Deep Waters

Shep stayed on her six into the cool building, condensation fogging the glass. “Live alone?”

She gave him a strange half smile, almost confused. “No. I live with my landlord, Miss Whittle. She’s a sweetie.”

Like Caley.

She turned left and strode down a long hallway. Soft hums of TVs and chatter carried from the rooms. Not that he expected kids to be asleep even after midnight, but he did expect more buzz after losing one of their own.

“Mary Beth’s room is at the end of the hall.” She pointed to the last door on the right. As they neared it, Caley slowed. “I can’t believe she’s gone,” she murmured.

Against his better judgment, Shep rested a hand on Caley’s shoulder and patted. “There there.”

Caley let an exhausted chuckle loose and touched his hand. Hers was so small next to his. “Thanks, Shepherd.” She seemed to mean it. Maybe he did all right. She unlocked the door, stepped inside and gasped.

* * *

Caley froze in Mary Beth’s room. Nothing but a sliver of moonlight to outline the shadowy hooded figure by the window. He paused, then grabbed a brass lamp and chucked it toward her.

A force shoved her aside and she crumpled to her knees.

Shepherd used his forearm to knock the blow of the lamp away.

The intruder was already halfway through the window.

Lunging, Shepherd latched on to the attacker’s leg, yanking him inside, but the assailant used his other leg and rammed it straight into Shep’s nose, giving him enough leverage to scurry out the window.

Shep wiped the blood seeping from his nose. “You gonna make it, Little Flynn?”

“Yes. I’m fine.” Dazed. Terrified. But alive.

“Good.” Shepherd lurched out the window and disappeared.

Caley flipped on the dorm light, revealing the disaster before her. Drawers had been tossed. Papers and books littered the floor along with everything that had been on the top shelf of Mary Beth’s closet. Even her mattress had been overturned.

She laid a hand on her heart, willing it to slow its pace.

What had the intruder been searching for? And why such a mess? Why not come in and meticulously comb through everything so no one would be the wiser? Especially if the break-in was related to Mary Beth’s death, which was likely going to be ruled an accident.

But now?

Now, it was obvious foul play was at hand. This was too much to be a coincidence. So whoever had come in here like a tornado must have been desperate. The big question was what on earth did he want?

Caley rubbed her sore knee and sat on the edge of the upturned mattress. Of all the people to send why did Wilder send Shepherd Lightman? If his imposing size wasn’t enough to scare someone half to death, the menacing blue eyes, almost gray, and faint scar running through his right eyebrow separating the hairs was. He rarely spoke, but when he did his voice was unmistakable. Baritone. Full of grit and gravel and yet hypnotic. Nothing but rock-solid muscle. Had a record for longest shooting distance as a marine sniper. A point man for the Special Reaction Team. Shepherd Lightman was more machine than man.

Truth was, all Caley knew about Shepherd came from the stories Wilder and the others had told of him. Wild. Fast. A heartbreaker.

But something about his pitiful effort to comfort her actually did comfort her. Bless him. And now he was out there hunting down whoever tried to wallop her with a lamp, and no doubt when Shep did find him, a sheer look would have the intruder confessing everything.

Of all Wilder’s team members, Shep was the only one who revved her heart rate up a notch. Wilder should have sent Beckett Marsh. He was like a brother to her. Or their cousin Jody. She was capable and way easier to talk to.

Shepherd poked his head in the window and Caley jumped.

“Sorry.” He hopped back inside and surveyed the room. “He gave me the slip about a mile down.”

“I guess my gut was right.”

“You’re a Flynn. I’d trust your gut.” He poked around in the empty closet. “What’s your theory?”

“How do you know I have a theory?”

“You’re a Flynn.” He ran his hand along the top of the closet shelf.

Caley pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose and laid her theory on him.

“Well...” His voice sent a ripple through her belly. “I’m inclined to agree. This is desperation right here. And we interrupted him. So he may not have found what he was lookin’ for.” His voice only held a splash of Southern twang, though he was from Alabama. “What do you think he was after?”

“That I don’t know.” Caley kicked at loose clothing piled on the floor. “I don’t want her parents to see this mess. But I know the police need to come in and take prints, even if that guy did have gloves on.”

Shepherd studied her a moment, his gaze lingering on her face until she squirmed. “Let me call Wilder first. See if he can rush Tom at TBPD for answers on her death and if he can get someone out here to take prints. Then we can clean up the mess before her parents show up.”

