Page 100 of Kill Your Darlings

I kicked hard for the daylight, broke the surface with a gasp, lungs burning, water sluicing from my face in sheets.I tore off my goggles.For a moment, I couldn’t breathe—not from exertion, but from sheer horror.I swan to the side of the pool, my arms trembling as I clung to the edge of the deck, heart hammering.

This can’t be happening…

I blinked hard, once, twice, but I couldn’t get that image out of my brain.Colby, pale and suspended, floating just beyond reach.

Clumsily, I climbed out of the pool, grabbed my glasses, and padded across the deck to the pool phone.

I hit the emergency button.

Don’t get more involved than you already are.

Yeah, good luck with that.

“Front desk,” said a sleepy voice.

“You need to call security,” I got out.“There’s a body in the pool.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Hotel security staff arrived within five minutes.

Five minutes is a long time when you’re waiting with a dead body.

The minute I hung up with the front desk, I phoned Finn, and Finn arrived what felt like ninety seconds later—well, before security.

He wore jeans, tennis shoes, and carried the mostly decorative blue and gold afghan from the suite’s living room

I had the confused idea that he was going to retrieve Colby’s body and put the blanket over him, but the afghan turned out to be for me.He wrapped it around my shoulders, putting his face next to mine and saying very quietly, “Don’t lie, but don’t offer anything, either.Answer what they ask—no more, no less.You’re in shock, you were swimming laps, you saw something in the water, and you called for help.That’s it.Stick to what you know for sure, not what you think or suspect.And if they push, tell them you want to talk to your lawyer before going further.”

I nodded mechanically.“There are security cameras everywhere.They’re going to see my run-in with Colby last night.”

“No.They’re going to see a conversation.Which can be interpreted different ways.What they will also hopefully see is whoever followed Colby up to the Horizon Deck.”

I stared at him.“You don’t think it could have been an accident?”

Finn said grimly, “Until we hear otherwise, it absolutely was an accident.That should be your assumption.”

“Right.Yes.”

Finn hesitated.“If the subject of the manuscript comes up, play it like you did last night with Colby.”

“I— You said not to lie.”

“It’s a decades-old missing persons cold case.Nobody’s going to make an instant connection to what happened in Steeple Hill.We need some time to figure out what’s happening.Right?”

I nodded.

He scrutinized my face.“You okay?”

“I think I need a vacation.”

He grinned a little.“How’s San Clemente sound?”

It sounded like heaven and about as far out of reach.

Security arrived at that point.They conferred, agreed that the victim was clearly deceased, and phoned 911.After confirming that Finn and I were guests at the hotel, we all waited the ten minutes it took Monterey Police to respond to the 911 call.

Finn sat with his arm around my blanketed shoulders.We didn’t speak.