[Avery Shaw 11.0] Unwritten & Underwater

by Amanda M. Lee

  “I look forward to reading them.”

  Not nearly as much as I looked forward to writing them. Despite the fact that I was smack-dab in the center of another story, I couldn’t ignore the implications. Cara’s death would be huge news … and soon.

  It was my story, and there was no way I would let it go.

  10 Ten

  I was ready for a quiet night with Eliot and my thoughts when I let myself into the house shortly after six. Summers in Michigan make for long days, so the sun was still high in the sky and would be for another couple of hours. I figured we could eat dinner, I would graciously allow him to rub my back on the couch and then we could take a swim before bed. Yeah, we’re really getting our money’s worth out of that pool.

  Instead, I heard the distinct sound of a very feminine giggle as I walked through the house. I tilted my head to the side, taking a moment to triangulate the source of the noise, and then headed toward the sliding glass door that led to the back patio.

  In my head I knew there was no way Eliot was outside making time with another woman. That didn’t stop my mind from going to a handful of wacky places, and when I stepped onto the patio – the intention to break someone in half overwhelming – I was almost relieved when I found my cousin Lexie swimming in the pool. That feeling lasted only a few seconds, though, because she wasn’t alone.

  “Hi, Avery!” Lexie waved enthusiastically when she saw me but made no move to get out of the pool. The guy swimming next to her was built like a linebacker, shoulders broad enough to balance a serving tray on, and he seemed to be having a good time as he chased Lexie from one end of the pool to the other.

  I stared at the duo a moment, dumbfounded, and then found my voice. “What are you doing here?”

  Lexie was my cousin by birth but sister by nature. We spent a lot of time together while growing up, and I was as close to her as anybody. It was a situation that drove Eliot to drink occasionally because Lexie drove him nuts. She was immature and oblivious to other people’s feelings a lot of the time – and not in a fun way like me – and she has a penchant for finding trouble (also not in a fun way like me). All of that said, she makes me laugh, and I’m usually happy to see her.

  Today was an exception.

  “Did you hear me? What are you doing here?” I repeated.

  “I heard you.” Lexie scowled behind her boy toy’s back and gave me a pointed look. I could read everything in her expression. I was embarrassing her and she didn’t like it. Sadly for her, I was in no mood to be trifled with.

  “I asked you a question,” I repeated, annoyance bubbling up. “What are you doing here?”

  “You said I could visit whenever I wanted,” Lexie shot back, her brown eyes firing with an emotion I couldn’t quite identify, yet recognized as dangerous. “I’m visiting.”

  “She said we could spend the entire night in the pool,” the man volunteered.

  I took the opportunity to give him a closer look, letting my eyes roam his impressive muscles and kaleidoscope of interlocking tattoos I couldn’t quite make out on his mocha skin. Lexie definitely has a type. She’s five feet tall, whiter than a standard Michigan rural resident after a long winter, and stacked with absolutely huge boobs. By contrast, she likes tall black men with multiple tattoos and muscles that go on for miles. I could see her new friend’s physical appeal. She’s also attracted to dealers, so that means I don’t want her bringing dates into my house unsupervised.

  “I don’t remember telling you that you could visit whenever you want,” I offered, working overtime to keep from blowing up and causing a scene that would attract attention from the neighbors on either side. “It doesn’t matter, though. I have work to do and you can’t be here.”

  “I won’t interfere with your work.” Lexie made a point to avoid eye contact. “You won’t even know we’re here.”

  I was pretty sure that was an outright lie. “Lexie, I’ve had a really long day,” I snapped. “I don’t want or need you here. I have a lot going on.”

  Instead of doing as she was told, Lexie wrinkled her noses and murdered me with a look that promised burial in a shallow grave. “You’re embarrassing me.”

  If she thought that was an insult, she clearly didn’t know me anywhere near as well as I knew her. “You’re trespassing.”

