Jessica Patch - Deep Waters

“Who is Billy Reynolds? And what is his relationship with Mary Beth?”

Shep motioned for her to go ahead of him through the breakfast buffet line. The room was sparse today after last night’s tragic events. Two interns sat at a table. They needed to call an assembly. In the back corner, Dr. Fines sat with a cup of coffee, stubble covering his chin and cheeks. He looked as haggard as Caley felt. “I need to go talk to Leo.”

Eyebrows scrunching, Shep set his sights on her mentor and boss. “Leo? Leonard Fines?”

“Yes,” Caley said, and left Shep in line with two trays. She hurried to Leo and he stood and hugged her.

“We need to rally the kids,” he said.

“I know. I was just thinking that. But I have to tell you something first.” She sat across from him and relayed the earlier events.

Leo pushed his coffee cup away. “You really think the two incidents are related?”

“I do. I don’t have solid proof, but I mean, come on.” She toyed with an empty creamer cup he’d used for his brew. “The police are ruling it an accident, but Shepherd is sticking around. In case it’s not. At least for a couple of days.”

Leo leaned forward. “Caley, if the police and medical examiner say it was an accident, then it was. I don’t need to remind you that our biggest fund-raising gala is in a few short weeks, and if Nora Simms gets a whiff of scandal, your job and mine will be over. Not to mention we don’t need donors pulling out.”

Nora Simms was the daughter of Arnold Simms—one of the greatest marine biologists to ever live. His work with sea turtles was extraordinary and that’s why the center was named after him. Nora had already threatened Dr. Fines’s job and Caley’s six months ago when protestors picketed outside the research lab. The media had skewed everything and a few donors pulled out, believing that their research was inhumane to turtles. As if. Nora had been furious. Ranting about her dad’s life work going down the tubes.

But Mary Beth might not have accidentally drowned. Seeing her killer brought to justice was more important than their jobs.

“Leo, what if someone hurt Mary Beth? Do we tie a block to that possibility and let it sink to the ocean floor?”

Leo’s face flushed. “Of course not, Caley. I’m not insensitive. But don’t you think, if it had been a homicide, there would have been some evidence? Even a trace?” He clasped her hand. “The professionals ruled it out.”

“But the dorm room was trashed. What about that?”

“Maybe someone heard she passed away and broke in to steal some of her belongings. Phone. Laptop. Cash. Who knows?” Leo had a point but the eerie feeling wouldn’t shake loose.

Unsolved crimes happened all the time. “I’m going to look into it anyway, Leo. I have to. I’ll be discreet.” With Shepherd here and a contact at the police department, they could investigate, and if they turned up solid evidence, they’d cross that bridge when they came to it. “Two days.” That’s how long Shep would be around. Surely, by then he’d have a solid lead. “Nora won’t have to know a thing. Our donors won’t either.”

Leo closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. “Fine, but be careful and keep the fact that her room was ransacked under wraps. No hint of a scandal. To anyone. This is my life’s work. I won’t lose my job over a hunch.”

Caley swallowed and shoved the paper top into the empty creamer container. Thankfully, the interns had kept to their rooms while the police had done their job last night. “Okay.” At the moment it was a hunch so that was fair enough. “I’ll send a group text for the interns to meet us here in fifteen minutes. We need to talk about this. Supply some grief counseling if needed.”

Leo nodded.

Caley found Shep with two trays at a table near the exit. Her tray was loaded with French toast and bacon. Who was he feeding? An army? She took her seat and sent out the text.

Shep held a strip of bacon in his hand. “What did your boss have to say?”

Caley groaned and delivered the conversation.

Shep only grunted and ate his bacon while studying the cafeteria. Interns trickled in. Some in tears, others unusually quiet. They’d been here since mid-May. Already, they were like family. Caley excused herself and tended to her team. When they’d all arrived, Leo spoke to them, offered counseling. Some of the interns wanted to hold a vigil and murmured plans.

Caley finally stood and said a few words about Mary Beth. When they dispersed, she caught up with Billy. That’s when Shep made his way over to the beverage area. He poured a glass of juice while Caley talked. If he was trying to be invisible, that wasn’t happening. Shep was larger than life.

“Billy, can you tell me anything? Why would she swim or kayak alone? Did she mention it?” Caley asked.

Billy leaned against the end of the table. Face pale. Eyes hollow. “She said she was going to bed early. Read a book or something. But she’d been distant the past week or two. I thought she was low-key dumping me.” He shrugged. “I can’t believe she’d go in the ocean alone. Makes no sense.”

Caley put her arm around him. “I don’t think she did. I think something else is going on here, Billy. I have what I think is proof.” The ransacking of her room had to be.

“What kind of proof?”

She promised Leo to keep the incident quiet. “I can’t tell you that. We have to keep things on the down low for now.”

Billy gaped but nodded. “You don’t believe it was an accident, do you?”

“No. Anything out of the ordinary with her? Other than being distant?” Caley waited while he seemed to process the information.

“Ashley said she’s sneaked out a few times but wasn’t sure where she went. I figured she was cheating on me with someone else.” Billy rubbed the back of his neck. “That wasn’t like her. I can’t think of anything else, Caley. I’m sorry.”

Caley nodded and looked to Shep. Not a single reaction on his face. She turned back to Billy. “Thanks. I’ll talk to Ashley.”

She scanned the cafeteria for her. Ashley had come in with three other interns earlier. She must have gone back to her dorm room. Once they entered the hallway, Shep grunted.

“I’m not fluent in grunt. Sorry,” Caley said.

“Do you have a curfew here?” he asked.

“No, they’re adults. As long as they show up to work we don’t pry into their private lives.” Caley headed toward the hall of dorm rooms.

“Then why sneak? People only do that to hide something. Trashed room indicates someone looking for a hidden item of some kind. Drugs?”

Caley snorted. “Doubtful. Mary Beth was an outstanding student at the University of Oregon. She was looking forward to her career. This is a highly respected internship program and we vet our students thoroughly.”

“Well, then the other reason for sneaking off at night is she met someone. It adds up. She breaks away from Billy. Hides it from her friends. Women like to talk about their men. If she’s hiding him, then it’s someone they wouldn’t approve of or someone who needed it to remain a secret.”

“You mean like a married man?” Caley froze in the hall. “No way.”

Shep tossed a skeptical glance her way. “Not everyone holds the same moral compass in their hand as you do, Turtle Girl.”

“Turtle Girl?”

Shep shrugged. “Fits.”

Except it didn’t. Neither did Little Flynn or Wilder’s kiddo. Caley was a grown woman. Not an adolescent. Just because Shepherd and Wilder had six years on her didn’t mean she was a child. She was a respected marine life vet. With her own home. Her own life. “Well, I don’t like it,” she said.

That garnered her another grunt.