Page 8 of Nightshade

Stilwell knew the stages of decomposition in cold water. The body had been weighted and submerged. It had been anchored to the bottom until microorganisms in the intestines began creating gases, leading to bloat and buoyancy that started to lift the body despite the weight of the anchor and chain. Whoever had dropped the woman into the water had not anticipated these changes.

The body and the anchor chain would become buoyant enough to move easily with the currents, skipping across the coral and kelp beds until it finally rose to the surface or was snagged by something on the bottom. Stilwell had once recovered a body from Apollo Lake that had gotten entangled with an old washing machine that had been dumped off a boat. This anchor’s snag on the coral ledge was only temporary. Stilwell knew it could loosen and break free with the change of current in the next outgoing tide.

He noted that the anchor wasn’t from a large boat like theAurora. He guessed its weight at twelve pounds. The stainless steel that had initially caught Abbott’s eye was for show. It wasn’t an anchor galvanized against corrosion and stored in a boat compartment. It most likely sat on rubber rollers on the prow, shiningclean and on display, attached to a windlass that would drop and raise it at the push of a button from the boat’s helm. The anchor hadn’t come from a working boat. It was from a pleasure boat, maybe a sailboat. The kinds of vessels that filled the harbor every weekend.

He had seen enough. He needed to move to the surface to get the gas fumes out of his lungs and to call out the dive team as well as the homicide unit and coroner’s investigators. This would not be his case and he was glad for that.

He turned and saw Abbott standing on the bottom several feet away from the body. His eyes were wide and scared behind his dive mask. Stilwell unsnapped his weight belt and turned back to the body. He wrapped the belt around the anchor, hoping to keep the body from wandering with the current should its mooring break loose from the ledge. He had not checked the tide chart that morning and wasn’t sure when the current would change direction. He wanted to make sure the body did not surface in the harbor on the first day of Memorial Day weekend.

Stilwell’s lungs were now burning from fuel-contaminated air. He pointed to the surface and Abbott nodded and started up. Stilwell followed, and they broke surface on either side of Abbott’s skiff. Stilwell threw an arm over the side and yanked his mask off. He gulped in clean air and looked across the boat at Abbott, who held on to the other side.

“You’ve got a leak in your compressor,” he said.

“I know,” Abbott said. “I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“No, it’s bad. I’m going to get a seven-point-oh headache out of it.”

“Sorry, man. I guess I’m just used to it.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“So, what happens now? You going to just leave it where it is?”

“For now. I’ll call out the recovery team as soon as I get tomy phone. You’ll get your weight belt back once they recover the body.”

“I’m not worried about it.”

Abbott hoisted himself over the side and into the skiff, causing it to rock violently. Stilwell was almost clipped on the chin when the rail rose. He waited until the boat calmed and then pulled himself up and over the side as well.

“Look who we got waitin’ on us,” Abbott said.

Stilwell turned to look back at the skiff dock and saw Tash Dano standing next to Lionel McKey. With them was Doug Allen, the four-term mayor of Avalon.

“News travels fast,” Abbott said.

Stilwell nodded.

“Here we go,” he whispered to himself.

4

THE MAYOR HADhis hands on his hips as he stood at the skiff dock and waited for them. Tash and Lionel stood slightly apart from Allen. Abbott ran the bow up on the landing, and Stilwell stepped off, a green-and-white towel draped over his shoulders.

“You need me anymore?” Abbott asked.

Stilwell turned to him. “The detectives from the mainland will probably want a statement,” he said. “We can call you. Are you going home or back under?”

“Home,” Abbott said. “No work after seeing that.”

Stilwell nodded. He understood. He turned back, and Tash came forward and away from the reporter.

“Do we hold theAurora?” she asked quietly. “They want to go.”

“They can go,” Stilwell said. “What’s down there’s been in the water longer than they’ve been here. Remind them to stay at idle speed till they’re out of the harbor. I don’t want to churn up the bottom.”

“Will do,” Tash said.

McKey came over to him next. “Is there a body?” he asked.

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