[Avery Shaw 11.0] Unwritten & Underwater

by Amanda M. Lee

  Tad, his hairline receding so far back I figured he’d need to start doing the always fashionable comb-over relatively soon, offered up a haughty look. “And here I thought this event was for real reporters. It’s sad that we’re forced to contend with you at such an important event.”

  “Let go.” I slapped at Eliot’s hand, but he ignored the admonishment. “How is this an important event? It’s a new aquarium. They don’t even have krakens, for crying out loud.”

  “It’s important because I’m here.”

  “Oh, well, by that argument the corner of Cass and Gratiot is also important because you were there getting a hand job from one of the toothless five-dollar prostitutes this weekend.”

  Tad furrowed his brow, the lines heavy as he took a warning step in my direction. “You take that back!”

  “You keep over there,” Jake instructed, moving to cut off Tad’s path to me. “If you don’t, I’ll have you removed.”

  “Me?” Tad was understandably affronted. “What did I do?”

  “You’re being you,” Jake replied, unruffled. He didn’t like Tad any more than I did – mostly because I broke up with Jake during college to date Tad. I still couldn’t fathom why I’d made that decision. It must’ve been all the alcohol I was drinking at the time … or a bout of temporary insanity. “She’s here to cover an event. We need her for the publicity, because this is important to the county as a revenue source. We don’t need you.”

  “Ha, ha.” I sang out the taunt, earning a disapproving look from Eliot. “What? He’s evil.”

  “You’re not helping matters,” Eliot said, tightening his grip on my Capri pants. “Ludington, why don’t you go through the aquarium, huh? I understand they’ve already started tours. I’d think you’d want to be with the first group.”

  “I would, too,” Jake said, something I couldn’t quite identify flashing through his eyes. “In fact, I believe Richard Aiken is going with the first group. Don’t you want to be with him in case photographs are taken? I saw Jared Jackson from The Monitor go inside a few minutes ago. You’re risking Aiken getting all of the attention.”

  Richard “Dick” Aiken and Tad were running against one another in an August primary election. They both wanted the same county commission seat. They were locked in a tough battle. I wasn’t exactly fond of Aiken, but nobody ruffled my lightsaber like Tad Ludington.

  “He’s already on a tour?” Tad lost all interest in me and turned in that direction. “That snake. He did it on purpose.”

  I watched him go, imagining a hundred different ways I could knock him out and slip his body into one of the shark tanks when no one was looking. I turned back to Eliot when Tad slipped out of sight. “Why did you hold me here?” I gestured toward the finger he finally relaxed.

  “Because I promised you a special lunch, and you won’t get it if Jake has to arrest you,” Eliot replied, not missing a beat. “I saw Ludington here when I first arrived. I knew there would be issues if I didn’t keep hold of you, so I did what I had to do.”

  “I’ll have you know that I’m far too mature to engage in a slap fight with Tad Ludington,” I sniffed. “Far too mature.”

  “Yes, that’s completely believable coming from the woman who just talked about a hand job at a work event,” Eliot drawled.

  “Hey, I heard that’s true.”

  Eliot arched an eyebrow and merely waited.

  “Fine.” I heaved out a sigh. “I made it up. It could’ve been true, though.”

  “And that’s why I’m going on the tour with you,” Eliot said. “I need to check all of the cameras inside anyway. They all failed in a cascade pattern, which seems unlikely because they’re on multiple servers. I need to sort out the problem.”

  Eliot may be handsome, but he talks like a geek sometimes … and not a fun geek like me. “What’s a cascade pattern?”

  “It simply means that one camera failed and seemed to trip all of the others one at a time,” Eliot replied. “It shouldn’t happen in a facility with this kind of hardware, but we’ll see what’s going on. Hopefully I’ll be able to diagnose the problem while you’re getting your interviews, and then we’ll have lunch before splitting up for the day.”

