Death By Blue Water (A Hayden Kent Mystery Book 1) (5 page)

Seven

“Thank you, Grant,” Hayden said. She didn’t want to open the door to his last statement. The red car headed north as it pulled out of the police station parking lot. “Where are we going?”

“Even the condemned man gets a hearty meal.” His grey green eyes sparkled.

By tacit agreement, they made small talk on the way to the restaurant. Hayden knew Grant was giving her time and space to calm down and digest the interview. She could almost see the wheels of his mind spinning as he ordered his thoughts and looked for holes in her testimony.

El Senor Loco, Hayden’s favorite Mexican restaurant, overlooked Florida Bay. In a few hours, tourists and locals vying for window seats would fill the restaurant. Right now, it would be empty.

The restaurant had the reputation of being the best place to see the “green flash.” The sunset phenomenon was actually due to the level of pollution in the air but the restaurant’s menu attributed it to the unique characteristics of the Florida Keys. It also offered a free drink to anyone who saw it. Local legend claimed the vision guaranteed good luck for life.

As predicted, they had the restaurant to themselves and the prized window seats were still available. “I saw it once, you know.” Hayden said as she took a seat facing the west-looking window. Seeing the look on Grant’s face, she picked up the menu and pointed to the story. “The green flash. I saw it from the road. It flashed right over the old ‘Welcome to Tavernier’ sign. The one that used to mark the bridge leaving Key Largo.”

Grant cocked an eyebrow in her direction as the waitress put a large basket of tortilla chips and two bowls of salsa on the table.

Surprised at her hunger, Hayden smiled her thanks to the waitress and dug into the tortilla chips, heaping them with the tangy salsa.

“I was a little surprised at how you conducted yourself in there,” Grant said. “You know better than to get emotional.”

The chip crumbled in her fingers. The last thing she’d expected was a reprimand.

“You need to tell me about the personal issues, Hayden.” He reached into his messenger style briefcase and pulled out his notebook portfolio, placing it on the table next to his chip plate. “And whatever it is that you haven’t told me.”

Hayden had seen him behave like this with clients, but never with her. It struck her forcibly that he had volunteered as her attorney when they were at the police station. At the time, she’d thought he did it so he could take control. Now she wondered if he did it because she needed a lawyer.

Not yet ready to discuss her personal issues, she tried to buy time. “What’s in the report, Grant? Am I in trouble? Do I need you for a lawyer right now?” A familiar throbbing started behind her eyes. She saw dancing lights, the aura before a migraine hit.
Oh God, no. Not this, don’t let me get sick here.
Hayden rummaged in her handbag and pulled out a shiny envelope that she ripped open. She popped the tablet under her tongue. Relief, if it came, would be in about twenty minutes. If it didn’t, she could look forward to excruciating pain, nausea, and the possibility of losing lunch.

“Migraine?” Grant asked. His ex-wife had suffered from them and he’d seen Hayden go through it as well.

“Yes, let’s hope the meds work. If not, given the lack of sleep and the tension, I may lose the ability to make a coherent sentence. We’ll see.”

“Then let’s be glad that the migraine waited until after the police questioned you. Personal issues?” He pressed the question.

He was being relentless but worse, he was right. She had acted stupidly. Fingering the bright blue tablecloth with one hand and tracing the embroidery with the other, Hayden said, “Kevin dumped me last week. He called me to do it. I thought he was going to suggest we move in together and he dumped me. Took up with a tourist girl whose family bought one of the million dollar mile mansions.” Once she said the words, they were easier to bear somehow.

She looked up at Grant and saw sympathy mixed with something else, shock maybe, cross his face. “I couldn’t believe it when he told me. Someone he just met...and he sounded like he’d known her forever. It made me doubt my man picker, you know.”

“Hayden, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I thought you two would be looking for a notary to do the wedding.” Grant seemed truly sorry. Kevin and Grant were fellow anglers and they had begun to develop a friendship over the year he and Hayden had been seeing each other. “That stinks. He may realize what he’s giving up in you and come back. This could be cold feet.” Grant’s eyes bored into hers. “Is that what you’re hoping for?”

