Danger at the Dive Shop

by Mary Jane Hathaway

  He peered down at her. “Are you okay?”

  “Oh, this? Just an eye twitch. It started after I swam around with a dead body under my arm. No big deal.”

  “Maybe we should stop talking about this,” he said, looking concerned.

  “No, it’s fine. It doesn’t happen as much now that you’re here. I think you’re helping.”

  “So, I make your eye twitch less? I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

  Kitty couldn’t tell if he was making a joke so she just smiled.

  He walked to the coffee machine and dug around in his pockets for change. “I think we need to look closer at Andrew. He seemed the most invested in searching the area.”

  “It’s broken,” she said, nodding at the machine. “And I think everybody gets a little obsessed with treasure when it’s dangled right in front of their noses. It’s perfectly natural, don’t you think?”

  “I thought you were a strictly Bingo girl.”

  “Golden treasure appeals to everyone,” she repeated, blushing. Good Christians didn’t chase after material goods. She knew that. Where your treasure was, there your heart would be and all that. Plus, the last time they’d been together, Leander had witnessed Kitty’s thirty second long dance routine that started when she bellowed Bingo, and ended with Chica playing dead, legs in the air. Life was too short for sedate expressions of celebration when Bingo was involved.

  “Ren said he needed to go there for some species of fish he had on a list, but later he admitted it was for the treasure,” she said. “Before you came to dinner tonight, Jenny cried about being kicked from the program because she didn’t have enough to pay for tuition.”

  “But why would they kill Coleman if he’d brought them out to Punta Molas? Unless he’d found the treasure and they killed him to keep it for themselves.” Leander leaned his forehead against the coffee machine, as if willing the hot coffee to materialize before him. “If gold is the motivator, it could be anyone.”

  Her stomach dropped to her toes. Greed was a very good motivation for murder. “Come on. Let’s get out of here,” she said. “I think I saw a little place on the main strip that’s open all night. We can grab something there.”

  He nodded, glancing around the cold hospital waiting room. “Mark was completely distraught so I don’t think he’s the one who poisoned Angelina. She’ll be safe with him watching over her tonight. Plus, this room is giving me a Dante’s Inferno vibe. All it needs is a bump in temperature to be a proper circle of hell.”

  Not too long after, they hailed a taxi, coffees in hand. The ride to the dive shop went quickly although they didn’t speak much. Leander removed his coat and tie, and Kitty figured they looked like a couple who’d spent a fun night out instead of a harrowing time at the emergency room.

  The sun was rising just as they started to walk the down the sandy lane to the dive shop. It occurred to Kitty that it was their second sunrise together, and then she felt embarrassed to have thought of it.

  “It’s funny,” he said, glancing her way. “I think I’ve watched more sunrises with you than with people I’ve known for years.”

  “Not a morning person then, are you?” she asked. She took a sip of her coffee and pretended to look out toward the water, hiding her smile.

  “Not really. Are you?”

  Kitty thought about it for a moment. Her wake-up time wasn’t usually of her own choosing unless she was on vacation. “When I’m home, my cats wake me up around seven, so I’m not really sure.”

  “What are their names?”

  “Raven and Rook. Black as night, both with green eyes like…” She almost said ‘like yours’ except only one of his eyes was green and it seemed awkward to say ‘your green one’. She went on, “They’re both troublesome creatures who like to sit on whatever book I’m reading.”

  He watched a seagull cross the sky above them. “I like their names. Are they trained service cats?”

  “Trained to annoy only, but that’s a good idea. Then I can have three service animals in the house. It won’t matter if I have any senses left at all. I’ll never miss a thing.” Her coffee was getting cold, but she wasn’t as tired as she had been half an hour ago. She tried not to think about how much of the day was ahead of her and how little they knew about Coleman’s murder.

  “Is that a possibility? Losing some senses in the future, I mean.”

  For just a moment, Kitty was tempted to lie. She barely knew Leander, really. The state of her hearing wasn’t something she discussed with anyone outside her family, and sometimes not even then. It was a conversation that would change their fledgling friendship. Either for the better, or worse, it would change.

