Sunken Seas (A Rowan Gray Mystery Book 4)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Then let’s get to it,” Anthony said, his eyes alive with excitement. “The faster we find this guy, the faster we can hit the bar tonight.”

  Quinn lobbed a worried look in Rowan’s direction and found her face unreadable. “I want to find who did this, but I’m not going to the bar tonight.”

  “You’re wimping out?” Anthony was appalled. “Why?”

  “Let’s just say I have something important I want to do with my night and leave it at that. Now … come on. This might take longer than both of us want.”

  IN THE END, THEY came up with very little to help their investigation. The key card used to access the employee door was stolen from one of the break rooms during an afternoon shift. The cameras caught the suspect entering the hallway but lost him when he turned a corner. The hoodie itself was found discarded in a trash receptacle on the third floor.

  They had nothing to track the man in question and were left with more questions than answers.

  “I’m exhausted,” Rowan said as she sat at the end of the bed upon returning to her room later that night. She groaned as she leaned over to remove her shoes, but Quinn beat her to it, kneeling in front of her and sliding off the belted sandals.

  “You didn’t have to do that.” Rowan was sheepish.

  “Maybe I wanted to,” Quinn said. “Maybe I wanted to play Cinderella. Did you ever consider that?”

  “The prince put the shoe on Cinderella’s foot. He didn’t take it off.”

  “Oh, well, I’m much too tired for that.” Quinn took her by surprise when he pressed a kiss to the bottom of her foot, causing her to squirm. “Ticklish, huh?”

  “Maybe a little.” Rowan struggled to a standing position and tugged off her shirt and shorts. They managed to eat, although it wasn’t the romantic dinner Quinn envisioned because Anthony and Andrea insisted they all sit together and talk about the attack.

  For her part, Selena was sedated and kept in the hospital wing for the night. Quinn put two guards on her to be safe, but he doubted very much anyone would make a second attempt so close to the first failure.

  Anthony and Andrea were convinced it had to be some sort of sexual attack – although that made zero sense to Quinn – and they refused to discard the notion. They worked tirelessly to get Quinn to stay with them after dinner, down another few rounds of drinks, but Quinn was adamant when he declined.

  Finally, when Anthony saw him slide his arm around Rowan’s shoulders and direct her toward the door, he gave up and wished them a pleasant evening. He looked sad to see them go, though, and Quinn couldn’t help thinking it was because he wanted Rowan close rather than him. Anthony seemed enamored with the ship photographer, and he had no problem showing it.

  “I know I promised to take you to the Jacuzzi tonight, but I think we both need some sleep first,” Quinn said. “The good thing is, I have plenty of time to get you there over the next week or so … and I swear I’m going to do it. I hope you’re not too disappointed.”

  “I’m disappointed, but mostly because we didn’t get to spend any time alone. I’m looking forward to the Jacuzzi, but I can wait.”

  Quinn’s smile dipped. “I’m sorry we didn’t get any alone time. I wanted that, too.”

  Rowan waved off the apology. “It’s not as if it was your fault. You saved a life. You saved Selena’s life.”

  “We saved her life,” Quinn corrected. “I’m still sorry. I wanted a quiet night with you more than anything.”

  “We can still have that.” Rowan pointed toward the bed. “It will simply be really quiet.”

  Quinn chuckled as he stripped out of his shirt and shorts, leaving only his boxer shorts in place as he hit the light and crawled in next to Rowan. “Come here,” he murmured as they got comfortable, moving to his side and drawing her back to his chest as he wrapped his arm around her. “I promise to romance the crap out of you as soon as we figure this all out.”

  Rowan snorted, genuinely amused. “I don’t need you to romance the crap out of me. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but I’m perfectly comfortable with this.”

  Quinn kissed her neck. “I’m still going to do it.” He was so tired he knew he would drift off soon. He wanted Rowan to be with him when he did. “I’m going to make this up to you.”

  “You already have.”

  “How?”

  Rowan linked her fingers with his and pressed his hand to her chest. “You’re here.”

  Quinn’s heart pinged at her earnest words. “Oh, I’m definitely going to romance the crap out of you.”

  “I love it when you phrase it like that.”

  “Just wait until I start the romance.”

  THEY SLEPT HARD, both of them tumbling directly into dreamland. When they woke, they were in the exact same positions and cuddled together. Rowan shifted as she stretched, rolling so she could face Quinn as the morning sunshine filtered through the window.

  “Morning,” Quinn murmured as he pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. “How did you sleep?”

  “Better than I expected,” Rowan admitted. “I thought I would have nightmares about what happened – I used to have dreams about falling quite a bit when my father disappeared – but I slept hard. I can’t even remember what I dreamed about.”

  Quinn tucked a strand of Rowan’s hair behind her ear. “I used to hang out with a guy when I was overseas who analyzed dreams. He spent all his time doing it. I think he just wanted something to focus on besides his fear. Anyway, he once told me that falling represents insecurity and feelings of being overwhelmed.”

  “Did you believe him?”

  Quinn shrugged. “I think it made sense. I don’t want you feeling insecure.”

