Dangerous Waters (6 page)

He was all she had. She would not let him down.

Professor Edgefield’s color was better, pink brightening his cheekbones. The local doc had been and gone, telling the professor he needed to come in for a full physical ASAP.

Now they sat in comfortable chairs facing one another in uncomfortable silence. Edgefield’s gaze never left her face.

She sipped her tea then began. “So tell me what happened.”

“The police have copies of all my files. I send them regular updates.” He went to stand up and reach for something, but she stopped him.

“No, Professor.” She waved him back to his seat. “About last night. Tell me what happened last night.”

Understanding slid over his features. He closed his eyes as if in pain. “I’m sorry. It isn’t that I don’t care that poor man was murdered, I’m just so used to thinking about my own family.”

“I understand.”

There was another uncomfortable pause—because how could she really presume she understood what he’d gone through?

“Do you look like your parents?” he asked.

“This isn’t about me, Professor.”

“Of course not.” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down in his gaunt throat. He had the look of a sick man—hollow, slight, insubstantial. “Well, let’s see. Last night I ordered the marine station’s dive master—that would be Finn—to take me out to Crow Point so we could dive a wreck we found there about ten days ago.”

“You told people about this wreck?”

“We did not.” His eyes were keen with intelligence now.

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t want them disturbing it.”

Why not?

“Did you find treasure, Professor?”

“Call me Thom. And, yes, we did find treasure.” A twinkle appeared.

She sat back in her chair. Getting information out of this guy was like playing a game of chess. He was hiding something. “There are rules for salvage. Is that why you didn’t tell anyone? Did you break the law and now you’re worried you’ll be arrested for it, maybe lose your job? I don’t care about treasure, Thom. I’m only concerned about how that man died.”

His expression was almost pitying. “It’s not what you think.”

Holding on tight to her patience, she frowned at her notepad. “What exactly do I think?”

“That Finn and I found gold or precious gems down there. That maybe we discovered someone else down there and killed him to protect it. But I can assure you that is
not
what happened.”

The dead guy hadn’t been killed yesterday, so they hadn’t killed him then. Coroner figured he’d been dead four or five days at least.

“The Underwater Recovery Team didn’t find any treasure, Thom. So what happened to it?”

“One man’s treasure is another man’s…” another irritating pause, “…junk. We didn’t tell anyone about it because I didn’t want anyone disturbing the wreck.” His expression morphed into deep concern. “The damage done already is probably irreparable.”

“Especially to the dead guy,” Holly said wryly.

“How old are you?”

She frowned. “I don’t give out personal information.”

“Thirty-two?”

She jolted. It was just a lucky guess. “You see anyone else while you were on your way to the dive site?”

Thom’s eyes went up and right as if searching his memory. “We saw a few boats in the distance. No one on land or in the cove.”

“And you’re certain you didn’t tell anyone about this wreck?”

“I am absolutely positive.”

“What about Mr. Carver. Did he tell anyone?”

“Finn wouldn’t want the wreck to attract inexperienced divers. The fact he took you down is quite the compliment, by the way. How long have you been diving?”

She gave up telling him her personal life wasn’t any of his business. “You and Carver seem pretty tight.”

“We are ‘tight.’” The word sounded wrong coming from his lips. “I took him in when his father was killed.”

Killed
? She had so many questions but needed to stay on track and figure out what they’d found in that wreck. “Why did you take him in?”

“There was no one else. I had space.” His laugh was mirthless.

She needed a lot more information than she’d been able to gather so far. About Edgefield. About Carver. The former was an eminent, if whacky, scientist; the latter had been in the military and had never been in trouble with the law. There was little else so far, but she’d requested deep background checks on both of them. “Tell me about this treasure.”

“I’ll do better than that.” A grin lit his face as he stood and grabbed a windbreaker. “I’ll show you.”

Holly pulled on her dark blue patrol jacket and followed him to the door. The secretary threw Holly another of those wide-eyed looks, then told Thom she was leaving for the day. Other people wandered in and out, giving her curious stares as she followed the director down a thousand stairs then pushed open a door and was jostled by the brisk wind coming in off the sound. She looked across the inlet to the Coast Guard station. A bald eagle sat at the pinnacle of a massive pine, staring out to sea. It was still light, but the sun was starting to set across the horizon. Down more steps until they reached the water. He typed in a code and entered a square, modern building. There wasn’t a soul about.

The interior was dimly lit and silent except for the background drone of appliances. He flicked on the light switches. “It’s very quiet down here this time of year, which is perfect for what I need.”

Suddenly the silence and isolation pressed down on her. Holly had made a tactical error. Winslow, Malone, and Chastain were conducting door-to-door interviews. Staff Sergeant Furlong and Cpl. Rachel Messenger had gone to talk with the aboriginal community just south of where the wreck was located.

The professor pressed his finger to his lips and urged her inside.

The chill in the air at her back was preferable to the unease she felt at being alone with this eccentric man. She unclipped her Taser and rested her palm on the weapon. She hadn’t called in her position to fellow officers, hadn’t expected to leave the main building. She eyed the back of the professor’s thinning hair. She could take him.

They walked up a set of stairs. The place stank of antiseptic and brine. Warning signs were posted on every wall about chemicals and radiation.

“In here.” The light in his eyes bordered on feverish. The guy was looking at her as if she were his
long-lost
daughter or, worse, a reincarnated wife straight out of the grave.

She steeled herself to blast fifty thousand volts into his body.

“Go on.” She jerked her chin to indicate he move farther ahead of her. She half expected Finn Carver to leap out of the shadows and push her to the floor. Every sense was on high alert, and her heart thumped erratically. She adjusted her footing and braced herself. He could damn well try.

