Lying at unnatural angles. So still.

She started to scream and scream.

She backed away from the blood and bodies, not able to look away or see where she was going. Her legs caught on the edge, and she fell over the hull, back into the warm embrace of the Atlantic. The water wrapped around her; she was in such shock that it felt good, it felt right. Just let the water take her along with the darkness that was engulfing her...

She heard a dim whisper in that darkness. A man’s voice, soft with a bit of a burr.

“Nay, lass, nay. Life is never easy, but death be not the answer for ye!”

She had lost her mind or she had died—despite his words about death not being the answer. Because she seemed to be looking at a powerful old man in the depths, a fellow with a full beard and mustache and flowing white hair. He was shirtless but wearing some strange kind of pants, beige, tied on with rope and cut off at the ankles.

She would have screamed if she wasn’t ten feet down.

Then she wasn’t down any longer. She was never sure if he pushed her or if her own instinct for survival kicked in.

She thrust up with a scissor motion of her legs, still hearing the strange man’s whisper—in her mind. It had to be in her mind.

“Radio! Use the radio. The Coast Guard is near.”

She stumbled back up the dive platform. Now, despite the warmth of the water and the day, she felt cold. Bone-cold—and numb. She stepped over the blood—or through it—she didn’t even know. She never looked down.

She moved straight to the radio and called for the Coast Guard.

Even as she spoke, desperately, somehow managing to share her position, darkness seemed to descend around her.

Once someone had assured her that help was on the way, she stumbled back down to the cabin, reaching out to touch her dead mother’s hair.

CHAPTER ONE

Twelve Years Later

“You must think I’m terrible, hiring you to spy on my husband,” Wendy Lawrence said, her back stiff as she leaned forward entreatingly. “I just... Well, you see, the family money is his, and that makes him think he can do anything he wants. His family owns five of the finest restaurants between here and Biloxi, and...”

Wendy was an attractive woman, a tiny brunette with striking dark eyes and hair, but though Dan Oliver was willing to take her money—investigating was what he did—he wasn’t looking forward to continuing with the assignment.