  “Hey, there’s no reason to get all crazy and stuff.” Lexie’s guest held up his hands in a placating manner. “I’m sensing some tension. Jalen can fix that for you.”

  I wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Who is Jalen?”

  “I’m Jalen.” He thumped the center of his impressive chest. “I can fix whatever ails you.”

  “That’s good.” I barely managed to hang on to a modicum of sanity. “You’re what ails me … so get out of my pool.”

  Jalen adopted a faux innocent expression. “Why you got to be like that?”

  “Because you’re bothering me, and I’ve had a really long day,” I replied without hesitation. “Now … get out.”

  “Avery, you’re embarrassing me!” Lexie was beside herself. “I told Jalen you were cool.”

  “And you’re pretty far from cool,” Jalen intoned.

  “Oh, yeah?” I could only take so much. “I’m going to get the hose and point it at you and then you’ll see exactly how cool I am. How does that sound?” I stomped my feet against the concrete as I headed toward the gate that led to walkway on the side of the house. That’s where Eliot parked the contraption that held the hose. “I don’t need this crap.”

  I was almost through the gate when Eliot appeared in the doorway, a bag of takeout resting in his arms. “What’s going on?”

  “We’ve been invaded,” I replied. “Freeloaders are everywhere.”

  “Ah.” Eliot didn’t move to stop me from storming through the gate, so I kept going. When I returned with the hose he merely shook his head as he stared in the pool. “I don’t suppose we could talk about this before you force a situation where I might have to get in a physical fight?”

  I blinked, my expression blank. “Did you just meet me?”

  “Right.” Eliot clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Carry on. You, dude with the hair, if you move on her I’ll have to beat you. I’m just warning you now.”

  Jalen didn’t look worried. “I lift weights seven days a week.”

  “Yeah?” Eliot remained calm. “I live with her.” He jerked his thumb in my direction. “I can guarantee I’m stronger than you.”

  I couldn’t decide whether or not that was an insult, so I opted to let it slide. “I want them out of here,” I hissed. “I have plans for my night, and they don’t include guests.”

  “What do you think I’m trying to do?” Eliot challenged. “I would simply rather do it without getting my ass kicked.”

  I realized he was legitimately worried about Jalen’s girth. “Don’t you have a gun?”

  “Not on me.”

  “Then get one.”

  “Just … calm down.” Eliot stepped closer to the pool, his focus on Lexie even though he refused to lose sight of Jalen. “Why are you even here?”

  “Avery said that I could visit whenever I want,” Lexie protested. “She said I could swim whenever I want, too.”

  “I doubt very much she said that,” Eliot argued. “Avery isn’t generally a giving person.”

  “Hey!”

  Eliot ignored me. “Not only is she closed off and spoiled given the day, but there’s no way she invited you to use this pool whenever you want. She wants to use the pool twenty-four hours a day … and she wants to be naked when she does it. That means she’s not sharing the pool with you and your friend here.”

  “Jalen,” the man supplied.

  “I don’t care what your name is,” Eliot said. “I won’t remember it, because the next time Lexie shows up out here she’ll have another guy on her arm. That’s what she does.”

  Now it was Lexie’s turn to be offended. “Hey!”

  Eliot was in no m
ood to deal with crazy family members. He looked as tired as I felt. “Get out of the pool,” he ordered. “I’m not joking around. Avery’s dinner is getting cold and we have a lot of stuff going on.”

  For the first time since I found her flailing in my pool, Lexie’s expression turned serious. “What happened?”

  “Nothing that concerns you,” Eliot replied. “We have some things to discuss, and we don’t need an audience.”

  “Then go inside,” Lexie suggested. She wasn’t quite ready to concede defeat. “You can talk about your serious stuff, and we’ll stay out here having fun.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

  “I’m not leaving,” Lexie announced. “I promised Jalen a good time.”

  “If you don’t leave, I’m going to be the one showing Jalen a good time,” Eliot countered, causing me to purse my lips to keep from laughing. “I heard it the second I said it, Avery. There’s no reason to ever bring it up again.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  “What if I don’t want to go?” Lexie challenged. “What will you do then?”