  The sky was riddled with pink and orange clouds, and the hum of traffic had grown louder just in the few minutes they’d been walking. The island was waking up.

  “Life is uncertain. Nothing is set in stone.”

  He didn’t say anything, simply waited for her to go on. She stopped in front of the dive shop and leaned her elbows on the railing. The beach was deserted.

  She took a breath. “In the future, somewhere down the line, I’ll most likely lose my hearing completely, just as my parents did. Just as my brother has. They say it’s not for sure, but I hate being unpleasantly surprised, so I’ll just call it a sure thing and be done with the uncertainty.” She was trying to be light-hearted, but it came out sounding flippant.

  “I’m sorry. That’s awful.”

  Most of the time she found herself on the defensive, trying to prove how the Deaf community was just as capable and alive as the hearing community. She hated the platitudes and the ignorant questions. Defending the independence and intelligence of Deaf people was her default state. But Leander had grown up in the Deaf community. She didn’t need to defend or explain.

  “Yeah, it is. Sometimes I find myself avoiding music because I don’t want to miss it later.” She shrugged. “Silly, isn’t it? To deny myself something wonderful now because I’ll miss it later?”

  “It sounds logical,” he said, his voice soft.

  He came to stand beside her and they watched the sky lighten over the water.

  “But I also don’t want to be that person, the one who refuses to enjoy what God has created for me just because I might not always have it. I think…” She paused, thinking back to the moment she’d finally understood that she’d been wrong. It had been when she’d been tumbling around in the ocean, thinking she was going to die. She thought she’d been living safely, carefully. But she hadn’t been fully living at all. “I think we’re made for more than that. I think we’re created to receive what we’re given and be grateful, instead of shoving it away because we’re not completely in control.”

  He didn’t say anything for a few moments. “I think you’re right. But it’s hard, isn’t it? Trusting that God has our best interests at heart. It sounds so simple...”

  “But it’s not,” she agreed.

  They stood watching the waves, their shoulders touching. Kitty wanted to say more, but didn’t know what. She was grateful Leander was there with her and tried to empty herself of expectation and fear and hope and impatience. Grateful. That’s all she could be at the moment.

  Leander straightened up. “Time to go inside and start asking questions. I feel like we’re missing something really important. Why Angelina? Was it an accident that she got the poisoned fish?”

  “Or was all the fish tainted? I can’t remember who ate what. If it was all tainted, then the poisoner would have made sure not to eat any. I can think of a few people there who only had salad on their plates. Lisa, Mark, Joan… But if you were going to murder a bunch of people and get away with it, wouldn’t it make more sense to take some fish and not eat it? Then you could say you intended to eat it but didn’t.”

  “We’re not sure if there was more puffer fish, or just a bit on Angelina’s plate. The officers examined the dishes and took away the platter of fried fish for testing. That could
take a while. And I agree, along with asking why Angelina was targeted, finding out how it got on her plate is important.” Leander ran a hand through his hair, a move she hadn’t seen him make very often. He seemed more frustrated with this case than the last two. “If someone purposefully fried up poisoned fish for your whole group…” He didn’t finish the sentence but Kitty could see by the set of his mouth how angry he was. “I keep imagining what would have happened to you.”

  “And you, too, unless you weren’t planning on eating anything.”

  He nodded. “True. I guess I’d be dead so I wouldn’t really care.”

  “You don’t want to be left behind?”

  “Not if I can help it. Then again, Yoko Ono says every time we don’t say what we want to say, we’re dying. So, maybe I’m already dead and don’t know it.”

  She wanted to laugh, but she was reminded of how she held her cell phone and couldn’t bring herself to text him. It seemed such a silly thing to be afraid of now that he was right there in front of her. She had always thought her life was exactly the way she wanted it, and now she suspected she let fear dictate her actions much more than she realized.

