Terrors of the High Seas - DK6 (42 page)

destruction of our property and of your peace of mind.”

Kerry almost applauded at the speech. The police captain seemed reserved, but politely friendly. “Captain, why don’t you sit down? This might take a few minutes to explain,”she said. “And you too, Mr. Brack.”

“Thank you, Ms. Stuart,” the policeman answered in a gracious tone. He and the manager sat down. “You are most kind. I understand how upset you and Ms. Roberts must have been to come and find your room in such disarray.”

“After the week we’ve had?” Dar came around the couch and handed Kerry her shake, then sat down next to her on the couch facing the two men. “You could say that, yes.”

The officer leaned forward. “Mr. Brack tells me you knew this woman? Is this true?”

“We think so,” Kerry said. “Based on the description from the housekeeper, she’s one of two people who have been bothering us while we were here on the island.”

“Ahh.” Captain Alalau nodded. He had a handsome, finely sculpted face, and almost nonexistent hair. “That would be Mr.

DeSalliers’ two employees, would it not?”

Dar’s eyebrow twitched. “You know him?”

The captain produced an almost imperceptible sigh. “Ms.

Roberts, there are few here who do not,” he said. “He is a very well-known, well-connected man here, and is used to getting his way.

His agent came to speak with me today, in fact, to lodge a complaint.”

Dar’s other brow lowered. “Against us?” she hazarded a dour guess.

The officer pressed his lips into a faint smile. “No. Against another man they claim is encroaching on a wreck they are attempting to recover.”

“Ah,” Kerry said. “Bob.”

Now it was the officer’s turn to look surprised. “You know this man? We have been searching for him. There are charges being pressed.” He looked from Kerry to Dar and back. “I have a warrant for his arrest.”

“Ah.”

The manager glanced between them, obviously at sea. “If they are after this other man, why then did they come into your hotel room?”

Dar leaned back. “All right.” She lifted one hand. “Let’s just start from the beginning, shall we?”

The officer took a pad and a pencil from his pocket. He scribbled a few notes. “That is an excellent idea,” he said. “I am sure we can clear up this unfortunate situation once we have all the facts.”

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Kerry sucked on her shake and tried not to smile, hoping the facts didn’t, in fact, send the man off screaming. She liked this policeman. Besides, she really wanted to hear what he’d been told about Bob.

“YOU KNOW SOMETHING, Dar?” Kerry was sprawled on her back on the big, comfortable bed. “I didn’t realize just how wild the last couple of days had been until we told someone about them and watched their brain dribble out their ears.”

“Errff.” Dar made a small sound of bemused agreement. “I thought he was going to fall over when we told him about shooting at the pirates. Did you see that?”

Kerry nodded. “He knows something.” She looked at Dar. “You were right. He was really relieved when you told him no one appeared to have gotten hurt.”

“And did you see how fast he changed the subject?” Dar cracked her knuckles. “All right. So now they know everything.”

“And boy, I bet they wish they didn’t.”

Dar smiled. “The captain said he was going to haul in our detective friends if he could find them, and he’s contacting DeSalliers to make sure he leaves us alone.”

“I think we put in a few points for Bob,” Kerry mused. “But we’d better warn him to lay low.” She drew up her knees and stretched, arching her back. “But I’m really glad we got the police involved. I feel a lot better now.”

Dar’s ears twitched approvingly at that. “Yeah, even if he did look at us like we’d dropped a ticking bomb onto his desk,” she agreed. “So, you up for a dive now that we’ve put things to bed?”

Kerry folded her hands across her stomach and considered.

“Yeah,” she said after a moment. “I don’t feel sick at all today. A dive would be nice.” She turned her head. “What did you mean about a blue hole?”

Dar grinned and held out a hand. “Come with me, Yankee. I’ll show ya.”

Unable to resist that kind of invitation, Kerry rolled up off the bed and joined Dar, taking her hand as Dar shouldered the backpack and they headed for the door. “Make sure you lock it.”

She had their overnight bag in her hand, just in case.

Dar snorted. “I’m willing to bet anyone who opens this door for 244
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someone gets their fingers cut off.” She opened her cell phone and dialed Bud’s number again. “C’mon, Bud, you damn big chicken.

