Sunken Shadows

by Kathleen Brooks

  “Oh no,” Darcy groaned. And here was her confession. It was so sad when someone as obviously intelligent as Darcy turned to crime. She’d spend the rest of her life in jail now.

  “What the hell?” he asked. Wade felt the warm liquid slide down his chest and pulled back so he was still holding Darcy but at arm’s length.

  Tears and snot ran down her face as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Sorry. I was trying to get to the rail.”

  “Are you okay?” Wade asked, feeling like an ass for misreading her reaction as guilt.

  Darcy took a deep breath while one hand went to her stomach and the other over her mouth. Wade saw the second her eyes widened as he helped propel her to the railing. He held back her hair and softly rubbed her back until the convulsions stopped.

  “I am so embarrassed. I’ve just never seen a dead body before. I didn’t think I’d be so grossed out, but there was a lot of blood.”

  Wade saw her face blanch even whiter and knew he had to get her mind off the body if she were going to calm down. “Tell me about yourself, Darcy. Where are you from?”

  “Key West,” she said as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

  “I don’t know many people actually from Key West. I know some who have moved there later in life. My parents moved to Florida after they retired.”

  “My father was in the Navy. He was stationed in Key West my whole life. It’s how I became interested in treasure hunting. There’s a big museum there dedicated to it.”

  “When did you decide to do this for a living?” Wade asked as he continued to soothingly rub her back.

  “Always knew it. I love history and I love the water. It was the perfect combination, so I got a bachelor’s degree in history and I minored in marine science. Then I went on to get my master’s degree in underwater archaeology.”

  Darcy was beginning to sound calmer now, and Wade knew he’d have to ask her about the body soon. “How long have you been hunting?”

  “Since I graduated. I’ve found just enough to pay for my next hunt. I’m twenty-eight, and while I looked for these smaller discoveries, I’ve been studying the one I’m working on now since I was sixteen.” Darcy opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Color was beginning to return to her face.

  “What are you working on now?” Wade asked, drawn into the mystery of it all.

  “Now?” Darcy looked back toward his boat, then snapped her head back. Nothing.”

  “You’ve been working on nothing for twelve years?”

  “That’s right.”

  And just like that, all the suspicion went straight back to Darcy. She was hiding something, something so big she instantly clammed up. “Was that Leon Snife?”

  Darcy looked off at the Coast Guard workers putting out the fire and nodded.

  “When the knife you held on me gets tested, will it have Leon’s blood on it?” Wade asked quietly.

  “No!” Darcy spun around to face him with wide eyes. “You think I killed Leon? Oh my God, are you arresting me? Wait, can you even arrest me? It doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t kill him. Search the boat. Take all my clothing. Fingerprint me. Give me a lie detector test. I don’t care. Do it all so you don’t think I actually killed someone!”

  “Wade.”

  Wade turned to see one of his friends gesture to the police boat on its way over to them. He turned back to Darcy and saw the moment she noticed the police arriving.

  “I didn’t do it!” she cried as she grabbed his arms. Her hands were strong as she clung to him. “You have to believe me.”

  “Do you have something on under your wetsuit?” Wade asked instead of comforting her.

  “Yes, why?” she asked, her face filled with confusion and fear.

  “Because they’re going to take you in. They will place you on a hold until they can get your knife and clothes checked out overnight. If there’s no blood found, then they will probably let you go with restrictions to not leave town. You’re going to have to take off your wetsuit and put it into an evidence bag.”

  “Charleston PD,” a man in a wrinkled suit who looked slightly green called out a second before the boat came to a stop. He was probably in his early forties and his light brown hair was cut short, but it still looked shaggy. He was also very fit, which made his clumsiness on the boat somewhat surprising.

  “Wade Faulkner, U.S. Coast Guard and first to the scene,” Wade said, identifying himself.

  “Faulkner . . . any relation to the doctor that got some of the force fired?”

  Well, crap. Wade’s cousin, Gavin, had saved a woman from a storm only to find out someone had tried to kill her. That person ended up having a lot of connections, some of whom had reached into the police department.

