by Paula Lester
“He is,” Tessa agreed.
She pondered that as they headed for the breakfast buffet. Could she really date Silas and keep the true nature of her career under wraps? At least, until and unless they got serious enough for her to divulge the secret? Maybe she was overthinking it. Or maybe she was just crap at keeping secrets herself. It hadn’t been easy at the bar. But then again, she wouldn’t always be surrounded be several hundred other reapers.
She pushed away the questions, deciding they would be better examined when she wasn’t so tired.
Tessa went straight for the coffee bar. The shower had perked her up a little, but she was counting on the caffeine blast to help her enter full-on human being mode.
“Lucky for you, it’s a half day of talks.” Gloria munched on a cream cheese-covered bagel. “Team building exercises this afternoon.”
“That sounds like fun, I guess. As long as there’s no sky-diving.” She hadn’t completely hated the jump she’d done with the Hansons, but Tessa still had no desire to make leaping out of planes a habit.
“There are some choices. Zip lines, snorkeling, stand-up paddle boarding . . . that’s one I’m leaning toward.”
“That sounds fun. As long as I’ve got my balance back by then. I feel a little unsteady still.” Tessa’s stomach growled, and she started loading a plate with fruit because everything else seemed too heavy.
Gloria nodded approvingly. “That should help.”
By the time Tessa had finished eating, she was running late to the first presentation, The Grim Reality of Social Media. It was supposed to be about how to keep your reaper job secret in the age of cell phones and social media, and Tessa thought maybe it would give her some ideas about how to handle the situation with Silas.
There was only one empty chair in the small room when Tessa arrived, and she slid into it with a huff.
“You just made it,” the man next to her leaned over to say with a wink.
Tessa realized it was Lee Stuart. He looked bright-eyed and ready to go, unlike her. The food and coffee had made Tessa feel better, but she still felt like another couple hours of sleep would be beneficial.
“Yeah. In the nick of time.” She pulled out a notebook and pen and settled into the chair.
“This should be a good talk. Preston Peters, out of the LA office, is one of my best reapers. I’m sure he’ll have some good tips to share.” He eyed Tessa for a minute. “You’re new, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I’m from Mist River, Michigan.”
He nodded. “Ah. One of Cheryl’s crew.” He paused, squinting as though trying to see something better. “I’d give you my condolences at having to work under her part of the organization, but I’m a gentleman, so I’ll keep those thoughts to myself.” He laughed at his own joke. “How are you enjoying the conference so far?”
“Oh, you know, I’m trying to soak up all the information I can. Just listening to all the more experienced reapers and all that. They’re a wealth of knowledge. But I’m really looking forward to when I’m not the newbie anymore, when I can share some wisdom with somebody.” She cast a sidelong glance at him, wondering if it was a good idea to say the next thing. With an internal shrug, she threw caution to the wind. “You know, someone mentioned to me that you and April have a friendly competition thing going on.”
“Friendly. Yeah. Okay, we’ll go with friendly.” He smirked. “But it’s not really a competition. It’s April trying to keep up with me. She’s always eating my dust.”
Tessa had a feeling that was a gross exaggeration, but she nodded amicably. “She’s probably distracted right now by the accounting glitch going on.”
“She better fix it soon. Or I’ll handily win the supervisor of the year award at the end of the conference. And this will be, what, the third year in a row. Not that I’m keeping track.” He winked again.
“She thinks someone in the Chicago office screwed something up.”
Lee scoffed. “April’s just looking for a scapegoat. If there’s been an accounting glitch, it came directly from her own office.” He leaned closer to whisper, “Timothy is the brains between the two of them, but he’s been known to make mistakes like this before.”
“You think he made the accounting mistake? How? Did he forget to record some assignments?”
“Oh, I’m sure of it. He probably got distracted by a sci-fi marathon on late-night TV or something. Guy’s a total geek. I’m more of a sports guy myself. Do you like sports?”
