Page 21 of Deadly Waves

“It means that there’s blood on the deck and railing over here,” Grady said. “One of the janitors noticed it this morning and reported it to the other security team right away. They took a look and believe that it’s either a prank or accident. Will wanted us to look before writing it off.”

“Okay.” James squeezed Mandy’s waist before moving her in front of Grady. He knew he had to look, but he wanted to make sure she wasn’t left exposed because he focused on something else.

Grady shot Mandy a sympathetic look as he slung an arm over her shoulders and tugged her to his side. The duo watched James shuffle over to the railing, his face intent as he kneeled and examined the obvious stain on the corner of the deck.

“He’ll be okay,” Grady whispered, making sure Mandy was the only one who could hear him. “He can’t help himself.”

“I know.” Mandy was morose as she stared at her husband. “He blames himself.”

“He’s doing his best.”

“He has to let it go or it’s going to consume us,” Mandy countered. “What happened wasn’t his fault. It was mine.”

Grady balked, pulling Mandy two steps back so he could talk to her without drawing James’ attention. “It was not your fault,” he hissed, darting a look in James’ direction before focusing entirely on his sister-in-law. “Clint was to blame. You couldn’t have known any more than James could’ve sussed it out. Let it go.”

Mandy made a face. “That’s easy for you to say. Your friend isn’t dead.”

Grady pursed his lips, annoyed. “Heidi would not want you carrying this guilt around with you. That’s not the kind of person she was.”

“Was,” Mandy intoned. “That means she’s not here any longer. We have no idea what she would be feeling because she’s gone.”

“Mandy … .” Grady felt lost as he stared at her and when he lifted his eyes he found James moving away from the railing and forced his attention on his brother even though he would rather shake Mandy out of her melancholy.

“It’s a weird place for blood splatter,” James said. “I’m not sure I’m willing to call it foul play, but I’m certainly not ready to write it off as an accident.”

“What do you think we should do?” Will asked.

“You have medical staff on board, right?”

Will nodded.

“We’ll check with them and see if anyone was hurt and they forgot to report it,” James said. “Then we’ll instruct security personnel to be on the lookout for anyone who looks to have been injured. Other than that … I mean, I guess we could go room to room, but that seems both worrisome and invasive until we have more information.”

“Yeah, I would rather not do that,” Will said. “We’ll go with your plan and see where it leads.”

“We’ll talk to the security guards after breakfast,” James said, moving his eyes until they landed on Mandy. He extended his hand for her to take. “Are you ready to stuff your big mouth again, wife?”

Mandy forced a smile. “Yes.”

“What were you two talking about?” James asked, knitting his eyebrows together. He seemed to sense a vibe even though Grady and Mandy worked overtime to pretend nothing was wrong.

“What makes you think we were talking about anything?” Grady challenged evasively. “Perhaps we were just staring at the early morning sun together because we enjoy the beauty of a new day.”

“Yeah, now I know you were talking about something,” James said. “What was it?”

“You always take it a step too far,” Mandy chided her brother-in-law. “You know that, right?”

Grady shrugged. “Sometimes I can’t help myself.”

“That’s because you’re a moron.”

James narrowed his eyes at their banter. “Is this about our conversation last night? Mandy, I don’t care what you think you’re going to convince Grady to do, but I am never marrying someone else if you die. You can’t trick me into agreeing to that.”

“What?” Grady wrinkled his forehead, confused.

James was taken aback. “Wasn’t that what you were talking about?”

“That was exactly what we were talking about,” Mandy said, tugging on her husband’s hand. “Grady is just being … Grady. Ignore him.”

“I’m going to ignore him,” James said, falling into step with Mandy. “I just want you to know that I meant what I said last night. I’m never going to agree to that so I don’t care how much you pout.”

“We’ll see.”

“There will be no seeing, wife,” James said. “I’m putting my foot down on this one.”

“Oh, well, this should end well,” Jake said, shaking his head. “At least the fake fights are coming back. That’s a good sign.”

Despite himself, Grady was relieved, too. “Yeah, it really is.”

“Am I missing something?” Will asked. “I find your family so … confusing.”

“Get used to that,” Grady said, clapping Will’s back. “Come on. We’ll get some breakfast and then get to work. I want to find out who that blood belongs to if we can. I think we would all feel better if we can officially rule it as an accident.”

“That would certainly make my day better,” Will agreed. “Come on. There’s an omelet bar I think you’re all going to love.”