Deadly Waters by Dot Hutchison

Author:Dot Hutchison [Hutchison, Dot]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2020-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

18

The storm heralded the arrival of a cold front that brings the temperatures to a balmy low seventies, which in turn brings most of the students spilling out to the green spaces to eat and study in the lovely weather. It’s sunny but breezy, the kind of beautiful day that’s so rare as the long Florida summer progresses.

The only lingering sign of the recent deaths is the dearth of sunbathers and joggers around Lake Alice. Only one body has been found there, but the gators are still very much present.

Rebecca and her suitemates sprawl across a pair of blankets in the grass. Delia is up on her knees, arms spread wide to catch the breeze, her eyes closed and face tilted back into the sun. Keiko sketches her, leaning back against Luz’s knees for support.

The boys with the alligator pool float are back, running at girls to startle them, but they get laughter instead of shrieks this time. To what Rebecca is sure will be Det Corby’s chagrin, the students have made the connection between the gator victims. Most of the campus population has felt much safer since the rumors started swirling. For those who don’t? Well, if they have a reason to be nervous, they should be scared for once. The more immediate violence of Mountebanks’s death proved a temporary wrench at best in the prevailing atmosphere.

Ellie lies flat on her back, her hair a river of flame around her. Her legs are wrapped around Rebecca’s waist, feet on either side of the other girl’s hips, and one of Rebecca’s books rests on Ellie’s lower legs. It’s more comfortable than it probably should be. Ellie nudges her friend with her heel. “Hey, did you hear Det Corby got a new title?”

“What, really?”

“Yeah, now he’s the investi-gator.”

Rebecca closes her eyes and fights back a sigh.

“What kind of flooring do alligators have in their homes?”

“Please stop.”

“Rep-tiles!”

Susanna giggles.

Rebecca opens one eye and glares at her. “Do not encourage her.”

“What do you call an alligator with GPS?” Ellie asks.

“Oh my God.”

“A navi-gator!”

“What did you do, look them up?”

“A sophomore printed up little booklets and is selling them for a buck,” she replies placidly. “What do you get if you cross an alligator with a flower?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not going to smell it,” mutters Rebecca.

“What do alligators drink before a race?”

“Gator-ade,” everyone else choruses.

Ellie huffs. “I guess that one was a bit obvious.”

“Here at the University of Florida, where the drink was invented for the Gator football team? Shocking,” Hafsah says deadpan.

From Susanna’s gasp and giggle, Rebecca thinks it’s probably safe to assume that Ellie made a rude gesture in response. She’s also not going to ask.

A group of boys, one of them wearing a frat shirt, walks by on the sidewalk. From the grass three girls stand up and start pelting them with mini plastic alligators. “You’re next, Tom!” one of them yells. “Was it worth it?”

The other boys cluster closer around their friend to shield him. They all look shaken,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.