“Nah. I wouldn’t take him back. I’d always be waiting for the other shoe to drop again. Her name is Samantha something. Can’t remember the last name. Pennington, Pemberton, Pencomb. Something with a Pen.” She dropped her face to her hands and massaged her temples.

“And that’s why you dove the Humboldt this Sunday? To come to terms with the relationship? Why didn’t you go sooner?”

Hayden let her mind wander back to the Monday call. The memory still smarted, but the pain was lessening, or maybe the coming migraine pain overshadowed it.

She directed a weak smile at Grant. “He’s not the first to dump me. Anyway, Kevin called Thursday at work to say his brother Richard would be over Friday to pick up his stuff. Then he told me his brother would show me a boat he had for sale if I followed him to the marina.” She gave a sound between a snort and a sigh. “Picking up his stuff made it so real.” Tears bit the back of her eyelids. “That’s when I arranged the dive. Cappy was booked on Saturday. I wanted to be underwater.” She didn’t share that she wanted to run her tongue over the wound and see how bad it hurt. And she wanted to be all alone when she did it. A small smile of pride played around her mouth. She’d kept a stiff upper lip until she was underwater where her unwitnessed tears mingled with the sea. “He had no other dives scheduled for Sunday. I persuaded him to take me alone.”

Grant made a note on his pad. “And when Richard showed up? It had to be painful for you. What happened?”

“He never did. Never saw him. I had a migraine on Friday. I canceled him.”

“So you didn’t see his brother on Friday? How did you get his number?”

“He called me Friday morning to confirm plans. I dialed him back from the phone’s memory.” She answered the last question first. “Not only did I not see him on Friday, I’ve never seen him.”

Grant raised his eyebrows in response. Seeing the gesture, she continued, “When we were together Kevin told me he lived in North Florida, up around Jacksonville, or maybe it was Tallahassee, I don’t remember...I know Richard’s older by a couple of years. I hoped there’d be a family resemblance so I’d recognize him. I packed Kevin’s stuff and had it ready to go. Since it had to happen, I wanted it done.” Hayden experimentally covered each eye with a hand. She still saw the auras but they seemed to be diminishing. That could be good news, or it could mean the pain was on the way.

“How’s the headache?”

“Testing,” Hayden said, and smiled as the lights flashed in front of her eyes. She could tell the intensity of the headache by the color of the lights. These were silver and electric blue. It was going to be a beauty.

“Your turn. What was in the report? Do they think I had something to do with the death of someone I don’t know? And why would I dive on the wreck and pretend to find the body if I had done it?” She ticked off each question on her fingers as she spoke.

“They don’t. Not really. And nothing in the file connects you to anything. It’s a bluff as far as I can tell. They have no ID on the person you found. You’ve found other bodies. I think they’re more concerned with eliminating you than with convicting you. They have nothing to tie you to an unknown decedent. They were taking your temperature.”

“So what was in the file? Why harp on my knowing the guy on the boat?”

“There were some notes from the Coast Guard lieutenant. He said he watched you at the body and thought it looked like you recognized the decedent.”

Hayden jerked her head out of her hands so fast a pain shot up the back of her neck. Paul thought she knew the guy. Paul saw recognition in her face. What was that supposed to mean? Why would he write that in a report? Why did he think that? She put the questions away to consider them later. Pulling herself back to the present, she realized Grant was still speaking. She tried to focus on his words. Something about Cappy.

“He was point for point with you. Total agreement in his statement with what you told them today. They have no reason to doubt you. Hopefully, this should be it. Going forward, you’ll only know what you read in the papers.”

