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I went over to Aiden, and he wrapped me in a hug.
“He looks so sad. I wish there was something we could do,” I said, watching Sully’s retreating figure.
One by one, after stowing their gear, the divers left the parking area until we were the only ones left from the group.
“You should change out of your wetsuit,” I said when Annisa returned with a cup of coffee.
She nodded and asked, “Hey, are you guys going home?”
“Yes, as soon as we pack up our stuff,” Aiden answered.
“It’s too bad that you didn’t get to go on your dive.”
“Neither did you,” I said, giving Annisa a hard look. For someone who went out with the victim, she seemed to have recovered from seeing his dead body. I wondered if she had put on an act for the police, but I couldn’t think of a reason why she had to pretend that she cared about Trevor.
“That’s okay. I wasn’t excited about the dive anyway,” she responded before taking a sip from her coffee.
“Why did you sign up to get certified?” I asked, puzzled by her decision in the first place.
“I don’t know. You guys made it sound interesting, so I thought I would give it a try.”
“Huh?” It was beyond my imagination to spend that much money on something I didn’t care about. Unless, there was an ulterior motive.
“I don’t want to be rude or bring up a painful topic, but why did you go on a date with Trevor?”
Annisa was about to take another sip from her coffee, but she stopped before the cup reached her lips. She brought it back down and held it with both hands. She fiddled with the cup sleeve, and she had an embarrassed look on her face.
“You’re going to think really badly about me,” Annisa admitted.
As soon as she said that, my immediate thought was that I probably was going to think poorly of her.
Aiden was more considerate and simply asked, “What happened?”
She darted her eyes around the parking lot and whispered, “Well, I went on a date with Trevor because…because I wanted him to pass me for the open water certification.”
“WHAT?” Aiden and I yelled out at the same time.
“Shh…” Annisa pleaded and looked furtively around the parking lot again. Fortunately for her, it was empty except for the food truck guy selling coffee by the entrance. I doubt that we yelled loud enough for him to hear.
“I couldn’t do the emergency ascent without air, so Trevor had to give me his spare regulator. I kept panicking,” Annisa explained.
“And that’s why you told Trevor that you would go on a date with him?” Aiden asked in disbelief.
Annisa reddened. “I knew he was interested in me when we first met, but I wasn’t into him. I mean, he was cute and all, but I usually don’t date diving instructors. I usually date?—”
She cut herself off, and she pressed her lips together firmly to prevent any further information that could damage her reputation from escaping.
Wow! I didn’t know what to make of that. I was horrified that Annisa went out of her way to date her scuba diving instructor just to pass the open water test. However, I was equally appalled that Trevor would go along with it. If something happened to Annisa, he would’ve lost his instructor license.
“That was dangerous and unethical,” I replied, stunned by their deal.
Aiden clenched his jaw when he heard me say this, but his face didn’t show any emotions. Instead, he asked, “Did you tell Sully about this?”
“Why would I tell Sully that one of his diving instructors fudged the paperwork?” Annisa looked bewildered at the thought of confessing her act and rolled her eyes at him.
“Not at the time, but now, after we found Trevor dead,” Aiden added through his gritted teeth. His clenched jaw was working overtime. Aiden’s patience was truly remarkable.
“No.” Annisa looked down at her coffee cup.