  “That’s my cousin. You have a problem with corrupt cops being fired?” Wade asked, pulling himself up to his full height and staring down at the detective who was trying to climb on board.

  “Hell no. I wanted to shake that man’s hand, but you’ll do for now. Detective Willie Chambers. And you are, ma’am?”

  Wade wanted to put his arm around her and give Darcy his support. He couldn’t. He couldn’t interfere with an investigation, especially when he wasn’t sure if that investigation would show the woman next to him was a murderer or not.

  “I think I’d like a lawyer, please,” Darcy squeaked out. “I can do that, right?” she asked, looking up at Wade. Wade felt with his whole being that he wanted to protect her.

  “Yes, you can,” Wade answered instead of wrapping her up in his arms.

  “Is that okay, detective?” Darcy asked as her body began to shake.

  “Yes, ma’am. Would you mind at least giving me your name?” he asked kindly, and Wade relaxed his breath, realizing Detective Chambers wasn’t going to push Darcy.

  “Darcy Delmar, sir. And I didn’t kill Leon.”

  “So noted. The nice officer over there is going to hold up a blanket for you to undress behind. I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to take your wetsuit.”

  Darcy looked to the female officer and nodded. “Can I get something to wear from below deck?”

  “I’m sorry,” the detective said. “We’ll be taking all your clothes with us to make sure there are no blood particles on them. You can have the blanket, though.”

  Darcy looked ready to cry, but she simply nodded and stepped away with the female officer. Detective Chambers looked back to Wade and pulled out his notepad. “Tell me everything you know.”

  Wade hated to tell him that Darcy pulled a knife on him underwater. He did anyway as he relayed the complete story from beginning to end. By the time he was done, Darcy was sitting next to the female officer wrapped in nothing but a blanket as her boat was being secured to a police boat. It would be hauled into the police marina and impounded. It would be searched along with Leon’s boat now that the fire was out.

  “So, this is Leon Snife,” Detective Chambers said as he examined the body. “And Ms. Delmar thought she was alone when she went into the water?”

  “Yes,” Wade answered.

  “And she identified the body?”

  “Yes, sir,” Wade answered for the second time.

  “I’m sorry,” Detective Chambers said, standing up and wrinkling his nose. “What is that smell? Is it the body?”

  “Oh. Um. No, sir. That’s me. Ms. Delmar threw up on me after seeing the body.”

  “Hmm, that’s a strange reaction for a supposed murderer.” Wade saw the detective glance at Darcy and tighten his lips. “What do you think, Faulkner?”

  “Me, sir?” Wade asked. He’d never been asked what his opinion of a case was before. He was the one who risked his life and saved people and then handed them off. He was never involved beyond that.

  “You were the first person to see the body and to see Ms. Delmar. You can tell me what you think of her reactions. Do you think she did it?” Chambers asked him.

  “No, I don’t. But I do think she has to
be cleared beyond a shadow of a doubt so that any case made against the real killer won’t use her as reasonable doubt.”

  Chambers grunted as if he’d been there, done that, before. “I couldn’t agree more. But I won’t know for sure until I treat her as a suspect and gather the evidence. She’ll be in jail for a couple days. By then I hope the tests come back conclusive.”

  “I know she can’t wear her own clothes, but what about one of my shirts?” Wade asked, reaching around Chambers for his discarded tux shirt and jacket he’d pulled off before jumping into the water to try to save Leon.

  “Go ahead,” Chambers said as he watched the newly arrived coroner begin to work. “But quickly. I’m having them take her in for booking in just a minute.”

  Wade grabbed the clothes and climbed over to where the officer sat with Darcy. “Here, the detective said you could put these on.”

  “Thank you,” Darcy cried as tears slowly rolled down her face. She pulled the shirt over her head and blanket and buttoned it up to her neck before standing up and pulling the blanket out from under the shirt. She then slipped on the jacket and stood looking like something out of a wet dream. Her hair was drying and looked tousled. The shirt and jacket hit her at mid-thigh, which left plenty of leg to give him a tantalizing peek. It didn’t matter that he’d seen her in a wet suit. Seeing her and knowing she was naked under his clothes was a turn-on.