  “I’m not sure you can fix that. You’re not the person who started the insecurity train. Unless you can find my father and give me answers, I think I’m stuck.”

  Quinn licked his lips. “If you want, I can look into that.”

  The offer was simple, straightforward, and yet it caught Rowan off guard. “What?”

  “I can look into it,” Quinn repeated. “We can even take time together and go back … if you want, I mean.”

  Rowan was floored. “You would do that for me?”

  “There’s very little I wouldn’t do for you. I believe all the options involve dancing to rap music in public and voluntarily hanging out with clowns.” The lame joke earned him a wan smile so Quinn plowed forward. “If you want me to see if I can figure out what happened to your father, I’m more than willing to do it.”

  Rowan swallowed hard, the offer touching her in a way she didn’t know was possible. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Quinn kissed her forehead, the effort gentle and yet wrenchingly intimate. “Is that what you want? As soon as this job is over, I can start looking into times that will work.”

  “I don’t know if I want that,” Rowan admitted, resting her fingertips on his chest. “I always thought that was what I wanted … right up until you offered to see if you could find answers.”

  Quinn instantly understood what she was getting at. “You want to know and yet you’re afraid to actually find out.”

  “I’ve always thought that not knowing was the worst possible thing.” Rowan licked her lips as she scratched the side of her nose. “I’m not sure that’s true, though. What if I find out he’s dead and lose that last bit of hope in the back of my brain? The part that thinks maybe he got hit over the head and is out there with amnesia.”

  “Amnesia is pretty rare, Ro.”

  “I know, but it’s still a sliver of hope, isn’t it? I also have hope that the government was out to get him – although I have no idea why – and he ran to keep me safe. I dream that he’s out there and watches over me whenever he can.”

  “I get it.” And, because he did, Quinn could do nothing but draw her closer. “You don’t have to do anything before you’re ready. We can leave it for now.”

  “Thank you.”

  “We’ll revisit this convers
ation when we’re both more settled,” Quinn offered. “That’s down the road, but I’m sure it will work out.”

  “Great.” Rowan burrowed her face in the hollow of his neck. “Thank you for offering, though.”

  “The offer stands. When you’re ready, we’ll talk.”

  “Okay.”

  The duo lapsed into amiable silence, both content to remain where they were, until something occurred to Rowan and she snapped her head back. “Oh!”

  Quinn reluctantly released her as she scrambled from the bed, taking a moment to enjoy the way she looked in nothing but her sleep tank and panties before furrowing his brow as she returned to the bed with her camera in tow. “What are you doing? I don’t know how I feel about taking dirty selfies.”

  Rowan scorched him with a dark look. “Just for the record, that’s never going to happen.”

  “I was kidding. Well, mostly.”

  Rowan shook her head. “No dirty pictures.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Quinn rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he focused on the camera. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for photos of Selena.”

  “Oh.” Quinn straightened as he watched Rowan flip through the photos. “If the omen is gone, that means she’s in the clear, right?”

  “In theory. I mean, I guess an accident could happen, but generally once the omen is gone, so is the threat.”

  “What do we have?”

  Rowan clicked on the first photo of Selena she found and peered closer. “No omen. It’s gone.”

  “Are you sure?” Quinn leaned closer.

  “This is the first photo I took yesterday,” Rowan offered. “The omen was right here.” She pointed for emphasis. “Now it’s gone.”

  “So … that’s a good thing, right?”

  Rowan nodded. “According to this she’s no longer in danger.”

  “Yeah, I still want to know why she was in danger in the first place.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  Quinn smiled as he kissed her neck. “That’s why we’re such a good pair.”

  “Is this you being romantic?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Well, let’s see what you’ve got. I’m starving but mildly curious.”

  “Way to keep the pressure off.”

  “I do my best.”

  10

  Ten

  Quinn and Rowan had breakfast in the main dining room. Despite the events of the previous day, the meal was a relaxed affair, both happy they were back in sync with nothing standing between them.

  They were drinking coffee and making plans for the day when Anthony approached.

  “I don’t want to disturb you.”

  Quinn shifted in his chair. “Oh, well … .”

  “You’re not disturbing us.” Rowan offered up a friendly smile. “We were just finishing up. Did you find anything after we went to bed last night?”

  “Just a celebration of sorts at the tiki bar.” Anthony took one of the open chairs. “I was wondering if you found anything.”

  “Not yet, but I’m going to stop and see Selena as soon as I’m done here,” Quinn said. “She’s going to be released from the medical wing before noon and I want to get her statement on the record before that happens. She was too worked up last night to give us one.”

  “Do you mind if I go with you?”

  Quinn shook his head. “Not at all. I understand this is a concern for you as much as me.”

  “I’m more confused than anything else,” Anthony said. “I’ve been trying to come up with a motive and I can’t.”

  Quinn sipped his coffee. “What do you know about Selena?”

  “Just what Andrea told me.”

  “Which is?”

  “She’s a competent diver. She has a bit of a wild streak, but that’s not uncommon given her line of work. It’s something of a daredevil field. Selena has been known to purposely hop in shark cages with cameras and she’s licensed for dangerous dives. That attracts a certain … um … personality type.”

