Danger in the Depths (Dune House Cozy Mystery Series Book 9)

by Cindy Bell

  “I don’t know, I went inside. I didn’t want to be nosy.”

  “Okay.” He made a note on his notepad. “I’m sure you understand that it is important I get in touch with Hal. If he’s done this, he could already be on the run. So if you hear anything about him, or see him, I need you to contact me right away. Can I trust you to do that?”

  “Of course you can.”

  “Great. I’m going to need you to be on my side with this. As I see it right now, we have quite a few suspects to look at, and the only ones with an alibi are Jim and Trish.”

  “Are you saying you still consider my kids suspects?”

  “I don’t know what kind of motive they could have for killing Curtis, but yes technically they are still suspects because they have no alibi for the time-span that Curtis could have been killed in.”

  “But that time-span includes time when he was still alive.”

  “I’m aware. Because, at any point during that time someone could have tampered with his equipment. Without more information I have no idea when the killer accessed Curtis’ tanks. It could have happened any time after they were dropped off and before he went diving, well for the final time.”

  “I can assure you my children had nothing to do with this.”

  “I believe you, Mary, I do. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t investigate all avenues. I may know you, but I do not know your children. Until I am able to cross them off the list, I would appreciate it if they remained in this area.”

  “They’re here to visit for a few days.”

  “Good. And, Hal and Trish?”

  “They’re supposed to leave first thing tomorrow.”

  “I’m going to have to prevent that. First, I need to track down Hal. Thanks for your time, Mary, I do appreciate you speaking with me.”

  “You’re welcome, Kirk.” She watched him leave the study. Her legs weren’t strong enough for her to stand up. Not because of pain, but because of Kirk’s revelation that her children were murder suspects. How could she accept that? How could she explain that to them? Her stomach twisted with fear. What if Kirk got everything wrong? What if he found out about Ben’s financial problems and somehow twisted that into a motive? Anxiety built within her the more she thought about the possibilities. As she stepped out of the study she saw Kirk head straight for Suzie.

  “Can I speak to you for a minute?”

  “Sure.” Suzie stepped to the side with Kirk.

  “I really need to find Hal, any idea where he is?”

  “No, but I do have his license plate on file. Will that help?”

  “Immensely.”

  “I’ll get it for you.”

  “Could you run me a copy of Jim’s information as well?”

  “I don’t have it yet. He was supposed to give it to me today.”

  “All right, I’ll get it from him. And Rick?” He glanced around. “Where is he?”

  “He took Cathy out on the porch.”

  “I’m going to want to talk to him, too.”

  “I understand. I think they’re on the side porch, if you want to head out there I’ll bring you Hal’s information.”

  “Okay great, thank you.” Kirk stepped out through the door just as Hal was stepping in.

  “May I ask your name, sir?”

  “Hal Richson. Is there a problem, Officer?”

  “I need to speak with you about a very important matter.”

  “What’s happened? Is Trish okay? Trish?”

  “I’m fine, Hal.” She stepped out of the living room.

  “I’ll tell you everything you need to know. Just come with me please.” Kirk led Hal into the study.

  “I should go in there with him, shouldn’t I?” Trish looked at Suzie.

  “I think he’ll be all right by himself. It’s probably best if you let Kirk speak with him alone.”

  “Maybe.” Trish frowned and lingered near the door to the study. Suzie finished printing off what information she had, then stepped outside to find Cathy and Rick. On her way out she overheard Mary and Ben as they spoke in the living room.

  “Mom, I didn’t have anything to do with it, you know that right?”

  “Of course I do. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure Kirk will get all of this figured out.”

  Chapter 8

  Suzie walked around to the side porch, and paused when she heard raised voices.

  “I didn’t come here to deal with the police. I don’t handle that well, you know that. I think we should leave.”

  “I’m not going to leave my mom here to deal with all of this. There’s nothing to worry about. Just tell him where you were, and everything will be fine.”

  “I shouldn’t have to. I don’t want to answer any questions. You can stay if you want to, I can understand that, but I’m leaving.”

  “If you do that you’re going to make yourself look guilty.”

  “It won’t matter if they can’t catch me, will it?”

  “Rick, this isn’t like you. What’s going on? You can talk to me.”

  “No, I can’t. I have to get out of here. I’m calling a cab.” He pulled out his phone. Suzie ducked back around the corner and sent Kirk a text.

  Rick is about to run. You need to get out here before he does.

  Suzie felt a pang of guilt for putting Cathy’s boyfriend in the crossfire, but with his behavior she had to wonder whether he might have something to hide.

  “Rick please, just calm down. My mom knows the cops here, nothing bad is going to happen to you.”

  “You don’t know that. Yes, I need a cab to Dune House right away.” He turned away as he spoke on the phone. Suzie didn’t even receive a text back, instead she heard the front door of Dune House swing open, and Kirk rounded the corner of the porch.

  “Rick?” He paused in front of him. “Rick, we’re going to need to talk.”

  “He doesn’t know anything.” Cathy stood up from her chair. “He had nothing to do with any of this.”

  “All I need is to clear my list of people that had contact with Curtis. That’s it, Rick. Please, hang up the phone, I need to speak with you.”

