smiled her thanks. “Can I buy you a beer?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “I’m still on duty. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” He made a face. “There’s some trouble up on Mile Marker 6. You take care, all right? And call me—whatever comes up. I don’t think you’re crazy.”
He brushed her chin affectionately with his knuckles, then walked away toward the sand-and-gravel parking lot.
She thanked God for him. At least he believed her. He was an interesting guy, she mused. He was a perfect sheriff’s deputy. Tall, dark, quiet. He exuded an air of competence and assurance. She always felt a sense of sympathy for him; his wife had died about five years ago, when they’d been on vacation. He’d kept pretty much to himself after that.
But he was a good guy. And it was comforting to know he had taken her seriously.
Upsetting, though, to know that no one had found any sign of anything.
Staring back at the horizon, she took a long swallow of the Miller Lite she’d been holding so long that it was growing warm. When she felt someone beside her again, she thought that Jay had returned.
Wrong.
“Hey, cutie. Long day, huh?”
It was Jack Payne, one of her favorite people in the world, though he was working on The Seekers this go-round. Crusty as a crab, Jack was weathered and leathered by the sun. He wore one of the coins he had found around his neck, a Spanish gold piece hung from a chain, and in one ear a gold earring in the form of a skull and crossbones. He worked out of the area a lot, but they’d shared several assignments, and he was a great diver with whom to work.
She flushed, seeing the semi-smile on his face.
“I know, I know, Jack. Give it a good laugh, okay? But thanks for calling me cutie. At my height, I don’t hear that word too often,” she said wearily.
“Hey, I believe you saw something. And maybe ‘cutie’ isn’t the right word. How about, hey there, gorgeous? And, as to the other, there’s nothing else anyone can do right now, huh?”
She nodded.
He slipped a fatherly arm around her shoulders. “Maybe we’ll hear something soon about someone going missing.”
“I hope not. I’d much rather it have been my imagination,” Genevieve said.
“Right…well, this is a pretty kooky place. We’ll probably discover that some prankster did sink a mannequin in the water.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got to get past it right now,” she murmured.
“You will. It will be fine.”
“Really?” She swung around, leaning on the wooden railing as she surveyed him. “I’d swear you’ve been sitting there with your hotshot friend, trying not to agree I should be taken off the project.”
“Me? Never. I’d dive with you any day, Genny.”
She risked a quick glance at the man remaining at Jack’s table. Thor. Who the hell had a name like Thor? Yeah, yeah, he had a reputation. And in another place and time, he might have fit the name well, having the height and build and rugged features of some ancient thunder god. But this was Key West, and they were living in the real world, and down here they didn’t care how many times someone had managed to make it into the newspapers. She didn’t know why—maybe it was because he had been so ready to rescue her that afternoon—she felt an instant dislike for the man. Pretentious. Arrogant. Those adjectives definitely applied. And it wasn’t because she had a thing about working with other groups. She just didn’t like him.
“Come meet him. He’s really not such a bad guy.”
“Could have fooled me,” she murmured.
“Hey,” Jack said lightly. “Your buddies are doing a pretty good job of ribbing you right now, too, aren’t they?”
Genevieve shrugged. Yes, this one was going to take a very long time to live down. No—they’d never let her live it down.
“Come on, come meet Thor.”
She rolled her eyes but followed Jack back to the table.
To his credit, the man stood. She could see little of his face because he wore a pair of Ray-Bans, but he had the kind of high-set cheekbones and strong jaw that certainly defined his personality. No-nonsense, rugged, probably fearless. Totally confident and determined. She decided that even without what had happened today, she probably wouldn’t have cared much for him. He didn’t appear to be the kind of man who worked and played well with others.
“Thor, meet Genevieve Wallace. Gen, Thor Thompson.”
He offered her a hand. He didn’t smile, however. He wasn’t treating her experience with the same amusement as the others. Apparently he found it dangerously annoying.
“Thor,” she murmured, shaking his hand but extracting her own quickly. “Interesting name.” She couldn’t help the bit of disdain in her tone.
The hint of a smile curved his lips at that. “Sorry—my grandparents were Norwegian. They started out in Minnesota. It’s common enough in those circles. Genevieve, huh?”
“Family name, as well. St. Genevieve. My antecedents were old-school Catholics, I suppose,” she murmured.
“Gen. It’s easier,” Jack said cheerfully. “Sit. I’ll get you a beer. Ah, you already have one. Well…sit.”
“Um…” She hesitated. She should have been quicker with an excuse. Anything. Actually, I’m already sitting with friends over there. Excuse me, but I think I’m wiped out, I’m going to my room. There’s a cat in a tree I have to rescue…Anything!
But she hadn’t thought fast enough. Jack already had a chair pulled out for her.
“Strange you two haven’t met yet,” Jack said.
Genevieve saw a tawny brow shoot up over the Ray-Bans. “Jack, it’s a big world.”
“Yeah, but you’ve worked the Keys before,” Jack said.
Thor nodded. “I haven’t been down this far south that often, though.”
“Well,” Jack said cheerfully, “it’s a great project to be working.”
“Right. Working,” Thor murmured.
Genevieve stiffened instantly. Despite the Ray-Bans hiding his eyes, it was more than apparent that he thought of her as a liability. “I am working, and I take my work seriously, Mr. Thompson,” she informed him coolly.
“Mr. Thompson?” Jack said. “Gen, we’re all working together. He’s just Thor.”
“Interesting work method,” Thor said, as if Jack had never spoken.
His voice let her know he was staring at her as if she were a total flake.
“I would be
