“What’s wrong?” Kelly asked as soon as they approached.
Nick just looked away and shook his head.
“The bridge is a reproduction,” JD told them. “It’s been rebuilt three times since the Battle of Concord.”
Kelly swiped his hand over his mouth. “Well f**k.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t on the bridge itself; perhaps it was carved somewhere near,” Julian tried. “The bank of this river is littered with large boulders.”
“Yeah.” JD nodded, eyes sparkling. “I was telling Nick, we passed a sign for something called Egg Rock, apparently it’s a big deal. The city even carved a memorial into it. It can’t be the only one.”
“What are we supposed to do, inspect every rock on the riverbank?” Nick snapped.
“We can try the area around the bridge, at least.” Julian sounded almost desperate. He took a step toward Nick, one hand up. “We’ve come all this way.”
Nick met Kelly’s eyes briefly. He seemed at his wit’s end with this. Kelly knew it was frustrating for Nick to fail, especially when lives hung in the balance. But it wasn’t his boyfriend who was being held prisoner, and Julian was asking for nothing but a little more patience. So they headed for the bridge as a brisk wind plucked at their jackets and ruffled Kelly’s hair.
Nick stepped onto the wooden bridge and peered over the edge. It was made entirely of wood, but the ends were built into rock walls. Spring had brought a lot of rain, and the river was swollen with it. To see the faces of the stones, they would have to get wet. He gestured to Julian. “You two check the other end.”
Julian and JD headed across the bridge, their footsteps echoing on the planks. It was a peaceful day, filled with the sounds of birds chirping, groups of chattering tourists, and the babbling of the water as it flowed beneath them. Kelly was kind of enjoying this.
“Who’s going in the water?” Nick asked Kelly.
Kelly held up his fist. Nick mimicked him, and they counted off. Kelly threw paper, then laughed as he covered Nick’s fist with his hand. “Always the rock.”
“Which makes me wonder why you throw scissors half the time.”
Kelly grinned impishly. “Depends on the punishment.
Sometimes I like to lose.”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “Next time I’m taking vacation days and we’re never wearing pants.”
“Deal.”
“Help me out here,” Nick grumbled as he shrugged out of his leather coat. Kelly took it and slung it over the railing.
Nick swung around the end of the bridge and edged his way down the steep bank. The ground was mushy and oversaturated; Nick’s boots made deep furrows in the mud, and he reached up to grip the wooden boards of the bridge.
Kelly laid himself out and slipped his arm under the railing, his hand hanging down so Nick could grab for it if he started to slip further.
Nick held on to the bridge as he examined the wall of rocks. Every couple minutes he would bend and wipe away dirt or pull moss from one of the rocks, his movements growing jerkier and more frustrated the longer he searched.
Finally he was low enough that the water was lapping at his boots.
“See anything?” Kelly asked after a few moments.
Nick glared up at him, his eyes flashing. He gave a single jerk of his head in answer. Kelly heard footsteps on the bridge, then felt them in his chest. He twisted to see JD and Julian walking back toward them. JD was wet up to his chest.
“You can see the original pilings,” JD called down to Nick.
“You got to get wet, Detective.”
“I don’t get paid enough for this,” Nick griped. He grasped Kelly’s hand and slid further down like he was surfing a wave.
Then he was in the water. He moved beneath the bridge, his fingers slipping out of Kelly’s grasp and finally moving out of Kelly’s sight.
JD and Julian both leaned over the railing, trying to see him. Kelly stayed where he was, though, his hand still hanging down. Nick was moving upstream, so if he lost his footing and the water took him, he could at least try to make a grab for Kelly’s hand as he went by.
“Fucking morons,” Nick shouted after several more minutes of silent searching. “Who writes a goddamn message on a wooden bridge?”
“Oh boy,” Kelly muttered. He pushed to his knees and headed to the end of the bridge, stepping out onto the rocks so he could see where Nick was. He was standing in waist- deep water, one hand gripping the piling of the bridge, one hand on a rock in front of him.
“In the middle of a f**king war, where bridges were literally being burned!” Nick shouted.
Kelly beckoned with his fingers. “Come out of the water, bud.”“He had to know wood wouldn’t stick around!” Nick shouted. “Fucking idiot.”
“There there,” Kelly said.
“This shit was gone by the time they put that message in the diamonds,” Nick railed. “What was the point? It’s a f**king dead end!”
“Babe, come on, get out of the water,” Kelly tried again.
“We have a problem,” Julian said.
Kelly glanced up at him, then followed the direction of Julian’s gaze. A couple was strol ing toward them. The woman had a mop of wavy auburn hair, almost the same color as Nick’s, and she was quite striking. High cheekbones, full lips that curved into a smirk. Kelly looked her up and down out of habit. The man was considerably less attractive, with a hard edge to his eyes and a scar that went from one of his heavy eyebrows to his rather square chin. They definitely didn’t look like they fit as a couple.
Julian positioned himself in front of JD.
Kelly watched their approach, the gun on his belt feeling heavier as they came closer. He gave Nick a quick look over his shoulder, but Nick was gone. The water flowed peacefully over the spot where he’d been. Kelly stood, making certain his jacket covered his gun. He didn’t have time to get back up to the bridge, but at least this way they were offering two separate targets.
“Good afternoon, gents,” the man called in a genial Irish accent.
“Hello, Dr. Hunt,” the woman added with a kind smile. “I hear you’re having a rough few days.”
JD took a tiny step sideways so he could see them over Julian’s shoulder. He was smart enough to stay behind Julian, though.
“Where’s the detective?” the woman asked.
Kelly and Julian shared a glance, then Kelly looked over his shoulder into the water.