“Baseball,” she said without thinking.
“America’s pastime,” Lee approved.
She wanted to ask more about the accounting issue, but Preston Peters tapped the microphone on his lapel, calling the presentation to order. She settled for doodling a picture of Timothy with a ketchup stain on his lapel during the talk, hoping for a chance to ask Lee more questions when it was over. But the supervisor got up before Preston finished talking, squeezed behind Tessa’s chair, and left.
The next couple of hours dragged by with two more boring presentations, then Tessa met up with Gloria for lunch before the team-building exercises. They pored over the pamphlet that listed their choices as they munched on sandwiches and chips.
Tessa pointed to one that looked interesting to her. “How about we do this before the stand-up paddle board lesson?”
“An escape room?” Gloria considered for a moment and then shrugged. “Sure, why not? You feeling sharp enough to solve a mystery?”
Tessa chuckled. “I’m perfectly fine. The food and coffee helped, plus I basically slept through this morning’s presentations with my eyes open. I’m going to try to get to bed early tonight, though.”
“Good idea.”
The escape room was set up in a dingy, out-of-the-way room in the hotel basement. Soon, Tessa was engrossed in the experience of solving a set of clues in order to find the key to unlock the door. Where usually, it was the whole group trying to escape the room, they’d made this into a competition to get out first. Gloria and Tessa partnered up against three other reaper pairs, including Bubba and Shirley, who turned out to be their biggest rivals.
In the end, Shirley figured it out moments before they did.
“Ha!” Bubba jabbed a finger at Tessa and Gloria. “You guys owe us a drink!”
Tessa laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll buy you a bottle of cheap domestic. But you have to promise us a rematch next year.”
Gloria glanced at her watch. “We’re going to have to hurry if we want to make it to the paddle board lesson.” She pulled Tessa’s arm.
They hurried out of the hotel, past the dock where a group was gathering for snorkeling, toward the designated meeting spot on the beach for the paddle board excursion. As they got closer, Tessa slowed down. April and Lee were there, along with Preston, Cynthia, and Timothy. She considered bolting and going snorkeling instead. Hanging out with the two district supervisors really didn’t strike her as a good time. But Gloria grabbed her arm and kept marching forward.
Man, the woman really wanted to paddle board.
A man in board shorts and a rash guard scurried around, fitting people with lifejackets and boards and explaining the basics of stand-up paddle boarding. Timothy flitted around for a few minutes but then said, “Okay. Looks like you’re in good hands, April. I’m going to head over and make sure everything’s going well with the snorkeling contingency.”
April ignored her assistant completely, and he left after an awkward silence.
If my boss was that mean, I’d be looking for a new job. Cheryl might be a little on the critical side and she had an annoying habit of using Tessa’s full name, but she wasn’t outright mean.
As she watched Timothy leave, a thought occurred to Tessa. Lee had said Timothy was the brains behind the operation at the eastern division’s office. He himself had bragged to Tessa that he kept the accounting registers for the agencies in the district. Could he be behind Art’s unaccounted for death somehow?
Tessa wouldn’t blame him for wa
nting to make April look bad—she was horrible to him.
But she didn’t have much time to ponder the thought because raised voices drew her attention. April and Lee faced off a few feet from each other. April’s face was twisted in fury. “Don’t dish it if you can’t take it, man. I’m only offering a standard bet—just like we always wager. Too scared to take it?”
Lee smirked. “When have I ever been afraid to take a bet with you?”
“Then what’s the issue?”
"You haven’t laid down fair terms. We’re both beginners, so there has to be some leeway. I propose we each get a little practice time before we start the timer. Then, it’s on. Whoever stays on longest wins.”
April shrugged. “If you need a couple of free falls into the ocean, that’s fine. It’ll just give me time to get sea legs, so to speak. Does five minutes sound fair?”
"More than.”
