by Lane, Aubree
Tanner decided to remedy that. “After you moved in I did a little research on you. I know you teach at the college, but could you remind me again what you teach, Professor Greene?”
Cara couldn’t hold her smile in any longer. “I’m a Professor of Biology at the University. I’m in charge of undergraduate research of invasive species in the lake.”
Tanner nodded appreciatively, he had been duped. “And Lola is...?”
Cara threw her head back and laughed out loud.
Her glee was contagious and Tanner found himself laughing right along with her. The sound resonating out of him felt strange, and Tanner realized he hadn’t had a good belly roll in a long time. Cara Lee was good for him. He hooked her arm in his and guided her away from the marina.
As they crossed the main thoroughfare of Tahoe City, Cara was finally able to answer, “Our nickname for, Lady of the Lake Aquatic Research Vessel.” She grabbed her side and caught her breath. “I’m glad you’re laughing along with me. I am sick to death of being serious all the time.” She reached out and touched his arm. “Just so you know, I don’t have any children, and I’m not trying to rope you into a ready-made family.” She slapped him on the back. “Our waitress that night at Rookies is my first mate aboard LOLA. Jena’s been with me for a couple of years now. She overheard me leading you astray and wanted me to come clean. She was afraid I’d send you heading for the hills. I’m actually surprised you stuck around.”
Tanner wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her towards Rosie’s Café. He was just as surprised as her. “You had me going. I had no idea you were talking about a boat. It did cross my mind why a child had never been mentioned in all the articles written about you and Duncan, but then I would look at your cute little scrunched up face as you flung your darts and get distracted.” He raised his thumb and forefinger about half an inch apart. “And I may have been just a tiny bit petrified.”
Cara giggled all the way to Rosie’s and even for a few minutes after they had been seated. She was quite pleased with how she had fooled him. Tanner was glad he hadn’t been scared off. Hearing the sound of her laughter was music to his ears, and he decided that for their second date, he was going to take her dancing.
Tanner was impressed, Cara handled LOLA like a pro. Standing in the cockpit she took the wheel and maneuvered her out of the slip and into the lane flawlessly.
The water rippled gently away from the hull as LOLA broke the crystal blue sheet of glass that lay before them.
“The marina is huge.” Tanner called out over the engine noise. “It’s so much bigger than it was when I was a kid. How many slips do they have?”
Cara chuckled. “Slips? We don’t have no stinking slips. They’re called dockominiums. You’re into real estate, maybe you should get into the dockominium game. The owners even have to pay association fees.”
The idea seemed incredulous, and Tanner shook his head. “I thought you just rented them.”
Cara pointed off to the east. “There are eighty-one rentals owned by the Marina over in that direction.” She cocked her head back to where they had just exited. “Compared to the one hundred and sixty privately owned dockominiums back there. Most of the people I’ve talked to are renters. Investors have snatched up the majority of the dockominiums and rent them out, just like you do at Granite Gates. There’s probably a pretty penny to be made renting out those fancy boat moorings.”
Tanner thought owning a dockominium was completely ridiculous, but in the back of his mind he wondered if it could be profitable. The maintenance wouldn’t be nearly as time consuming as remodeling all the units at the apartment complex, so out of curiosity he asked, “Do you happen to know how much they sell for?”
She shook her head. “That’s not part of my job. The University worries about that crap. I’m just a fisherman.”
Just a fisherman? Cara was not just an anything, but she was really close to being just about everything. He watched her navigate LOLA out into the open water and felt pride in what she had accomplished. She sat at the helm, her hands on the wheel, completely comfortable and confident. Cara was in her element.
The woman he met at the gala had been beautifully poised and coiffed. But here, out on the lake, she was as far away from the dark smoky casino life as one could possibly get. Tanner smiled when that thought crossed his mind. She had lived in two totally different worlds. It must have been exhausting. No wonder she got a little crazy now and then.
