Diver Down (Mercy Watts Mysteries) (9 page)

“No. I’m good.”
 

Back away from the crazy girl.

“I’ll help you.” Mauro turned me around, but didn’t try to pull up my zipper. “It’s too small. I get you a large.”
 

“But I’m a medium,” I protested.
 

“Not today.”
 

He came back with a large. A large! I’ve never worn a large anything in my life. Why did I drink all those Monkey Lalas? They must have a thousand calories a piece.
 

“Put it on,” said Mauro. “It’s not bad.”
 

But it was bad. He could zip it up farther, but it still wouldn’t go up all the way. Then he did it. The incredibly hot dive instructor did it. He got me an extra large. That would’ve been bad enough, but that one wouldn’t zip up either. By this time everyone was in their wetsuits and was watching me. Mauro yanked on the back of my wetsuit and muttered under his breath. I don’t speak Spanish, but I think fat girl was in there.
 

“I can’t do it,” he said. “Your—how you say—top half is too big.”
 

Colin laughed and Joe hit him again.

“Well, that’s it, I guess,” I said, turning to slink away. “No scuba for me.”
 

Mauro grabbed my zipper lanyard and held me back like a dog on a leash. “It’s okay.”

“No, it really isn’t.”
 

Marcella said something in Spanish and Mauro agreed. She went to the rack and got another wetsuit that looked enormous. I mean, we’re talking really big. Tent big.
 

“We try another size,” said Mauro.
 

I looked at the tag. Men’s medium. Kill me now. Yes. That one zipped up and as an added bonus, the crotch was at my knees, so I got to walk like a penguin. I would’ve run out of the shop, if I could’ve waddled fast enough.
 

Lucia came over and patted my back. “You look fine. Really. It’s just that you’re so well-endowed. I have a friend who had the same problem. No one will notice in the water.”
 

Oz was right. I did like her. Damn it. Why couldn’t she be a snotty crab that turned up her nose at my penguin suit? It would be so much easier to ignore the bruises. “Thanks.”
 

She started back toward Graeme who was with his bundle of equipment on the bench, but I held her back.
 

“Lucia, I don’t mean to be nosy, but do you have asthma?”
 

“How’d you know?”
 

“I’m a nurse and you packed inhalers.”
 

“Oh. Why do you ask?”
 

“Scuba is contraindicated for asthma sufferers.”
 

“I know, but I got clearance from my doctor. I just have to have my inhaler close at hand.”
 

“Are you sure about this?” I asked. There was that feeling again.
 

“I’m sure it will be fine. Graeme really wants to get certified together,” said Lucia.

I bet he does.

Marcella, the shop assistant, came over and handed me a black vest. “This BCD should fit you.”
 

“Oh,” I said. “Bay say day.”
 

She laughed and we looked at Mauro.
 

“What?” he said.

“Bay say day,” said Marcella with a laugh.
 

He frowned. “I don’t say that.”
 

“You really do,” I said and he frowned deeper, making him absolutely adorable. I turned away before I launched myself at him and packed my own bundle, wrapping my regs, mask, and fins inside my BCD. Mauro had us start loading our tanks into the back of a golf cart parked beside the shop. I came and saw Lucia sitting next to her bundle talking to Todd.
 

“Everything okay?” I asked.

She smiled. “Just a little nervous.”
 

“Me, too. Grab your stuff. We nervous Nellies will do it together.”
 

We loaded our bundles into the back of the golf cart and followed it down a narrow sand road to the ocean. The shore dive turned out to be a piece of cake. Although every time I cleared my regulator, I got a nice spray of seawater in the mouth. Gag. Mostly, I was just glad Lucia was fine and I didn’t do anything to further embarrass myself, like shoot to the surface in a panic. Todd did that twice. Linda once. Even Mom had a mini freakout when she had to fill her mask. Only Dixie got through it without a problem. When we surfaced, she wore a smile I hadn’t seen since the Easter before Gavin died.
 

“That was amazing,” she said. “Gavin would be so proud of me.”
 