The professor strode to a fish tank. “You can’t tell anyone about these yet,” he pleaded earnestly, as if she had a clue what he was talking about.

He leaned closer to the tank and flicked on a light. Slowly the aquarium came to life, and she spotted several unusual creatures floating around in the water. They were black with yellow spots edged with purple.

“Exquisite, aren’t they? We saw them the first time we dove the wreck, but I had to set up exactly the right conditions in the lab before I could risk bringing any to the surface.”

“Sea slugs?” She tried to keep the doubt out of her voice.

“A previously undiscovered species of nudibranch.” He beamed.

“
This
is your treasure?” Her heart thumped so loudly in her ears she felt like a damned fool.

He nodded. “So you can see there’s no monetary value in the treasure for anyone. And certainly no motive for us to tell anyone about it.”

Damn
. It made sense. Or it was a hell of a ruse because she didn’t know one sea slug from another. She’d check it out. “Thank you for your time, Professor.”

“It’s been a pleasure, Sergeant Rudd.” And still his eyes roved her face like cockroach antennae. “Will you be reopening my wife’s murder investigation?”

The guy was tenacious, she’d give him that. “I’ll review the files looking for similarities when I get time, but I doubt there’s going to be anything there.”

He grabbed her arm, nails biting through the sleeve of her jacket. “Aren’t you even remotely curious?” His eyes burned with some indefinable fervor.

She broke his grip and refrained from arresting him for assaulting a police officer.

Pity was foremost in her mind. “I’ll look at the case, but after this length of time, the chance of solving your wife’s murder is extremely slim.”

Grief swam in his bloodshot eyes.

“I’m sorry.” She turned on her heel and stalked away. She didn’t like being unsettled. Didn’t like being knocked off her stride. That wasn’t how cops solved cases. The sound of gut-wrenching misery followed her down the stairs and out the door.

Finn sat in darkness, nursing a cold one. He concentrated on the woman creeping up his stairs. She moved quietly, maybe trying to catch him off guard.
Good luck with that
.

She rounded the corner and released her breath as she spotted him sitting in a canvas chair outside his front door.

“Wanna beer?” He reached down for an unopened one on the floor beside him.

She shook her head. “I’m on duty.”

He put it back on the deck. “And what do you do when you’re not on duty, Sergeant Rudd?”

She examined him as if she was trying to decide which angle to take. Hard-ass or friendly. “Last week I learned to dive.”

“Why?”

She laughed and the sound brushed across his skin like electricity. He wished she’d gone for hard-ass.

“Why does anyone learn to dive?”

To covertly infiltrate enemy positions. To plant explosives and cripple ships people didn’t want sailing. To insert listening devices and/or tracking devices. To take out enemy communication systems. To look at pretty creatures underwater. The list was limitless.

He leaned back in his chair, watched her as carefully as he’d watch a hammerhead. “You did a good job today”—she started to smile at his praise—“until you got stupid at the end.”

Her lids dropped lower over her eyes, masking her reaction. “You’re right. I was out of line. I’m sorry.”

Contrition didn’t sit naturally on those features and didn’t last long.

Her grin was infectious. She meant it to be, and that bothered him. She used her smile to sneak beneath people’s guard, and he didn’t like the fact that it worked on him the same as anyone else. “You’re pretty funny, Mr. Carver. I tell you I’m coming by to interview you about finding a body and you try to switch tables by critiquing my dive performance.”

“Dive performances are my specialty.” He held her gaze without smiling. The words were full of sexual innuendo, and he let those images settle around them. He wanted her unnerved, distracted. He was willing to use whatever it took to put her off her game. Same as she was using that smile of hers to get what she wanted.

Her grin deepened. “Did they teach you that in Special Forces?”

He finally smiled back.
Touché
. “You fishing, sweetheart?”

“Your military records say Special Forces.”

He never dropped her gaze. “I’m not allowed to discuss it. It’s against the rules.” He took another swig of beer, which tasted dark and bitter on his tongue.

“Do you always play by the rules, Finn?”

“I do,
Holly
, always.” He didn’t say whose rules.

“So why didn’t you report you’d found a wreck?”

His shoulders kicked up. “Thom wanted the chance to collect a few specimens before we contacted the Coast Guard. As soon as the dive world heard about a new wreck they’d swarm all over it. I assume he showed you his treasure?” She nodded. “Hardly worth killing for, is it?” He shrugged again, feeling the weight of guilt abrade his shoulders. “I didn’t think it would matter if we waited a couple of weeks.”

Her hair was jet black in the shadows, caught in a severe braid at her nape. No nonsense. Professional. Still, she looked hot in that uniform, with her police insignia and that gold stripe running down the side of her pants. And she looked well able to handle the weapons riding her hip. He liked people who could stand up for themselves and who stood up for others. Her features were unadorned, but a face like that didn’t need makeup or glitter. He’d always preferred the natural look. Her confidence and air of authority was also a turn-on, he hated to admit. And despite what he’d said to her earlier, he’d bet she was a good cop.

None of it mattered.

The only thing that mattered was keeping her far away from the marine lab and, more importantly, far away from Thom. Her uncanny resemblance to Bianca Edgefield was a wild card the older man did not need. The rekindling of a hope that had all but burned out.

“Wreck diving gets addictive. Think you’ll get addicted?” He let his gaze wander lazily around her body; long legs, trim waist, nice round butt that would fit nicely in his hands as he—
Whoa
! Not where he’d meant his mind to go.

“It was fun.” She leaned against the railing, not hunching up or hiding, but not extending an invitation either. “I can see why it gives people a buzz.”