Cara shot a sexy smile his way. “Think you can handle a little bit of speed?”
LOLA reminded him of a big slow tuna boat. Whatever speed she had in her, Tanner was fairly certain he could handle with ease. “Bring it,” he shouted happily.
“Hang on.” Cara called out and kicked the boat into high gear.
Before Tanner had a chance to grab hold of anything, LOLA took off like a bullet. He felt himself lose his balance, but just when he thought his butt was going to hit the deck, Cara reached out and steadied his stance.
Her eyes danced with delight, and her chest shook with suppressed laughter.
Tanner rolled his eyes. She was just full of it today. “You did that on purpose.”
Cara tried to look remorseful, but she didn’t come close to pulling it off. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. I saved you, though.”
It was Tanner’s turn to chuckle. “I guess that makes you my hero.” He pointed to a strange contraption at the back of the boat that looked like a claw. “What’s that?”
She throttled down and slowed LOLA to a stop. As the boat rocked gently in the calm Tahoe morning, Cara opened the claw. “It’s how we catch fish.” A net fell out and Cara pushed the crane-like device out over the water. “We trawl along for a while, then we pull up the net to see what we have.” She lowered the crane and the net fell into the lake. “Want to try and catch something?”
Tanner did. He really did. Her work fascinated him. He had been receiving the monthly newsletters from the Blue Tahoe Blue Foundation, but until this very moment he hadn’t realized how closely Cara’s job aligned with the Foundation’s goals. “Can I drive?”
Cara nodded and like an excited kid, Tanner jumped behind the wheel.
“Tanner.” Her voice was firm and her eyes turned hard. “Do not try to knock me on my ass. There is a net in the water and all we do is creep along. Do I make myself clear?”
Tanner stuck out his lower lip and pouted. “Yes, Professor Greene. But I swear, knocking you on your ass never entered my mind.” He put LOLA in gear and smiled. “Let’s get a move on. I can’t wait to see what we’re having for dinner.”
Cara shot him a horrified look. “No, Tanner! This is a research vessel. Non-invasive species are thrown back, and we take the others to the lab for testing. We do not eat our catch.”
Although Tanner hadn’t realized Cara was the professor in charge of the University’s research vessel, he had read many articles about the research going on at the college. He knew the protocols, but Cara didn’t get his joke. He couldn’t resist teasing her just a bit more. “Not ever? School isn’t even in session now.”
Cara sighed and relented. “Fine. If we catch any, you may keep one trout.”
Professor Greene was a pushover. Tanner knew if the protocols were broken Cara could lose her job. He shook his head. “Do you always give into the guys you sleep with so easily? No one on this boat is taking any fish home. Not even you, Cara Lee.”
Cara grinned at the mention of their time together. “I think I’d give you just about anything you asked for. The last couple of nights have been beyond amazing, and if there weren’t so many boats out on the lake today...” she let her voice trail off in a regretful sigh, then she leaned in and nuzzled her head against his neck.
The happiness which illuminated from her was contagious. Tanner couldn’t remember when he felt so lighthearted. One might even say he was joyful.
Mrs. Grimes teased him mercilessly about the new skip in his step and twinkle in his
eye. Tanner hadn’t minded a bit, and at one point he even suggested that Mrs. Grimes should take some of her own match-making advice and check out old Mr. Fuller who lived in unit 6-B.
Mrs. Grimes cackled and assured Tanner that she had, and that there weren’t enough little blue pills in the world to get old Mr. Fuller’s engine working again.
For the next several hours Cara introduced Tanner to the fine art of maneuvering LOLA around the shoreline. Occasionally they would stop, drop the net, and haul in a load of fish. No invasive species were found until the last drop of the day. Tanner leaned over the side of the boat as Cara operated the boom and retracted the net. Something strange shimmered in the depths. Orange flashes of color wavered brightly beneath the clear blue water.