She smiled devilishly. “Then I’ll be accepting my steak dinner voucher from you within five minutes’ time. Let’s go.” She grabbed her paddle board and splashed into the water.
The instructor, alarm plastered over his bronze face, said, “Wait! I need to go over some basics first.”
But April continued as though she hadn’t heard him.
Lee gave a small shake of his head, picked up his board, and advanced more slowly into the surf.
The instructor brushed a hand through his sandy blond hair and appeared flummoxed. Finally, he grabbed his own board and waved an arm for the rest of the group to follow him. He began going over the basics of paddle boarding, speaking faster than Tessa believed he normally did.
April climbed on her board, stood up, and began to use the paddle to move forward. Lee watched for about half a second and then leaped onto his own board, taking only a moment to balance, and then he too advanced into the small waves.
“They’re something else, aren’t they?” Tessa said over her shoulder to Gloria.
But her friend didn’t answer.
Tessa climbed onto her board, sitting with a leg thrown over each side, and twisted to see what was going on.
Gloria was in the water, clutching the paddle board like it was her only anchor in a stormy sea. Her face was slack, eyes wide. Tessa saw something in her friend she’d never seen before: fear.
Tessa bit back a laugh. The water couldn’t be much calmer. It was suitable for toddlers, and they weren’t out deep yet. “Hold onto the far side of the board and kick,” she called. “That’ll give you the momentum to get onto it.”
Gloria maneuvered the paddle board slowly to the position Tessa recommended. She hoisted her body up, kicking madly, resembling nothing so much as a huge seal clambering up onto a rocky ledge.
This time, Tessa couldn’t hold back the chuckle. “There you go. You got it.” She popped up onto her feet and stood, balancing with the paddle in her hand. “Now, just get to the center of the board and stand up. It’s not hard. Keep your center of gravity under you and just sort of . . . feel the water. Move with it.”
Gloria shot her a look that clearly said what on earth are you babbling on about? She inched forward on her belly, trying to get closer to the center of the board. But she went too far and, before it was possible for her to do anything to stop herself, plunged head-first off the far edge of the board into the water.
Tessa laughed and used her paddle to turn back toward her friend. The rest of the group was further out, watching April and Lee compete for who could stay on their board the longest.
Gloria’s head popped up, her life jacket helping her get upright. She sputtered, coughed, and splashed. “Argh,” she cried.
Tessa paddled closer. “Are you okay?”
More sputtering was the only answer.
Then something caught Tessa’s attention in the water near Gloria.
No. It couldn’t be. There was no way.
Tessa, being from Michigan, had always felt safe in the water. There was no salt and there were no sharks or other crazy marine life that could kill you. You just had to respect the power of the Great Lakes. And the cold. They were always cold.
But that wasn’t the case here. Here, the warm and clear waters harbored sharks.
And Tessa had never, ever expected to see one, but there it was—within a few feet of Gloria, its dorsal fin looking just like they did in movies. Until that moment, she hadn’t even believed that was really a thing outside of Jaws and its many imitators.
For a moment, Tessa froze. She didn’t know what to do. Should she shout, “Shark!” again, like they do in movies? Should she alert the instructor and everyone else?
It didn’t take her long to dismiss that idea. It would only panic Gloria, and that probably wasn’t the best idea. In fact, Tessa needed to get her friend to calm down and stop acting like a flopping fish in the water.
She maneuvered her paddle boat carefully between the shark and Gloria. Her heart pounded wildly, but Tessa ignored it, focusing only on the two beings in the water. Time seemed to slow down as she forced her breathing to calm. She told herself Gloria wasn’t going to die. There was no reaper around, ready to escort her soul over the veil.
That was when she saw Lydia standing on the beach. She wasn’t watching April’s and Lee’s antics. She was staring right at Gloria.
No. No, no, no, no.
Tessa spoke as calmly as possible but infused her tone with authority. “Gloria. Stop splashing now. There’s a problem, and I need you to do what I say.”
