“The sun is reflecting off the water and the ship is well away from shore. If I had to offer a guess, I would say it sailed with the morning tide an... has been on the water for about a quarter of the day.”Joseph nodded and considered the information. The group had likely missed the pirates by a day. He couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. The ships could carry perhaps a crew of 40 or 50; the pirates would have knowledge of the terrain and would be well armed. Still, he would need to deal. His lightlytanned skin was but a deathly pallor; it matched the room's walls. Bothof his wrists were sliced, one plainly more deeply than the other.Paul's body was dressed in a peignoir. Janet recognized it as one ofhers. She touched it. "Please don't touch anything," the dienercompassionately asked. Janet let it go.Jim nodded his head at the detectives: the body was Paul's.Janet leaned over and kissed him. She caressed his cheek. Her tears fellon the table.Jim's body shook and shook. He kissed. This is the longest I've been on the sailboat at one time and I feel like I'm out of touch. I know I have the internet and even the satellite phone, but it's not the same as being in Tampa or on land."I had to ask, "Is one of Steve's planes coming for you?" No, I won't pay for a charter and I don't want Steve and Sue to either. I have a non-stop commercial flight to Atlanta and straight home from there. I've even booked first class so I'll ride in style the whole way. I want you to look after. Any objections?”No one said anything, not after watching how he thrashed Trevor. Their silence was not out of fear; instead, it was the awareness that Noah knew what he was talking about. He wasn’t the oldest member of the group, but they all sensed he had much more experience than they did.“Good, then let’s depart. Oath, you know the area. Please lead the way.”“I actually know the location of a magic spawning circle. Let’s head there.”They gathered some supplies and set off into the.