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off his shirt, kicked off his shoes, and vaulted over the side into the knee-deep water. She looked beat to hell, scratched and cut, but alive.
    “Ma’am?”
    She lifted her head again as he slogged toward her. Then she started crying. “Oh, thank God!”
    Caked in muck and mud, her long, blonde hair was matted to her head. Her hazel eyes looked bloodshot and terrified. Her pink bathing suit was also cut in a few places, and he noticed the scuba mask hanging around her neck.
    And a fanny pack around her waist?
    He picked her up and carried her to the boat as she tightly clung to his neck and cried against his shoulder. Under different circumstances he guessed she was probably pretty.
    “How the hell did you get out here, lady?”
    “I need to get to shore. Please take me in. I’ll pay you.”
    “You’re not paying me anything.” He hefted her, hoisted her up on the gunwale before wading around the back to use the swim step to climb in. “How’d you get out here?”
    “It’s a long story.”
    “I need to call the Coast Guard and report you found. Someone must be looking for you.”
    Her eyes widened. “Oh, no! Please, you can’t tell anyone you found me!”
    Every last one of his bullshit alarms rang. “Why?”
    She shook her head. He had to grab her arm and haul her back into the boat when she tried to dive off the side as she hysterically screamed, “No! I won’t go back! He’ll kill me!”
    “All right, Jesus, calm down!” He held her until she stopped thrashing. Holy crap, her skin felt ice cold. “You promise not to jump out, I promise I’ll hear your story and won’t call the Coasties. Deal?”
    She nodded, shivering despite the warm morning.
    He grabbed a couple of towels out of the dry storage locker and wrapped them around her. “Now tell me what happened?”
    “Do you have a bottle of water?”
    He got her one and she drained it in several long, thirsty gulps. She finished half of a second bottle before she stopped. “I didn’t fall overboard. I jumped. Last night.”
    He blinked in surprise. “Why the hell would you do that?”
    She looked him in the eye. “Have you ever heard of the Scorsini family?”
    “Sounds familiar.”
    She shivered and pulled the towels tighter around her. “The father’s on trial in federal court in Tampa right now for racketeering and murder.”
    “Oh.” He realized what she meant. “Oooh. That Scorsini family.”
    “Family with a capital F.”
    He rubbed his forehead, wondering what the hell he’d just gotten himself into. “Let’s back up and start with your name. I’m Alan Walker.”
    “Daphne Peres.” She told him what happened as he dried off and pulled his shirt back on. When she finished, he had to admit he believed her, even though he suspected she left out more than a few details. Regardless, no one was crazy enough to do what she did without a damn good reason.
    “You can’t tell anyone you found me,” she begged. “I need to get away.”
    “Daphne, you’re going to have to talk to someone.” When the panicked expression filled her face again, he held up a hand. “Take a second to look at yourself. You need to get checked out, you have to see a doctor. You’ll be lucky if you can even walk.” He knelt in front of her and picked up one of her feet, his touch gentle as he examined the sole. Her skin had turned white and wrinkled from being in the water all night, but ugly slices full of mud marred the bottoms of her feet.
    “You’ve got a bunch of nasty cuts on your feet. Some of them look pretty deep. I can call an ambulance for you when we get to shore.”
    She frantically shook her head. “No, please!”
    “Can I at least call someone for you? Anyone?”
    She shivered and looked away. “I don’t have anyone,” she quietly said.
    “No one?”
    She shook her head.
    Jerald would kill him for not calling him into this, but he had to help her. “Listen, my boyfriend is a marine patrol officer. We’ll talk to him and he