Page 24 of Deep Waters

“I’m fine, really. Once or twice, I’ve been hit with a rush of emotions as what happened on the boat comes flooding back, but I’ve kept it in check. I’ve been busy.” He told them about his research and exploration of the town.

“Well,” Dominic said when he had finished, “I’ve heard a little news, if you care to hear it. No, I should clarify that. I’ve heardgossip. Not the same thing at all.”

Arnie turned to look at his husband. “And I wonder where you picked that up. Jacob?”

Dominic chuckled. “Got it in one. There’s nothing much that goes on in Nyemouth that old guys don’t hear about.”

“He has eyes and ears all over the place,” Arnie laughed.

“He claims he doesn’t ask about any of it. That people justtellhim all this stuff.”

“He’s like Nyemouth’s very own Miss Marple.”

Christian sipped the martini. “Well, as I found out today, there is no concrete news, so you might as well fill me in on the gossip.”

Dominic picked at the label on his beer bottle. “Do you know much about the second victim?”

“Not a lot. Just that he worked at a local supermarket.”

“Who was he?” Arnie asked.

“Ike. Ike Meeker.”

“Do we know him?”

“Not personally. I’ve seen him around. Maybe you have, too. If you saw a photo, you might recognise him. So, apparently, he was found by his mother early last night.”

“Oh, God,” Arnie said. “The poor woman. That’s the worst thing that could happen to any parent.”

“Ike has his own place, but his mother still does his washing and cooking. All that stuff. I gather she was dropping something off when she found him. The neighbours heard her screaming for help. The details are pretty sketchy. I’m not sure what I believe. I think there’s so much gossip flying about that people are getting Niko and Ike mixed up anyway.”

“Did the guys know each other?” Christian asked.

Dominic shrugged. “Probably. It’s a small town. Everybody knows somebody, but I don’t know if it went any deeper than that. There’s talk that Ike’s murder might have been a botched burglary. Some of his things are missing—laptop, phone, you know, the usual stuff that thieves go for. There’s a train of thought that he came home from work and caught a burglar doing the place over.”

“It sounds extreme but not impossible,” Christian said. “Though most thieves do a runner as soon as they’re disturbed. They rarely hang around and fight.”

“A lot of other people think there’s a serial killer on the loose, like Jason or Michael Myers. You know, someone who attacks people at random. It’s pretty dumb, but it strikes me as wishful thinking. These folk get off on the excitement of talking about things like that, but it’s hardly going to be true. Is it?”

Arnie gave Dominic a playful nudge. “Short memory, much?”

“This isn’t the same. You had a stalker. These are just two random attacks that people want to be connected. They thrive on the drama of it.”

“What else are they saying? You said there was gossip,” Christian reminded him.

“A lot of crap, really. None of it will be true.”

“And don’t forget we’re writers. We listen to everything.”

“Fair point,” Dominic said. “So, I take it you’ve heard of these sites like OnlyFans and JustFor.Fans?”

“Sure?”

“Fill me in,” Arnie said. And when Christian and Dominic shot him sceptical looks, “What? Look… I know it’s something to do with sex, but I don’t know what it is.”

Dominic laughed. “It’s like an app, or a website or something. People upload sexy pictures and videos of themselves and charge a fee for others to look at them.”

“Most of them are subscription services,” Christian told him. “Fans pay a monthly fee to access someone’s exclusive content.”

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