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Story: The Wolf of My Eye

Anne laughed. “I love it.”

Maisie got to the photo in question, and Anne and Robert peered at it while Maisie enlarged it. “That’s my dive light reflecting off something.”

“Glass?” Anne asked.

Maisie sighed. “Aye, I think so, but glass doesn’t normally float unless it’s really small and the currents are moving it.”

“A watch face,” Robert said.

Anne and Maisie stared at the picture a bit longer. “I think you’re right,” Maisie said, chill bumps dotting her arms. It might not be anything, but she couldn’t stop worrying that there was something more to this than just a bit of debris in the water.

“Why is it floating?” Anne asked. “A watch would have sunk to the bottom of the ocean, don’t you think? A small shard of glass might have been swept around, but a watch?”

Maisie couldn’t stop looking at it, seeing it in a new way.

“I think it’s a watch,” Robert said.

Maisie didn’t want to say why the watch was floating in the ocean among the eelgrass but felt she had to: “What if it’s not floating there all by itself? What if it’s attached to an arm?”

Chapter 10

Robert stared at the photo, thinking the same thing as Maisie. That someone had drowned in the ocean and her dive light was reflecting off a watch face. They had to check it out at once and learn the truth. He rubbed his forehead, rife with tension. “That’s what concerns me,” Robert said. “I scuba dive, but I’ll need to get someone else to accompany me—especially if we find a dead body. I don’t know if anyone besides my sister does. I’ll contact Grant and see.”

“I can go down with you,” Maisie said. “Not that I want to see a dead body”—she shivered—“but I can find the location where I took the picture.”

“I’m dive certified also, so if you need me, I can help,” Anne said, squinching up her nose and giving a little shudder. “But if you don’t, I’m fine with that.”

“Let me call Grant first.” Robert really didn’t want the sisters down there, checking out a dead body, if there was one. His sister couldn’t either because she was pregnant, but even if she hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have wanted her to witness a body either. “Hey, Grant, we kind of have a situation. When Maisie was taking the marine life photos before I hooked herand the boat overturned, she snapped a shot of something that we’re not quite sure about.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“It looks like a watch floating among some eelgrass.”

“Hell. Like it’s on a body?” Grant asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. We might be completely wrong about it, but we need to investigate it just to make sure there’s nothing to it. Anne and Maisie both are scuba certified. So am I. Do we have any other divers in the pack?” Robert asked.

He had done autopsies before while he was in medical training, so he was more used to dealing with something like this.

“We have seven wolves who are scuba certified,” Grant said. “In addition to yourself and Edeen, but since she’s pregnant, that leaves her out. Lachlan wants to know what you need a scuba diver for. Let me tell him.”

Robert heard Grant telling Lachlan in the background about their concern.

“Okay, Lachlan wants to go with you,” Grant said.

“Anne and Maisie want to also.”

“Anne only wants to if nobody else is available,” Anne said.

Robert smiled. “We’ve got it covered.”

“We’ll get a boat ready. Meet us here and you can leave via our beach,” Grant said.

“Okay, we’ll collect our scuba gear and meet you there. Lachlan’s going with us.”

A couple of guests came in to get the keys for theirrooms, and Anne said, “Good. I really need to be here.”

Robert looked at Maisie, but she said, “I’m getting my gear and dressing for it.”