  Rick shoved his phone into his pocket. He turned to look at Kirk with a scowl. “I don’t have to speak to you. I know my rights.”

  “Okay Rick. Is there a reason you’re feeling threatened? Have I done something to upset you?” Kirk asked.

  Suzie stepped out to join them and placed a reassuring hand on Cathy’s shoulder.

  “I have a problem.” Rick gritted his teeth. “I don’t deal well with authority.”

  “Oh, I see.” Kirk nodded. “Well relax. I’m not here to force you into anything. I’d just like to know if you thought Curtis was into anything he shouldn’t have been? If you noticed anyone suspicious? Did you notice him arguing with anyone?”

  “No, I barely spoke to him.”

  “Is that so? Because, I just had someone tell me that they saw you in a heated exchange with Curtis earlier today.”

  “What?” Cathy shook her head. “Rick didn’t even speak to Curtis today. Right Rick?”

  “Is that right, Rick?” Kirk’s tone remained placid. “I just need all of the information I can get.”

  “Yes, I spoke to him.”

  “When?” Cathy stared at him.

  “Cathy, let Kirk ask the questions.” Suzie patted her shoulder.

  “But I don’t understand. You were still asleep when I left for the lesson with Curtis. When did you talk to him?” Cathy asked.

  “Look, it isn’t what you think. I went down there to check on things. I wanted to make sure that Curtis was taking care of Cathy and Ben. They were doing exercises under the water, when I saw Curtis come back up. He left the water to make a phone call! He left Cathy and Ben in the water by themselves, with equipment they weren’t familiar with. I got upset, I told him that was against regulations and he needed to get back in the water. He argued with me, said he just needed to make a quick call, and they weren’t th
at deep. But anything can happen in a second. I told him to get back in the water or I’d break his phone.”

  “So you threatened him?” Kirk narrowed his eyes.

  “I was worried about Cathy and Ben.”

  “Did he listen to you?”

  “Yes, he went back in the water, but I think he sent a text first.”

  “Do you remember that, Catherine? A time when Curtis left you alone in the water?” Kirk turned to look at her.

  “Yes, I do. It was about fifteen minutes after we started out in the water. He motioned that he was going up, but Ben and I were fine and Curtis was back almost right away. Rick, why didn’t you tell me about this?”

  “I haven’t had the chance.”

  “What did you do after you sent Curtis back into the water?”

  “I left.”

  “So you were worried about Catherine’s safety, but not enough to stick around?” Kirk asked.

  “I didn’t want her to know that I snapped at Curtis, all right? I was afraid she’d be upset with me.”

  “Rick, it’s okay,” Cathy said.

  “Rick, you’ve helped me out a lot here. Can you tell me what you did after you left the beach?”

  “I checked out the town. Walked around for a while.”

  “Did you meet anyone? Eat anywhere? Is there anyone who can verify where you were?”

  “No, I was trying to blow off some steam, not make friends. I doubt anyone would remember seeing me, but maybe someone from one of the shops saw me from inside, I didn’t go into any shops though.”

  “All right, listen. Stick around. Okay?” Kirk asked.

  “Why? So you can arrest me? I know how these things work.”

  “Not like that they don’t. I guarantee you I will only be putting handcuffs on the murderer. But if I need to be able to reach you to confirm something, or find out more information, and you’re not here, that’s going to cause me a lot of problems. Besides, this is supposed to be time with your girlfriend right? So why not stick around and keep her company.”

  “I think that would be best, Rick. Please?” Cathy met his eyes.

  “All right, yes, I’ll stay as long as we planned. But I can’t promise anything beyond that.”

  “Great. Thanks Rick.” Kirk offered his hand. “I appreciate it.”

  “Sure.” Rick shook his hand.

  “I’ll cancel the taxi.” Cathy smiled.

  Suzie and Kirk walked back around to the front porch. The crime scene van drove into the parking lot as they paused by the front door.

  “What about Hal, Kirk?”

  “I’ve spoken with him. I’ve spoken with everyone here. Now, I’m going to let the crime scene team do their work.”

  “Okay.” Suzie nodded.

  “Please call me if you think of anything.”

  “Wait, Kirk.”

  “Yes?” He turned back to look at her.

  “Do you think we’re safe here?”

  “Do you?” He stared back at her and squinted through the sunlight. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Suzie?”

  “No, nothing.”

  “All right then. You should be just fine. But if anything worries you, call me right away.”

  “I will.” She watched him return to the patrol car. A shudder ran down her spine. Was she going to be sharing a roof with a killer? Mary stepped outside and joined her on the porch.

  “Is Kirk leaving?”

  “Yes. He said to call him if we think of anything. The crime scene team is going to go through Curtis’ room.”

  “What do you think, Suzie? Who do you think did this?”

  “Honestly, it might not have even been anyone that we know. It could have been someone in town, or one of his other students.”

  “That’s possible.”

  “I think it’s more likely to be Hal though. I bet he wanted to get revenge for the way that Curtis flirted with Trish.” Suzie frowned.

  “Or it could have been Trish. She might have been angry that he rejected her advances, if he did.”

