plan for tomorrow night. He said you can take the afternoon off and come with us.”
“Who’s ‘us’?”
“Amber, me, the Masons, Manny and a few others. Actually, Manny was the one who came up with the idea of a nice social afternoon.”
“I should go down and watch the rehearsal,” Beth said.
“You’re too late. They’ve already finished. In fact, Maria is coming out with us.”
“She is?”
“Um. With Manny.”
“Ben, I’m not so sure—”
“Ashley and Jake are coming.”
“Oh?”
“Beth, I’m not an idiot. My daughter’s life has been threatened. I think Brad and Sandy are violent but cowardly, and we’ve taken precautions, but even so, we’re going out with a pair of cops, okay? We’re going in a big group. Amber wants to go out on the Masons’boat. That’s cool—big group. Got it? I’m not an idiot.”
She leaned back, smiling. “I’m sorry. No, you’re not an idiot. Where are we going?”
“I told you. Diving,” he informed her firmly. She glared at him, but when he told her that she was welcome to go aboard Manny’s boat or one of the other three vessels making the run, she refused.
Amber was going to be aboard Hank Mason’s boat, and that meant she was, too. Along with Jake and Ashley, who weren’t just cops but excellent divers.
The trip started off well. The sun was out; there was a perfect breeze. Amanda was actually being a charming hostess, and Beth thought she might actually be sincere when she asked with concern if anyone had discovered who the prankster was who had left the skull on her desk.
“I bet he would have admitted what he did if the police hadn’t come in, making the whole thing such a big deal,” she suggested, which made Beth wonder if the skull on her desk had actually been a prank, totally unconnected to the very real attack on her. Maybe someone had heard about the incident on the island and thought they were being funny.
“Well, we’ll find out soon enough if it was a prank or not,” Jake Dilessio said with a shrug.
“Really?” Amanda said. “I thought you were homicide. What are you doing investigating such a silly thing?”
“Hadn’t you heard?” he asked her. “There’s an APB out on the couple you all know as Brad and Sandy. They’re suspects in the piracy that’s been going on along the coast for over a year now, and they were recently spotted in Miami.”
Judging by the shocked looks that greeted that statement, neither Amanda nor her family had heard a thing about it.
“Really?” Hank said. “We were sleeping right down the beach from them!”
“Let’s hope to God they’re apprehended soon,” Roger said fervently.
“They will be,” Jake said with deadly assurance.
There was silence for a minute. Then Amanda determinedly changed the subject. “You know, I’ve never dived this site before. Have any of you?”
The conversation turned to diving, and Beth half listened to the stories exchanged. Mostly she found herself watching Amber and being worried.
Hank decided to stay aboard while the others paired up and went into the water. Amanda immediately pounced on Ben, determined to be his buddy.
“Hey, Amber, can I be your buddy?” Jake asked, glancing reassuringly at Beth. “Ashley and Beth can go together.”
Beth smiled at him. She could relax if Amber was with Jake.
Hank’s boat was fitted out perfectly for diving, with stands and benches for easy access to enough tanks for ten. In fact, she was actually better equipped than many professional dive boats, with medical equipment on board, as well. She was surprised that he had decided to take on the role of dive master above board, since he loved to dive so much himself. Then again, he could head out whenever he chose, so perhaps he had decided that supervising the entire scene would be fun for a change.
It was hardly as if they had the area to themselves. Dive boats from the Keys, Miami and as far north as Palm Beach congregated here, along with private boaters like themselves. The wreck was a well-known and popular site.
It was fun being down with Ashley, and an easy afternoon, with so many divers present that it was almost impossible to be worried. In addition to the wreck, the area teemed with fish, anemones and all kinds of undersea life.
They had barely begun the dive when Ashley glanced at her compass, then beckoned to her. She led Beth away from the wreck, into an area of reefs.
They came to a huge outcrop of coral. Next to the coral, there was a bed of sand and seagrass. There was a diver there, exercising perfect buoyancy, simply sitting on the sand.
Waiting.
It took Beth a minute to register who it was—people in tanks and masks were hard to recognize at first glance. But then she knew.
Keith.
She stared at Ashley, furious at both of them—especially Keith. This had obviously been arranged, even though she had told him in no uncertain terms that she didn’t want to talk to him until he was willing to do some explaining.
Ashley was her dive partner, but their group wasn’t far away. She could have turned and propelled herself right back to join them, and she was sorely tempted to do so. She didn’t understand what his appearance here—twenty feet down—meant. He could hardly do much explaining where they were.
He gave them the divers’ sign to rise, and Ashley nodded, then looked at Beth. Beth lifted her hands. Fine. They would rise.
They surfaced by a boat. Beth was startled to realize that it was Manny’s. He and Maria were both there, as if they were awaiting their arrival.
She lifted her mask, held on to the ladder and pulled off her fins.
Keith pulled himself out of the water easily, then reached down to help her and Ashley. Manny stood by, ready to assist, as well. “Welcome, gorgeous,” he said, with a smile. “Let me help you with your tank.”
“Wait…I need this tank to get back to the boat I’m supposed to be on,” she protested, staring at them all one by one, confused and angry. Her last reproving glance was for Ashley. How the hell had this happened?
“No, it’s all right. I’ll radio over that you and Ashley decided to come up here and visit with Maria,” Manny said. “Let me take that. We should go below.”
She stared at the sea around them. There were a number of boats around. Dive flags littered the area.
Hank’s boat was a good distance from them, no activity evident on board. Everyone must still be down at the wreck, she thought, and allowed Manny to help her with her tank.
“Come on down. I’ve got coffee and tea ready,” Maria said, offering them towels. “Not that it’s anything but a lovely day. Still, you’re wet, and the air-conditioning is on in the cabin.”
Beth followed the others down to the cabin. It was nice, not huge. Manny’s boat could sleep two. There was a head, a small galley and a dining/living area, with a table against the port side. Beth stared at Keith, damning both him and herself. She’d hated herself for wishing he would reappear at any moment.
Now that he had, she just wanted to run over to him. But she couldn’t let herself. She had to remind herself that the man had an agenda. An agenda that included disappearing whenever he needed to do so and it included spending all kinds of time with Amanda.
He stared back at her with no apology.
“Sit, please?” he said.
“I didn’t