Gina Cresse - Devonie Lace 02 - A Deadly Bargain, Plan C by Gina Cresse

Author:Gina Cresse [Cresse, Gina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery: Cozy - Treasure Hunter - California
ISBN: 0803494092
Publisher: Avalon Books
Published: 2000-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

The sun warmed my shoulders as we sat at a small table overlooking the marina. I peered over the railing and watched a garibaldi fish swim in the shallow water under the deck of the restaurant. At first sight, I thought it was the only fish down there. As I strained to focus, I discovered dozens of fish swimming around, they were just more camouflaged than the bright-orange one that caught my attention. I was reminded of how easy is it to disappear into the scenery as long as you’re not so wildly different that you draw attention to yourself. I made a mental note to keep this observation fresh in my mind—I needed to blend into the background.

I offered to buy Sherman’s lunch and hoped he’d go for something inexpensive since I was on a tight budget. Amy, our waitress, patiently waited while Sherman studied the menu.

“Fish and chips, Amy,” he ordered.

My eyes quickly scanned down the menu selections. “I’ll have a small salad.”

Amy took our menus and walked away.

“Tell me what you know about the day Roy disappeared,” I began.

“I know he wasn’t alone. Remember it like it was yesterday. Had a heck of a storm that night. Crazy Roy set out to open sea to keep his boat from gettin’ beat against the rocks. Came back all excited about some wreck he’d found. Went on and on about it. I run a dive shop in town. Handled a lot of Roy’s charters. Sure do miss him.”

Sherman gulped down the glass of water Amy brought. He set it back down, then played with an ice cube at the bottom of the glass with his spoon. I watched him for a full minute and wondered what was so fascinating about the ice.

“What about this wreck?” I pressed.

“Oh, yeah. Said it was a real fancy yacht—rich fellow must’ve owned it. He knew it went down in the storm, ‘cause he’d seen it during the night, still afloat.”

“How did he know it sank?” I asked.

“Found stuff floating—deck chairs and…” Sherman glanced up at the sky and tapped his finger on the side of his face. “…something…weird. What was it? Oh yeah, computer mouse pads. He used his sonar equipment to locate the wreck. Came in all excited about pictures he took. Had a customer in the shop real interested. Hired Roy to take him out the next day to check it out. I filled his tanks and left ‘em for him out back. That was the last I ever saw of Roy.”

The sound of Paddy’s carbon-monoxide-detector alarm flashed through my mind. Could Sherman have contaminated his friend’s tanks my mistake? Or, on purpose? “You filled his tanks?” I asked, then studied his face carefully as he answered.

“Yeah. Filled ‘em the night before ‘cause they were leavin’ real early in the morning,” Sherman explained.

He seemed sincere, but I’ve been known to be wrong about people. I decided to ask the question. “You ever have a problem with carbon monoxide contamination in the tanks you fill?”

Sherman shook his head.

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