Page 78 of S.O.S. Perk

Once the water was clear, the divers dragged the large cable from the wrecker out across the icy expanse, then dove under with it.

Sloane didn’t realize she was holding her breath until the divers came topside one by one, signaling with thumbs-up that the job had been done.

“Now, we hope the attachment holds,” Blankenship told her, but chuckled. “I’m assuming it will. Our guys are the best.”

Gears slowly started turning, the line grew taut, and little by little the big metal fish was hauled toward shore.

****

Fifteen minutes later, Sloane and the detective stood next to the dripping vehicle, not touching, but taking as good a look inside as they could with the windows quickly frosting over.

“Is that your man?” Blankenship asked, his breath coming out in short puffs.

“It is,” Sloane affirmed. She’d studied Nelsin’s picture enough, and was certain this was him. “The cold water has preserved him nicely,” she pondered. “If he wasn’t so pale, I’d say he was taking a nap.”

A laugh barked out of Blankenship. “A nap with the fishes.”

At that moment, the FBI’s local forensics team arrived, and excusing herself from the detective, Sloane walked over to greet them and let them know what they were up against. None of them even blinked.

They’d seen it all.

As they suited up and prepared their evidence kits, Sloane walked back to Blankenship.

“I want to thank you for all your help, and a job well done,” she said sincerely. “You orchestrated that like a champ.”

He snorted. “I’m just glad you’re the one taking things from here. This looks like it could be a huge mess.”

Sloane bit back a sigh.

The detective had no idea.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Your night was certainly more exciting than mine,” Perk told Sloane when they finally connected later. They were both home, talking on the phone after they’d hit their respective mattresses.

“Sometimes I prefer boring,” Sloane admitted to him. “What’s going on with you?”

“Jeremy,” Perk complained. “He’s a tiresome little shit, despite his inspired money-grabbing scheme. I’m completely convinced now that he’s a pawn, because there’s no way he could have thought up this stuff on his own.”

“The mother is who I have my sights on,” Sloane told him.

“Me, too,” Perk agreed.

“Do you think Jeremy knows what happened to his father?” Sloane asked.

Perk shook his head even though Sloane couldn’t see him. “I don’t believe so. He keeps talking about the extended trip his dad is on, and when I asked him if they talked, he said his father was in a place where there’s no cell phone service, but he was hoping to hear from him soon.”

“No cell service,” Sloane snorted. “That’s hitting it on the nose. There’s certainly no connectivity at the bottom of a pond.” She sucked in an audible breath. “Listen. I want you to be extra careful now that we know someone has offed Mr. Nelsin. I don’t want you being the next vic if you rock the boat too much and they catch on.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Perk told her. “I only have one more day of school, and I’ve already told Jeremy I can’t see him tomorrow night because I have to stay home and pack for an early flight on Saturday morning. That means I’m nearlyfinished with the Nelsin’s until we come back from winter break.”

“About winter break…”

Sloane sounded hesitant, and Perk needed to nip any insecurities she had, in the bud. She had to know he wanted to spend as much time as possible with her over the next two weeks.

“Don’t think I’m not going to be seeking you out, every free minute I have,” Perk warned her. “And that might be a lot, because Del gave me the entire fourteen days off for basically being on call 24/7 over the past few weeks.”

“I know,” she revealed. “He told the Bureau he was going to surprise you with a couple weeks of paid vacation.”

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