Dead in the Water by S.C. Merritt

Author:S.C. Merritt [Merritt, S.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy mystery, Amateur female Sleuths, animal cozy mystery, Culinary Cozy Mystery, Clean Christian Mystery
Publisher: Sweet Southern Reads Publishing
Published: 2021-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

14

WE WATCHED AS MASON got up from the table and continued his pool duties. He knelt beside the pool and dipped in the test strip to check the salt, pH, and other chemical levels, something Dot said she had seen him do many times during her early swims. He looked up and waved to someone. Stanley came into the camera’s view from the direction of the indoor pool carrying his tool bag. He disappeared into the alcove with the closet but came right back out with a shovel and walked toward the opposite exit. You could barely see the iron gate open as he went out. The time on the screen said 7:31.

“Is that alcove a dead end or is it a breezeway that you can walk through and out the other side?” I wondered, trying to envision it in my mind.

“It’s a breezeway,” Connie confirmed. “The other end is right up next to this office building. There are so many hedges along that side, no one really uses that access. It’s shaded from the sun, so it’s really dark and creepy. I never go in there. It’s full of spiders.”

“Would someone be able to get to that closet without being seen by the camera?” I asked.

“I guess it’s possible,” Connie said. “Especially, if they were familiar with the pool area or if they were taking extra care not to be seen.”

Mason disappeared and reappeared several times from the view of the camera over the next several minutes, then the gate opened, and Joan walked in. She was wearing the same floppy sun hat and the big, oversized sunglasses we’d seen at Keke’s, but now she was wearing the very skimpy orange bikini she’d donned for Luther and Pete at the pool. Mason stopped what he was doing and stood, smiling, with his hands on his hips as she walked toward him. She wore heeled sandals and a sheer, flowing ankle-length cover up. Her walk from the gate to the other end of the long pool seemed to be in slow motion.

“Am I the only one that feels like I’m watching a pageant instead of security footage?" Dot asked incredulously.

Joan moved like she was on the catwalk, her long legs taking smooth strides, and Mason never took his eyes off her. She walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a long kiss on his lips.

“Whoa! I never saw that coming,” I said. “Not after the scene at the restaurant.”

“Whatever happened earlier, I guess they got it worked out,” Connie said. “She’s such a cougar.”

We watched as they flirted for a few minutes. Joan placed her hand lovingly on his cheek, then floated off through the pool gate, giving him a little finger wave as she walked away. The time on the computer screen read 8:20.

Dot looked at me. “I was just finishing my run and about to be outside the front of the Rec Center waiting on you. We must have just missed her by minutes.

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