Death By Blue Water (A Hayden Kent Mystery Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

they would have to ascend face to face. Hayden, following her usual procedures on this dive, managed to take a final look around. She checked her gauge to be sure she didn’t have any decompression obligations. Then she checked his to ascertain their mutual air supply. He wasn’t an air hog. That was good.
    They began to rise with the exhaust bubbles. Slowly and safely.
    Remembering the hole in the ceiling of the tiny wheelhouse, Hayden was surprised she’d never noticed it before. True, she’d never gone into the wheelhouse on any dive she’d done on the Humboldt, but she’d certainly hung on the ascent line often enough looking the wreck over. Curious, she removed the regulator from her mouth briefly so she could comfortably turn her head and look down at the wheelhouse. Between the corals and spiny clams covering the top of the wheelhouse and the lack of bright lighting, the opening was completely obscured from view. Heaving a mental sigh of relief, she replaced the regulator and motioned to Paul that she was ready to continue up the line.
    They finished their safety stop at the fifteen-foot mark and when Paul indicated his intention to surface, Hayden nodded. His diving competence showed. He handled himself well underwater, especially in an emergency. He seemed to have gotten over his disbelief that she had done the initial dive alone.
    Climbing back on Cappy’s boat Paul helped her take her tank and buoyancy vest off. Together, he and Cappy inspected the defective rig.
    “Thank you so much, lieutenant,” Hayden began. She searched for words to express how she felt. This man saved her life. She knew that.
    Paul waved her thanks off. When she persisted in trying to thank him as he went over the air hoses millimeter by millimeter, he finally said, “It’s my job. Really, no big deal.”
    He tapped at the each of the hoses with the point of a pen. “Right there,” he said. “Both the air hoses are nicked, or starting to rot. You can’t see it until you bend them. Are both these hoses the same age?”
    When Hayden nodded, he continued, “You should check them before every dive. Don’t rely on an annual inspection. It’s a good thing you weren’t alone this time.”
    Hayden couldn’t think of a thing to say in her defense. Instead, she hid her embarrassment by drying her face and hair with a towel.
    Paul stalked off and sat down on the captain’s chair under the Bimini top. He pulled a clipboard out of the dry bag he’d brought with him and began to write. Finally, he handed her a hastily written report of what they’d seen underwater. Unaffected by seasickness and always able to read on a boat, Hayden skimmed the words and made a few edits.
    Paul had written the dead man was lying in a closed cabin. She corrected the statement to indicate the cabin had an opening in the roof. She was so tired it didn’t occur to her he should have seen it when he did his inspection. After all, he had been in the cabin and photographed every inch. Signing her name to the corrected version, she handed the report back to the coast guardsman. He snatched it from her, apparently irate that she’d corrected his work. Glancing up, she decided she hadn’t read him right. His face showed no anger or irritation. In fact, she thought she detected sympathy. Good looking though he was, Hayden realized she was having a hard time getting a reading on this man.
    Janice sat on her boat. She hadn’t said a word about the events underwater. Hadn’t even asked about what they found. Hayden noted she still looked uncomfortable. Her face had an even more sickly color than before. Hayden speculated that most of Janice’s job consisted of sitting on an unmoving boat in a pitching sea. Today the seas seemed relatively flat. She must have something else going on. Maybe she was pregnant. Or maybe she had an odd skin tone. Hayden looked closer and saw the telltale sheen of sweat on the woman’s face. No, she decided, she was either seasick