  Rowan was confused. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “It means that she’s known to take chances with her personal and professional life,” Quinn supplied. “People like Selena like living on the edge. That means they’re more likely to skirt the edge of reason, perhaps do things normal people would find uncomfortable.”

  “That doesn’t explain why she would be attacked, though,” Rowan pointed out. “I’m more worried about the motivations of the person who tried to throw her over the edge than why Selena likes to be wild and crazy.”

  “That’s a fair point, but Selena must have done something to draw attention to herself,” Anthony argued. “People don’t get attacked for no reason when they’re minding their own business.”

  “I was on the deck with Selena for the bulk of the afternoon yesterday,” Rowan offered. “She didn’t do anything but hang out with her friends.”

  “Yes, but we don’t know what she did before that.”

  Quinn ran his thumb over his bottom lip as he considered the situation. “Whoever it was managed to steal a key card from one of the maids. He had to have it planned ahead of time. I talked to the maid in question last night and she swears she didn’t see anyone out of the ordinary watching her.

  “She was in the gym for a bit and then she went and got her hair done,” he continued. “She was with friends and no one saw anyone following. Still, someone managed to steal her key card without anyone seeing, and she’s fairly positive it had to be in the break room because that’s where she was when she noticed it was missing. That, to me, seems to indicate we’re dealing with a professional.”

  Rowan was horrified. “A professional killer?”

  Quinn shrugged. “Maybe not that far. Someone who knew what he was doing, though. Someone who could fly under the radar.”

  “You’re insinuating it was someone on my security staff,” Anthony said, stiffening. “That’s what you’re saying, right?”

  “Not necessarily.” Quinn remained calm, sensing there was a chance Anthony might fly off the handle. “I will say that the bulk of my security team is made up of former military personnel and retired police officers. They know what they’re doing in a tense situation, but they’re not the sort of professional who could steal a key card without anyone noticing.”

  “What about new personnel?” Anthony challenged. “Maybe someone slipped on the ship without you knowing. You can’t go over every personnel file. That would be … a lot of freaking work.”

  “It was a lot of work when I first joined the crew,” Quinn clarified. “It’s not all that much work now. We do see a decent amount of turnover, but it honestly never jumps by more than five or six bodies with each trip. I go over each file before okaying a hire.”

  “And you have that much power?” Anthony was impressed. “I thought you were just a figurehead.”

  Quinn could have taken the statement as an insult … but he didn’t. “One of the reasons I signed on for this gig was the freedom they allowed me in my contract. I wanted the power to veto people if I found something in their background checks that worried me. Surprisingly, I’ve been given a bit of omnipotence since I arrived and it’s worked out well.”

  “Until now,” Anthony pointed out. “We have no idea if the attacker was one of your people or one of mine.”

  “No, but I intend to find out.” Quinn took another sip of coffee before turning his full attention to Rowan. He wanted to discuss a few things with her, but couldn’t given Anthony’s apparent interest in staying close. “What are you going to do today?”

  Rowan recognized his tone and adjusted hers accordingly. “I’m going to hang out on deck and take photos of everyone before the big arrival. That happens before dinner, so I figured that would take up the bulk of my afternoon. I also plan on stopping in to see Selena, but I’ll wait until you guys are done questioning her.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” Quinn patted the top of Rowan’s hand. “I’l
l take you to a nice dinner tonight once we hit the island. I’ve been here once before and I know a nice place. They have seafood pasta that you’ll absolutely go gaga over.”

  Rowan snorted. “You just like it when I go gaga.”

  “You have no idea.” Quinn flicked his eyes to Anthony and found the security guru watching the exchange with curious eyes. “As for us, I want to look at the hoodie found in the trash receptacle last night. I’m going to guess there are no identifying markers on it, but I want to make sure. Then I figured we would hit Selena and go from there.”

  “I think those are our best options,” Anthony agreed. “I know this sounds selfish, but I’m hoping the culprit turns out to be a member of your crew rather than mine. If he’s part of my crew … well … it won’t be good.”

  “Why not?” Rowan asked.

  “Because that means they’ve got a live wire in their midst,” Quinn supplied. “That’s the last thing he needs considering all the attention that’s going to be foisted on this dive. All eyes are going to be on them and he doesn’t need news getting out that he’s got a rogue working for him.”

  “Which is exactly why I want to figure this out before we dock if I can.” Anthony pushed himself to a standing position. “Are you ready?”

  Quinn bobbed his head. “Just give me a minute with Rowan. I’ll meet you by the door.”

  “Oh, are you going to get all lovey-dovey?” Anthony’s tone was derisive, but his eyes were lit with interest.

  “Probably.” Quinn saw no reason to be embarrassed. “I won’t be but a minute.”

  Anthony nodded to Rowan before moving away from the table. Quinn made sure he was out of earshot before speaking again.

  “You’re going to take photos of everyone you can find, aren’t you?”

  “Do you have a better idea?” Rowan asked. “Just because Selena no longer has the omen hanging over her, that doesn’t mean others don’t. I figure it’s worth a try … especially since I don’t have much else to do this afternoon.”