Page 4 of Beneath Still Waters

“Not really. I didn’t bring mine either. I’m here to rest, not get hired somewhere else.”

He lifted her quickly enough to give her momentum, but slowly enough that he didn’t rocket her into the sky. She caught herself and locked her elbows on the rail, then swung her leg over and found her footing. “I’m good.”

He stood staring at her for a few moments. “Is there any type of ladder you can drop? I don’t want you walking around in there alone.”

She glanced up and down this side of the boat. “Not over here. It’s tipped, but I think I can get to the other side to see if there’s one over there. If it can’t move, you’d have to go in the water to get up here.”

“I can do that. Let me know what you find. I’m going to see if there’s any damage to the hull.” He headed for the bow of the boat.

She held tightly to the railing. Even though the tilt was less than twenty-five degrees, the slippery wood made walking treacherous, especially with her thigh fighting her every move. She closed her eyes before going fully around to the other side. The owner of the smell might be around that side. Was she prepared? She inched around and the waves hitting the side of the boat became louder, or was that her heartbeat pounding in her ears?

“There’s no ladder over here,” she called. “I’ll check the inside. If I had to give any advice, it would be to call the ME.”

“Yeah, and you should probably call your brother. We both know he won’t be okay with this,” Duke’s voice rose to meet her.

She closed her eyes. He wasn’t wrong. Connor would blow a gasket when he heard she’d stuck her nose into a murder investigation. “Yeah, I’ll take that under consideration.” She'd tell Connor later. Maybe. At least then he wouldn’t drive over and make a fool of her.

She tugged on the door to the interior of the boat, but it wouldn’t budge. When it slammed ashore, had it warped the wood enough to jam it shut? She pulled harder, then in short tugs until it groaned and gave way.

The door swung open with a loud squeak that sent nearby birds screaming. Maybe they had the right idea. Even with the humidity of the wet spring day, a chill ran down her body.

“I found Bailey,” she said as she gripped the door frame.

FOUR

Crime scene tape should never be attached to lake grass. She'd expected the smell to disappear once she left the boat. No such luck. Every time she blinked she saw Bailey again.

Ferd stood off about sixty yards from the boat, breathing deeply to let her lungs clear. Fresh air wasn’t working. She needed a shower, STAT. Duke had called in a removal team and the ME and had handed over the scene, but she wasn’t ready to leave. Not yet.

“He’ll be worried. Want me to walk you home? I get not wanting to be alone after finding that.” Duke wiped his hands on an antibacterial wipe from the ME’s stash.

“That’s only part of my issue.” She glanced away. She was in no mood to be pitied. How much did she want to share with a guy she barely knew?

“More than the overprotective brother? Am I allowed to say that? I’d probably be the same if I had a sister.” His mouth flattened and he widened his stance slightly.

“I don’t have one overprotective brother. I have him plus all the men who work at Wayside plus my father. Eight of them inall. I came at nineteen to live there and became everyone’s little sister. It was great at first. Now . . . their protection is a little like a cage.” Now someone would hear her and share that with Connor, and he would say he wasn’t hurt while being all gruff and grumbly. She shouldn’t have said anything at all.

“Which is why you didn’t apply to work in Piper’s Ridge.” He nodded and adjusted his sunglasses. “I get it. Sometimes you can’t grow up if you’re not allowed to.”

“That’s part of it. The other part is that Piper’s Ridge rarely hires and I didn’t want to wait. You know, you talk like you’re old. You can’t be much older than me.” Though the more she was with him, she was sure he had to be at least five years older than her. He’d acquired a few lines at the corners of his eyes.

“If I had to guess, I’m probably five years older than you, but it doesn’t matter.” He headed back up the path, away from the scene.

“Wait. Something feels really off about this.” She followed him. Could she trust her own instincts? She wasn’t exactly a seasoned detective, but this didn’t look like an average case of a boat getting tossed around.

“Well, sure it does. We haven’t really started yet. The ME needs to let us know the cause of death. Might not be a crime, though he seemed pretty beat up.”

That was an understatement. If he died fighting to get control of his boat, he’d fought hard. “Do you think that’s likely?”

He looked around and only answered after. “One investigator to another, no.” He picked up his pace.

“You don’t have to walk me home. Your car is likely in the opposite direction, and you’ve had just as long a day as I have. Plus, you weren’t even supposed to be on duty today.” And he likely wanted a shower just as badly.

“I don’t mind. I gave the okay for you to help me today, so Connor can get mad at me.”

She laughed. “That’s kind of you, but that won’t happen. I live in this weird space where I’m too new at life to do anything right but old enough to know better. Sometimes I think he takes it too far, but he does it because he cares.”

He waited until she caught up then walked alongside her for a minute. “That’s really great, actually.”