Just Add Water (1)

What people are saying about
JUST
ADD WATER,
Winner
of the EPPIE
 
AWARD
 
FOR BEST MYSTERY

Hetta Coffey's hilarious string of misadventures after
being suddenly plunged into the "yachtie world" is a great
page-turner for the quarter berth!— Capt. Pat Rains

A romp of a read, with snappy dialogue and memorable
secondary characters, but it is Hetta's story. It's easy to sympathize when she
takes her yacht out alone into San Francisco Bay, to nurse her broken heart and
start A LIST OF THINGS TO DO AS AN INFINITELY UNATTACHED PERSON. Then, of
course, all heck breaks loose. —Pat Browning, Author of Absinthe of Malice

Can’t get a man?
Just add water.

Hang on tight for a rollicking adventure with Hetta
Coffey, a globetrotting civil engineer with an attitude.
 
After a lifelong swath of failed romances,
Hetta prefers living with her dog and commiserating her single status with best
friend, Jan. But old habits die-hard and one morning while brunching with Jan
at the waterfront, Hetta’s attention is snagged by a parade of passing yachts
and their hunky male skippers.
 
She
decides that if she had a boat, she could get a man.

Despite her naiveté of all things nautical, Hetta buys her
dream boat and sets about learning to sail. A series of events, including a
shadowy stalker and an inconvenient body threatens to imperil her new
lifestyle. As her past comes back to haunt her, Hetta must use all of her
gritty resources to foil an attempt on her life to figure out who is determined
to kill her and why.
 
—B, Bramblett, for
Fiction Addiction

Author Jinx Schwartz will need to change her name to Lucky when readers
discover
Just Add Water
. Schwartz has not only hit a home run; her first
book is out of the ballpark. Schwartz is a twinkling, bright star on the
mystery genre horizon with her witty and sometimes irreverent heroine, Hetta
Coffey.
 
Book One of the Hetta Coffey
series,
Just Add Water
, is a refreshing antidote to the seriousness of
the mystery genre without sacrificing a well-constructed plot, enjoyable story,
and colorful characters. Readers will fly through the pages in anticipation of
what Hetta will do, and say next.
 
Schwartz ties up all the loose ends at the conclusion of the book,
leaving this reader eagerly anticipating Book Two of the Hetta Coffey
series.—Bookworm Briefing

JUST ADD WATER

All rights reserved.

Published and printed U.S.A.

The Character and events in this book are fictional, and
any resemblance to persons, whether living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any for by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, scanning to the computer disk, or by any informational storage and
retrieval system, without express permission in writing from the publisher.

BOOKS BY JINX SCHWARTZ

www.jinxschwartz.com

The Hetta Coffey Series

Just
Add Water
(Book1)

Just
Add Salt
(Book 2)

Just
Add Trouble
(Book 3)

Just
Deserts
(Book4)

Other Books

The
Texicans

Troubled Sea

Land
of Mountains

JUST ADD WATER

by

Jinx Schwartz

BOOK 1: HETTA COFFEY SERIES

Acknowledgements

Heartfelt
thanks to the following folks:

The red pencil gang: Anne Kelty, Holly Whitman,
Rebecca Dahlke, Lurah Magee, Marilyn Oliveras, Monica Brooks, Monika Madden,
Sheran Vaughn, Geary Ritchie, and Katherine Baccaro.

Medical advice: Dr. Betty Carlisle who, via e-mail
from her post in Antarctica, gave invaluable medical info.

Moral Support: Ed and Nicole Gribble, Maggie and Van
Pomeroy, and Paula and Dennis Lepak

As always, My best friend and husband, Robert (Mad
Dog) Schwartz, offered patience and input.

And they know why
!
Jane Stris, Martha
Farrington, Marian Morse, Jane Portis Sheffield, Carmen Austin, Kristin Henry
Erikson, and Rae Presley.

DEDICATION

To my sister, Arleigh.

And Jane Stris, who has been
like a sister all these years.

Prologue

H
udson’s master plan was unraveling.

His cleverly orchestrated, year-long juggling act was
crashing in on him. If he didn’t make that flight this afternoon, his life
wouldn’t be worth two red yen.

Hudson Williams thought he was well-prepared for this day,
but when a team of auditors from corporate showed up unannounced at his office
this morning, his blood ran cold and his mind went into overdrive.
Friggin’ sea gulls. They fly in, crap all
over everything, and fly out.

Of course, bean counters were the least of his problems. All
they could do was get him fired, maybe prosecuted for embezzlement. Once his
house of cards began to tumble, one thing would lead to another and very
quickly the guys he
really
had to
sweat would get clued in. The ones who could get him dead. He really hadn’t
planned on double-crossing
them
, at
least this soon, but now he had no choice.
All’s
fair in love and crime
.

During that interminable morning, he produced files for his
unwelcome visitors, all the while keeping up a seemingly easy banter. His
practiced charm, which usually worked for him, began to flag. Minute after
stressful minute ticked by, until he pasted a smile on his face and walked into
the conference room they’d commandeered.

“How’s it going, guys?” The auditors’ heads snapped up from
some documents they were poring over, discussing in hushed voices. Thinly
veiled suspicion permeated the air. Or was Hudson’s imagination working
overtime? He shook off his paranoia. They couldn’t have found anything so soon.
Certainly not with the files
he’d
given them. “So, got everything you need?”
Or
what
I
 
think you need
.