“Okay. What if they don’t rule this death a homicide? What do we do?”

Shep’s full lips twitched. “We do a little snooping of our own. I have my PI license in Florida. Most detectives have an overload of cases anyway. Your hunch and a tossed room isn’t going to light a fire underneath them on an accidental death ruling.”

She stepped closer to him, noticing a smear on his cheek and fresh blood dripping from his nose. She grabbed a tissue, careful not to touch the box, and held it up. “Shepherd, your nose is still bleeding.”

He dabbed at it and pocketed the tissue while Caley paced the room. “Make the call. But I can’t let her parents in here with the room like this. So tell him to find a way to get me an answer. And say please.”

He nodded and made the call. Fifteen minutes later Wilder called back. Shep put him on speakerphone.

“They’re ruling it accidental. I’m sorry, Caley. No defense wounds, abrasions. Nothing that indicates anything other than a terrible tragedy.”

Caley’s blood boiled and she felt some desperation of her own. “What about the dorm being ransacked? Someone threw a lamp at my head, Wilder!”

Silence for two beats. “I didn’t know about a lamp.” Accusation laced his voice and Shep rubbed his brow.

“Well, Shepherd blocked it but it was thrown at me nonetheless.” She glanced at Shepherd, who was still frowning. “Did you even tell Tom about her dorm room?”

“I did. They can come out and take a report. That’s about it. Anything stolen?”

“I don’t know,” Caley said, flailing her arms because she needed to do something. “Wilder, that girl was precious to me. I don’t believe this break-in, tonight, after she’s found dead, isn’t connected. Do you?”

“It could be connected, but not necessarily because it’s murder. Maybe someone knows her effects will be boxed up and given to her parents. Maybe she had something someone didn’t want to be seen. Doesn’t mean they killed her. Just means they wanted to get something before it was exposed. Might not even be anything criminal. You don’t know enough to make the lines meet.”

Unfortunately, Wilder had a point. “Fine. Thanks for helping me and sending Shepherd. I’m sure he’ll be glad to get back to his deep-sea fishing.” She smiled at Shep.

“Take me off speaker,” Wilder demanded.

Caley rolled her eyes and Shep held the phone to his ear. A few grunts and short replies later, he hung up.

“Well?” Caley asked when he clearly had no plans to relay the private conversation.

Shepherd ran his hands across his short cropped hair, the color of wet sand. “He wanted my assessment of you.”

Caley loved Wilder but he was ridiculous. “Oh really. And what, pray tell, is your assessment, Shepherd?”

“I said you were fine. Shaken up. But stronger than you look.”

“I didn’t hear any of that.” All she heard was yes, yep, yeah, no. Yeah. Okay. But it still warmed her to know Shepherd thought she was stronger than she looked. Wait, did she look weak?

“He’s ordered me to stick around until my ship departs, for added measure. So...you’re stuck with me.” He cocked his head and folded his arms across his massive chest, his muscles popping out from underneath his white T-shirt. “I’ll need a place to bunk.”

“I can get a hotel for you, or you can take an empty dorm room.”

He dipped his chin. “We can look into things with more detail a little later.”

Caley nodded as Shep studied the messy room, waiting on the police to come take a report and print the room.

So they’d start digging. What would they find? And at what cost would it come if they did discover what got Mary Beth killed?

TWO

Caley jolted from the bare twin mattress as knuckles collided with the door outside the empty dorm room she’d stayed in after last night’s events. Shoving a mass of hair from her face, she squinted at sunlight pouring through the window that overlooked the ocean.

“Caley? It’s 0700. You crackin’?”

Crackin’? She was barely breathing. It had been nearly 4:00 a.m. before she had finally decided against driving home. After the police left and cleared them to clean up Mary Beth’s dorm room, Caley met with Mary Beth’s parents, who had rented a car after their flight landed. They’d grieved together and then she followed them to the Turtle Bay Police Department.

She hadn’t mentioned the ransacking. She wanted more information before suggesting foul play to Mr. and Mrs. Whaling. They’d been exhausted and retired to a hotel a mile away. Back at the dormitory, Caley had made up a bed for Shep two doors down from hers, including fresh sheets, but she’d been too exhausted to throw any on her own tiny mattress. Her mouth felt like cotton and her eyes were swollen from crying herself to sleep.

