“Holy shit,” Ben murmured next to me. “Is that a skull?” His question ended on a partial shriek.
Before I could answer him, though, a loud scream sounded nearby. It took a moment for me to realize that scream actually came from me.
2
“If the air feels like soup, don’t go outside.”
—It’s science
HECTOR
The man in front of me was pissing me off. I wasn’t sure why I was even talking to him, honestly.
I was supposed to be heading back to my post for the rest of the day, but I’d hesitated once I’d gotten to my car. The weather service folks didn’t need me anymore, but I just felt this pull to stay nearby. Years of working in both the military and as a police officer had taught me to trust that instinct. It also didn’t hurt that the most drop-dead gorgeous woman I had ever seen, Iris, was close by.
That woman screamed red flag. Not because she was a bad person—quite the opposite, actually. She was flirtatious, sexy, and smart as hell—a deadly combination, especially for someone like me. I, too, was a red flag, but for a whole other set of reasons—bad ones. I watched as she and her co-worker grabbed items from their whiteSUV, but that was my fatal error. By pausing at my vehicle to watch them, I gave the lieutenant time to strike up a conversation.
“Hey, man, nice to finally meet you,” he said to me, holding his hand out to shake mine. “Heard a lot about you.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” I told him, not sure what kind of stories this man had been told.
He laughed and then spoke again, though his gaze moved to the weather service crew as they walked back down to the water. “So, I couldn’t help but overhear that you know the woman from the weather service we just interviewed with.”
I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, so I just nodded in return.
“You happen to know if she’s single? She’s not my usual type, but I’m thinkin’ maybe I need to open my selection up a little more.”
This was when my agitation picked up. Partly because the man was essentially asking me to help set him up with Iris, and also, I didn’t like the vibes this man was giving off.
First of all, if she’s not your type, then don’t ask her out.
Second…Open my selection up? The hell did that mean? The woman wasn’t a restaurant choice.
Third, I didn’t know if she was single or not, but I sure as hell didn’t want her hooking up with this asshole.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she’s taken,” I told him, not caring one bit that I might be lying through my teeth.
I had two sisters, and if I thought for one second that some prick was making a move on them, I would do whatever I could to steer that dickwad in the other direction and feel not a single ounce of regret about it.
“Ah, crap. Alright,” he said, though he didn’t seem that torn up about it. “Figures. All the good ones are taken.”
Before I could respond one way or another to his comment, a high-pitched shriek came from the water. My head shot up to see Iris in the water, soaking wet, standing next to her completely dry coworker, Ben. My legs were moving before I knew it, and I was jogging down to the water.
The photographer, Christine, had moved to the water’s edge and was shouting at them, obviously trying to figure out what was going on. As I made it to the edge of the water, I noticed Patrick arrive at my side, clearly having followed the commotion as well. Ben was assisting Iris back to the dry ground when I arrived.
“Everyone okay?” I yelled to them.
“I don’t know,” Christine responded next to me. “Iris tripped on something and hurt herself, and then they both looked into the water and freaked out.”
I moved the few steps to where Ben had deposited Iris, and then he turned to me. “There’s…There’s a dead body in there.” His face was pale, and his words were slightly panicked as he pointed out to the water.
What did he just say?
“She tripped over the skull,” he added. “We thought it was a rock until we looked down.”
Not wasting any time, I slipped my socks and shoes off quickly, rolled my pants up a bit, and walked a few steps into the water. Sure enough, about a dozen steps in, I saw what appeared to be a muddy, partially algae-covered skull.
I reached for my cell in my back pocket before turning to Patrick, yelling to him, “Will you call and see if the Coast Guard can send a boat over here to block this area off? I’m going to call in a dive team and the coroner.”
