Beneath the Waves

by Ali Vali

  She tapped the phone against her chin, trying to decide what her first stop of the day should be after a hot shower. If she got all her running around out of the way, maybe she could convince Frankie to take the afternoon off for some fun.

  “It’s a good thing everyone I know is up as early as I am, which will make this doable.”

  She dressed casually and drove down to the French bakery at the end of St. Charles Avenue. They were taking fresh croissants out of the oven when she arrived, and she’d need one if she dared another cup of coffee. It was still early so the place was mostly deserted, except for the staff joking with each other in the kitchen. That’s what made the woman sitting alone in the corner stand out, not that she wouldn’t have even if the place had been packed.

  Even sitting, Vivien could tell she was tall and solidly built, and though she was fairly sure they’d never met, something seemed incredibly familiar about her. She realized she was staring when the stranger glanced up from her paper and smiled.

  “Sorry,” she said and turned to hide her embarrassment. Staring at total strangers wasn’t something she did, and now wasn’t the time to begin.

  “Did you want this for here or to go?” the girl at the register asked.

  “For here.” She heard the words come out despite the fact that wasn’t what she’d planned at all. “Thanks.”

  She picked the opposite corner and unfolded the newspaper she’d added to her purchases. No matter how hard she tried not to, she peeked up after every paragraph she read. Whoever the Amazon was, she must’ve had the day off as well since she was in shorts, T-shirt, and sandals. If there’d been a beach around, she was dressed appropriately to bum around on it.

  “Have a nice day,” the woman said as she stood and walked by her. Vivien had been right about the height.

  “You too,” she said, cursing herself for sounding out of breath. When the door closed, the air in the room became almost stale, as if the woman had taken the life in it with her. “Good lord, maybe I’ve been on the water alone too long.”

  She finished her simple breakfast and headed to Tulane to visit her old professor, Dr. Etta Sinclair. The university’s oceanography department wasn’t huge, but Etta had done a good job in expanding her love of the water and the treasures it held in its depths. Vivien had missed her when she’d left for LSU and its better engineering program. She’d chosen to start at Tulane to stay close to Frankie as long as she could.

  There was a parking spot close to Etta’s office, and she was surprised to see her breakfast companion ahead of her on the sidewalk. Maybe the beach bum was an older student, since she appeared slightly north of the average-aged female on campus. She walked without saying anything, and the woman surprised her again when she entered Etta’s building.

  Etta and the tall woman were already in conversation when Vivien arrived and knocked on the door. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you have some time for me when you’re done?” she asked Etta. The mystery guest stood and offered her the only other seat in the cramped office aside from Etta’s.

  “I was delivering something for a friend, so she’s all yours,” the woman said as she placed her hand on Etta’s shoulder before leaving.

  “I apologize if I ran her off.”

  “Don’t worry about it. She really was dropping off a package before heading to the aquarium.”

  “She works there?” The fact-finding question was lame, guaranteeing that she’d never have a career in law enforcement.

  “I don’t think so,” Etta said as she made room on her desk by dropping a few stacks of books on the ground. “She mentioned something about a fish. Enough about that, though. Did you find anything?” The map Etta took out had the section they’d picked together circled in red.

  “Nothing this time around.”

  “Really?” Etta glanced at her over the rim of her wire-framed classes. “I’m pretty sure that’s the spot your old map pinpointed.”

  “The weather turned on me, and I didn’t have time to wait for it to clear up. If anything’s there, it’ll keep until my work schedule frees up again.”

  Etta leaned back and smiled. “I’m sure it’ll be waiting on you since you’re the most persistent person I’ve ever met. Are you in town for a while, or is your father shipping you back out before we can have lunch together?”

  “Give me a week and I’ll let you know.” The file lying on the spot Etta had cleared was incredibly distracting. “I had to come back early, and Daddy does have me booked already.”

  “So you can wait for this that long?” Etta tapped the file and laughed. “If you can, you must’ve changed plenty on vacation.”

  “Who else visits you before eight in the morning? Of course I haven’t changed that much.” She waited to open the file when Etta relinquished her hold on it, wanting to hear about it from Etta, since she made even the most boring topic sound riveting. “Did you find anything? Was it authentic?”

  “It can’t be an original because of the pristine condition, considering when it was supposedly written, but it’s still old for a copy. Whoever originated it followed the script of some of the other documents you’ve found, only this one mentions the section of ocean you were planning to investigate.”

  What had started as a childhood whim had turned into a lifelong obsession to find the origins of the strange writing on her shell. It had led her on interesting dives all over the world and to more maps than any one person should own. Every so often, with Frankie’s help, she found actual text to go with the old maps that brought her closer to the answer she was after.

  “It’s so aggravating. This was the first time I found a spot where I could actually dive without special equipment, and Mother Nature drops a monsoon on my head.” She flipped through the papers Etta had put together, looking forward to reviewing the translations she’d included. “Nothing in the form of an alphabet?”

  “I never want to curb your enthusiasm, but have you ever considered that you’ve been chasing a beach bum’s artistic license all this time?” Etta pointed to her shell but made no move to touch it.