“You alive?” he called. “I’m coming in if you don’t answer.”

“I’m fine,” she rasped. Could use some water. “Give me a minute already.” Grabbing her glasses, she haphazardly shoved them onto her nose and yanked the door open to a freshly showered—and ridiculously good-smelling—Shepherd. He didn’t particularly have a “look” but his jeans and black T-shirt could be branded the Shepherd Lightman style. “Not all of us can manage on four or less hours of sleep.”

“Roger that.” With his index finger, he righted her crooked glasses. Her blood heated. She was definitely awake now and no doubt looking a mess. Smoothing down her hair, she was suddenly more self-conscious of her disheveled appearance.

Shep leaned against the door frame. “I smell breakfast from the mess hall. You want me to rustle up your number one square for the day? Or I can stand outside the door.”

“This isn’t Buckingham Palace, Shep.” Though, with that stoic face, he’d make a great solider standing guard at the gates. “I need ten minutes. I’ll meet you at the cafeteria.” A solider through and through. “I’m a fan of French toast.” She shut the door and snatched the bag she normally kept in her office in case she worked into the late hours. She rarely wore makeup and it was easier to pull her long hair into a sloppy bun on her head or a ponytail. Today she went with down and wet. It’d dry quickly.

She opened the door fifteen minutes later.

Shep hadn’t left.

“You did hear me say this wasn’t Buckingham, right?” She slid by him and shook her head.

He fell into step with her. “Who is Billy Reynolds?”

She paused. “How do you know that name?”

“Social media. I did some research while you got some shut-eye. Quite a few photos of him and our vic—I mean...Mary Beth.”

Caley ambled through the lobby and down the hall to the cafeteria that had once been the motel’s dining commons. “Did you sleep at all?”

“Who is Billy Reynolds? And what is his relationship with Mary Beth?”

Shep motioned for her to go ahead of him through the breakfast buffet line. The room was sparse today after last night’s tragic events. Two interns sat at a table. They needed to call an assembly. In the back corner, Dr. Fines sat with a cup of coffee, stubble covering his chin and cheeks. He looked as haggard as Caley felt. “I need to go talk to Leo.”

Eyebrows scrunching, Shep set his sights on her mentor and boss. “Leo? Leonard Fines?”

“Yes,” Caley said, and left Shep in line with two trays. She hurried to Leo and he stood and hugged her.

“We need to rally the kids,” he said.

“I know. I was just thinking that. But I have to tell you something first.” She sat across from him and relayed the earlier events.

Leo pushed his coffee cup away. “You really think the two incidents are related?”

“I do. I don’t have solid proof, but I mean, come on.” She toyed with an empty creamer cup he’d used for his brew. “The police are ruling it an accident, but Shepherd is sticking around. In case it’s not. At least for a couple of days.”

Leo leaned forward. “Caley, if the police and medical examiner say it was an accident, then it was. I don’t need to remind you that our biggest fund-raising gala is in a few short weeks, and if Nora Simms gets a whiff of scandal, your job and mine will be over. Not to mention we don’t need donors pulling out.”

Nora Simms was the daughter of Arnold Simms—one of the greatest marine biologists to ever live. His work with sea turtles was extraordinary and that’s why the center was named after him. Nora had already threatened Dr. Fines’s job and Caley’s six months ago when protestors picketed outside the research lab. The media had skewed everything and a few donors pulled out, believing that their research was inhumane to turtles. As if. Nora had been furious. Ranting about her dad’s life work going down the tubes.

But Mary Beth might not have accidentally drowned. Seeing her killer brought to justice was more important than their jobs.

“Leo, what if someone hurt Mary Beth? Do we tie a block to that possibility and let it sink to the ocean floor?”

Leo’s face flushed. “Of course not, Caley. I’m not insensitive. But don’t you think, if it had been a homicide, there would have been some evidence? Even a trace?” He clasped her hand. “The professionals ruled it out.”

“But the dorm room was trashed. What about that?”

“Maybe someone heard she passed away and broke in to steal some of her belongings. Phone. Laptop. Cash. Who knows?” Leo had a point but the eerie feeling wouldn’t shake loose.

