“My mother moved from Miami to Phoenix, and I still hear complaints that I’m too far away,” Faith added.
“Surely she’s happy you’re a cop in the Keys instead of Miami though. It has to be a lot less dangerous,” Corinne said.
“And a lot more boring,” Ted laughed.
“It’s getting more like Miami every day,” my father scoffed, shaking his head.
“Relax, Pops. There’ve been square groupers washing up in Smugglers Cove for what, forty, fifty years?” Ava said.
“I was referring to bodies found floating, not drugs,” Dad snapped.
“Wasn’t Kylie’s murderer a hitman for a drug lord?” Ava asked Faith.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, and heat rose to my face. I shot Ava a look she didn’t catch.
“We don’t know the details, but that was what the Feds implied,” Faith answered hesitantly.
Jasmine’s head swiveled to shoot me a questioning stare. A lump formed in my throat. I hadn’t told her about Kylie’s death. After our own altercation with smuggler thugs, I didn’t want to freak her out further.
“Who’s Kylie?” she asked with a frightened look in her eyes.
“She was a close friend of the family who was killed last Christmas Eve. Don’t worry. They caught the guy.”
“Did you catch him?” she asked Faith, her voice shaky.
“Yes and no. We collected the DNA evidence that identified the killer. But he was already in Federal custody as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation, so they kept his identity secret.”
A hint of anxiety crept into Jasmine’s tone. “Do you think it’s related to the bale that Kai found?”
We’d agreed to no talking about the incident, but now that she was on the subject of the bale, I wasn’t sure she’d stick to it. She was spiraling before my eyes. Her fingers twisted her napkin until it tore in two. I couldn’t let her spill the beans. “Not likely,” I blurted. “Like Ava said, we’ve had bales washing up here for decades.”
Faith backed me up. “Unfortunately there are many drug operations in South Florida. It’s possible it’s related, but not likely.” She paused to give Jasmine a sympathetic smile, “Don’t worry. Square groupers really are a common occurrence, unfortunately.”
“Well I don’t like it this close to home,” my dad growled. “Especially after Kylie. I hope they throw that bastard that killed her under the slammer.” He shook his head hard. “You guys need to be careful. I don’t like this one bit.”
He was distraught, even without knowing how close to home the threat of more violence still was.
“He’s away for good, Dad,” Coulter said, soothing. While unaware of my predicament, Coulter was fully attuned to the need to change the subject to divert our dad’s worrying mind. He’d come a long way since losing our mom, but he was still fragile. “Didn’t you say theEllie IIis having a timing problem? Let’s go take a look.”
“In the dark?” Dad asked, skeptical. “I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. We just need to adjust it the next time we service those diesels.”
“Well I’m running her tomorrow,” Coulter said, “so I’d rather go listen to it now just to be sure. Come on. A walk down the dock will do you some good.”
“Pfff,” Dad huffed, “I can still run circles around you.” He took a comically long time to get his legs out from under the picnic table and to his feet after his proud assertion. “But I’m serious. You boys need to watch your backs. They’re in our backyard.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Coulter said as he patted him on the back and they headed down the dock.
Reef and Spence exchanged glances, and I felt Jasmine’s unease when I met her eyes. It was so much worse than anyone else knew.
CHAPTER 16
JASMINE
Murdered.
A woman was murdered not even six months ago. All my Pollyanna hopes that the smugglers were done with us dissolved under the threat that they could turn up at any moment and take us out. They weren’t telling me everything, I could feel it. The realization that it was even worse than I imagined left me almost afraid to breathe, paralyzed by fear.
A faraway voice cut through the tension in the humid air.