  “As long as I end up with the Ultimate Feast in my belly, I don’t care what you do.” I moved toward the aquarium door. “Just for the record, though, why didn’t you tell me you were heading over here this morning? You had plenty of opportunities to do just that.”

  “Because I wanted to surprise you.”

  “Why really?”

  “Because I knew a bunch of politicians would be here, and I figured you would cause a scene and I thought it would be easier if I caught you off guard,” Eliot answered, grabbing his iPad from his bag and pointing toward the door. “Shall we?”

  “Okay, but if I get a chance to feed Tad to a great white shark I’m totally taking it.”

  Eliot didn’t seem bothered by the announcement. “I’d expect nothing less. Come on.”

  “THIS PLACE IS a total disappointment.”

  I didn’t bother lowering my voice, despite the fact that several aquarium workers shot dirty looks in my direction as we made our way through the facility.

  “Tell us how you really feel,” Jake deadpanned, tilting his head as he looked at a school of colorful fish through a glass window. “I think it’s kind of neat.”

  “You would,” I groused. “Where are the sharks? Where are the octopuses? Where are the whales?”

  “I think you’re confusing this place with SeaWorld,” Eliot said dryly, looking over the nearest camera as he shook his head and made a grunting sound. “There’s nothing wrong with this camera or the network as far as I can tell, yet all of the cameras failed in rapid succession last night. I don’t get it.”

  “Maybe someone simply switched them off manually,” I suggested, hopping up and down in an attempt to scare the fish away from the window. “I don’t like those fish. They aren’t big enough to chomp on anything.”

  “Most fish aren’t big enough to chomp on anything,” Jake offered. “As for great white sharks, you can’t keep them in captivity. They die.”

  “I know. I saw that Jaws movie, too. It was Jaws 3, I believe.”

  Jake mustered a lopsided grin, my disappointment serving as amusement. “Besides that, I like watching animal documentaries. If you pulled your nose out of Lego video games for five minutes, you might learn a thing or two.”

  “I watch Shark Week every year.”

  “I can vouch for that.” Eliot frowned as he looked over another camera. “Seriously. I don’t understand this. All I can think is that the entire motherboard died, but it seems to be working for everything else, so that makes zero sense.”

  “Maybe Avery is right,” Jake suggested. “Maybe someone purposely shut down the cameras.”

  “To what end?”

  “Because they wanted to hide what they were doing and not get caught on camera,” I answered. “They were probably getting it on – I would totally do it in here despite the lame fish – and didn’t want anyone to notice. And by the way, I’m always right.”

  “You’re always something,” Eliot muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Isn’t there a stingray room in here? It’s supposed to have a pool with an open top so people can look at the stingrays up close and personal. I saw the photos in the promotional material.”

  “They do, but that room isn’t open yet,” Jake explained. “They have a few things to finish.”

  “They also have five cameras in there.”

  “I can take you inside.”

  I perked up. “Really? I want to see stingrays.”

  “You would.” Jake didn’t put up a fight when I trailed him and Eliot to a closed-off room. He used a special pass on the door to open it, sticking close to Eliot as they immediately moved to the walls and leaving me to check out the display on my own.

  I walked straight up to the edge of the shimmering pool, enjoying the way the happy-look
ing creatures flapped on the other side of the transparent glass. I was at the edge of the pool before I lifted my eyes and focused on something floating in the center of the basin. It was something that definitely wasn’t supposed to be there.

  “Jake.”

  He didn’t immediately answer, instead keeping his conversation with Eliot going.

  I licked my lips as I tried to find my voice. “Eliot.”

  “Just a second, Trouble,” Eliot offered. “I’ll come look at the stingrays and listen to you complain in a second. I just want to check these cameras first.”

  The fact that they both brushed me off should’ve been cause for concern, but all I could focus on was the dead body in the middle of the stingray pool. It was face up, arms spread wide as the woman looked to the heavens – or, in this case, the overhead lights. Sadly, I recognized her face. Sure, it wouldn’t have been much better if I didn’t recognize the dead woman, but knowing who it was seemed so much worse.