  “I hate to ask you, but I don’t know who else to ask,” Darcy said as the officer gave them only a couple feet of privacy.

  “What is it?”

  “Do you know a lawyer?”

  “Okay, Ms. Delmar,” the officer said, reaching for her upper arm. “You need to come with us.”

  Wade watched as she was escorted onto the police boat and handcuffed. Darcy looked back at him frantically as they headed for the marina. She watched him until she was out of sight and then Wade practically shoved crime-scene tech from his boat as he scrambled for his cell phone.

  “Where the hell is my boat?”

  “It’s the middle of the night. What do you need your boat for?” Wade asked his cousin Ryker when he answered.

  “I was going to sneak into my Charleston home, but someone took my boat.”

  “Why would you need to sneak there?”

  “Because I have a houseful of Keeneston relatives who want nothing more than to fix me up with women. Aunt Paige suggested Maggie. Aunt Annie said she knew someone in Keeneston who would be perfect for me. I don’t want to hear any of it.”

  Wade laughed. “You’re trying to run away from our sweet aunts.”

  “They aren’t sweet. Have you seen how they shoot a gun? And I found Aunt Annie using my thousand-dollar set of knives for throwing practice out back yesterday.”

  “I have your boat, and you might not get it back for a little while. I need your help,” Wade said, putting aside talks of his relatives.

  “What do you mean, I can’t have my boat back?”

  “It was official Coast Guard business,” Wade said vaguely.

  “And?”

  Ugh. There was a reason Ryker was so powerful. He didn’t miss the details. And he was ruthless. It was why he owned and operated a very profitable shipping company.

  “And, I had to pull a murdered body out of the water so the coroner and the police just need to borrow the boat for a bit.”

  “Dammit! I liked that boat and now I need to get rid of it,” Ryker cursed.

  “You don’t have to get rid of it. You’ll have it back in a week.”

  “I don’t want it back. It had a dead person in it.”

  “Are you afraid of cooties?” Wade asked, shaking his head. He knew Chambers could hear him when Wade heard the detective smother a laugh.

  “We have enough problems with ghosts. I don’t need one on my boat. Now, what did you want?” Ryker asked, clearly unhappy.

  “A girl needs a lawyer.”

  “What kind of lawyer?” Ryker asked as he instantly switched back into business mode.

  “A criminal one.”

  “Did she do it?” Ryker asked.

  “Does it matter?”

  “No. Unless she’s to blame for the death cooties on my boat.”

  Wade smiled. Everyone thought Ryker was so tough. He was, but hidden underneath his cool and commanding exterior was a kind and funny man.

  “For what it’s worth, I don’t think it was her.”

  “Good enough for me. Where is she?” Ryker asked.

  “She’ll be arriving at the police marina in fifteen minutes, and then they’ll take her to the station.”

  The line was quiet for a moment and Wade thought Ryker might have hung up. “One of my attorneys will meet her at the marina. She’ll be in good hands. Does this have anything to do with your wanting a serious relationship?”

  “What?” Wade asked. He was so regretting telling his cousins he wished he had what Gavin and Ellery had found—love.

  “I mean, some people send flowers when they like someone. Although lawyers are much more expensive than flowers. If this girl is a murder suspect, then the lawyer will equal a diamond necklace and earrings. Hope she’s worth it.”

  And then Ryker was gone. He was probably gleefully waking up their cousins to tell them all about the murderer Wade had fallen for. But he hadn’t fallen for her. He was just helping her out, right? And it wasn’t as if she were really a murderer, right? Hopefully.

  4

  Darcy couldn’t stop shaking as the police boat neared the marina. They thought she killed Leon. When Darcy dove into the water earlier that night, she was the only one around. Damn him. He would try to sneak in and steal her discovery. But what had happened to him? All Darcy knew was that she wasn’t the one who killed him.