  “Wow, I hadn’t considered that.”

  “All I know is I wish my kids weren’t mixed up in all of this.” Mary shook her head. “I’m worried, Suzie. I know that you probably think I shouldn’t be, but I am.”

  “I’m worried, too.” Suzie took her hand. “I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I do know that we need to make sure that Cathy and Ben aren’t harmed by any of it.”

  “And Rick.” Mary nodded.

  “I’m not so sure about Rick.” Suzie put her finger to her lips and peeked around the side of the house. The table where Rick and Cathy had been sitting was empty. She caught sight of them further down the beach. When she turned back to Mary, she frowned. “I think he’s hiding things, important things.”

  “Like what? He seemed nice enough to me.”

  “You didn’t see what I just saw. When he realized he’d have to talk to Kirk, he kind of flipped out. Poor Cathy was trying to calm him down, but it was like a switch had been flipped inside of him. He said he has problems with authority. It seems to me that he’s trying to present himself one way, but underneath, he’s something completely different.”

  “I hope that’s not the case. We’ll have to keep a closer eye on him.”

  “Yes. In fact I think it would be best if we start our own investigation into the situation.”

  “You do?”

  “Absolutely. We’re talking about Ben and Cathy here. Kirk’s a good officer, but we can’t leave the fate of your kids in his hands. We need to figure out as soon as possible who did this, so that the three of you can refocus on enjoying your time together.”

  “I love that we think alike.” Mary grinned. “But where are we going to start?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Curtis’ room and the dive shack are going to be off limits while the crime scene investigators go through them. So I think we should start with the few things that we do know about him.”

  “He loved going to the library.” Mary shrugged. “He spent a lot of time there.”

  “Yes, he did. Which means that Louis probably has a good idea of what he was up to. We also know at least one person from his past, Jim, who we might be able to get more information from. Then there’s Hal and Trish. If we can figure out whether Hal had access to Curtis’ equipment we might have a better chance of determining whether he is the killer.”

  “What strikes me as odd about that, is if Hal was jealous, wouldn’t he just confront Curtis? Maybe lose his temper? Whoever did this, had to put some serious thought into it, and plan to tamper with the equipment. Right?”

  “That’s true. I guess Hal might have tried to make it look like an accident. But it was clear to Kirk that it probably wasn’t, because of Curtis’ experience. So, if he did try to make it look like an accident he didn’t do a very good job.”

  “No, that’s for sure. I say, let’s go down to the library and talk to Louis. We can do some research on Hal, Trish, and Jim while we’re there.”

  “Don’t forget Rick.” Suzie wagged her finger. “I don’t trust him, not even a little bit.”

  “We can’t leave Dune House unguarded though. I’d feel more comfortable if one of us stayed here.”

  “Yes, you’re right. You stay, try to find out what the crime scene techs might have discovered in their search. Keep an eye on everyone. I’ll head to the library. That will give you some time with the kids, even if things are tense. I saw Rick and Cathy head down to the beach.”

  “Okay, I guess I need to think about getting dinner ready, too. I don’t think anyone ate lunch.”

  “Yes, they’ll probably be very hungry.”

  “Text me as soon as you know anything.”

  “I will.”

  As Suzie drove away from Dune House she tried not to think about how worried Mary looked. As much as she loved Ben and Cathy, they weren’t her kids. They were Mary’s, which meant she had to be far more worried than Suzie. Suzie was worried enough
to buy them both a plane ticket. However, she knew better than that. The best defense, was finding the real killer.

  Chapter 9

  Suzie pulled into the parking lot of the library and parked near the front. When she stepped inside there was a small line at the desk. Louis skimmed a stack of books through the scanner one by one. Suzie checked her watch and realized it was a little after three. That was prime time for the school kids to gather at the library. If she didn’t get a chance to talk to Louis now, she might miss it altogether. She waited at the back of the line. Louis looked over the top of his glasses and smiled at her from behind the desk, then turned his focus back on the person he was helping. It wasn’t long before Suzie was right in front of him.

  “Suzie, is it true?” He stared at her, his smile gone.

  “What?”

  “Curtis, is he dead?”

  “Word travels so fast around here. Yes, I’m afraid he is, Louis. I’m sorry. I know that you two had become close.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly say that. I was about to start charging him rent for living here.”

  “He was here that often?”

  “Every day for at least a few hours.”

  “What did he do?”

  “Used the computers mostly. He never checked out a book. He would pull some off the shelf, then leave them on the table for me to re-shelve.”

  “Do you remember what he was looking at?”

  “What’s going on, I thought it was an accident?”

  “Not according to Kirk.”

  “Interesting. Well, he was mostly looking at books about ancient artifacts, shipwrecks, tombs, that kind of thing.”

  “Did he mention why he was looking at those books?”

  “I assumed he was trying to find treasure. He asked me once if I knew about an underwater cave that was rumored to be a few miles off the coast, near Bucky’s Inlet. I told him that there were lots of rumors about the area, but that was all they were, rumors. He even went so far as to ask me if there were any maps that showed the cave. I told him there was no cave that I knew about, and to please stop bothering me.”

  “Oh, classic Louis.” She smiled.