And he would. Dixie did everything perfectly, but he always thought she was perfect to begin with. Me, he would’ve teased. I could just see him sneaking up on me, doing a shark routine.
 

We tromped back to the dive shop, unloaded our gear, and were told to be back there in three hours. I immediately broke my vow and had a Monkey Lala and a huge cheeseburger with Aunt Tenne who looked happier than Christmas. Mom kept watching her and asking how she was feeling. Aunt Tenne finally made a run for it, saying she had to get something from our room, but Mom and Dixie followed, still peppering her with questions.
 

I watched them bothering the crap out of Aunt Tenne, grateful that for once it wasn’t me. I was totally alone and nobody was bothering me. Sure I got some of the usual double takes, but nobody came over and said how much I looked like Marilyn or anything worse. Everything was perfect. I scubaed. I hadn’t seen Aaron all day. But that couldn’t last and I should’ve known where he’d be. That cheeseburger was fantastic, too fantastic. It had a hint of the Tommy Watts Burger, Aaron’s restaurant, Kronos, was known for.
 

I asked the waiter, “Have you seen a little guy, crazy hair, food obsessed, likes Spiderman?”
 

“He’s in the kitchen,” he said.
 

Of course he is. Aaron was the only guy in the world who would spend his vacation in the resort kitchen, probably because he hadn’t located a Dungeons and Dragons game to invade.

Aaron came out of the kitchen, wearing a pink hairnet and carrying a platter of chili cheese fries with a side of pablano garlic aioli. That wasn’t on the menu.
 

“What are you doing in the kitchen?” I asked as he sat down next to me.
 

“Cooking.”
 

“Why?”
 

I had to ask, so I deserved what I got. Aaron told me about every fish available on the island and how to cook them. He was going to invent a fish hot dog because that needed to happen. But his chili cheese fries were amazing. The secret ingredient was plantain and he planned to introduce an island submenu if he could talk Rodney, the other owner of Kronos, into it.
 

While Aaron was explaining fish gutting against my will, I saw Mom trailing Aunt Tenne down to the beach. Christmas was over and my aunt looked like she might crack Mom in the head with a coconut.
 

“Hey, Aaron,” I said. “Do you know why Mom’s acting so weird about Aunt Tenne?”
 

He stopped mid-intestine sentence and said, “She’s okay this year.”
 

“Who? Mom or Aunt Tenne?”
 

“Tenne. Your mom’s the same.”
 

“What do you mean this year?”
 

“It’s August,” he said with a mouthful of fries and a huge splat of aioli on his chest.
 

“Why wouldn’t she be okay in August?”
 

“August is bad. Got to make the cobbler.” He headed for the kitchen and I chased after him.
 

“What is it about August?”

Aaron shrugged and went into the kitchen. Even Aaron wasn’t talking and he had chronic diarrhea of the mouth. Usually, I couldn’t shut him up. But it was something about August. I walked back to the dive shop and went through every August in memory. Other than the year of sitting in the cemetery, I couldn’t think of anything that happened in August.
 

The Gmucas were already in the shop, making out in a corner. Everyone else filtered in after me. Colin kept trying to stand close to me and Joe and Andrew were annoyed with him. Mom was last and came in with her worried face. We loaded up our gear into the golf carts and got to take one of the resort boats out to Turtle Crossing. We had to sit on the edge of the boat and fall off backwards. Mauro straight up laughed at me as I waddled over in my penguin suit, the last one to go in. Everyone else was bobbing around like corks, waiting for me. I sat on the edge and was about to put my regulator in my mouth when Mauro stopped me.
 

“You’re worried about Lucia,” he said in that fabulous accent that I couldn’t quite place.
 

I bit my lip, not sure how much to say. I might come off like some conspiracy theory nut.
 

“She did get clearance from her doctor to be certified,” he said.
 

“I know,” I said.

“Is there something else?” His eyes were so brown and he smelled like Hawaiian Tropic.
 

Focus.

“Yes,” I said.
 

“You won’t tell me?”
 

