Killer Colada: a Danger Cove Cocktail Mystery (16 page)

The tavern had been empty—probably due to the crime scene vans blatantly advertising something going on out there, putting people off from coming in—so luckily there were no customers inside when Lester made his announcement.

He sat at the bar, Harvey seated next to him. "We've found the remains of a skeleton. The medical examiner has confirmed as best as she can at this stage that the bones are consistent with a body being placed in there sometime in the last twenty-five years. She's contacted a forensic anthropologist who will be arriving soon to consult with us and make a more accurate analysis. But under the circumstances, we believe this is Jenna Williams."

I blew out a breath. Poor Jenna.

"Do you know how she died?" Vernon asked.

"It looks like she was strangled," Lester said. "She was found with a belt still wrapped around her neck—although the material had decayed a bit, the buckle is still intact. It's quite distinctive—a metal Celtic cross design. I'm guessing there was some kind of argument between Tim and Jenna, and he lost his temper and killed her before dumping her body there."

My hand flew to my cheek. The ground outside on the cliffs was naturally uneven, so I wasn't surprised someone had managed to hide her body out there without it being discovered.

"Which just goes to prove my theory," Lester said smugly. "Tim killed Jenna and then killed Pandora to keep her quiet. I'm going to get a double homicide out of this one." Lester rubbed his hands together and stood. "Well, I can't sit around here chatting all day. I've got more work to do." He strutted outside.

"I need a drink," Harvey said, his tanned face turned pale.

"Me too," I said.

Vernon poured us all a shot of Jack Daniel's on the rocks.

Harvey gulped his greedily. I sipped mine, trying to take it all in, not knowing what to think. Vernon was just about to take a sip of his drink when Ruby waltzed in.

"What's going on?" She pointed outside. "Lester Marshall and some crime scene people are out there at Harvey's dig site."

"Didn't you get my text?" I asked.

"No, I haven't checked my phone." She eyed Vernon's drink. "Are you drinking again? You know what the doctor said! No more alcohol! Honestly, what's the point of making all these healing foods for you, when you carry on with your old ways?"

"Murder trumps abstinence any day," Vernon said, sitting down at a barstool before giving her an update. He shook his now half-empty glass at her. "Want one now?"

She took his and downed it in one. "This is just…incredible."

"Strangling is a crime of passion," Vernon said.

"So was I right about Tim, then? Did he kill Jenna, then murder Pandora after all, to keep her quiet?" Ruby asked.

"Lester Marshall still thinks so," Vernon said, although he didn't sound convinced.

I kept the tavern closed for the three days it took the police and crime scene techs to sift through the area. Because of Harvey and Carmen's work recovering the ancient relics and bones near to where the new skeleton had been discovered, they were on hand to advise officials exactly what they'd been doing there.

The only good news to come out of it all was that it meant when they packed up their equipment and left, Harvey had some free time while the forensic team examined the bones and surrounding soil samples more thoroughly. And I decided that I might as well keep the place closed for one more day out of respect for Jenna's memory, so Harvey and I were finally able to spend some quality time together.

He knocked on the outer door to my apartment at 10:00 a.m., picnic basket in hand, and a warm but worried smile on his face. "I need a break from all this business with Jenna's remains." He stared intensely into my eyes. "We've both been so distracted and busy. It would be nice to switch off from everything." He set the basket down on the step and pulled me into his arms. "I thought we could get away from it all for the day."

I nestled against his shoulder, kissing his neck. Mmmm, that was so good.

"Or maybe not," he whispered huskily into my ear, his warm breath igniting a fire inside. "We could just stay here all day. Have a picnic in bed?"

I didn't need to be asked twice. I wanted him. Wanted him to fill my mind and body and replace the horrible thoughts about Jenna and Pandora and Carmen roaming around.

I gave him a hungry smile and tugged on his hand, leading him up the stairs, where we were suddenly lost in a tangle of clothes and sheets and kisses, and the stresses of the past few months drifted to the far edge of my brain.

It was magical, sensual, healing. Just what I needed.

Afterward, I lay in the crook of his arm as he traced his fingertip around in a pattern on my shoulder. I wanted to ask him about Carmen. About what she'd meant to him. Whether she
still
meant anything, but I couldn't bring myself to in case I didn't like the answer. I wanted to concentrate on the moment and appreciate the right now before it slipped away and became another memory.

"Are you hungry?" he asked later.

I grinned. "Starved."

We devoured our feast in the bed. This was exactly what I needed. Lost in our own little cocoon world, talking, laughing.

"So, what do you fancy doing now?" Harvey asked. "We've still got the whole afternoon ahead of us."

