Melissa Good: Terrors of the High Seas

denying it and wondered briefly if her temper had gotten her into something very inconveniently sticky this time. “What’s this all about, Officer…Brewer?”

The police officer studied her. “Fella you whumped up on was my little brother.”

Oh boy . Dar put years of boardroom practice into effect, and merely raised an eyebrow. “And?”

For a minute, Officer Brewer chewed the toothpick he had in his mouth, then he chuckled. “You’re a cool one, aren’t you?” he commented. “City lady like you, here by yourself in the boonies, faced with a cop with a family reason to slap cuffs on ya.”

Dar snorted, chuckling dryly.

Now his eyebrows lifted. “No dice, huh?” He waited a moment, then chuckled as well. “Cool customer, that’s for sure.”

Unexpectedly, he held out a hand. “Ms. Roberts, you done me a good deed, and I wanted to say thanks.”

Knocked a little off balance, Dar nevertheless took the hand and returned the strong grip with one of her own. “I’m not really sure I understand,” she admitted, “but it beats handcuffs.”

The police officer gave her a wry grin. “My brother’s a jackass,” he said straightforwardly. “D’you know what kind of a pain in my butt it is to have to arrest family? I done it six times now. Kid never learns.”

“Ah.” Dar nodded slightly.

“Bunch of his deadbeat friends went looking for trouble up near Big Pine last night, racing and shooting at each other. They ran their asses off the road and wrapped themselves ’round a tree,”

the policeman said. “We took four body bags full of burnt parts to the morgue.”

Dar winced.

“Woulda been five,” Officer Brewer said. “But because my jackass brother was nursing a sore jaw and a lump on his nuts, his sorry ass lived to get me in yet more trouble.” The man sighed. “So, thanks, Ms. City Slicker Computer Big Shot. I owe you one.”

It took a moment to sort out the various sentiments, but Dar eventually decided things had turned out well. “Don’t mention it.”

A rumble caught their attention, and the policeman turned as a motorcycle and rider came right up the side path and practically onto the dock before it rolled to a halt and the rider jumped off.

The cycle came to rest on its kickstand as Kerry pulled off her helmet and strode towards them, her boots sounding loud on the wooden planks.

“Well now,” Officer Brewer studied the oncoming woman,

“what do we got here? You travel with one of them radical, liberal, revolutionary types?”

“What?” Kerry stopped, took off her sunglasses, and regarded 20 Melissa Good him. “I’m a Republican, thank you very much.” She snorted and turned her attention to Dar. “What’s going on?”

Dar gazed fondly at her. “Officer Brewer just stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood.”

“Oh.” Kerry relaxed and gave the officer one of her more charming smiles. “That’s really nice of you. Thanks.”

Brewster chuckled. “Well, I won’t keep you ladies. Have yourself a nice trip, y’hear?” He turned and walked off the dock, circled the motorcycle, and paused to admire it. Then he kept going down the path and out of sight.

Kerry watched him go, then turned. “Welcome Wagon at seven a.m.?”

Dar put an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get loaded up and get out of here before the town mothers show up with cookies.”

She walked Kerry over to the bike. “I’ll tell you the rest when we get out of the dock.”

“Uh oh.” Kerry lifted her packages off the vehicle and hefted them. “I’ll get this on board if you want to stash the bike, then we’re outta here.”

Dar poked her finger at a bag. “Are those what I think they are?”

“Guess you’ll have to wait and find out.” Kerry shooed her.

“C’mon. I hear stingrays calling my name.” She made her way down the dock to the boat, hopped on board, and disappeared.

Dar reviewed the start of her day and decided it augured well for a far more peaceful end to it. Good thing , she chuckled to herself, as she pushed the motorcycle into the small garage and securely locked it. Her plans for the evening definitely would not tolerate any interruption.

She checked the doors to the cabin one last time, then set the alarm and walked back to the boat. She released the front line, then the rear one, and tossed them onboard, jumping on as the boat started to drift slightly in the outgoing tide.

The breeze was rising as Dar started up the engines and slowly reversed them away from the harbor, making sure she was well out before she nudged the throttles into forward and swung the bow around, pointing it out toward the endless blue horizon. She settled her bare feet against the console and gave the engines gas, feeling the surge of power as they headed outbound.

Chapter

Three

KERRY LET HERSELF drift on the slight underwater current, watching the slanting rays of the sun filter down and touch the reef over which she was swimming. A small school of bright blue and yellow fish went sweeping by, wheeling and pausing for some unknown fish reason but giving her an excellent photo opportunity, which she took immediate advantage of.

The pale sand and darker coral outlined the colorful fish as they swirled around her, leaving her behind as they found another patch of ground to explore. Kerry watched them swim off, then rolled over onto her back and relaxed in the light green sea as she examined the reef for more wildlife.

One thing that had always surprised her was how noisy it was underwater. In a pool or in the lakes of her birthplace, the sounds were absent or muted. But here in the ocean, nearly everything made a racket. Lobsters and other crustaceans clicked against the coral, shells tumbled in the underwater current, rattling along, even the sand made a swishing sound as it was moved.

Their regulators were the loudest, though. The bubbles created a low rumbling sound, and each intake of breath brought to mind the rasping of Darth Vader.

Kerry exchanged her regulator mouthpiece for the smaller one clipped to her vest and took a sip of water, rinsing it around her mouth before she swallowed, then replaced her regulator and took a breath. A clown fish approached her warily, inspecting the edge of her fin before it darted off. Then a tiny cuttlefish, almost transparent, floated in front of her mask, its fins almost brushing her nose. Her eyes focused on it, a structure so intricate it seemed like the finest blown glass.

The perfection of the universe brought its own awe, Kerry had found, and its own peace.

A soft knocking caught her attention and she looked around, spotting Dar hovering over a coral outcropping nearby, gesturing her over. She flipped lazily to horizontal and flexed her thighs, waggling her fins to propel herself through the water. Dar reached out and snagged a strap on Kerry’s buoyancy compensator vest as 22 Melissa Good she neared.

Kerry drifted, looking where her partner was pointing.

“Oomfp.” The sound of surprise came out around a burst of bubbles. A large sea turtle was huddled behind the rock, watching them warily. A piece of seaweed hung out of its mouth and swayed in the current, and Kerry quickly brought up her camera and focused it. Just as she opened the shutter, the animal released the seaweed, poking its tongue out at Kerry as it was captured on film.

She heard the faint sound of Dar laughing as she drifted back, and they watched the turtle return to its feeding. Then Dar checked her dive computer and pointed at the time on it.

Kerry nodded in understanding. It was a shallow dive; if she looked up, the boat would only be twenty feet or so above her head.

But it was their second dive of the day, and she knew Dar preferred to stay on the cautious side when it came to bottom time. She covered the lens on her camera and clipped it to its holders on her vest, then followed Dar toward the anchor line of the boat.