Nick tasted like pot and pepperoni and beer. Caddie kissed him hard, encouraging him to go further. When one of his hands slid to her breast, she let it stay there. His body beneath the skin of his T-shirt was muscled and firm, and when she ran her fingers over his cheek, the feel of stubble beneath her fingertips excited her. He was something she could lose herself in, something she understood without question. He was easy, and she welcomed that.

After a time Nick pulled away. Still holding Caddie’s hand, he looked down at the water. “Look,” he said, pointing.

Caddie followed his gaze and saw something glowing beneath the surface of the ocean below their feet.

“Divers,” Nick said before she asked. “They dive here a lot at night.”

“Why?” Caddie asked as the light moved slowly along the rock wall.

“Lots of stuff comes out at night that you can’t see during the day,” explained Nick. “Octopus. Stuff like that.”

Caddie watched the diver’s light. It grew fainter as it moved out to sea.

“He’s going deeper,” said Nick. “Pretty soon you’ll just see a little spot of light. You should see it when there are a lot of them out here. The whole place lights up. Some of them use those colored glow sticks so they can recognize each other underwater. That’s the coolest.” He turned to Caddie. “You ever dive?”

“No,” Caddie answered. “I don’t think I’d like it.”

“I bet I could get you to like it,” said Nick. He leaned over and kissed her again.

When he stopped, Caddie said, “I bet you could get me to like a lot of things.”

“You’re a strange girl,” Nick told her.

Caddie’s head snapped to his face. “What do you mean?” she said.

Nick shrugged. “Not strange bad,” he said. “Just strange. Different. I don’t know what to make of you.”

Caddie laughed. “You and the rest of the world,” she said as she started to stand up.

Nick reached up and grabbed her hand. “Hey,” he said. “Don’t get mad. I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

Caddie hesitated. She looked out at the water. The diver’s light was barely visible through the water. How deep was he? What was he looking at? She thought about swimming through the black water, not knowing what was swimming around with her, and a chill shook her.

“Sit down,” Nick said.

Caddie waited a moment, just to let him know she was doing it of her own free will. Then she sat. Nick put his arm around her and pulled her close. This time when he kissed her, she pretended he was taking her down into the water. She closed her eyes and followed his light, going deeper and deeper, until all that lay before her was a small circle of gold light that kept the sea monsters at bay.

CHAPTER 7

It didn’t look like he expected it to.

Hudson stood at the southeast end of Cannery Row. He’d parked his rental car in the lot of San Carlos Beach Park behind him. What had the clerk at the hotel called it? The Breakwater. “Look for the divers,” he’d said. Hudson had thought it an odd thing to say, as dark was quickly falling, but the man had been right. There were divers on the beach. Only a couple, but they’d assured him that he was in the right place.