She tried to draw comfort from his words and failed. Grant was treating her like a client, not a friend, not a co-worker. For the first time in their relationship, she couldn’t read him. Hayden looked past Grant trying to think of something to say. She noticed a couple sitting on the outside dock dining area tossing food over the side for the schooling fish. A sailboat sailed the bay and a motorboat with an aqua blue cover on its cuddy cabin glided past through the channel markers. The moment was unnaturally sharp. Hayden had been here before. Migraine was on the way. This one had all the hallmarks of being as bad as the one she had on Friday. A rumble of nausea rolled through her stomach and she regretted the tortilla chips and salsa she’d consumed with such gusto.

“Grant,” she reached blindly for his arm, “can we go? And can you drive me home?”

Eight

Classic aura lights danced in her vision. She’d half expected Friday’s migraine. Today’s was no surprise either. Emotional turmoil triggered them. She’d told Cappy she had no recollection of Friday night. The cops and then Grant’s questions forced her to dig deeper before someone started asking more questions.

The throbbing increased as Hayden drove her memory back to Friday night. Through the pain, she knew it was important to reconstruct where she’d been and why. She felt as if her thoughts were running into walls. Did the cops have information linking her to the dead man? Why would she kill a stranger? Why would she kill anyone? Why did the cops think it was a murder and not an accident? She’d done some strange things when she had migraines. The memory blackouts were frightening enough. To compound them, she had no choice but to believe what other people told her about her actions. She had no recollection of Friday after she went to bed. This could be the worst migraine blackout yet.

She lay on her bed and reached for the phone. Tiger Cat jumped up next to her and snuggled under her chin. Her hand detoured from reaching for the phone to pet the cat’s smooth coat.

“Okay, Tiger. You were here. What did I do? When did I leave? Did I leave with anyone?” A crescendo of ever-increasing purrs, painful to Hayden’s brain, responded to her questions. The pain of today’s migraine swallowed her whole and spit her out on Friday night.

Every time she’d thought of Richard’s visit to pick up Kevin’s stuff, she’d felt a familiar constriction in her head. Besides his electronic gear, Kevin mostly left his dive gear in her hall closet. Diving was the one constant in their relationship. She’d been thrilled when she realized he loved the underwater world as intensely as she did. Best of all, he had a boat. They’d fallen into the habit of taking his boat to the slip at the end of her street every Saturday and Sunday morning. Since they launched their trips from her house, some of his clothes—really just a couple of changes— had found their way to her closet. She berated herself for not realizing how small a commitment the meager wardrobe revealed. Once Richard took what little she had, the Kevin chapter of her life would close. Despite her brave words to Grant, Hayden knew if Kevin came through the door, she’d take him back in a heartbeat. Up until Kevin’s phone call, she’d thought his feelings were the same as hers.

She saw herself again as she picked up her phone and scrolled through the stored numbers. Richard’s early morning call arranging to pick up his brother’s stuff was still in memory. She pushed the call button and bit her lip. His voicemail answered, and she left a message to cancel the meeting. No way could she consider having Richard in the house. Her emotions were too unstable. Marry that instability to the migraine, she knew her emotions would rule.

She’d thought about canceling the dive trip too, but the effort was too much right then. Her migraines often went on for two days. Even if they didn’t, she’d feel beat up the next day. Hayden decided to wait on calling Cappy. They’d been friends long enough she could cancel at the last minute if she had to. The last thing she remembered about Friday night was filling a plastic bag with ice cubes and going to bed.

But Saturday morning Hayden woke up in a lounge chair at Faulkner Marina. She wore a wet bathing suit, the sun was just beginning to lighten the sky, and her car sat in its regular space. The marina catered to dive boats of all sizes and she had a couple of friends who kept boats there too. She had no recall of how, when, or why she was there. Her wet bathing suit indicated she’d been in water. The salt crust on her skin meant little. It could have been the marina pool, the ocean, or the bay.

Hayden had looked around, trying to get her bearings. Two sets of keys sat on the table beside her. Hayden picked her set up and made her way to the parking lot. There was no recollection of anything between going to bed and waking in the marina.

