Page 13 of Midnight Waters

I stiffened. “What do you mean, an incident?”

Dad draped his coat on the back of a kitchen chair and leaned on it, bowing his head.

“I’m going to need to put you on the rota for work today,” he said. “We’ve got a body to retrieve.”

When I left my job at Nexus retrieving cadavers from bodies of water, I hadn’t expected my skills would be required on Dusk.

People died on Dusk sure enough, but a body in the ocean wasn’t a common occurrence. The locals were too wise to the temperaments of the sea and mostly stopped tourists from doing anything stupid.

Chances were the body we were going to drag out of the ocean was a tourist who had made special efforts to act like an idiot.

Wearing my long black coat to cover up my casual attire, I walked side by side with Dad into the police station to meet with the chief.

The police station on Dusk was technically an offshoot of Nexus, but as Dusk was so independent from the mainland, they labelled themselves as they pleased.

The excited receptionist leapt up from her seat to buzz us through from the empty waiting room as soon as we entered. Dusk had a lower crime rate than a Temple of Pisces. This body was definitely the most interesting thing to happen in months.

We followed the single corridor to the chief’s office in the centre of the building and Dad knocked. A faint “come in” granted us entry.

Chief Gretchen Mallory looked up from the file she was reading next to the window.

Dressed in a dark suit, shoulder pads and all, a Sigil of Libra hung around her neck. Entirely grey before reaching forty, Mallory had dedicated her whole life to working her way up to the police chief.

Last time I was on Dusk, she was still a bored detective contemplating a big move to Sydney.

“Thank you both for coming.” She shut her file and gestured for me to close the door. “It’s nice to see you back, Maeve. Are you staying long?”

“For the foreseeable future,” I said, clasping my hands together in front of me.

“Excellent timing on your part. I’m told you have particular expertise in retrieving bodies from water.” Mallory sidled behind her desk, hands clasped behind her back. “I’m very sorry for your loss, by the way. Ray was a good man.”

Dad nodded stiffly.

“Where is the body?” I asked.

“Down by Qest Cove. On the rocks, beneath the cliff, so in quite an awkward location. Will that be a problem?” Mallory said.

“Shouldn’t be with the right care,” I said. “Do we know who we’re retrieving?”

A crunching noise interrupted me as the door flew open.

“You can’t just break in here!” a voice commanded from out in the hall.

Three young men staggered inside, one of them shaking off a police officer who had him by the arm.

I flinched.

Ben and Adrian Everhart, along with their cousin, Matthew, fought their way to the chief’s desk, dragging the police officer along with them. Dad placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me along as he took two steps back. Of all the good it would do. It wouldn’t take them long to notice us.

Ben’s biceps strained against the fabric of his t-shirt as he fought his way to the desk, the faint outline of defined abs running toward his belt.

I snapped my head up, my cheeks flushing. What in the name of Scorpio was wrong with me? Maybe Kira and Allison were right. I definitely needed to get laid if an Everhart could catch my eye.

He had been a late bloomer years ago, and since I’d been gone, he appeared to have become… a man. The hoodie he wore yesterday had concealed an interesting structure.

“It’s Tyler, isn’t it?” Ben pushed his way past Adrian and grabbed hold of the edge of the chief’s desk. “The body. It’s him.”

Tyler Bakewell? He had been Ben’s best friend all the way through school, but had always been lovely to me, regardless of the feud. Tyler’s mother used to work with Sandra until her early retirement from disability a few years ago. If I remembered correctly, Dad still had poker nights with Tyler’s stepdad from time to time.

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