Tanner lived on the lake for most of his life, and although he hadn’t been boating since the death of his wife, he fished the shoreline on a fairly regular basis. This curious thing was something new to him.
He could tell the creature was good sized and was anxious to pull it in. “We have something.” He waved his hand in a circle, indicating he wanted the net brought up at a faster rate.
When it broke the surface, Tanner reached out and grabbed the webbing. Their prisoner was at least a foot and a half long. The fish squirmed wildly, and its mouth panted desperately as it tried to escape. Its gold and white body bore the scars of age, and Tanner knew it had to be at least twenty years old. “Is this a goldfish?”
Cara came up beside him and studied their captive. “It sure is.” She removed it from the net and held it securely with both hands. Her fingers prodded the bulge of its belly. “And I think she’s full of eggs.”
She carried it over to a storage bin located in the middle of LOLA’s deck. “Normally, I would take her back to our lab for testing, but since school isn’t in session, I’ll give you a little preview of what we do.” She opened the bin with her free hand and pulled out a large knife.
Tanner watched the surprising woman bang the lid closed and pin the fish firmly on top of its steel surface. With one swift arc of the blade, the fish head rolled off onto the deck. Next, Cara expertly slipped the tip of the knife in near the tail of the fish and slid it up its underbelly. Her fingers reached inside and tugged. Along with the entrails, out spilled a gelatinous glob of tiny transparent bubbles. The goldfish had indeed been pregnant.
She hadn’t used the typical cleaning method, but since dinner was not her objective, he understood the difference. Tanner marveled at Cara’s abilities, he had never known a woman who would touch a fish, let alone chop off its head. His wife had been a girly-girl. Fishing had not been her cup of tea, and his catch hadn’t been allowed anywhere near the house until it was cleaned, bagged, and ready to be tossed in the freezer.
With each passing moment, the grief he carried started to ebb. Tanner was beginning to realize how much he missed out on since Kate’s passing. It wasn’t that he hadn’t continued on with his life, but he hadn’t exactly lived it either. This unexpected blessing in Cara Lee had opened his heart again. It felt good to laugh, love, and feel. As good as the sex was, what he enjoyed most was the laughter. No matter where their relationship ended up, he would forever be indebted to Cara for bringing joy back into his life.
Cara picked up a bucket and wiped the fish and all its remains inside. With another bucket she scooped up some lake water. “It’s still rare to find goldfish in the lake, we were lucky to catch this one.” She pitched the water on top of the storage bin and cleaned up the rest of the debris. “We saved the lake from at least a couple hundred more interlopers.”
Tanner shook his head. “That was only a couple hundred eggs? It seemed like much more.”
Cara washed her hands off in the cold water. “From our research, we know that most of them wouldn’t have survived. The ones that do are pretty darn hearty. Eventually, a new breed of goldfish which are fully adapted to the lake would emerge.” She shook the rest of the water off her hands. “We want to stop that from happening.”
Tanner waved his arm out across the expanse of Lake Tahoe. “How is that possible? The lake is huge.”
Professor Greene went into teacher mode. She shot Tanner an indulgent smile and said, “With a lot of hard work, anything is possible. Number one on our priority list is to educate the public. Without their cooperation, the probability of success is low.
“Modern Lake Tahoe was shaped over a million years ago during the Ice Age. A lot of streams flow into the lake, but the Truckee River is the only one that flows out.” She lifted her arm and pointed off into the distance. “The Truckee then flows northeast through Reno and into Pyramid Lake in Nevada.” She stopped when she realized she had been spouting her Tahoe 101 lecture and grinned apologetically. “Sorry, occupational hazard.”
Tanner reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’ve lived here a long time. I doubt there’s much you could say about the lake that I don’t already know.”
A sly smile crossed her face, and Tanner chuckled knowing she had accepted the challenge. “Lake Tahoe is one of the deepest lakes in the United States―”
Tanner couldn’t resist and quickly interjected, “Second only to Crater Lake in Oregon, and it’s the tenth deepest in the world.”
