a time not that long ago that I couldn’t walk a single step much less run. It started out as physical therapy and turned into something that gives me strength, helps me keep centered and not just going completely out of my mind.”

Charlotte took a sip of tea. “You know exactly what I mean, cooking is the same for you. Like a meditation in a lot of ways.”

“So did your meditation help clear things up any?”

“Well I worked out a couple of possible things but I’ve still got a lot of checking to do. One thing for sure, this is more than just a killing, even one for revenge. Not just for revenge anyway… there’s something more to it. This is someone sending a message, but to whom and why so publicly? It just doesn’t quite make sense yet. I should have a comprehensive assay from the lab results tomorrow and if it confirms what I think it might it tends strongly toward one idea.”

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Even that only gives me a pointer toward methodology. I suppose its better than nothing…”

Yves leaned forward. “So you have nothing to work with right now?”

“I’ve got quite a lot… and nothing at all.” She paused for a moment “Well not quite nothing. I can tell you we’ll see another killing soon.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Can you imagine one gang doing this to another and there not being reprisal killings?” She quirked an eyebrow at him.

“I suppose not. Do you think this is the beginning of a gang war? I didn’t really think you had a gang problem here.” Yves’ face took on a harder cast.

Charlotte took a moment to reply. “We don’t.” At his quizzical look she went on “We have some punks that think they are gangbangers but nothing like what you’d see even up in Columbia. There are some smugglers but small time stuff only… Its really very tame around here. We’re just not terribly convenient as a smuggling route and since weed was legalized back in ’29 there isn’t that much to smuggle anyway. Biggest criminals around here are land developers…”

“Land developers?”

“Yeah they will do just about anything to get permission to build on sketchy land. A little bribery, that sort of thing… nothing much really. One of em did get caught running a brothel…”

Yves snorted a laugh “A brothel? Really?”

“Yep. Got to know him through a friend in the building trades, he’d done some work for the guy. Seemed squeaky clean, wife and 3 beautiful kids, deacon in his church, ex fighter pilot… I thought he was a nice guy. Then one night on the news there he is being arrested for pimping…” Charlotte shook her head. “You never can tell I suppose. I mean hell, look at what was done to me, and by ‘Respectable Members of Society’ no less”.”

“Were you ever able to find out any more about the other men?”

“Nothing… “she sounded defeated. “I looked and I did everything I could but they always had this hood/mask thing that wouldn’t even allow me to scream… I damn near suffocated from snot plugging up the little tubes they had in my nose. They would tie me up off the ground, wrapped so tight I could barely breath and take turns hitting me and raping me and it went on for so long I thought it would never end… that I would die there.” Charlotte was crying now, hugging her knees to her chest in the chair.

Yves moved over to embrace her and signaled to Marge. The solid woman was busy drying her hands with a towel before slinging it over her shoulder. As soon as she saw what was going on she leaned down and spoke into Yves ear.

“You take Miss Charlotte home. She needs you and a safe place right now and we can take care of dinner. I already ordered a car for you, it will be here in 2 minutes. Right to the marina, you understand?”

Yves nodded jerkily, not at all on any sort of stable emotional footing. He had not known of the worst of the horrors she had experienced… for that matter he still didn’t but he was beginning to realize that he might not want to know. Was he even strong enough to hear about it without going mad?

The one thing he did know was that he was utterly in love with Charlotte and had been from the moment he saw her, eating alone and being invisible in his restaurant.

“Thank you Marge” he tried to think of something more to say and just wound up repeating “Thank you…” as he gently gathered Charlotte into his arms and carried her out to the waiting car. Within 10 minutes they were at the marina and he went toward the slip where he was moored until she muttered in his ear.

“Take mine. Homing system.”

Yves did as instructed and soon had her strapped into the rear seat. He clambered in and saw a button on the display which he pushed. A voice sounded in the cabin.

“Primary pilot impaired function. Secondary pilot incompletely trained. Shall I initiate homing function?”

“Yes please, and thank you Paul. Maximum safe speed please?”