  “Do you want to find out?”

  Lexie nodded, undeterred.

  “Fine.” Eliot grabbed the hose from me. “Grab a bucket of ice, will you? I’ll have these idiots out of here in five minutes.”

  TEN MINUTES LATER I forked into my chili fries and smiled at Eliot’s wet hair.

  “Is it wrong that I was turned on by that?”

  Eliot shrugged, seemingly unbothered. It took longer for him to get Jalen out of the pool than either of us expected, but the sheer masculine energy running through the backyard as he did it was somehow magical.

  “How would you feel if I said seeing you put Lexie in a headlock turned me on?” Eliot asked.

  “I think that’s different. She’s my cousin.”

  “She’s not my cousin, though,” Eliot pointed out. “If she was my cousin it would be demented. She’s not, so I think it’s merely sexy with attitude.”

  I snorted. “I didn’t know that was a thing.”

  “Everything is a thing,” Eliot said. “I … .” He broke off when someone cleared a throat, darting his eyes toward the gate. I think he was expecting Jalen or Lexie. Instead he found Inspector Fraser. “Oh, well, this day keeps getting worse,” he muttered before collecting himself. “You can let yourself through the gate, inspector.”

  Fraser’s appearance was enough to send a chill down my spine. I wanted to say something helpful, but I knew that would really lead to me saying something stupid. Instead I cut off a huge chunk of Coney dog and shoved it in my mouth. I was in the middle of some very exaggerated chewing when Fraser appeared at the edge of the table.

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt your meal.”

  “It’s okay,” Eliot said. I noticed he didn’t get up to share a proper greeting with Fraser. That was something of a direct insult, because Eliot was almost always polite. “Take a seat.”

  Fraser chose the chair next to me, picking a spot in the shade as he watched us shovel food into our mouths. From his point of view, we probably looked as if we were two individuals who didn’t have a care in the world … including cholesterol levels. But the inspector’s sudden appearance made me antsy.

  “So, I thought I would touch base because I wasn’t sure whether or not Sheriff Farrell would share information,” Fraser started.

  “Okay.” Eliot used a napkin to wipe the corners of his mouth. “Do you have a cause of death?”

  “I do.” Fraser checked his notebook. “Ms. Carpenter was strangled and then tossed into the pool. She technically died of drowning. She was unconscious when she went into the water. She never regained consciousness, so she couldn’t save herself.”

  “So she drowned.” Eliot flicked his eyes to me. “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than what I was expecting.”

  “As far as deaths go, it’s not a terrible way to go,” Fraser said.

  “I’m sure that’s a great comfort to Cara,” I drawled.

  “That’s not what I meant, but I get your point.” Fraser’s speech pattern was gratingly formal. “I need to know where you two were between the hours of one and three this morning.”

  I had to give him credit. He didn’t meander through a fake conversation to put us at ease. He got straight to the point.

  “We were here,” Eliot, replied. “We went to bed a little before midnight, and didn’t get up until about seven or so this morning.”

  “Did you go to bed together?”

  “That’s generally how we do it.”

  “And no one else was here?” Fraser asked, his eyes bouncing between Eliot and me.

  “Like who?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Are you asking if we had overnight guests?”

  “He’s asking if we had a visit – or maybe even contact – with Jake,” Eliot supplied. “Inspector, we were asleep during that time. We were alone. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

  “The problem is that I can hardly confirm your alibi,” Fraser pressed. “I’m not saying that I think it was you, but … .”

  “He thinks it was us,” I finished, rolling my neck. “I knew this was going to be a sucky day the second I saw Tad. He really is a harbinger of doom.”

  “You should’ve thought about that before you slept with him,” Eliot said, keeping his eyes on Fraser and causing me to kick him under the table. “Ow!”

  “You earned that.”

