Board Stiff: A Dead-End Job Mystery by Elaine Viets Read Free Book Online Page A

and Phil were working undercover. Florida state law wouldn’t let private eyes divulge much about their work without their clients’ okay.
    “It happened so quick,” she said. “One second Ceci was paddling on the board and the next she was underwater.”
    “Did you hear the lifeguard blow her whistle? Did she warn the victim to move to a safer area?” Officer James asked.
    “Oh, yes,” Helen said. “It looked like Ceci was trying to do that when she fell off the board.”
    “Where was Mrs. Odell when the lifeguards reached her?” Officer James asked.
    “About a third of the way out on that pier,” Helen said, pointing toward the area. “Where that couple is standing. Except she was in the water. Under it, actually.”
    “Was the victim wearing a life jacket?” he asked.
    “No,” Helen said. “She put one on, but her husband made fun of her and she refused to wear it.”
    “Did you take any photos or videos of the incident?”
    “Lots of people did, but I locked up my camcorder in the trailer when I ran out to help,” Helen said.
    The officer asked Phil similar questions. Phil said he first noticed Ceci was in trouble when the Tower Three lifeguard blew her whistle. Sunny Jim wanted to paddle out to help her. Her husband, Daniel, took a paddleboard to rescue his wife, but he couldn’t get on his board. The lifeguards asked them to stay away and they followed their orders.
    “Did the victim have any paddleboard training?” Officer James asked.
    “One lesson from Sunny Jim on Riggs Lake,” Phil said. “Ceci did well and wanted to go out on the ocean today. She and Daniel made reservations, but this morning he said he didn’t want to go out even though he’d paid for a board.”
    “And Mrs. Odell didn’t wear a life jacket?”
    “Not after her husband said it made her look fat,” Phil said.
    “Did Sunny Jim insist she wear the life jacket?” the officer asked.
    “No, he couldn’t force her to,” Phil said. “He did insist that she keep the jacket on her paddleboard. I carried her board out to the water and Jim brought the paddle and the life jacket.”
    “Was Mrs. Odell a good swimmer?” Officer James asked.
    “She said she was,” Phil said.
    The officer turned back to Lieutenant Jenecek. “Did the tower guards see a life jacket on the paddleboard?”
    “You’ll have to ask them,” she said. “If you have any further questions, you can interview them. They’re off duty at five o’clock.”
    “What about you, Miss Hawthorne?” the officer asked.
    “I saw Jim carry a life jacket and a paddle when Phil took her board to the ocean. Jim didn’t come back with either one.”
    “But you didn’t actually see him put it on the board?”
    “No,” Helen said.
    “Did you notice a life jacket in the water when the lifeguards went out to help Mrs. Odell?” he asked.
    “No,” Helen said, “but it could have been swept away in the rip current.”
    “Are you an expert on ocean currents?” Officer James asked.
    “No,” Helen said. Why was the officer cross-examining her?
    “Officer, if we’re finished here,” Phil said, “my customers are waiting to return their paddleboards. Can I help them?”
    “I have your contact information,” he said. “You can go. You, too, Miss Hawthorne.” He pulled out two business cards, wrote a number on them and said, “If you remember anything, contact me. That’s the case number.”
    “What was that about?” Helen said, as she and Phil loped across the trampled sand. “That police officer sounded like a frustrated trial lawyer.”
    “I didn’t like it, either,” Phil said. “Seemed like he had it in for Sunny Jim.”
    The two Aussie tourists stood by the trailer with their boards, flirting with a pair of bikini-clad office workers. Their damp hair hung in ringlets and their noses were sunburned.
    “Have a good time?” Phil asked the muscular blond Aussie in the blue board shorts.
    “Bloody right, mate, until we saw the amby and