Cara punched him lightly in the chest and relented. “That’s enough smarty pants. I deal with enough students trying to upstage me. I don’t need it from you, too.” She planted a quick kiss on his chin and ran her finger slowly down his jawline. “Besides, I don’t especially feel like talking anymore.”
The promise in her eyes was unmistakable. He pulled her in tight. Her hands smelled faintly like the fish she had just butchered, but he was willing if she was. “I thought there were too many boats on the lake today.”
Reluctantly she sighed and offered an alternative. “Maybe we should head in.”
With LOLA safely back in her dockominium, Cara and Tanner walked arm in arm down the marina. A Tahoe City police officer stood under the archway. His hands were planted firmly on his hips as he waited for the couple to reach him.
He nodded at Cara. “Professor Greene, I need you to come with me please.”
Cara’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, and her eyes went wide with concern. “Has something happened? Is someone hurt?”
The officer relaxed his stance. “I’m sorry, it’s nothing like that. One of our detectives received an anonymous tip about how some funds from the proceeds of the gala may have been misappropriated. My superiors would like you to come down and open your office at the Cascade Bay Resort.”
Cara studied the officer’s face. She no longer had an office at the resort, and even when she did, it was only for a short period of time during gala season. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. If you have a search warrant, why do you need me?” The answer was obvious, they didn’t have a warrant.
“Ma’am, we are simply asking for your cooperation in this matter.”
She scrubbed her face with her hands. Cara turned her key in the moment it was no longer needed, she couldn’t help them. Besides, there were a multitude of people at The Bay who could let them into the office, it didn’t make sense for them to come out here and look for her. Red flags and warning bells went off in her head. Duncan had to be behind this, and the only thing Cara was certain of was that she wasn’t going anywhere without her attorney present.
She held up an index finger to the officer and silently asked for his patience. She dug into her pocket and called a colleague and attorney-at-law, Martin Langley.
Martin answered on the second ring. “Cara! What’s up?”
The police officer and Tanner watched her every move, so Cara turned and took a few steps back down the dock. “Hi, Martin, this is not a social call. I believe the police think I had something to do with some funds that might be missing from the proceeds from the gala. I don’t have any details, but they want me to open my office up at The Bay for them to search.” With every word, the reality of what might be happening be
gan to sink in. Her voice cracked when she continued, “Martin, I no longer have a key, and Duncan and I are no longer married. He was against the divorce, and I think he might be―”
“Cara,” Martin’s voice was calm but firm. “If anyone can hear you, then I beg you to please shut-up. Just listen. Do not go anywhere with anyone. I’m going to hang up, but I’ll call you back in a few minutes. I need to see if I can find out what’s going on.”
Martin disconnected and left Cara to face the officer alone. Not knowing what else to do, Cara walked over to Tanner and the policeman. “That was my attorney,” she explained. “He’s going to call me back.”
Tanner grabbed her arm and pulled her down the dock. “What’s going on?”
“Sir! Ma’am!” The officer called out. “I’m going to have to ask you not to speak to each other and not to leave the area.”
Cara had watched Duncan handle a million situations such as this. His behavior embarrassed her, but he never failed to get his way. She turned her head back to the officer and stated matter-of-factly, “Just because you asked for my cooperation doesn’t mean you’re going to receive it. I mean no disrespect, but my friend and I are going to walk down this way and engage in a private conversation. At this point and time you have no right to stop me, so I expect you to stay exactly where you are. As soon as I hear back from my attorney I will advise you of my decision as to whether or not I’ll be accompanying you back to the resort.”
She grabbed Tanner’s arm and tried to pull him far away from the policeman. His body was stiff with surprise and it took a mighty tug to get him moving.
When they were a few steps further away from the officer, he leaned down and asked, “What’s going on? And look at you all Law and Order like.” He shook his head in amazement. “I have to admit, I’m pretty darn proud of the way you handled that guy.”