Hayden tried to get out of bed, but the movement brought waves of nausea and she lay back down. She gripped the side of the mattress so hard she heard the fabric rip. The room spun.
Please God, don’t let me have another blackout. I couldn’t stand it if I woke up somewhere else again
.

Managing to get herself out of bed, Hayden stumbled to the bathroom. She tried to choke down some painkillers but promptly brought them back up. Uncertain of what else to do, she double locked her front door, dropped the key in her junk drawer, mixed the contents with her hand, snugged the drapes closed to keep out even a hint of light, grabbed an icepack from the freezer, and went back to bed. The actions felt all too familiar. Except for hiding the key, she’d done them on Friday.

She set the house burglar alarm on instant, hoping the alarm would wake her if the house caught fire. She figured she’d toss Tiger from the window and go out that way herself. It would mean breaking the jalousies, but she knew she’d never find the key in her junk drawer. Experience had taught her finding anything in there took a good fifteen minutes. She hoped this would be enough to keep her in the house until the pain passed. Then she hoped she’d be able to remember where she put the key.

The ringing of her phone and a pounding on her door woke her from what seemed a drugged sleep. Slowly swimming to consciousness, she answered the phone first.

“What...” Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “Hello?”

“Hayden, you sound awful. Did you hear the news? That guy you found, they identified him. You knew him.” Cappy practically screamed in her ear.

“What do you mean I knew him? I never saw him in my life,” Hayden said, while the pounding at the door continued.  “What the hell is going on here?” she mumbled half under her breath. “Who the heck is banging on my door? Cappy, are you here?”

“No, I’m only trying to…”

“Oh God.” She clamped a hand over her mouth. “I have a migraine, I…” Hayden dropped the phone and bolted for the bathroom, overcome with nausea.

Running a cold washcloth over her face and wiping her mouth she prayed for relief. She returned to the kitchen and rummaged through the junk drawer, looking for the key. The pounding had stopped. Maybe whoever it was had left. Remembering she had a phone call, she found and picked up the receiver. “Cappy?”

“Yeah, I’m here. You trying to get my license taken away? I’m not at your damn door.” Cappy was obviously angry about something.

Hayden finally found the key and headed toward her door. “Cappy, I have no idea who that guy was or why you think I know him.” She turned the double locks and opened the door to her boss.

“Richard Anderson. Remember Richard Anderson? Kevin’s brother?” Cappy continued in her ear. “You said Kevin told you he was interested in selling his boat and Kevin didn’t want it. You were supposed to go see it Friday night. Now are bells ringing? You had me standing by.”

Hayden’s head pounded. She looked down at herself and was relieved to find she was dressed in running shorts and a tank top. She motioned for Grant to come in. Too many things were happening at the same time. Hayden couldn’t track them all, not now when all she wanted to do was go back to bed and her ice pack.

“Grant, Cappy is on the phone. The guy’s been identified. He says I knew him.”

Grant took the phone from Hayden’s hand. “Cappy, she’ll get back with you. I need to speak with her right now.” He clicked the off button and put the phone on the counter top.

While he talked, Hayden walked to her junk drawer and tossed in the key.

“I told you, Grant, I never met the guy. I called and canceled. I had a migraine on Friday. A bad one. They come in cycles and I guess I’m in a cycle. Anyway, I was supposed to follow him to Faulkner’s Marina. I forgot that I’d called Cappy, asked him to be available to meet me when I called. That must have been what he meant yesterday when he asked about calling. I don’t know anything about boats. My headache was so bad that I called Richard and canceled. Ask him. Bring his number up on the handset, push talk and ask him. I called and canceled.” Hayden put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, God.”

She moaned. A wave of nausea hit her and she bolted for the bathroom again.
Grant couldn’t call Richard. He was dead.
She had no alibi.

In her rush, she hadn’t closed the bathroom door behind her. She looked up from where she knelt over the commode and saw Grant’s feet and legs in the doorway. “I swear. I don’t know who that guy is, the one on the Humboldt. I have no idea who he is.”

“There were witnesses, Hayden.”