Free Death By Blue Water (A Hayden Kent Mystery Book 1) by Kait Carson Page A

don’t remember anything?”
    “Nothing.”
    “That’s going to be a hard sell. I’ll tell you what. You still have this headache?”
    Hayden nodded.
    “Okay, at some point you may be asked to surrender. That won’t happen until they have enough evidence to book you.”
    Hayden tried to bolt from the room. Grant reached out and grabbed her before she got to the doorway.
    “That serves no one,” he hissed at her. “Keep it together. I’m not going to tell you I know how you feel. I don’t. But I will tell you I don’t think you murdered anyone. Maybe it was an accident.”
    “Accident? Grant, I don’t even remember seeing this man. When I found his body, I had never seen that face before. Why don’t you believe me? I don’t know what kind of witnesses there are but I don’t know this man.”
    “I know, Hayden. I know. But you also tell me you get blackouts with migraines and you tell me you had a migraine on Friday. The day he died. And his sister-in-law is a cop. In fact, she’s the cop who took your statement on the dive boat. You have to share this with the police.”
    It was too much for Hayden. Sobbing, she fell into Grant’s arms. A fog seemed suddenly to lift. She still felt the pain but it felt like someone else’s. Peeking around the edges of the hurt, she found a bit of memory. She remembered walking the concrete fingers between the boats at the marina.
    She had been in the marina.
    Why?

Ten

      
    The five days since Hayden recalled her trip to the marina were filled with anxiety. Work was the only place she felt safe, and scuba diving was the only thing that kept her sane.
    From Cappy’s boat, the water color was what she thought of as chamber of commerce blue. Every coral head and reef line below the bow stood out in sharp contrast to the sandy bottom. This was more Lake Atlantic than the Atlantic Ocean. She reminded herself the ocean didn’t reveal everything on the surface. The true mysteries lay below. Even now, a week after the horror that had filled her life, she couldn’t believe she’d been the one who found the body.
    The salt tang stung her nostrils. She looked over at the man who drove the boat. “Any regrets? Did you wish I hadn’t called?”
    “No, Hayden,” Cappy answered, “you wanting to go out without tanks kind of blew me away though. It’s hard to imagine you without a scuba tank on your back. I knew that wouldn’t last. I’m kind of glad I had a solo trip. You and Bunny dive well together. But you’re right, I did expect you to babysit her.”
    Bunny got her certification last year. What she lacked in experience, she made up for with enthusiasm. Nothing frightened her, except barracuda and sharks. But right now Hayden wanted little to do with newbie divers. She’d been glad when Bunny decided to bow out at the last minute claiming an inner ear infection.
    Cappy hadn’t wanted to run the trip with just Hayden, and she couldn’t blame him. They were good friends and Cappy did charge her for her diving, but given the cost of fuel, it didn’t pay him to take her out solo. She’d offered to pay double and not dive, but he maintained, and rightly, that she needed to get back under the water, not on top of it. She knew unless she hired him for a guide, he had to stay topside. Hayden wouldn’t consider diving solo right now, not after the last time.
    “I’m glad you decided to be my dive buddy today.” Hayden playfully bumped him with her hip as he shut the engine down and walked to the anchor line. Cappy had agreed to serve as a spearfishing guide. He’d suggested they could both use something for the pot. She rarely spear-fished, but he hit everything he aimed his gun at. Her contribution would be calling the fish. Friends called her the fish whisperer. Black grouper followed her over reef and shoal, even into the line of sight of a spear gun.
    “Hey Cappy,” Hayden called, “race you to the anchor line.”
    “Don’t you dare swim for shore again.”