Death By Blue Water (A Hayden Kent Mystery Book 1) by Kait Carson Read Free Book Online Page B

recognized as her own erupted from the microphone.
    Memory refreshed, Hayden continued carefully concentrating on just the facts. Both Barton and Landsdown interrupted from time to time. Their questions jumped around all parts of her story. When she finished, she sat silently for a moment, wondering if Grant would signal the end of the interview.
    “Are we finished here?” he asked.
    Hayden’s relief was short-lived when Landsdown shook his head. “When you descended initially, did you see any indication someone was on the wreck?” Landsdown asked for the third time.
    Frustration tinged her voice. Hayden responded sharply, “No. There were no other boats on the mooring balls. I couldn’t see into the wheelhouse coming down the line. In fact, I didn’t even realize the wheelhouse had an opening in the roof until the second dive. The one with the Coast Guard lieutenant.”
    “And you claim to be familiar with the wreck?”
    Hayden heard the disbelief in the detective’s voice.
    “Yes. I’ve been down there multiple times. I don’t generally go into the upper wheelhouse, I do occasionally enter the lower cabins and one time I swam up the spiral staircase. The upper wheelhouse seems so small…” Her voice trailed off. “I don’t like going into overheads. Even when I dive the wreck with a group, I stay outside and watch if anyone goes into the upper deck wheelhouse.”
    “Why?”
    “I just said.”
    “No, why watch?”
    “In case I have to go in, if my dive buddy got in trouble, I’d go in. I’ve never gone to the roof of the room though. Never swam over the wheelhouse. Always around it and I never realized it had a partial opening.”
    “You don’t think the anchor caused the break in the roof structure.”
    Grant’s admonition about speculation rang in her head. She considered her answer carefully, and not seeing any harm said, “No. From what I saw, there was little fresh damage. The floor under and around the anchor had litter, but not chunks of it.”
    “What made you go in this time?”
    “I didn’t go in.” Hayden gritted her teeth in frustration and looked at Grant for help. He gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. Didn’t these people listen? Forcing her voice level, she continued, “I told you what happened and how I found the man. Without the grouper, I may not have gone to the wheelhouse at all. Especially since I had no buddy with me.”
    “And you determined the amount of litter as you call it from the outside?”
    “Yes. I didn’t inspect the roof so I can’t say what kind of fresh damage the upper surface had, but there was not a lot of junk on the floor.”
    “Why did you dive alone?” Landsdown tapped the tabletop with the back of his pencil. The eraser made a light thunking noise.
    “I had some thinking to do. I think best underwater. I have some decisions to make and I want to have a clear head to do it with.”
    “Such as?”
    “That’s none of your business.” Color flooded her face. Grant looked at her curiously. She did not intend to elaborate for these people. Her personal life concerned none of them. Nor did it concern what she found on the wreck.
    “Why don’t you tell us, and let us decide whether it concerns us.” Landsdown smiled briefly as he spoke. The smile never reached his eyes.
    “I’d like to go now. I got no sleep last night. I’m tired, it’s hot, and I think we covered everything that’s germane.” Hayden stood again hoping she could wrest control of the meeting from the officer and detective. She wondered if she could open the door or if it had some kind of controlled lock mechanism. There had to be an escape route in case an interview turned violent. She looked at the three other people around the table. A hopeless feeling chilled her stomach. She resumed her seat and chided herself for acting like a civilian. She was a paralegal. Even though she’d never been in an interrogation room, she’d seen enough transcripts to know