The head auditor, Garth Jones, stood up and stretched. “We
could use a break, but we have a few questions for you. How about we discuss
them over some lunch?”

Crap.
“Uh, sorry, dude, but no can do. Got a
doctor’s appointment that won’t keep. But we’ll make dinner an occasion.” He
gave them a meaningful leer. “This town can show a guy one good time, if you
know what I mean.”

Jones didn’t rise to the bait. “Not my cup of tea, Williams.
And I’d strongly advise you to break that appointment. Boston is standing by
for some answers, and we need you here to help get them.”

“Like I said, no can do, buckaroo.” Hudson turned abruptly,
left the conference room and shut the door behind him,
 
but not before registering, with some
satisfaction, the look of helpless dismay on Jones’s face.
What are a couple of bureaucratic number crunchers gonna do, tackle me?
Take away my birthday?

 
Picking up
the briefcase he’d been slipping small packages into all morning, Hudson headed
straight for the elevator. As he passed his secretary’s desk, he growled,
“Doctor’s appointment.”

“Williams-san, I—” but the elevator doors slammed shut
behind him, leaving her confused by his abrupt departure. Her boss, if a little
secretive, was, unlike most
foreigners, always polite and friendly. Now he’d left her at the mercy of the
rude men who invaded the office this morning. Tinny, loud music suddenly filled
the room, and she automatically stood up to do her mid-morning stretches. When
the five minute exercise routine was over, she made tea for herself, leaving
the auditors to fend for themselves.
Not
that the coffee-swigging Barbarians would even appreciate a decent cup of tea.

Hudson didn’t look back. Sweating
profusely, even though a chilly November breeze whistled through Tokyo’s financial
district, he walked—wanted to run—to the nearest subway entrance. As always,
the terminal bustled with commuters, but blending in was out of the question;
at only five-eight, he still towered above most Japanese.

One stop later, he hopped off the train
at the last second before the doors closed.
Just
like the movies
. He made a show of checking his watch as he scanned the
crowd for foreigners.
Not a
gaijin
in sight.
Of course, my “associates” could have a gook keeping tabs on me, but I
doubt it. After all, up until now they haven’t had a reason
not
to trust me.
He’d held up his end of
the deal, shipping their goods all over the Pacific Rim concealed inside
Comtec’s hardware. He’d followed the equipment and, before installing it for
his customers, remove the stuff and hand it off.
Smooth as glass
. He hustled up the steps and hailed a cab

This morning, however, everything
had changed. He’d made a big show of opening boxes in the warehouse,
purportedly taking an inventory for the auditors, actually slipping small
packages into his pockets and briefcase. Thousands of dollars belonging to
Comtec, deposits from customers for equipment he never intended to deliver, had
already disappeared into his Cayman account. He was set for a long, long while.
And what the hell, his escape plans had only been moved up a few days.

Exactly one hour remained before he
had to catch the “limo”—actually a bus—to the airport, barely enough time to
get to the apartment, pick up the suitcase he kept packed with his new
passports and enough clothes to last for days of changing planes and
identities.

As he passed through the lobby of
the apartment building, he smiled at the concierge, who bowed in return.

His so-called fiancée was probably
in her office, but just to be sure, he called. Her secretary put him straight
through, as always. “Hey, how’re things at Tanuki Engineering today?”

“Same ole, same ole. Putting out a fire
started by some jerk in San Francisco. What’re you up to? I called your office,
and they said you’d gone to the doctor. You okay?”

Damn,
were there no secrets in Japan?
“Actually, I lied. Had a bunch of guys in
town from corporate, didn’t feel like eating lunch with them.”

“What do you want for dinner
tonight?”

I
want to be the fuck out of this country
. “Oh, whatever. What time will you
be home?”

“Probably by six. No meetings
planned this afternoon.”

“Great, see you then. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Bye.”

Hudson hung up and had a slightly
guilty moment. Wedding presents, still wrapped, filled one corner of the living
room. RSVP’s were piled next to the phone. The caterer’s proposed menu hung on
the refrigerator door.
How did I let this
friggin’ charade go this far?
There was no way any wedding was going to
take place, even if those auditors hadn’t shown up today. They just accelerated
his plans by a few days.
A guy’s gotta do
what a guy’s gotta do.
The kitchen clock chimed, catching his attention.
Time to saddle up, buckaroos
.

Retrieving his suitcase from the back of
a closet, he added a few toiletries and was about to leave when he spotted his
betrothed’s ATM card on the bedside table. For all her smarts, that gal was way
too trusting; he had the PIN.
Every
little bit counts, ya know
.

Now all he had to do was—
C
rap! The key!
His wannabe bride wore the
damned thing around her neck and he had neither the time nor a reasonable plan
for getting it.
Why didn’t I get the damn
thing back before now? And what was I thinking when I gave it to her, along
with some bullshit line about it being the key to my heart. Must have been the
Crown Royal talking.

Too late now.
But he could get that key back later when the heat was off, when he needed
money again. He ran back into the living room and snatched up an address book
from under the phone. They’d discussed selling her house in California after
they married, but he’d be willing to bet that once she got through boohooing
and realized he was gone for good, she’d return there when her stint was up in
Japan. Checking to make sure the book held her Oakland address, and that of her
parents in Texas, he stuffed it into his briefcase.

Waving a friendly bye-bye to the
concierge, Hudson Williams jumped into the waiting taxi and ceased to exist.