“I have nothing concrete. Just stay close to her. Okay?”

“You have me worried. Scuba can be a dangerous sport.”
 

“That’s why I’m worried.” I put the reg in my mouth, but found I couldn’t make myself fall backwards. It’s so unnatural, falling backwards on purpose. Mauro shook his head and pushed my forehead with his finger and there I went. Under the water in a rush and then right back up again. Awesome.
 

Mauro came in and one by one we went down the guide rope to the bottom, forty feet down. Ten minutes later we were all exploring an open sandy area surrounded by high coral walls. It was breathtaking in its grandeur. I felt like I was outside myself on another planet. There was a whole world down there. One that was totally unconcerned about us. Mauro led us through our lessons, basically the same stuff we’d done in the morning. We all succeeded and then we fanned out to explore. I followed Lucia and Graeme around the perimeter. Discreetly, I hope. Mauro stayed close, but he had a lot of us to watch.
 

A school of little box-shaped fish went under me and I hovered around a clump of sea anemones and coral, watching them feed on lacy fan coral. Dixie swam up and pointed. It took me a second, but I finally saw something odd moving slowly along the ocean floor. It was bulbous and opalescent with narrow fins lining the side of its body. Oh, a squid. I looked back to signal to Lucia. She was thrashing around and making a slashing motion across her throat. Her primary reg was floating free in the water beside her. No air. I darted towards her, but Mauro shot past me. He took her spare reg out of her mouth, put in his spare, and cleared it. I came up beside them and watched Lucia’s sides heave. Her brown eyes were huge and focused on Mauro. He gave her the okay sign and she gave it back. Then he pointed at me and gave me a thumbs up. Go to the surface. I okayed back.
 

Graeme swam up and wanted to know what happened. Mauro indicated a problem with Lucia’s tank. Lucia gave him the okay sign and he relaxed. Mauro told him to stay down and we slowly ascended. My ears were not loving it. They creaked and popped painfully, despite our slowness.
 

We surfaced five feet from the boat, blew up our BCD vests, and removed our regs.
 

“Are you okay?” I asked Lucia.
 

“I think so.” That’s what she said, but she was still huffing and puffing.
 

“Slow down. Mauro had you. You were never in any danger.”

She nodded, her eyes darted around.
 

“Look at me,” I said. “You’re not having an attack. This is just panic.”
 

Lucia focused on me.

“Blow out a breath with pursed lips.” I demonstrated and she imitated me. Her face relaxed into its normal soft lines. “Better?”

“Yes. Does this mean I fail?” she asked Mauro.

He laughed. “No. Equipment failures are not your fault. You did exactly what I want. Spare reg and then signal. Perfection.”
 

She smiled. “Oh, good. Graeme would be so disappointed.”
 

Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?
 

We swam over to the boat and the captain, Alex, helped Lucia on board.
 

Mauro asked me, “Will you stay with her? I must go down.”
 

“Sure,” I said.

“Is this what you were worried about, Mercy?”

“I didn’t know it at the time, but yes.”
 

“We must talk.” Mauro went under and Alex helped me on the boat.

Lucia sat on a side bench and wiggled until her tank dropped in the storage hole. I waddled over and sat opposite her, dropped my tank, and took off my vest. Alex helped Lucia off with her vest and disconnected her regs. She stretched and went up to the prow to her beach bag. Alex tested both Lucia’s regs, his forehead creased. Then he connected a fresh set of regs and tested each one.
 

“Tank’s good?” I asked.
 

“Yes. It is problem with regs,” said Alex in his heavy Honduran accent.
 

“Both regs were bad?”
 

“Yes.” He rubbed the graying stubble on his chin.
 

“How often does that happen?” I glanced toward Lucia. She was digging around in her bag and not paying attention.
 

“Never.” More stubble scratching.

“Did you hear what Mauro and I were talking about before I went in?”

“Yes.”
 

“Did you see anyone messing with Lucia’s equipment?”
 

“No one touched it.”
 

Lucia called over. “Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t have an attack.”
 

“Why’s that?” I asked.