  The front door of the dive shop swung open and they both turned around to see Penny, Elaine, Toto, and Chica. The elderly women were wearing knit dresses with a dog paw print pattern, red for Elaine and blue for Penny.

  “Well, well. Wouldn’t this make a fine Christmas card?” Penny signed. She pulled out her camera and motioned them to stand closer together. Chica bounded toward Kitty and after a few licks and her usual brief inspection, sat at Kitty’s feet.

  “Starling, Swift and Chica, gumshoes for hire,” Leander intoned, signing for Elaine and Penny. “This could be our business card.”

  She snorted. “Gumshoes? Maybe private eyes?”

  “How about slewfoot?” It was a good thing he finger spelled the word because Kitty had never heard of it.

  “Slew―?” Kitty couldn’t help laughing. “You made that up.”

  “Did not.” He smiled down at her. “It’s a real word.”

  Elaine waved to get their attention. “As much as I adore being in the presence of young love―” Kitty started protest but Elaine went on, “we have a murderer to catch.”

  “We?” Leander asked, turning to Kitty.

  Kitty avoided his gaze as she followed Penny and Elaine back to the dive shop. “I forgot to tell you. There might be a few more names on those business cards.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Those who shun the whimsy of things will experience rigor mortis before death.”

  ― Tom Robbins

  Kitty was surprised to see Andrew, Jenny and Ren already awake and sitting around the table.

  “Y’all been out partying?” Andrew asked. His flowered shirt was only half buttoned and his chest hair looked like a small animal trying to escape. “We’re gonna go back to Punta Molas. There’s treasure to be had. We’re scraping together a bribe so the police will let us in.”

  As she translated for Penny and Elaine, Kitty saw Penny’s look of disgust. Elaine rolled her eyes to heaven.

  “Of course they’re not,” Ren said. “They just came from the hospital. Remember Angelina?”

  “Oh, yeah. Sure.” Andrew had the decency to look mildly ashamed of himself.

  “How is she?” Jenny asked. She was fiddling with the red yarn tying the end of her braid, a movement Kitty recognized as something Jenny did when she was anxious. She was still wearing long sleeves and pants. Apparently her laundry issue hadn’t been resolved.

  “She’s on life support. It all depends on how fast her body can metabolize the poison,” Leander said.

  “That’s good, right? She might survive.” Ren squeezed Jenny’s hand and she gave him a small smile.

  “Mark is staying with her.” Kitty sat down at the table. “How will you all get out to Punta Molas?”

  The three exchanged glances.

  “Because we were thinking of going, too,” Kitty hurriedly explained. “Just to visit the lighthouse and take a better look around.”

  Ren looked hesitant but finally said, “We’re going with Angelina’s brother.”

  “He owns a dive shop nearby?” Leander asked.

  “Right down the street. I guess there was some tension between Angelina and Mark over the whole thing. She was considering leaving here and working for them. Mark really hated the idea of her giving up her salary and freedom just because she felt guilty.” Ren shrugged. “Her brother said it was disloyal for her to work for Coleman when the family business needed her, especially since she spoke English.”

  Elaine signed a question and Kitty translated. “Why didn’t she want to work there?”

  “Well, I guess they weren’t real nice to her. And they’d had a few problems with the law,” Andrew said. “Drugs or something.”

  Kitty met Leander’s gaze. Drugs or something was no small thing. The cartels were notoriously violent, and if Angelina’s brother encroached on their territory, it was a death sentence for all involved.

  The times she’d seen Mark and Angelina argue rushed into her mind, and Kitty realized that she’d misunderstood. She’d thought was Mark bullying Angelina, but he’d been afraid her safety and angry that she would consider putting herself in danger.

  “Well, we should get going,” Jenny said, standing up. Ren and Andrew followed her lead. “We’ll see you guys there, maybe.”

  After they’d gathered their things and left the courtyard, Leander signed, “I think we should get something to eat and then head that way. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a boat.”