Unsolved crimes happened all the time. “I’m going to look into it anyway, Leo. I have to. I’ll be discreet.” With Shepherd here and a contact at the police department, they could investigate, and if they turned up solid evidence, they’d cross that bridge when they came to it. “Two days.” That’s how long Shep would be around. Surely, by then he’d have a solid lead. “Nora won’t have to know a thing. Our donors won’t either.”

Leo closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. “Fine, but be careful and keep the fact that her room was ransacked under wraps. No hint of a scandal. To anyone. This is my life’s work. I won’t lose my job over a hunch.”

Caley swallowed and shoved the paper top into the empty creamer container. Thankfully, the interns had kept to their rooms while the police had done their job last night. “Okay.” At the moment it was a hunch so that was fair enough. “I’ll send a group text for the interns to meet us here in fifteen minutes. We need to talk about this. Supply some grief counseling if needed.”

Leo nodded.

Caley found Shep with two trays at a table near the exit. Her tray was loaded with French toast and bacon. Who was he feeding? An army? She took her seat and sent out the text.

Shep held a strip of bacon in his hand. “What did your boss have to say?”

Caley groaned and delivered the conversation.

Shep only grunted and ate his bacon while studying the cafeteria. Interns trickled in. Some in tears, others unusually quiet. They’d been here since mid-May. Already, they were like family. Caley excused herself and tended to her team. When they’d all arrived, Leo spoke to them, offered counseling. Some of the interns wanted to hold a vigil and murmured plans.

Caley finally stood and said a few words about Mary Beth. When they dispersed, she caught up with Billy. That’s when Shep made his way over to the beverage area. He poured a glass of juice while Caley talked. If he was trying to be invisible, that wasn’t happening. Shep was larger than life.

“Billy, can you tell me anything? Why would she swim or kayak alone? Did she mention it?” Caley asked.

Billy leaned against the end of the table. Face pale. Eyes hollow. “She said she was going to bed early. Read a book or something. But she’d been distant the past week or two. I thought she was low-key dumping me.” He shrugged. “I can’t believe she’d go in the ocean alone. Makes no sense.”

Caley put her arm around him. “I don’t think she did. I think something else is going on here, Billy. I have what I think is proof.” The ransacking of her room had to be.

“What kind of proof?”

She promised Leo to keep the incident quiet. “I can’t tell you that. We have to keep things on the down low for now.”

Billy gaped but nodded. “You don’t believe it was an accident, do you?”

“No. Anything out of the ordinary with her? Other than being distant?” Caley waited while he seemed to process the information.

“Ashley said she’s sneaked out a few times but wasn’t sure where she went. I figured she was cheating on me with someone else.” Billy rubbed the back of his neck. “That wasn’t like her. I can’t think of anything else, Caley. I’m sorry.”

Caley nodded and looked to Shep. Not a single reaction on his face. She turned back to Billy. “Thanks. I’ll talk to Ashley.”

She scanned the cafeteria for her. Ashley had come in with three other interns earlier. She must have gone back to her dorm room. Once they entered the hallway, Shep grunted.

“I’m not fluent in grunt. Sorry,” Caley said.

“Do you have a curfew here?” he asked.

“No, they’re adults. As long as they show up to work we don’t pry into their private lives.” Caley headed toward the hall of dorm rooms.

“Then why sneak? People only do that to hide something. Trashed room indicates someone looking for a hidden item of some kind. Drugs?”

Caley snorted. “Doubtful. Mary Beth was an outstanding student at the University of Oregon. She was looking forward to her career. This is a highly respected internship program and we vet our students thoroughly.”

“Well, then the other reason for sneaking off at night is she met someone. It adds up. She breaks away from Billy. Hides it from her friends. Women like to talk about their men. If she’s hiding him, then it’s someone they wouldn’t approve of or someone who needed it to remain a secret.”

“You mean like a married man?” Caley froze in the hall. “No way.”

Shep tossed a skeptical glance her way. “Not everyone holds the same moral compass in their hand as you do, Turtle Girl.”

“Turtle Girl?”

Shep shrugged. “Fits.”

Except it didn’t. Neither did Little Flynn or Wilder’s kiddo. Caley was a grown woman. Not an adolescent. Just because Shepherd and Wilder had six years on her didn’t mean she was a child. She was a respected marine life vet. With her own home. Her own life. “Well, I don’t like it,” she said.

That garnered her another grunt.