  “I guess I did.” Eliot tapped the side of my takeout container. “Eat your dinner. As for you, inspector, you can easily verify our whereabouts because the house is wired.”

  “I’m not sure what that means,” Fraser hedged.

  “It means we have a state-of-the-art security system,” Eliot supplied. “The windows and doors were locked shortly after ten. They didn’t open again until this morning. If we had left, the system would’ve logged our activities. That includes the garage door going up or down.”

  “But I still have to take your word for that, don’t I?”

  “No, we have a third-party monitoring service,” Eliot replied. “You can talk to them.”

  “I see.” Fraser rubbed his chin. “I guess I can do that. I’m not sure I’ll be able to say that puts you completely in the clear, but it does increase the likelihood.”

  “Awesome,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

  Instead of admonishing me, Eliot slid the pickle slices from his container to mine. He knew I enjoyed munching on them.

  “Is that all?” Eliot asked, his lips curving as Fraser made an incredulous face. “Is something wrong?”

  “I’m not going to lie,” Fraser said. “This entire little group you guys have set up for yourselves is … incestuous. I don’t like it, and I know something weird is going on here.”

  “You should’ve shown up thirty minutes earlier if you wanted to see something weird,” I suggested. “We played a little game with hoses before dinner – not those hoses, get your mind out of the gutter – and I think you would’ve enjoyed it.”

  “And I think you’re going to be a pain,” Fraser said, refusing to engage in an argument. “Your reputation is something … otherworldly … in this county, Ms. Shaw. Do you know that?”

  “I should hope so. I’ve worked hard to cultivate the exactly right mixture of fear, dread and hero worship.”

  Eliot didn’t bother to hide his grin as Fraser scowled. “I provide the hero worship,” Eliot volunteered.

  “And who provides the dread?” Fraser asked.

  “Right now it should be you,” I answered. “You see, I’m more than an investigative waste of time regarding this case. I think you know that we’re not viable suspects, but you don’t have anywhere to look so you’ve decided to focus on us.”

  “That’s not why he’s focused on us,” Eliot corrected. “He’s focused on us because you’re well known and Jake is a politician. We make three points on an imaginary triangle in his head. He’s hoping to make a name for himself off
this case.”

  “I don’t care about making a name for myself,” Fraser clarified. “I care about the truth.”

  “If you cared about the truth you wouldn’t be fixated on us,” I pointed out. “Cara’s death does nothing but cause us trouble. From your perspective, I’m going to cause you trouble on more than one front.”

  “How so?”

  “Because not only am I suspect, I’m also covering this investigation for The Monitor,” I replied. “You’re going to find that I’m dedicated when it comes to my job.”

  “You’ll find I’m the same,” Fraser shot back. “You’ll also find that working with the state police is vastly different from being the favorite reporter of the county sheriff. We’re not going to give you special treatment.”

  “No? Well, I look forward to our upcoming interaction.”

  “You say that now, but you won’t mean it when I’m done with you.” Fraser pushed himself to a standing position. “Can you get me the name of the security company before I go? I would like to lock in their response to your whereabouts as soon as possible.”

  Eliot didn’t look happy, but he pointed Fraser toward the house. “Right this way.”

  I watched them go, disgusted. Now what?

  11 Eleven

  I was up early – something that rarely happens because I’m generally happy to spend entire days snuggled under the covers with Eliot. When he suggested a morning swim, though, I jumped at the chance. My mother insisted the pool was a bad idea, but I was starting to think it was the best idea I’d ever had … and that’s saying something, because I’m brilliant.

  Eliot peeled off to answer a call, leaving me to hop in the pool first. I opted for my new Star Wars bikini, even though the backyard was mostly secluded and I wasn’t opposed to skinny-dipping during daylight hours. Still, I didn’t see the need to annoy the neighbors before I really got to know them and decided the best way to do it.

  I opened the door, visions of floating on the new inflatable lounger I had purchased dancing in my head, and pulled up short when I realized someone was already doing the backstroke.