  The boat pulled up to the dock and was tied. When Darcy was helped from the boat, she looked up and saw a woman in a freshly pressed pinstriped skirt suit with a briefcase in hand, waiting for them at the locked gate.

  “Gosh almighty. What is Olivia Townsend doing here?” Darcy heard the female officer whisper to the other officer.

  “Ms. Townsend, can I help you?” the male officer asked, stepping forward to unlock the gate that would lead Darcy to who knows where. Jail probably.

  “I am Ms. Delmar’s attorney. I will be accompanying you to the interrogation room where you will be turning off all video and audio surveillance. You will allow my client a hot drink and some food as well as a fresh change of clothes.” The woman was in her early thirties with blonde hair in a perfect updo that matched her barely-there nude makeup, both flawless for two o’clock in the morning.

  “Oh, I don’t have any clothes,” Darcy said.

  Olivia gave her a little smile. “You do now. Now, please, not one word until we are settled. Okay?”

  Darcy nodded, then looked down at Olivia’s designer pumps. There was no way she’d be able to afford her. What was she going to do? She was about to ask, but remembered Olivia’s firm command to not say a single word and kept her mouth shut. They were escorted into the police station and settled in an interrogation room. Her attorney left the room momentarily but soon returned with a bag from a very upscale Charleston boutique.

  “Here we go. No eyes or ears. See how these fit.”

  “Thank you,” Darcy said, taking the bag and looking inside to find a pair of slacks, a cute top, underwear, and strappy sandals . . . all in her size. “How did you—?”

  “I’m very good at my job, Ms. Delmar.”

  “Darcy, please. But I’m afraid I am not able to afford this, or you,” she said, handing the bag back to Olivia.

  “It’s been taken care of.” Olivia smiled and gently pushed the bag back toward her. The idea of having underwear on again after dreading having to sit on the gross chairs in the police station won out and she dressed quickly.

  “Here you go,” Olivia said, handing her a little bag with a brush, hair band, and some basic makeup in it. “A picture is worth a thousand words. You get walked out of h
ere looking a wreck in nothing but a man’s shirt and opinions will fly—and not good ones. But put on your armor, hold your head high while showing a little of that vulnerability in your eyes, and the public will love you.”

  “Public? I don’t care what the public thinks of me.”

  Olivia laughed. And her laughter was as polished as she was. “Oh, honey, the public is what will save you if you go to trial. They’ll be the ones judging you. Now, I don’t want to know if you did it or not.”

  “I didn’t do it!”

  “Honey, all my clients say that.” Olivia gave her a little smile and then sighed. “But you actually didn’t do it, did you?”

  “No. I have no idea what happened. I was all alone when I went into the water.” Darcy found herself blurting out her story and even the impeccable Olivia Townsend had to hide a laugh when Darcy mentioned throwing up on Wade Faulkner.

  “I asked him to get me a lawyer,” Darcy said as she finished up. “Did he hire you?”

  “Yes and no. His cousin is my firm’s biggest client. When Ryker Faulkner calls in the middle of the night, you pick up.”

  “How am I going to pay for you?” Darcy bit her lip. “I’m sorry, that makes you sound like a prostitute.”

  Olivia laughed fully. “I like you, Darcy. Don’t you worry about payment, Mr. Faulkner is taking care of it.”

  “But he’s just working for the Coast Guard. He can’t afford you either.”

  “The other Mr. Faulkner.”

  “But he doesn’t even know me.”

  Olivia shook her head. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Now, from what you’ve told me, they won’t find anything on your boat. You should be out of here by tomorrow evening. I’ll try to keep you in this room as opposed to a jail cell.”

  Darcy had been served breakfast. The sounds of the police station came to life as the night turned to day. Finally, there was a knock and the door opened. Detective Chambers strode in and set a bag on the table. He knocked on the two-way glass and turned back to them. “You are now being recorded, and I will be reading you your rights for the record.”