Answer the phone.”

But still, it went to voice mail. Dar shook her head. “Bud, we’re heading out for some water time. Let us know how Charlie’s doing, okay?” She considered a moment. “We just got finished telling the cops everything. I think we’re clear now. Gimme a call.” With a frown, she closed the phone and restored it to her belt. “Damn stubborn old mackerel.”

“Give him the benefit of the doubt, Dar,” Kerry chuckled.

“Maybe he’s getting Charlie out of the hospital. If it were me, I wouldn’t be answering my phone either.”

“Mmph.” Dar rocked her head from side to side. “He doesn’t call back in a little while, I’ll call the hospital and find out what’s going on.”

They walked together to the lobby and out the front door. The sun was out, and everything seemed peaceful and quiet, back to the sleepy friendliness of normality again. They made it down to the dock without incident.

The docks were fairly busy; boats were pulling in and out. Dar noticed there was no sign of DeSalliers’ monster. They reached their slip and she paused to check the boat over before they boarded, but the vessel seemed untouched, floating in its assigned space. “Looks okay.”

Kerry hopped over and jumped to the stern deck, going to the door and peering inside.

Dar unlocked the door and pushed it open, and they entered to find it reassuringly just as they’d left it. Even the apple Kerry had left on the countertop was still in place, beckoning invitingly to her as she crossed the floor and took possession of it.

Dar continued on and poked her head into the rooms in the bow, then returned looking satisfied. “Well, if they did search the place, they didn’t leave any marks.”

Kerry nodded and took a bite of the apple. It crunched pleasantly, mostly sweet and a little tart against her tongue. It felt good to be back on board their traveling home, and she felt herself relaxing and looking forward to their dive. “Tell you what. You go get the gerbils hustling, and I’ll check out our gear. Deal?”

“Deal.” Dar circled her and leaned in for a kiss. The brief notion lengthened as Kerry put her apple down and returned the kiss with gentle passion. When they parted, she rested her forehead against Kerry’s and nibbled the tip of her nose affectionately. “I think things are looking up.”

“I think they are, too.” Kerry tilted her head up and brushed her lips against Dar’s again, coaxing her into a longer, deeper exploration. “Oh, definitely,” she whispered, lifting her hand to
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caress Dar’s cheek. She felt the skin under her thumb move as Dar smiled.

They loitered together a few minutes longer, then reluctantly parted and went about their separate tasks. Kerry ducked down into the gear room and set aside their buoyancy compensators. She felt the engines rumble to life as she carefully checked Dar’s regulator, connecting it to a single tank they kept strapped to the wall for exactly that purpose and pressurizing it.

Cocking her head to one side, she listened for leaks, then shut the valve and repeated the process with her own equipment.

Satisfied, she slung both regulators over her shoulder and picked up the BCs on her way out the door.

The boat shifted as she traveled, her body compensating almost automatically for the motion. The view out the windows changed as Dar directed the vessel out and away from the docks. Kerry caught a breath of cool, sea air as it rushed through the portholes, and she found herself smiling broadly as she stepped out onto the stern deck.

What a gorgeous day it was. She tipped her head back. The sky was clear, deep blue, with only a couple of fluffy clouds down on the horizon. There was a nice breeze, and as they headed out across the water the spray from the boat’s wake whisked through the air and dusted Kerry with its damp richness.

With a chuckle, she went to the tank cabinet and opened it, removing two of the tanks inside and lifting them with a grunt. She carried them over to the bench and set them in their holders, letting the BCs slide down onto the bench next to them. “Hey, Dar?”

“Yeah?” Dar’s voice carried down from the flying bridge.

“This blue hole thing a good place for pictures?”

Dar laughed.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Kerry finished readying their gear and trooped back inside to get her camera and its waterproof housing.

DAR SLOWED THE boat as she approached the lee side of the island, its overhanging cliff structures circling them with wild grandeur. The sun poured in over her shoulders, reflecting off the glittering surface of the sea in molten darts, and she could see the pale green of the shallow waters deepening to a deep clear blue as it neared the cliffs. Since the open topped cave wasn’t a popular choice with the beginning divers who peopled the cattle boats, the few other dive boats nearby were smaller ones. Dar picked a spot in relatively open water and circled it. “Ker?”

