Killer Confections8 Delectable Mysteries(36)

Amanda raced down the gangway and threw her arms around me. “We were so worried,” she trilled. Evidently someone who studies marine life isn’t put off by someone who smells like it.

I later learned that Rafe had heard a splash and thought he saw someone in the water, but by then the boat had moved on. He went below to see if any passengers were missing and it dawned on Amanda that I was nowhere around. When they couldn’t locate me, Steve realized I must have fallen overboard and called 911. He’d immediately turned the boat around to search for me.

Amanda gave me one more hug then took off. The rescue team again offered to drive me to the hospital but I declined. I’ve never met a hospital that didn’t have a predilection for sticking pointed objects into their patients. After coming within inches of turning into a shark shish-ka-bob, the last thing I needed was to have a gaggle of nurses and doctors poking and prodding at my waterlogged body.

I heard someone calling my name and turned to see Stan scurrying toward us. I smiled at my friend as he rushed across the dock toward Steve and me. I’d forgotten that he’d offered to pick me up since his dance lesson was scheduled to end about the time the Sea Jinx docked.

Stan halted a few feet away, his nose twitching as if he’d discovered a bushel of overripe bananas. “You look like something the cat dragged in.”

“You’re close. But it’s more like something the boat dragged in. I fell overboard.”

“OMG. Sweetie, you could have drowned.”

Yeah, I could have been annihilated in a variety of ways.

“She had a close call,” Steve said. “But Laurel’s a real trooper.” He grabbed my hand as the three of us headed toward the parking lot. Stan discreetly walked ahead. Although it would have been more subtle if he hadn’t been humming, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”

All I could concentrate on was returning to the hotel to a hot bath and a cup of hot tea. And my mommy. No matter how old you are, or how many children you’ve birthed, there’s nothing like having your own mother pamper you after a bad day.

Especially if your day involved someone possibly trying to kill you.

Steve apparently had his own ideas of how to perk up a waterlogged woman. As we reached the ticket building, he pulled me into the shadows. I immediately tensed, but my tension disappeared when he planted a sweet kiss on my lips. My blanket fell to the ground as Steve wrapped muscular arms around me and drew me close. With the blanket no longer draped around me, Steve’s hard-as-a-rock body nestled against my wet, covered-with-a thin tablecloth curves.

The Sea Jinx captain definitely knew how to make a woman perk up.



* * *



With Steve’s heated good-bye kiss coursing through every vibrating nerve in my body, my brain shifted into overdrive on the ride home. I leaned back in the passenger seat and contemplated the surprise kiss as well as my near-death experience.

Since Stan doesn’t agree with the philosophy that silence is golden, he interrupted my reverie the minute we reached the highway.

He turned to face me. “Okay, give.”

“Hey, watch the road.” Why do so many drivers feel the need to make eye contact with their passengers when they converse? Hadn’t Stan noticed all the flowers in front of memorials lining both sides of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway?

He pulled his gaze back to the road. “So what exactly happened? I want to know everything. Right up to that smooch Steve planted on you.”

Can’t put much past my pal.

I relayed the events of the evening beginning with my conversations with both Walea and Timmy and ending with my sudden dunking and subsequent rescue.

Stan shuddered. “Gosh, you are one lucky woman.”

“Or one unlucky woman,” I muttered.

“Are you certain someone pushed you?”

“I can’t be one hundred percent positive.” I tried to remember what happened on the boat before I landed in the water, but all I could recall was my harrowing time floundering in the ocean.

“Did anyone act suspicious when you reappeared?” Stan asked, shifting into investigative mode.

I thought about it. “Walea looked startled to see me, but she was below deck with Amanda and the passengers when it happened, so she couldn’t have pushed me. Henry seemed nervous when I turned up. I have no idea where he was when I went overboard. And Timmy bolted the second we made eye contact.”

Stan’s head swiveled ninety degrees as he stared at me.

“Eyes on the road,” I said.

He returned his gaze to the highway, which thankfully wasn’t as busy as it normally is. “What do you mean Timmy ran away?” he asked.

“After I climbed up on the dock, I noticed Timmy walking away with the passengers. When I called out his name he took off. That’s when Steve and the rescue guys spotted me. They raced over and asked a zillion questions. When you showed up, I forgot to mention Timmy’s weird behavior to Steve.”