  “My father certainly thinks so, but my gut tells me to keep going. I just know I’m right.”

  “Then you are, and I have faith you’ll eventually find what you’re looking for.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come in the afterlife,” she said before kissing Etta’s cheek and heading to her next stop. It wasn’t until she was in the car that she realized Etta had effectively changed the subject well enough to never introduce the mystery woman.

  “Well played, Etta, and if you were able to hook the Amazon, I’m impressed.”

  *

  “You like it here?” Kai asked her old classmate Andie Gettis as she prepared the supplies she’d need for the day. “I’d think it’d be difficult to look at all day, every day.”

  “It was at first, but then the kids come in and want to know how they can make things better. That makes it worthwhile.”

  “You’ve been missed,” Kai said as she helped carry everything to the side of the large tank.

  “One month to go and I’ll get to go home for a few weeks. Ready to visit some of your offspring?”

  “Funny,” she said as she put the air tank on, though technically neither she nor Andie needed one. The aquarium had been the recipient of one of the programs she’d started during some of the stints she’d spent in the area, with her mothers’ blessings. Andie had monitored progress in her absence, and from the specimens she’d seen so far, her work was starting to pay off.

  “Do they pass the plate test?” From this perspective all she could see was the fish swimming by. “I’d hate to go back to the drawing board now.”

  “You don’t have to worry about that, and if you have time I’ll prove it to you at the lunch place down the street.”

  Kai nodded and jumped in, letting herself sink to the bottom, where her feet sank in the sand. The sharks swimming above her seemed to follow the same pattern and ignored th
e other fish sharing their space. They seemed satisfied with whatever Andie was putting in the feed buckets, but she was more interested in the game fish. They’d gotten much bigger than when she’d dropped them in a year before, so if a fraction of them had survived in the wild, it was good to see where they were in the life cycle.

  She stuck her hand into the bucket, and it didn’t take long to draw a crowd while Andie took care of the sharks. When the bucket was empty she glanced out to the large room that faced the tank and noticed there weren’t too many people outside, and all but one had on the blue shirts the staff wore. It was her breakfast gawker, and now she was sorry she hadn’t stuck around so Etta could’ve introduced them, since the woman was staring at her as intently as she had that morning.

  The woman lifted her hand when she waved, then watched her as she swam back to the top. Kai didn’t think she’d still be there once she’d finished changing, and she was right when all she found was the security guard assigned to the area.

  “Does that blond woman work here?” she asked as she walked outside with Andie.

  “We have more than a few of those.” Andie led her into the French Quarter and chose to sit outside. She understood the allure of the table with the red umbrella. Their underwater home was as bright as this on a clear day, but something about the air up top was special.

  “You didn’t notice the woman watching us?”

  “I don’t have the same talent with sharks, my friend, so I rarely take my eyes off them to look out at the gallery.”

  It was strange running into someone that many times in a day, but coincidences did happen sometimes, despite people’s theories on the subject. With all she had to do she tried to forget about it and concentrated on the plate the waiter had placed before her.

  It was still early for lunch but Andie had insisted. “They definitely pass the plate test,” she said when she took a bite of the fried redfish.

  Chapter Six

  Vivien stared at the two dresses she’d laid on the bed and tried to decide which one was dressy enough for the occasion but in turn didn’t give anyone the wrong impression, especially Steve. If she’d been faintly interested in him he would’ve blown her away by now, since his persistence was unrelenting but also extremely annoying. Steve was handsome, and she could tell he was aware of that fact, but something about him gave her the creeps.

  “The blue it is,” she said, remembering how much Steve loved her in black.

  She dressed and put on only lipstick, knowing the lack of makeup would aggravate her mother. “It’s only fair since I’m pissed that I’m here instead of watching the sunset on the deck of my boat.”

  Her house wasn’t too far from her parents in distance, but a world away when it came to everything else. The Palmer estate on River Road at the cusp of the Garden District was truly stunning, and Vivien always thought it was stuck in time. Outside the gates the world had evolved, but inside, the manicured lawns and gardens made the grand home appear even more majestic. It’d been interesting to bring people over when she was younger, but the exercise had proved a litmus test for those only interested in the Palmer money and those who’d become true friends.

  Marsha Kessler was the one person Vivien had known since kindergarten who had proved herself loyal. Her best friend’s father owned a huge shipping company that put him in her family’s league as far as money was concerned, so she’d never been in Vivien’s life for opportunistic reasons. Marsha was usually only interested in a good time and was fun to be around when they were ready to take a break from their family business duties.

  That wasn’t the impression she got when she saw Marsha smoking near the fountain close to the front door. “You look tense,” she said as she got out of her car. “Did they run out of booze already?”

  “The day your parents run out of booze, I’ll know for sure the apocalypse is upon us,” Marsha said and laughed. “No, Frankie fixed me a drink, but I’d have had to stay inside and listen to Steve tell me how wonderful he is to enjoy it. After fifteen minutes of that, I thought I’d come pollute the air out here while he does the same inside.” Marsha put out her smoke so she could hug her. “If I had a dollar for every time he’s asked me to put in a good word for him, I’d double my take-home pay this year.”