  This was not good.

  “Jake!” I bellowed his name, causing him to jolt.

  “What?”

  “Cara is dead in the pool.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jake moved to my side, his face draining of color when he realized what I stared at. “Holy … !”

  At least I was no longer alone with the horror. “I’ll never be able to eat seafood again.”

  7 Seven

  I felt disjointed, disconnected from my body. My mind was like a car speeding along the freeway, and every time I looked at Cara’s body I hit a speed bump and wrecked a tire.

  “Is this a dream?”

  I had no idea why I asked the question, but it was seemingly all I could muster. My face felt numb and the blood pounding through my ears was enough to make me briefly wonder if I was going to pass out.

  “Avery?” Eliot dragged his eyes from Cara’s body and focused on me. “Are you okay?” He took a step in my direction, and I held up my hand to keep him at a distance.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  I didn’t miss the momentary flash of hurt that crossed his face. “Okay.”

  “Not that,” I said hurriedly, waving my hand in front of my face as my cheeks began burning. “I’m afraid that if you touch me I’ll cry or something. Tad Ludington is out there. I can’t let him see me cry.”

  Eliot’s expression softened. “Guess what? I’m going to risk it.” He was cautious as he stepped to my side, resting his hand on my back as he studied my face. “You’re extremely pale.”

  “Cara is dead.”

  “I noticed that.”

  “She’s dead and she’s floating in the water.” I felt as if I was stuck on “repeat,” but vocalizing any of my thoughts was difficult. “Those stingrays are constantly smiling at me. They’re smiling at me as they swim around her dead body. That’s all I can see.”

  “Okay, baby, I think maybe I need to get you out of this room.” Eliot’s hand drifted to the back of my neck as I leaned over and rested my palms against my knees. “Jake, I need to get her out of here. I think she’s in shock.”

  “Then get her out!” Jake’s voice was full of grit and frustration.

  I risked a glance at Eliot and fought his efforts when he tried to move me. “We can’t leave him,” I said, finding my voice and centering my emotions. “He’ll be a suspect, which means we absolutely cannot leave him alone with the body.”

  The realization of what I was saying dawned on Eliot. “You’re right.”

  “I’m always right,” I grumbled, doing my best to avert my gaze from the body floating in the water. I knew I didn’t want to see her – I’ve watched enough horror movies to know what water does to a body – yet I couldn’t seem to stop myself from occasionally grabbing a peek. It was maddening.

  “You’re definitely right.” Eliot looked torn, his gaze bouncing between Jake and me. “Um … .”

  “Go to him,” I instructed, keeping my voice low. “He could be in real trouble over this.”

  “I know. I’m definitely worried about that.” Eliot’s eyes were probing as they locked with mine. “You could also be in real trouble.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She was at our house two days ago.” Eliot isn’t the type to break down in histrionic fits, but his voice was unnaturally squeaky, which told me he was working to maintain calm. “She’s always had an issue with you. And we threatened her.”

  “I guess that means you’ll be a suspect, too.”

  “I’m fine with that,” Eliot said. “I’d rather have people point their attention toward me. If they point it at you … .”

  I knew exactly what he was really worried about. “I’m the type to fly off the handle and lash out in a moment of rage. They could easily try to pin it on me.”

  “Except you two have alibis.” Jake’s voice was raspy. I wasn’t even certain he was listening to us until he commented. “Sure, your alibis are each other, but you have alibis. I was home alone last night.”

  “We don’t even have a time of death,” I argued, refusing to panic until I had a reason to do it. “She could’ve been killed a few minutes ago for all we know.”

  Jake scorched me with a frustrated look as he tugged his hand through his hair. He still hadn’t made a move for Cara’s body or his phone. I found his reaction odd, to say the least.

