Venom: A Thriller in Paradise (The Thriller in Paradise Series Book 3) by Rob Swigart Read Free Book Online Page A

they suffocated.”
    “So they had been dead somewhere between, say, six and thirty hours. I see what you mean.” Sammy gazed at his now-frayed toothpick. “Any signs of decomposition?”
    “On the edge, I’d guess. Dr. Shih didn’t say specifically.”
    “So rigor had just passed,” Sammy finished thoughtfully. “Cause of suffocation?”
    Cobb shrugged. Dr. Shih had refrained from doing an autopsy pending notification of next of kin, but external evidence suggested they stopped breathing and died of oxygen deprivation. Causes could range from something they ate, which could be determined by autopsy of stomach contents, to disease, poison gas, or, Dr. Shih had jokingly suggested, voodoo or black magic. “Perhaps they were prayed to death.”
    “Pathogens or toxins should leave traces. Dr. Shih will find them as soon as the decision is made to go ahead with autopsy.”
    Sammy asked why she waited.
    Cobb frowned at his hat, which he now held before him like a knight’s shield, its ludicrous device of golden plumeria blossoms on a blue, cloud-speckled sky aimed at Sergeant Handel. “Good question. There are two reasons, so far. One, we’re having a little jurisdictional dispute with the Coast Guard…”
    “Aha! Commander Shafton.”
    “Mmm. And two, there is, as yet, no evidence of crime. Which means various state and federal agencies have to approve in order to do autopsy without next-of-kin permission.”
    “I get it. So you want to know where the ship was when everyone bought it.”
    Cobb nodded.
    “Were they under power? I assume this was not a sailing ship.”
    “No sails. I’m no maritime aficionado, but it looks like some kind of converted navy vessel to me, a minesweeper or something. Eighty-five, ninety feet. The engines were shut down. Two of the crew were working on them when they died, an older man, Dutch, and a young American girl.”
    “Right. So we assume they all died at about the same time, or they would be in different stages of postmortem. The ship drifted into the bay?”
    Again Cobb nodded. “From the west.”
    “That figures. Now this time of year the trades blow generally from the east or northeast, against the direction of the ship’s drift. The island would shelter that section of coast, though, so we can assume that it was current that brought it. Time of day?”
    “A little after five. Kimiko had dropped the kids off in Kekaha around four.”
    “Close to high tide, then. The flood current moves slowly near the shore there, but the way it comes around that little cape, it swings down the west side and back to the east along the coast, speeding up near high tide. Ebb tide reverses it back to the west with the prevailing winds, which could have been more or less northerly through the Kaulakahi Channel to southeasterly off Poipu. Things get complicated because of the terrain, but assume there wasn’t much in the way of wind.”
    “Get on with it, Sammy.” Cobb turned to Scott Handel, who had been listening intently to all this lore. “The Kukui Nut sometimes gets pedantic.”
    “Now, Boss. You need the picture filled in. You’re a landlubber.”
    Cobb held up a hand. “Okay.”
    “So the ship had drifted for around thirty hours.”
    “Or less.”
    “Or less. But not more. The current there runs at less than a knot this time of year. So she traveled a maximum of thirty nautical miles. Tides change every six hours, near shore the currents reverse with the tide change. So she was probably near the coast when she stopped.” Sammy sat back and beamed around his toothpick. His teeth were widely gapped, giving his smile a deceptive air of sardonic humor.
    “Yes, Sammy. But did she approach from the south or the north. There’s no record of her landing anywhere in the islands before this.”
    “Oh, she steamed up from the south. No doubt about that.”
    “And nobody spotted her for a day and a half, drifting back and forth off the coast?”
    Sammy shrugged. “It could