“My Mom will be getting worried,” Zach said.
“Don’t worry, you can use my phone,” David assured the teen, handing it to him. “Don’t you have a cell phone?” he asked the boy.
Zach grinned. “You bet. But Mom wouldn’t let me take it on the boat. Said I might lose it overboard. She doesn’t dive,” he said, as if that explained everything about his mother.
“Leave it to Seth Granger,” Jay said, and this time, he was clearly audible. “Go ahead,” he instructed Jeb. “You and the captain and Alex get our crew back. David has said he doesn’t mind waiting for Granger.” He turned to David. “You’re sure?” he asked.
“Sure. We’ll wait,” he said, and he hoped to hell it wasn’t going to be long. Now, more than ever, he didn’t want Alex out of his sight.
The others rose, stretched and started to file out.
And that was when they heard the scream.
Somehow, the instant he heard it, David knew they weren’t going to have to wait for Granger after all.
Chapter 6
Everyone came running.
Alex wasn’t thrilled about that, but after her last experience, she’d had to sound an alarm—she wasn’t letting this body drift away. Before the others came pounding down the dock, though, she dived in. Though the man was floating face downward and sure as hell looked dead, she wasn’t taking any chances.
The water right by the dock was far from the pristine blue expanse featured in tourist ads. She rose from a misty darkness to grab hold of the man’s floating arm.
With a jolt, she realized it was Seth Granger.
By then the others had arrived. David was in the lead and instantly jumped into the water to join her. He was stronger and was easily able to maneuver the body. John Seymore, with Jeb at his side, reached down as David pushed Seth upward; between them, they quickly got Seth Granger lying on the dock, and, despite the obvious futility, Jeb dutifully attempted resuscitation. Alex heard someone on a cell phone, telling a 911 operator what had happened. By the time she and David had both been fished out of the water and were standing on the dock, sirens were blaring.
Jeb, youthful and determined, kept at his task, helped by John, but Seth was clearly beyond help.
He still reeked of alcohol.
Two med techs came racing down the dock, and when they reached Seth Granger, Jeb and John stepped aside. The men from Fire Rescue looked at one another briefly, then took over where John and Jeb had left off.
“Anyone know how long he’s been in the water?” one of them.
“Couldn’t be more than twenty minutes,” John Seymore said. “He was definitely inside twenty minutes ago.”
“Let’s get him in the ambulance, set up a line…give him a few jolts,” one of the med techs said. In seconds, another team was down the dock with a stretcher, and the body was taken to the waiting ambulance.
Then the sheriff arrived. He didn’t stop the ambulance, but he looked at Seth Granger as he was taken away, and Alex noted the imperceptible shake of his head. He took a deep breath and turned to the assembled crowd.
“What happened?” Nigel Thompson demanded.
“Well, he was drinking too hard and too fast, that’s for sure,” Hank Adamson commented.
“We were at a table together,” Jay told Nigel. He pointed around. “Seth, John, Hank, David and myself. David’s phone rang, and he decided to take it outside. I needed to pick up a few things, so I headed down the street, and then…” He looked at the other two who had shared the table.
“I went to the men’s room,” John Seymore said, and looked at Hank Adamson.
“I walked up to the bar.”
“When did Granger leave the bar?” Nigel asked.
His answer was a mass shrugging of shoulders.
“Hell,” Nigel muttered. “All right, everyone back in side.”
David was already on his feet. He reached a hand down to Alex, his eyes dark and enigmatic. She hesitated, then accepted his help.
She realized, as she stood, that John Seymore was watching. He gave her a little smile, then turned away. It seemed that day suddenly turned tonight. She shivered, then regretted it. David slipped an arm around her shoulders. “You all right?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said coldly.
“Alex, you don’t have to snap,” he said softly.
She removed his arm from around her shoulders and followed the others. She meant to find wherever John was sitting and take a place beside him.
Too late. Zach was on John’s left, Hank Adamson on his right. There was one bench left, and there was little for her to do other than join David when he sat there.
She suddenly felt very cold, and, gritting her teeth, she accepted the light windbreaker he offered. She instantly regretted the decision. It felt almost as if she had cloaked herself in his aura. It wasn’t unpleasant. It was too comfortable.