  “She’s been in the water at least six hours,” Jake informed me.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I’m a police officer. I’ve seen my fair share of dead bodies.”

  “So? I’m a reporter, but I can’t tell you what time a newspaper is printed,” I argued. “That seems like a random thing to know.”

  “What are you insinuating?” Jake gritted out.

  “I’m not insinuating anything,” I replied. “If you did kill her, though, we need to come up with a plan. We can always say you were at our house and spent the night with us. In fact … yeah, that’s a good idea.”

  “Do you really think I killed her?”

  “Of course not.” The answer was hardly perfunctory. “You wouldn’t do that. It’s just … you wouldn’t do that unless you thought someone you cared about was in danger. You seemed to think that Cara might prove troublesome for me when we saw her Sunday. So, you wouldn’t kill anyone … unless you had to.”

  Eliot flicked my ear. “I don’t think you’re helping matters.”

  “I didn’t realize that’s what I was supposed to be doing.”

  “You’re certainly not supposed to be making matters worse,” Eliot argued. “As for Cara, Jake is right. I’m not a medical examiner – who we need to call, by the way – but she’s been in that water for at least six hours.”

  I wasn’t ready to let it go. “Seriously, how do you know that?”

  Eliot maintained his trademark calm despite my demanding tone. “Her skin tone, the way it’s slackening in some places. It’s just obvious.”

  “Well la-di-da,” I muttered, shaking my head. “You’re sure you didn’t kill her, right, Jake?”

  Jake didn’t bother glancing in my direction. “I’m sure.”

  “Okay, that means we don’t have to dispose of a body.” I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans as I forced myself to focus on the problem at hand. “That saves us a lot of effort, because I had no idea where we were going to find a wheelbarrow on such short notice.”

  “Why would we need a wheelbarrow?” Eliot asked.

  “Because we need something to transport the body in. What would you suggest? Wait … we’re attached to a mall. I bet they have shopping carts at one of the anchor stores. We could totally use one of those. Forget what I said about a wheelbarrow.”

  “I honestly want to forget you’ve opened your mouth at all this morning,” Eliot muttered. “I love you, but … you make me tired.”

  “Believe it or not, you’re not the first person to tell me that.”

  “Oh, I believe it.”

  I ignored the sarcasm. “If we don’t have to dispos
e of the body, then we have to make a few calls.” My brain was firing on all cylinders again. “We need to call the medical examiner, but we should probably take photos of the body first.”

  Eliot’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “Take photos of the body?”

  “It’s not as if I’m going to pose in them and use her as a selfie background,” I snapped. “We need to make sure we have all of our angles covered, because even though Jake didn’t kill her he’ll be one of the initial suspects.”

  “I can’t believe you were actually going to help him move a body,” Eliot grumbled, shaking his head.

  “We made a pact.”

  “You made a pact?”

  I bobbed my head. “In middle school. We both agreed that if one of us ever killed someone the other would help dispose of the body. We shook on it and everything.”

  “You shook on it?” Eliot was starting to remind me of a hysterical old lady.

  “We might’ve kissed on it, too,” I hedged, averting my eyes.

  “We definitely kissed on it.” Jake attempted a smarmy smile for Eliot’s benefit, but it came out as a forced grimace. “I need to get a crime scene team in here. And we have to call the medical examiner’s office. We shouldn’t have waited as long as we have. It makes us look … ghoulish.”

  “I’m totally ghoulish, but we’ll lie when people ask about when we found her,” I said. “We’ll say we saw her, ascertained immediately that she was dead and no help would come by jumping into the pool with the smiling stingrays, and then we immediately called the police.”

  “I am the police,” Jake pointed out. “No one will question us, because I’m in charge of the department handling the investigation.”

  I shared a quick look with Eliot, something unsaid passing between us. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “I don’t think I care if you think it’s a good idea,” Jake fired back. “I’m the boss. I’m in charge.”