"You know what I'd really like to do? But I don't know if you'll want to."

He cocked an eyebrow. "I thought we just did. And I
definitely
wanted to."

I laughed, nudging him with my arm. "I want to go diving again." I'd dived a lot when I was traveling the world, and I loved the magical, mystical quality of the ocean. Being underwater, the only sound in your ears from your own breathing, the sense of being away from everything, all the worries and stress, lost in a vast marine world under the surface. I'd only dived once since being in Danger Cove, and that was also with Harvey when I was trying to help him out by searching for the
Ocean's Revenge
. "But you've been diving all the time looking for the ship, so maybe you want to do something else on your day off?"

He shrugged. "Well, I never say no to diving, so let's do it! My equipment is in a locker at the diving center in the harbor, and you can hire some there again. Where do you want to go?"

"How about we kill two birds with one stone? We can cover an area you've marked out on your search grid for the
Ocean's Revenge
."

"A busman's holiday, then?"

"A what?"

"It means a holiday or recreational activity that involves doing the same thing as your job."

"Oh, right!"

"Sounds like a plan to me." He grinned.

An hour later, we were leaving the harbor on the
Meant to Be
, a boat owned by the University of Washington that Harvey was using while he was in town. I thought about the first kiss we'd shared, right on this very boat two months ago. Were we meant to be? Or were Harvey and Carmen? I mentally flushed the idea of them together out to sea.

We headed left past the lighthouse, where Jenna had apparently gone to meet Tim the night she'd disappeared. It wasn't far from there to the cliffs in front of the Smugglers' Tavern, but still no witnesses had seen her. I pictured her arguing with Tim, trying to break up with him. He was angry. Not wanting her to leave him. Not wanting her to go to Seattle to start her new job. If he couldn't have her, then why should someone else? In my head, I saw him remove his belt, loop it round her neck, and squeeze with all his strength until her eyes rolled back and she collapsed. Then an image of Ian came into my head, strangling her because he was jealous of his sister. Poor Jenna. I forced the image away. Today was about having fun and forgetting all the bad things that had happened lately.

Harvey released the anchor when we got to a spot parallel to the cliffs below the tavern. We donned our equipment, checked it before checking each other's, then he handed me a mesh bag to clip to my dive belt, in case we came across any other artifacts from the ship.

"I found the hull section right out there." He pointed to the water. "Fingers crossed we can find some more today. You ready?"

"Absolutely." I gave him a thumbs-up.

We climbed down the ladder into the sea. It was calm today, perfect diving conditions. We swam through the deep blue down to the ocean floor, flippers moving in time with each other. Everything seemed to take on a slow-motion quality down here, as if time were suspended. It was liberating, exhilarating.

I scanned the sandy bottom, spotting a dogfish and a giant pacific octopus, the reddish-brown tentacles slithering across a pile of empty shells near the entrance to a small hole in some rocks. Someone had eaten dinner. I spotted a piece of metal buried in the sand. As I retrieved it, I noticed it was a tarnished goblet. The kind that may have been used to drink wine in olden days. Unsure if it had come from the
Ocean's Revenge
, or been lost at sea some other way, I placed it in my bag anyway for Harvey to check out later. Ten minutes into the dive, I spotted a dorsal fin about fifteen meters directly ahead of me.

I wasn't too worried about sharks. I'd studied the great whites for a volunteer project in Australia and dived with reef sharks, lemon sharks, and hammerheads before. As far as I was concerned, they had a bad rap. But my heart rate did kick up a notch for a moment, before realizing this was actually a Pacific white-sided dolphin.

I tugged Harvey's arm. He was so intent on brushing the sand away from the bottom, examining a piece of wood, that he hadn't noticed the dolphin. Pointing to the beautiful cetacean, I noticed more of them rummaging around in the sand with their rostrums, or noses, and playing with each other or pieces of flotsam. One had a ring of seaweed on its flipper and darted through the water before it fell off and another picked it up by the rostrum. I'd never seen them this close up before, only from a boat, and this was too magical an event to pass by.

We swam nearer toward them, hoping they'd stick around. I knew they could travel around forty miles an hour, so if they didn't want us there, we'd have no chance of keeping up. But they were content to play around us, gliding through the water effortlessly, and it almost seemed as if they were waiting for us to catch up. As we got within a couple of meters, I noticed some babies swimming underneath their mothers.

The whole pod consisted of around twenty-five dolphins, some with scars on their skin from boats or fights. They let us swim along with them, side by side, as they surfaced to breathe, then sunk down again in unison. One pair of dolphins was mating right in front of us! I stared in wonder at the magical sight, something I'd only ever seen before on the National Geographic channel.