  “Steve’s my father’s pipe dream so I hope they’ll be happy together. I keep telling Daddy that Steve wants to unburden me from my job after marriage so Palmer Oil can have a new executive vice president who dreams of the top spot.”

  “What are you supposed to be doing while he’s running the empire?”

  “Having a bunch of little Steves so the company will eventually be Hawksworth Oil. At least that’s Frankie’s take.” The gate opened again, but she didn’t recognize the big bike that rolled in. “Steve can’t believe I haven’t jumped at the offer he keeps wrapping up in different ways.”

  “Is that the caterer?” Marsha asked as she sat on the edge of the fountain and crossed her legs. “If it is, one or both of your parents is letting their inhibitions out of the box they’ve kept hidden and locked in the back of the closet since the eighties.”

  “I doubt it, since Leo would be crushed if they brought someone else into his kitchen,” she said about their long-time in-house chef.

  “Whoever she is, if she’s staying, I’m suddenly glad I came.” Marsha stood and smoothed down her skirt. “Shall we?”

  “Can I help you?” Vivien asked when they got close enough to watch the woman take her helmet off. It was a surprise to see the mystery woman from her day standing in the drive, and this close, even in the waning light, she noticed how beautiful her light-green eyes were.

  “Hello again.” The woman smiled as she placed her helmet on the seat of her bike. “I hope I have the correct address. Mr. Winston Palmer invited me for dinner.”

  “You’re in the right place,” Vivien said as she glanced at Marsha and almost laughed at her expression. Man-crazy Marsha would eventually commit to just one, but she probably wouldn’t mind jumping the gender fence when the specimen was this extraordinary. “We’ve seen each other plenty today, so I apologize for not introducing myself sooner.” She held her hand out. “I’m Vivien Palmer, his daughter.”

  “A pleasure to formally meet you,” the woman said as she took her hand. It was warm, large, and strong, which seemed to fit its owner. “I’m Kai Merlin, your new supervising drilling engineer on Triton.”

  “That’s interesting,” she said, her gut becoming as cold as if she’d swallowed a bucket of ice.

  “Actually the job’s not all that exciting,” Kai said, still not releasing her hand. “It’s important, but interesting might be a stretch.”

  “I think Vivien finds it interesting because she’s the supervising drilling engineer on Triton,” Marsha said when Vivien remained silent. “I’m Marsha Kessler.”

  “A pleasure to meet you.” Kai shook Marsha’s hand briefly, then slid both hands deep in her pockets. She stared at Vivien as if trying to decipher the problem. “I’m not sure what’s going on, and I’m not familiar with Palmer politics, so I apologize for upsetting you,” Kai said, sounding sincere. “I’m only here for a job and, from the look of this place, crab puffs.”

  “If you don’t mind I’ll leave you with Marsha. She can show you in.” She took a deep breath to control the anger she felt toward her father. The whole heart-to-heart the day she got back had been a farce he’d pulled off beautifully. “Please excuse me.”

  “Miss Palmer.” Kai’s voice stopped her. “If you like, I’ll leave.” The offer made her turn around fast enough for the shell around her neck to break free of the scoop of her dress’s neckline, so she wrapped her fist around it for comfort. “I’m new to the area, and I’m sure I could take another job that won’t upset you this much.”

  “If you don’t mind some free advice, you should know my father will expect more of a cheerleader than that. To Winston Palmer, nothing’s more important than Triton’s output.”

&
nbsp; “Thanks, but I never could pull off the short skirt and bobby socks essential to any good cheerleading outfit.”

  Kai’s tone had changed, so Vivien tried to regain control of herself and the situation. “I’m sorry for being rude. You’re a guest and I had no right to talk to you like that, so please stay. I’m sure Marsha will be happy to walk you inside and get you something to drink.”

  “Take your time.”

  She nodded, comfortable enough that Kai wasn’t going to walk away. Her mother’s family dinner turned fiasco wasn’t close to getting started, so she intended to hunt her father down and ruin his night more than he had hers. Predictably he was in his office, since he didn’t have an off switch, and not surprisingly Steve was glued to his ass, so she plastered a smile she didn’t appreciate having to lift the corners of her mouth to make and entered. The way Steve perked up when she came in made her realize he’d misread her expression for something warm and welcoming.

  “Steve, would you excuse us? I need to speak to my father in private.” Every word made Steve’s entire body stiffen more, but he left with a slight slam of the heavy oak door.

  “Honey, you really need to soften your stance toward Steve. He’s not going to wait forever,” Winston said as he shuffled papers on his desk from one pile to another.

  Did he practice being this clueless to everything and everyone around him that didn’t pertain to business? “I believe those are the most overused words anyone who refuses to see I don’t care if Steve waits forever has ever said. No amount of time’s going to change my mind, but if you love him that much, I’ll break the news to Mom that you’re running off with him. He kisses your ass enough times in a day that I’m sure you’ll be blissfully happy together.” She sat on the small leather couch that faced the French doors and crossed her arms over her chest to draw him from behind his desk.

  “That tone isn’t necessary.” His voice was flat, and if she kept pushing he’d be ready for a fight. “Your mother and I only have—”