With no further ado the boat disengaged cables, backed out of the berth and swung on its axis while spooling the turbine up. They were already up on the planes as they cleared the piers and their speed steadily increased. By the time they left the harbor the throttle was at 80% and still moving upward. They were doing well over 150 knots and still accelerating, passing Isle of Palms and Dewees island in less than 7 minutes before the boat throttled down to a mere 90 knots and caromed through the tidal channels and into the maze leading to her home. The door was retracted and within minutes they were safely into the ‘parking lot’ with Yves unstrapping a still sobbing Charlotte and carrying her gently to a sofa where he could watch while he prepared her a drink.

He poured 3 measures of grain alcohol into a tumbler and splashed in some orange juice with a couple of ice cubes, gave it a stir and handed it to Charlotte who took it in a shaking hand and used her other hand to steady it enough to take a sip. She snorted at the strength, then took another deeper drink, draining half the glass. After a couple of ragged breaths she finished it off and gave it back to Yves with a hand that was shaking only slightly less than before. He understood and refilled it, this time adding a flowery smelling liqueur rather than juice.

This time she took a smaller sip and turned a wan smile of thanks on him. He came over to sit beside her and just held her in his arms as she slowly finished her second drink, gradually relaxing.

“I’m sorry I went to pieces on you there…. I understand if its too much, if you don’t… can’t… deal with it. I… I’m damaged goods Yves, like really damaged…”

He held her tighter for a moment, then pulled her chin around with his finger to look into her eyes. “I have seen broken people Cherie. They allow their pain to overcome them so completely that they cannot live. That is not you my love. You are one of those people who respond to adversity by making yourself stronger, by standing up to things that scare the shit out of you.” He kissed her, a gentle brush of the lips.

“A bone, when it is broken, becomes stronger in that place once it heals. You are like that except you were broken everywhere and it made you who you are, the woman I love. Yes you are damaged. I am damaged. You have held me and soothed me when I had episodes… And you understand, more deeply than anyone ever has. You will never be too much to deal with Cherie… I do not think I could manage without you, not anymore.” He kissed her lightly again.

“You’re the strongest person I know and if you need me I will always be here for you. No such thing as too much, ok?” He held her eyes for a moment until she pulled herself into his embrace and onto his lap.

This time the kiss was long and deep and when it finally broke they simply looked into each other’s eyes’ for a moment. She looked up at him, picked up the glass he had set aside and put it in his hand. “Drink up. In about 20 minutes I’m going to be extremely stoned and I want you in the same frame of mind.”

She got up and filled another glass for herself, this time with a normal strength vodka and more of the fragrant liqueur. “Amazing how delicious the taste and aroma of good cannabis can be. Trust the French to come up with a liqueur like this…”

He busied himself refilling the glass he held, having drained it in one go. “One particular Frenchman anyway. My twice great uncle on my father’s side began making a version of it during the war as medicine and after the war he worked for many years perfecting it. It was illegal but for such a marvelous taste who cares what the gendarmes think, eh?” He laughed “Besides, its not like my ancestors were well known for being sensible…”

Charlotte took a sip of her drink, looking at him over the rim of her glass. “Can you imagine what our kids would be like?”

Yves nearly dropped the bottle mid pour but steadied his hand and finished before carefully setting the bottle down and taking a deep slug of his drink. “Cherie… I would love nothing in this world more than for you to be the mother of our children. I cannot imagine anyone else who would be able to keep up with them!” He sobered. “But I did not think this was possible”

Charlotte took another sip of her drink and set it down. She took a seat and drew Yves down beside her, their legs intertwining as they faced each other. “It is an experimental treatment. My own stem cells used on a matrix to form the organs properly, the correct endocrine balance to get everything to differentiate into the proper tissues…”

“Do you mean?” Yves face was a mixture of confusion, elation and fear. “Do you mean you could become pregnant, have a child? We could have a family, our babies?!?!”

“One day, maybe.” Charlottes tone was somber. “Two years before I’m fertile but they say 5 years would be better. Thats if it works at all… we don’t know yet. Right now I have the uterus and ovaries of a 10 year old but they are growing fast. Anyway, technical details.” She leaned forward and kissed him, a slow lingering sensuous kiss. “The point is, yes, I might be able to have your babies one day… and I very much want to.”

Yves returned the kiss in kind and they spent the next several hours in bed… and on the futon, and the kitchen table… there were a few other places but by the time they were both happily exhausted sunset was casting its garish lightshow over the sky and they fell asleep tangled together on her… now their… bed.