“Back to Mary Beth.” She switched subjects. “You think this mystery man—if there is one—killed her, then came back later and tossed her room, looking for some evidence proving they were in an illicit relationship?”

“It’s a starting point. Nothing else to go on.” He nudged her to get moving again. “Once we talk to this Ashley, maybe we’ll know more.”

Caley knocked on Ashley’s door. A moment later, Ashley opened it and eyed Shepherd with a mix of confusion and what Caley could only define as intrigue. For a man as rough around the edges and intimidating as Shep, he held some physical qualities that would make a girl swoon.

Like his lips—heart-shaped top with a protruding lower one. Crazy-soft-looking. Paired with bluish-gray eyes framed by thick dark lashes, he had zero trouble attracting female attention. And that wasn’t including the mysterious scar and superhero physique.

The rumors she’d heard said Shep had never been in a committed relationship, but he’d dated the way a man with a cold went through tissue. Box after box.

No, that wasn’t the kind of man Caley was interested in. So the attraction had to stay simple. Appreciative. Besides, he was a soldier. And she’d vowed long ago that she wasn’t marrying a soldier or a man who worked in law enforcement of any kind.

Too risky for the heart.

Shep narrowed his eyes. Uh-oh. He’d caught her gawking. She pushed her glasses up her nose. “This is my...” What was he? Her brother’s friend? “Friend. He’s stopped in for a visit.”

Shep’s eyebrow, the one without the scar splitting the hairs, rose.

“I wanted to talk to you about Mary Beth. Can I come in? We? Can we come in?” Caley asked and shoved her way inside, a good measure away from Shepherd.

“Sure,” Ashley said, opening the door wider to accommodate Shepherd’s frame to enter without brushing her. “I think I was the last person to see her. She was in the equipment room around eight last night.”

Why would she be there? Unless she really was going out to kayak or fill the oxygen tanks for an upcoming dive.

“What’s in the equipment room?” Shep asked.

“Boats, diving equipment, anything we use out on the water for work or play.” Caley slumped on the edge of Ashley’s bed. “Did she say if she was going out, Ashley?”

“No. She said she left her beach bag in there.” Ashley pawed her face. “If I’d pressed for the truth maybe this wouldn’t have happened. I knew she was lying and I let her. To each her own, you know?”

“Sure. How did you know she was lying?” Caley asked.

“She’d been going out late at night. Several times in the past few weeks. I approached her about it, but she said she wanted to be alone. Not to worry. But why would you want to be alone that late at night? She seemed shifty. Distant.”

“That’s what Billy said,” Caley said.

“I think she was cheating on him. Or about to break it off for good.” Ashley collapsed in her desk chair. “Billy thought so too.”

Shep might be right. There could be a mystery man involved. “She never confided in you? About another guy?”

“No. She knows how tight me and Billy are. I guess she thought I’d tell him. But I wouldn’t have.”

“Anyone else she might have talked to?”

“Toby. He never liked Billy much. And Mary Beth had been spending a lot of time down in the lab with him. At first I thought maybe they had something going on, but he’s engaged and a stand-up guy. I don’t see him cheating. And honestly, I don’t see Mary Beth doing something like that either.”

Neither did Caley. Shep’s eyes held skepticism.

“If you remember anything else, please tell me.”

“I heard her parents came last night and took her stuff. A few of us went to her room this morning and it was empty. Like she was never even here.” A tear leaked from her eye. “I can’t believe this.”

Caley wrapped her in a hug. “I know. If you need anything, call me.” They left her room and were down the hall when Shep spoke.

“Let’s check out the equipment room. See if we can find that bag she was hunting for. If there was a bag. Maybe there was something of extreme importance in it. Something that got her killed.”

“Okay. And I hate to think it, but you might be right, Shep. She might have met someone who needed to stay a secret.” And if that were the case, they had to find him.

* * *

Shep had rolled the interviews with the interns around in his head in between trying to figure out why Caley had been gawking at him outside Ashley’s door earlier this morning. Like she was admiring him in a more than friendly way.

He’d shoved the ridiculous notion aside and followed Caley around for the remainder of the morning, keeping out of her way while she worked. He and Caley had lunch once again in the cafeteria, and now they were inside the aquatic center, where he stood in the hub of a group of tourists while Caley shared sea turtle migration patterns and habits and advances in research.