Page 20 of Cold Light of Day

“Not that my opinion matters, but you can do this.” He rose from his seat and followed her lead, dumping the contents of his mug into the sink, then rinsing it out and putting it away. “You have the right people here locally, and you can keep it close for now. Really, the Alaska Dive group exists because communities don’t do this themselves. If it turns out to be more than a simple drowning, then you deal with one thing at a time. Not that you asked, but...I’m leaning toward criminal activity.”

“Because?”

His frown deepened and he hesitated. “I couldn’t recognize the face.”

Nausea erupted at the thought of the images Grier had captured. “Sea creatures, Grier. They pick and nibble away. But I hear you. This needs to be handled as an investigation in case it’s more than simply the current washing a body into a peculiar place. But we’re using an abundance of caution, that’s all. Let’s hope no crime was committed, and then once we identify the body, we’ll have one less missing person in Alaska. This will bring closure to loved ones.”

Closure was something she’d personally longed for since Mom drowned and her body was never recovered.

Grier nodded. “I’ll explain to Tex that this needs to happen quickly and quietly, and that we’re possibly building a community team. Another friend is out of Skagway. This could be the start of something great for you, Chief. I’ll make the arrangements.”

“That’s all good and well, Grier, but...who are you?” She stood entirely too close to him in the small space, but she wouldn’t step away as she looked up into his eyes. “Really?”

Because she was trusting him based on those instincts he’d mentioned earlier. But maybe he’d gotten on her good side, her best side, when he rescued her father from the bar that night and helped get him home.

Then yesterday he rescued Sarah. She knew deep down he was a good guy, but even good guys carried baggage.

“I’m the guy helping you build a local dive and recovery team.”

TEN

The next morning, Grier stood on the deck of Tex’s boat. The gray skies and relentless rain might get him down if he weren’t getting ready for yet another dive and setting some kind of personal record by diving three days in a row.

He’d never needed a reason to go for a dive. Didn’twantone now. Hadn’t wanted one yesterday, but for some inexplicable reason he couldn’t turn down the chief. He should have told her no when she’d asked him to dive with her. Another good deed for which he was suffering punishment. Hadn’t saving Sarah been enough?

No. Saving her had only led to the invitation to dive.

And while he enjoyed the occasional pleasure dive, this was a different scenario completely—and one of his own making. While he should keep his head down and stay in the shadows, instead he’d suggested she build her own local rescue and recovery dive team, led by him.

Brilliant, Grier. Brilliant.

He recognized when someone needed help, and he couldn’t stand by and watch her being pulled down by a bunch of nitwits on the city council.

So he’d been a nitwit yesterday too.

Why hadn’t he kept his mouth shut and let her call the state dive team? But all she had to do was look at him, and he wanted nothing more than to please her. To spend time with her. He wasn’t sure if he could ever shake the power she had over him, but he would have to try.

So what if the recent loss of the chief’s certification coupled with finding a body in a shipwreck prompted a news story? It would be gone the following day, replaced by the next big story, and he wouldn’t need to worry about his face showing up in the news either.

He’d chosen Shadow Gap for a reason. Well, Krueger selected it, but for all the right reasons. Like so many towns that barely survived, Shadow Gap didn’t have surveillance cameras on every corner, which made it more difficult to find people using facial recognition software.

Whatever. He was here now and had to see this through because he’d gotten involved in a big way this time. That decision could come back to bite him. He couldn’t seem to think like a rational man when he was around the chief and was glad he would be with his diving buddy today instead.

Tex’s boat—theBlack Pearl—was a nice Munson 36–8 dive boat with a dive entrance on the port and starboard sides, ladders, and dive bottle shelves. Tex had also invited along his friend Maggie King, whom Grier had gone diving with a couple of times. Maggie adjusted her face mask, ignoring Tex’s failed attempts at flirting.

“I never could understand what a former Texas Ranger was doing all the way up here,” Grier said. “I’ve never been to Texas, but the way I understand it, Texans love their state.”

“The great country of Texas, you mean. Nah, man. We love the salsa.” Tex’s eyes crinkled. “Okay, the state is great too.”

Tex winked and positioned his full face mask, then hopped into the water along with Maggie, in perfect sync as if they had practiced. Grier released a sigh of relief after he realized hismistake. He and Tex had never discussed what brought them to Alaska, and he shouldn’t have a conversation that could take them down that road.

He secured his mask and joined them in the cold water. Together they descended along the dive line, waiting at the proper intervals, and then Grier led them over to the SSTateand the body.

He took more pictures while his friends carefully extracted the body from the shipwreck, then bagged the hands, head, and feet to preserve trace evidence. Finally, they secured it in a specially designed bag for underwater recovery before transporting it to the surface. Eventually the ME would identify it and a family would learn what had happened to their missing loved one.

People went missing all over the world, but Alaska set records when it came to missing people. And drownings were a big part of those statistics.

Either no one knew this guy had gone into the water, or maybe they did, but, like the chief had suggested, the current had carried his body miles away from the search area. His disappearance, his death, probably had not been intentional.

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