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“Hi, Claire,” Tristan said after giving his wife a hug. He spoke with a slight accent. He was full Korean like Julia, but unlike Julia who was born near Seattle, Tristan and his family immigrated from Korea when he was in high school.
“Julia picked these. She said that they were your favorite.” He reached out to hand me a paper bag, which I took gratefully.
“You guys are the best!” The smell of buttery croissants waffled out when I took it. “Mmmm.” I was momentarily distracted before I remembered my manners.
“Sorry. Tristan, this is—” I paused to figure out how to introduce Aiden. “This is my friend Aiden Filipowski. Aiden, this is Tristan Park, Julia’s husband.” I made the assumption that introducing Aiden as a friend was the safer choice.
“Nice to meet you.” Aiden offered his hand.
“Same,” Tristan responded and shook Aiden’s hand.
The greeting was brief, and I could see Tristan carefully evaluating Aiden behind his serene face. I relaxed my shoulders when Tristan gave me the slightest nod, and since he didn’t launch into a million questions, Julia must’ve briefed him about Aiden. Behind his wire-rimmed frames, his eyes crinkled when he smiled at me.
Julia wasn’t so discreet, and she flashed me a big smile and gave me a thumbs-up, letting me know that she approved of Aiden. I rolled my eyes at her gesture, and I looked at Aiden when I heard him chuckling next to me.
He had picked up Julia’s obvious signal, and I gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry!”
He didn’t respond, but he reached down and squeezed my hand. He held on longer than necessary. A fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Julia. I thought she might break out into a happy dance if her husband didn’t bring us back to the problem at hand.
“So, what’s going on with Annisa?” Tristan asked, sobering all of us.
“The police claim that there’s evidence connecting Annisa with Trevor’s death, but we don’t know what it is. And Aiden has volunteered to represent Annisa,” I said, summarizing the last few hours.
“Really? That’s generous of you!” Julia beamed a huge smile at Aiden.
I wanted to tell her that the only reason why we were getting involved in helping Annisa was because of her, but that would bring up negative feelings that I didn’t want to rehash. My mind still stung at Julia’s chiding at her wedding when Annisa had gotten on my nerves, and I made some sarcastic comments. I would rather let those memories be ancient history.
Similar to his wife’s response, Tristan nodded, impressed by Aiden’s generosity.
Since they didn’t question why Aiden offered to help Annisa, I assumed Julia had also told Tristan that Aiden was a criminal attorney. I couldn’t help but note how useful Aiden’s job was. When we met in Cozumel, he helped me get Carlos out of jail, and now, he was assisting Annisa. He was almost too good to be true.
I opened the bag and gave Aiden a croissant.
“Ohh, it’s still warm!” I took a bite of mine.
Julia asked, “Did you guys go on your dive?”
I swallowed, and then I answered, “No. Another diver in our group discovered the dead dive master’s body before we got our dive brief.”
I hated to ask, but I needed to know if Julia knew anything. “Did you know that Annisa had dated the dive master who died?”
Julia’s jerked her head back, and her eyes widened in surprise. “She did?”
Based on her reaction, she didn’t know, but I looked at her intently. I placed my hand on her shoulder and said, “Annisa didn’t want to admit it at first, but she finally told us that she and Trevor went on a date before the dive today. Are you sure she didn’t mention anything about it?”
Julia’s mouth opened, but nothing came out at first.
“No, the only thing she said was that she was going to get her open water diving certification, and you were there when I got the text, remember?” she said, referring to our conversation at the Korean grocery store.
“I remember, but I can’t believe that she went on a date that she didn’t tell you about. I mean, doesn’t she tell you about all the guys she goes out with?” I asked.
Julia frowned and said, “She usually tells me about the guy before she goes on the date, but I guess she didn’t this time.” She sounded betrayed by the fact that Annisa had kept this a secret.
“There’s a good reason why she didn’t tell you,” Aiden said.
“Why is that?” Julia’s voice was strained, as though she didn’t want to hear the answer.
“Annisa insinuated that she would go on a date with Trevor if he would pass her on the open water certification,” Aiden explained.
