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When she finally came out of her bedroom dressed in a dry suit this time, she said, “I’m so glad my ankle healed up so I could do this with you.”

“I’m glad your ankle feels good.” But he didn’t want her to go hunting for a body, if that’s what it was.

“Good luck,” Anne said to Maisie and Robert. “Let me know what you discover. Hopefully, it’s just a watch or maybe a bit of glass.”

“I hope that’s all it is,” Maisie said, Robert agreeing.

They got into his car and drove to his house so he could get his gear.

“I know you don’t want me to go with you, but I just can’t stop thinking about this, and I want to see what it is,” Maisie said. “Not to mention, I know where I took the photos.”

“I understand. I just don’t want it to upset you. But I know you have to do what you have to do, and I support you all the way.”

After getting home, he dressed in his dry suit, then loaded his dive gear into the car while Maisie called Edeen to let her know that she might be late for taking photos of her pets.

***

“Och, Lachlan told me what you’re all doing. Are you sure you want to go too and do the dive? You and your sister?”Edeen asked Maisie.

“Anne is managing the inn, so she’s staying behind, but yeah, I’ve got to find out what is going on,” Maisie said.

“Okay. If it is a deceased person, you won’t be able to unsee it.”

“Yeah, I know. But I think my imagination will get the best of me otherwise.”

“Well, the animals and I will be here whenever you are ready. Even if you decide that you need more time, we can do it another day. I’m always at the house working on garments,” Edeen said.

“Sure, thanks. Hopefully, I’ll get them done today. It’s good weather and Robert needs them framed and hung up before his place is open,” Maisie said.

“True. Okay, well, Lachlan will tell me what you find. Be safe.”

“We will be.” As long as Robert was in the water with Maisie and not fishing from his boat this time.

Once they arrived at the castle, Lachlan and Iverson went down to the beach with them. Iverson was going to stay in the boat. Iverson was a former cop, and he had a body bag that was a blend of nylon-reinforced vinyl and heavy-duty woven polyester mesh that allowed for rapid draining that would keep forensics intact just in case they found a body. They’d had a couple of their own people drown while fishing, and the bags were a necessity. Though if the body was human, they would call the police and say they were diving and found it and wouldn’t remove it from the water.

They climbed into the boat and then motored it to whereMaisie thought she took the picture. Iverson cut the engine and tossed the anchor into the water. The waves were rocking the boat and she felt a little uneasy, just remembering the way Robert’s boat had capsized and knocked her out briefly.

Then Lachlan, Maisie, and Robert entered the water, Lachlan carrying the body bag just in case they needed it. She hoped they would find just a watch or piece of glass, but it might even be gone by now if that was the case. She really hoped they wouldn’t see a body.

They stayed near each other, searching for any sign of what Maisie’s dive light had reflected off, and then Robert, who was swimming to her right, motioned to some of the eelgrass. Lachlan and Maisie joined him to see what he’d found.

That’s when she saw the watch and, yes, it was on a man’s arm. But what horrified her the most was his bearded face. It was Gus Anderson. The guy who had been looking at the clock at Heather’s pie shop so much, like he had another date or meeting planned after dinner. She wondered if he had met with the man who had killed him. A rope was tied to his ankle, and it was secured around a paving stone. It looked just like the missing stone from their garden! Had the killer removed Gus’s bags from the room too, to make it appear that he’d checked out? God, that’s why they couldn’t reach him by phone when she had found the driver’s license. He’d been dead!

Maisie felt sick to her stomach. The salt water had bleached out Gus’s skin so it was really white. Salt water preserved dead animals better than freshwater, and if he’d beenhere since that night she and Gus had their date, that had been only three days.

Then she indicated she was going up to the boat, pointing to its looming presence on the water. She couldn’t look at the body any longer.

Robert, being the kind person he was, pulled her into his arms and hugged her to reassure her, and she thought the world of him for doing that. Then he released her, and she swam for the boat.

After doing her dive checks, she made it to the boat that was rocking in the waves, pulled out her regulator, and took off her mask. She probably looked as drained as she felt as Iverson helped her with her tanks and assisted her in climbing into the boat. She was nauseous but managed to keep from upchucking her lunch. “We found the body of a man who had been a guest at the inn, Gus Anderson. I told Robert about him already. He’s a wolf.”

“Hell, are you okay?” Iverson pulled out his cell phone and squeezed her arm in a comforting way.

She really loved the wolves in the MacQuarrie pack. Even though she wasn’t a member of it, they treated her and her sister like they were. “Aye. I mean, sure, I’m shaken up. A million different scenarios are coming to mind.”

“Okay, we’ll figure it out.” Iverson called Grant.

The wolves would have to handle it. She was glad they hadn’t alerted the police in case a wolf had murdered the victim. If a wolf was responsible and got life in prison, he might shift anytime anyone aggravated him. Just the fact he would be incarcerated for any length of time, he would havedifficulty keeping his wolf at bay at some point. And if he wasn’t a royal, one whose roots had been strictly wolf shifters for generations, he would not be able to avoid shifting during the phase of the full moon.