“Yeah?” Kerry was on the bow, peering avidly at everything.

“What have I got under the keel?”

Kerry looked down, shading her eyes. “Sand.”

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“You sure?”

Kerry leaned over, coming perilously close to examining the surface in a real, personal way. “Yeah. Go ahead; let it loose.”

Dar hit the switch for the anchor and heard the rumble as it released and plunged into the water. Then she cut the engines and stood up, stripped off her shirt and let it drop onto the back of the chair. She adjusted the strap on her swimsuit and made her way to the ladder, climbing down it to the lower deck. Now that the engine was off, she could hear the lap of the water and the rustling crash of the waves against the stone walls of the cliffs nearby. Kerry joined her a moment later, and they stood side by side near their gear.

“Weren’t you going to call about Charlie?” Kerry suddenly remembered. “At the hospital?”

Dar paused in the act of fastening her regulator to her tank.

“Damn. You’re right.” She shook her head. “Hang on.” She walked over to the cabinet near the door, and then stopped in realization. “I don’t think I have the number.”

Kerry had connected her tank to her BC. “Is there Information out here?” she wondered aloud. “Or, the hotel probably would know the number.”

“Good thought.” Dar dialed the number of their hotel, listened, and then scowled. “Busy.” She tapped the cell phone against her neck as she thought. “Well, let’s go under, and when we come back up, I’ll try it again.”

Dar put the cell phone in the drawer of the cabinet and closed it, then walked over and got into her BC, fastening the belly strap and standing up. The heavy tank shifted and she had to make a few adjustments, then she buckled the front buckles and turned, waiting for Kerry to stand.

Kerry preferred to buckle everything first. “Okay, ready.” She stood upright, then hopped a little, getting everything settled over her center of balance as much as she could. “Let’s go.”

They each picked up fins and mask and walked to the back of the boat. Dar let down the dive ladder and opened the back gate, then rested her hand on the gate as she slipped on her fins. “We’re gonna go in, then just go down for ten feet or so. We’ve got to swim over to where the water changes color.”

“Okay.” Kerry felt a little excited and a touch pleasantly scared. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Dar settled her mask over her face, pulled her hair out from under the rubber, and seated the seal firmly. Then she winked at Kerry and inserted her regulator in her mouth, took a big step off the back of the boat, and plunged into the water.

Kerry followed, clasping one hand over her camera case and one over her mouthpiece and mask as she stepped off the deck and entered the ocean.
Ooh.
Not expecting the relatively mild chill of
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the water, she opened her eyes wide in surprise. She’d been used to the almost bathtub warmth they’d been in so far, and this was definitely a change. Briefly, she wondered if putting her shortie wetsuit on over her swimsuit would have been a good idea, but after a moment her body adjusted and she let herself drift down to the shallow bottom in water so clear it was almost like glass.

Dar was resting on her knees on the sandy bottom, her dark hair floating freely about her head as she waited for Kerry to descend.

Kerry hugged her arms and rubbed them, giving Dar a wry look from behind her mask.

Dar slapped her head, then held her hands up in apology and pointed to the surface with a questioning look.

Kerry shook her head and pointed toward the rocks.

After a moment’s hesitation, Dar flipped over and started swimming slowly, glancing behind her as Kerry caught up. They finned along, side by side, over the sandy bottom, moving through schools of colorful fish that scattered at their approach then re-formed behind them.

Kerry looked ahead to where she could see a rocky escarpment that rose almost to the surface. The waves were breaking over it, churning up the water and sending bits of debris tinkling down to the ocean floor. As they swam closer, Kerry could feel a current of cooler water and see the faintest hint of a shimmer. She unstrapped her camera and took a few shots of the approaching wall.

Dar swam ahead of her to the wall and caught hold of it, reaching out to grab Kerry as she came closer. She grinned around her mouthpiece and mimed snapping a shutter near her mask, indicating that there was about to be a good photo op. Kerry lifted her camera, but Dar held her hand over her eyes.