Caribbean Hustle (A Nick Teffinger Thriller / Read in Any Order) (21 page)

61

Day 68

August 10

Tuesday Night

That night it stormed. Kovi-Ke worked late at the dive shop, catching up on paperwork, dressed in the same clothes she’d worn all day, visible through the edges of the window coverings. At 10:12 p.m., under a dark sky, Stephen Blake snuck silently through the weather to the front door, found it locked, and cut around to the back. That door, luckily, was unlocked. He took a deep breath, tightened his grip on a black eight-inch serrate knife and charged in. Thirty seconds later that same eight-inch knife was embedded in his chest, shoved up to the handle and then twisted twice.

The last thing he saw in the world was Teffinger’s eyes.

In the dark, Teffinger and Kovi-Ke got the bloody body into Ugly Tuna 3. They cleaned the shop to perfection and then, under lighting skies, they took a little trip twenty miles out to sea where the ocean bottom was more than a mile deep.

They tied the body to a 35-pound CQR with dozens and dozens of crisscrossed wraps of ½ rope and dumped it into the black waters.

No one dived there.

No one explored there.

No eyes would ever see the lawyer again.

The fish and crabs would claim the body.

The bones would scatter and eventually get silted over.

Kovi-Ke wrapped her arms around Teffinger and said, “Do you regret it?”

He didn’t hesitate.

“No.”

“Me either.”

THE END

Copyright © R.J. Jagger

R.J. Jagger is the author of over twenty thrillers and is also a long-standing member of the International Thriller Writers. He has two series, one featuring Denver homicide detective Nick Teffinger, set in modern times; and a noir series featuring private investigator Bryson Wilde, set in 1952. His books can be read in any order. For complete information on the author and his ebooks, hardcovers, paperbacks and audio books, as well as upcoming titles, news and events, please visit him at www.rjjagger.blogspot.com.

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