  “Agreed.” Penny sighed. “I just wish we could go diving once more. But if it’s closed except to locals…”

  “Wait. Aren’t you locals?” Kitty asked.

  The three of them stared at her for several seconds until Penny started to smile. “Well, I’ll be. I think you’re right. With our house in Playa Mezcalitos, we’re certainly islanders. Not sure if we have to be from Punta Molas, but it’s worth a try.”

  “We’ll watch Toto for you while you dive,” Kitty said, feeling the familiar rush. The next best thing to finding the treasure would be Penny and Elaine finding treasure.

  “Great plan,” Leander said, already headed for the kitchen. “And as soon as I get some food, I’m good to go.”

  “True,” Kitty said. She didn’t feel hungry but if they had a long day ahead, she’d need more in her stomach than coffee.

  Following him into the kitchen, Kitty looked around. “Do you think it’s safe to cook in here?”

  He nodded. “They removed all the dishes that were used. I’ll make sure whatever ingredients I use are unopened.” He started to look through the large industrial fridge. He pulled a sealed packaged of shrimp from the freezer, a package of bacon from the fridge, and some vegetables from the bins.

  Penny’s eyes widened. “This is breakfast? Whatever happened to oatmeal?”

  “Technically, we never got dinner. In about ten hours, I’ll make some oatmeal, okay?” He winked to soften his retort.

  “Looks perfect to me,” said Elaine, plopping onto a stool at the counter. “But while we’re here, we need to remember who came into this kitchen.”

  “Mark, Angelina, Jenny and Lisa. But I think we need to look at who was close to her dish, too. Did she serve herself?” Nobody could remember and Kitty frowned at the tomato on the board. “Chica bumped Lisa out of the way. Andrew was on her other side. There was so much movement and distraction with the dog that it would have been easy to put it on her plate if they were close enough.”

  Leander was busy wrapping bacon around shrimp so he didn’t respond. Kitty liked that he signed as he spoke. He’d been raised in a hearing impaired household and he knew how rude it was to cut some people from the conversation.

  Penny handed Elaine an onion, took a bell pepper, and nodded at Kitty. It was time to get cooking.

  As she chopped the tomato, she thought of his reaction to he
r revelation of her impending hearing loss. He had understood what a grievous loss it would be, but he didn’t seem shocked. Then again, if he’d never considered a future with her, it wouldn’t matter that much.

  She glanced up at him. Again, he’d discovered much more about her than he’d volunteered about himself. He never seemed to be purposefully mysterious. Or at least, not after their first meeting when he had dodged every question she’d asked. But here it was, months later, and aside from listing his degrees, Kitty could count on one hand the things she knew about Leander. He was from Tallahassee, was Catalan and spoke fluent Catalan, Spanish, and American Sign Language. His mother was deaf and had passed on Waardenburg’s Syndrome to him. He had an office in Playa Del Carmen. He could cook and Chica liked him. That was it. She didn’t know if he had siblings, if he’d ever been married, if he had children.

  The idea that Leander might have children was a shock. He was probably over thirty. It wouldn’t be too strange if he’d been married, had kids, gotten divorced, moved to Mexico to work in the embassy.

  Kitty watched Leander carefully rolling bacon onto shrimp and rejected the idea. He wouldn’t live away from his children. He’d want to be involved. She didn’t know how she knew. She just did.

  He glanced up, caught her staring and raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

  “Oh, I was just…” Do not blush. Do not blush. She inwardly flailed around, looking for something to say. It probably looked as if she had been admiring him, or maybe daydreaming. Chica stood up and nudged her knee, sensing her distress. “Just thinking about your kids.”

  “My― my kids?”

  Penny and Elaine had stopped chopping and were giving them their full attention.

  No, no. Not kids. She rushed to explain. “I was just thinking that if you got married, had kids, then got divorced, you’d want to live close to them.” That sounded much worse. She sighed. “I’m really tired.”

  He looked as if she’d started speaking Klingon, but he smiled and went back to wrapping bacon around the shrimp and spearing it with a toothpick.