Beth!” he hollered, voice cracking. “What happened? Caley, what’s happened?”
Caley’s chest constricted. She had no answers.
A large, bald man—by choice it appeared and not by age—squatted next to Caley. “Come on. Let the first responders do their jobs. I have questions.”
So did Caley. She dropped Mary Beth’s cold hand and let the officer on the scene lead her farther up the beach, away from the onlookers. “I’m Officer Wilborn.”
“Caley Flynn. I work for the Arnold Simms Center. Just down that way.”
He looked toward the center and nodded. “How did you know the girl?”
Caley rubbed her forearms. “She’s part of the intern program. We take twelve each year. From all over the United States. She’s from Oregon.” Her parents needed to know. “I have to call her folks.”
“We’ll get to that. Do you know why she’d be out here this time of night and alone?”
Mary Beth was wearing her racing-back swimsuit. The one she kayaked in. “I can’t believe that she was. Her younger brother died in their pool when no one was home and she promised her parents afterward she’d never go in the water alone.” Why did she change her mind?
Officer Wilborn continued to pepper her with questions she had no answers to, then left her to ask questions among the interns.
Dr. Leonard Fines, her mentor and the director of the center, sidled up next to her, draping his lanky arm around her shoulders. “I overheard some talk. Looks like she drowned. The kayak belongs to the center. They pulled it in five minutes ago.”
Caley leaned into her mentor. “I was responsible for these students. How am I going to face her parents?”
“I can make the call.”
Caley shook her head. “No, I’ll do it. Then I need to go through her things. I don’t want her parents to have that burden, as well.” Watching Mom and Dad go through Meghan’s room had been devastating. “I can’t believe she’d be out here at night on the water.” The unsettling feeling wouldn’t shake.
“Well, she was.” Leo was only a few years older than Caley’s father; of course he was less rigid than Dad. But then Dad had been navy. Her whole family was military and law enforcement.
“You sure you don’t want me to call the Whalings?” Dr. Fines asked.
“No,” Caley said, “I knew her best.” Or she thought she did. She trudged up the beach and into her office right outside the research lab. After a prayer for wisdom, she called Mary Beth’s parents. She knew exactly how they’d respond. The same way her parents had when they found out Meghan had died.
After she hung up with the Whalings, she cracked open a can of peach tea and forced some down her dry throat. She had no explanation for why Mary Beth had been out on the water alone. Neither had her parents. No way the medical examiner or law enforcement would give her any information, since she wasn’t on the case or next of kin. But... She grabbed her cell phone and called her big brother.
Wilder answered on the second ring. “Caley? Everything okay? It’s late there.”
“I need a favor.”
Rustling sounded over the line and a muffled thank-you. “Okay. What kind of favor? You sound upset. Are you hurt?”
Heartbroken. She relayed the events that had transpired. “I need someone to help me find out the truth.”
“The truth sounds like she went out alone and a tragic accident occurred, kiddo. Let the police do their job.”
Caley balled her fist. “Wilder, you always talk about your gut instinct and how it’s usually right. Well, my gut says this wasn’t an accident. Something isn’t right. Can you just...just call and talk to someone?” Wilder knew people in law enforcement all over the world. He worked with them often in conjunction with his private security company, Covenant Crisis Management. “Please,” she choked out.
The sound of a deep inhale traveled across the line. “I’m in Dubai. Escorting someone of importance to a conference or I’d come out there myself.”
“I don’t need you to come out. I want you to make a phone call. Get me some information. I’m going crazy.” Caley scooted her peach tea aside, removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. “How often do I ask you for anything?”
“Counting Christmases?”
“Wilder, be serious,” she huffed.
“Do you really think there’s foul play?”
“I don’t know but I have a sick feeling. Mary Beth was a sweetheart. And if she was out there by herself, she had a solid reason.” Caley owed it to Mary Beth and Mary Beth’s parents to get to the truth.
“Okay. I know a homicide detective who works for the Turtle Bay police. Tom Kensington. Former marine. He’s a good dude, and he owes me a favor. I’ll call him and see what I can find out.”
“Thank you, Wilder. I owe you.”
“You can pay up by not nosing around on your own. If it’s not an accident, then I don’t want you in the line of fire. Understand?” Wilder’s gruff command barked loud and clear.
“You know I won’t.” This wasn’t her line of expertise. She steered clear of purposely risking her life, unlike Wilder and his team of soldiers. Caley hadn’t inherited that gene. Or she’d buried it. Either way. “You’ll call me as soon as you hear, right?”
“You know I will, kiddo.” Wilder’s voice softened. “I love you. Hang tight and...I’m very sorry.”
That was the big brother she adored. Tough exterior, gooey middle. She missed him. “I kinda wish you were able to come out. I’m...scared.”
A sigh filtered through the line. “I wish I could too, darlin’, but I’m a phone call away, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Love you.” She hung up and closed her eyes. God, why did this have to happen? Caley didn’t expect an answer. She never knew why these things happened. Never got an answer to why Meghan had to die the way she did. But her heart wouldn’t let her stop praying, even if most of the time it felt one-sided.
She eyed her desk. Paperwork had mounted. She worked on some of it, her mind wandering. Giving up, she spent an hour organizing her office, but to no avail. Finally, she finished off her tea—Mama would pitch a fit if she knew she was drinking canned sweet tea—and headed for the aquarium. Open to the public on weekdays, this was one of her favorite places in the center. As she entered the room, the hum of the air-conditioning kicked on, the air filters in the tanks bubbled and a prickle ran up her spine.
Caley shivered.
The sense of being watched rippled across her neck. She turned to the windows. Nothing but the faint light from the small motel-turned-dormitory next door.
She backed her way to the main doors, turned to make sure they were locked, only to scream at the sight of a