Four dolphins broke away from the pod, treating us to an underwater acrobatic show as they looped around each other in an elegant dance. As we sliced through the water, one dolphin came right alongside me, so close I could look into its eye. It seemed to be sending me a message:
Yes, I know you're there, and I'm letting you swim with me!
Goose bumps broke out over my skin that had nothing to do with the water temperature. It was a spiritual, special moment, because when I looked into its eye, I could see the intelligence behind it. Could feel the sentient spirit of this incredible creature.

Bubbles of air rose from their blowholes, and I heard them communicating with each other through clicks and whistles. We swam with them for another five minutes, and I noticed a dolphin at the rear of the pod, lagging behind. It had a tangle of fishing line that wrapped around one pectoral fin and its body, restricting the movement in the fin and cutting into its flesh.

I tugged Harvey's arm and pointed out the dolphin, then pointed to the knife strapped in a holster around his leg. He nodded, and we swam toward it.

When we were both along the side of its injured fin, the dolphin slowed almost to a stop in a vertical position, rostrum facing the sky, its fluke pointing down to the ocean floor. I sent it silent messages.
Hold on, baby. We're trying to help you.
It looked into my eyes, and again I was hit with that same sense of intelligence and understanding. It stayed where it was, perfectly calm, almost still, as I took hold of the wire, trying to ease it a little way from the surface of its skin so Harvey could slice through it without cutting the animal.

Won't be long, baby. You're doing great!

Harvey worked quickly, cutting, while I removed parts of the wire.

Just one more bit, and we're done!

He unwound the final piece of wire from around its body, and the dolphin flapped its pectoral fin at us. Then it lifted its fluke, maneuvering into a horizontal position directly in front of us. We were nose to nose, with only about a foot between us. It shook its head left to right, up and down, then swam around us in a circle, flapping the now free fin in a move that I knew was its own special way of saying thank you.

Slowly, the dolphin headed toward the rest of the pod, letting us swim alongside it as it rejoined the group.

We stayed with them for a while longer, and as much as I hated to leave them, I knew our oxygen tanks would be getting low. I checked my equipment and signaled Harvey that I needed to go up. Taking one last look at the dolphins, and sending them all a silent thank-you of my own for letting me into their underwater world, I kicked my way to the surface. Treading water, I lifted my mask to my forehead.

When Harvey appeared, I said, "Oh. Wow! How amazing was that?" My whole body was tingling with the excitement of it all.

He removed his snorkel, his wide, elated smile matching mine. "Bloody hell, that was fantastic! I'm so glad we managed to get that wire off. I was worried I was going to cut into the skin, but…oh my God. Just…" He shook his head, suddenly speechless.

"It was awesome!" I shouted up to the sky. "Swim safe, dolphins!"

He pulled me closer. "I'm so glad I got to witness such a special moment with such a special person."

*   *   *

An hour later, we were back on dry land, chattering constantly about the mind-blowing experience we'd just had, with huge grins that hadn't left our faces. On a high, we drove back to my apartment above the tavern, then Harvey took a shower while I made a platter of meze from items I had in the fridge: olives, feta cheese, smoked salmon, sliced organic tomatoes, hummus, roasted vegetable chips, and some thyme and garlic chickpea flour bread I'd bought from Veggie Tables. When he was finished, I jumped into the shower too, still marveling at the amazing day we'd had together.

I was just getting dressed, when someone knocked on the outer door, and I heard voices. I wrapped a towel around my wet hair and walked into the lounge. Ruby and Vernon were in there. Harvey was picking at the meze in the kitchen, leaning over the open-plan counter and telling them about our awesome experience.

"Hey, sweetie." Ruby kissed me on both cheeks. "Sounds like you had a fantastic day."

"It was spectacular! Are you guys hungry? I made some nibbles. There's plenty of it."

"I'm hungry. I'm not exactly getting full up on smashed avocado club on gluten-free bread and pasta with rocket and pine nut pesto," Vernon complained. "I need some meat. Fries would be good too, followed by chili and a huge burger. No, make that a triple burger. And a chocolate fudge sundae. Or maybe a hot brownie slathered with melting ice cream."

Ruby flashed him a withering look and helped me bring the platter and plates over.

"We've got some news." Vernon sat at the small dining room table that had previously been in my rental cottage. It looked out of place here in the large room. I'd toyed with the idea of buying new stuff for the apartment. It wasn't like I couldn't afford it now. But I wasn't used to having such wealth and being able to have luxuries, and it felt odd to squander things away when the table was still in perfectly good working order.

I made tea for Ruby and I, and coffee for Harvey and Vernon, as they chatted about the awful discovery on my land.