The other reaper looked at Tessa’s face. She must have seen something there because she stilled.
“Okay. Grab the far side of paddleboard with both hands. Pull it toward yourself and then kick . . . calmly . . . to get yourself up. Do it now.”
Gloria did what Tessa said, and Tessa glanced at the shark. It seemed to have stopped swimming and was just sort of hovering there, as though it were watching. Waiting.
Tessa gulped and turned her attention back to Gloria, who was about halfway onto the paddle board. Tessa glanced at the shore.
Lydia was gone.
By the time she looked back, Gloria was on her knees on the board.
The shark’s fin changed directions and the creature sped off, toward the dock.
Tessa blew out a breath. “Hey, what do you say we head to shore? I think I’m done paddle boarding.”
“I’m with you.” Gloria didn’t stand up. She used her hands to doggy paddle her way back to the sand.
They got out of the water, and Gloria laid on her back on the beach, panting and staring at the sky. Her black hair was matted to her head, drenched.
Tessa giggled and sat next to her friend.
“How come you’re so good at that and I’m so horrible?” Gloria grumbled.
Tessa shrugged. “I have no idea. But it was fun! Thanks for insisting on it.” Okay, it hadn’t actually been fun. But Tessa didn’t think Gloria really needed to know about the shark. “Let’s put our gear away.”
They both got up and carried their paddle boards back to the small building.
Gloria sighed, “Honestly, I was hoping my hair wouldn’t get wet or else we’d have gone snorkeling. Now, I need to go back to the room and get changed and redo my hair.”
As they approached the dock in front of the hotel, Tessa realized something was going on. An ambulance, silent but with lights flashing, was parked as close to the water as possible, and a crowd had gathered around it. For as many people as were there, the atmosphere was almost dead quiet. It felt eerie.
Tessa and Gloria stood on tiptoes at the back of the crowd, craning their necks to get a glimpse of what was going on. In front of them, people silently shifted, letting the two women maneuver their way through. In fact, it seemed as though many people were easing away from the scene.
When they got to a clear spot, Tessa immediately knew why people would be get away.
There was blood all over the dock and in the water.
She heard the word shark filter through the crowd. A few reapers sto
od dripping water, towels wrapped around them, snorkels and masks pushed onto their heads. Everywhere, there were pale, shocked faces.
Tessa forced herself to look at the injured person the EMTs were working on. It was clear their efforts would be fruitless—no one could survive injuries like that. It had to be the same shark she’d seen. The one that had considered attacking Gloria. It must have found easier prey by the dock.
“Who is it?” she whispered, straining to see something that would help her identify the dead reaper.
Gloria, also a degree paler than usual, gave her a wide-eyed look and whispered back, “It’s Cynthia.”
Chapter 10
TESSA AND GLORIA RETREATED from the front of the crowd, slipping past other reapers. Near the back, they found Bubba, standing with his arms crossed. He wore swim trunks and dripped onto the grass. For once, his expression wasn’t joyful.
“What happened?” Gloria asked.
He grimaced. “Shark attack.”
“We got that much.” Gloria glared at him.
“I’m wondering who took her over?” Tessa said.
“I didn’t see anyone do it.” Bubba shrugged and shook his head. “Terrible way to go.”
Tessa agreed with the other reaper’s sentiments, but her attention was captured by someone else. She elbowed Gloria and nodded toward Timothy, who was just leaving the dock. He looked like the poster boy for a Casper movie trailer—his face was so pale it seemed incompatible with being alive.
Tessa whispered to Gloria, “Did you see that? Timothy looked rattled.”
Gloria’s eyes tracked Timothy’s back as he headed for the hotel. “He looks shaken, for sure.”
Tessa went to ask Bubba if he’d seen Timothy at the scene, but his back was turned as he spoke to Preston in hushed tones.
SHE QUIZZED GLORIA with her query instead. “Do you think he had something to do with it?”
