What We Lost in the Dark by Jacquelyn Mitchard Read Free Book Online

could barely stand still.
    Wouldn’t it be?
    Wouldn’t it just be?
    “A great man,” Wesley said, and I could almost hear Rob’s silent groan at the unsolicited endorsement of my future murderer. Still, Wesley seemed good-humored and genuine, and was not by far the first to be hoodwinked by Tabor. “It’s a coincidence that we went diving that day last summer, because you guys have the sunlight thing, right?”
    “Yep, we’re from the dark side,” Rob said.
    “Because Gary was telling me, there’s all new work he’s doing on XP. He’s at the head of that.”
    “Hardly at the head of it,” I muttered. “He’s just a nurse who does a little lab work. His father and his uncle are the real researchers.” I sounded like a brat and couldn’t help myself.
    “But he puts in the time,” Wesley said. “He really cares.”
    “So you went diving? Free diving?” Rob said, in a fast attempt to diffuse the tension and slice through the rind of animosity coming from me. Wesley didn’t seem to feel it at all.
    “Scuba,” said Wesley. “We went into some of those caves under the old boathouse where the condominiums are. Where Gary lives.” Serene with the power of the virtuous, I only smiled. Ah, the sweet irony: having promised not to speak Garrett Tabor’s name, only to have somebody do it for me. “And then we looked over the Gracie J., that old boat they sank when the part of the cliff went in? The boat and the old boathouse, that’s awesome structure for fish. About sixty feet down. You could make that a goal. It’s quiet there, with those two arms of rock making a cove.” He spread his own arms side. “We saw a sturgeon, must have been seventy pounds, man.”
    I grimaced. “I sure did not sign up to see that,” I said. Sturgeons are huge, ancient creatures, pebbled all over like alligators. The thought of them cruising around under me, or worse, past me, made me want to jump back in Rob’s van and go back to his apartment and hide with him under the covers.
    “They aren’t sharks!” Rob said, trying not to laugh.
    “Do they know that?” I squeaked. He did laugh then. We all did.
    “Let’s go for a dive, huh, kids?” Wesley said. “No sturgeons at the Y, I promise.”
    A HALF-HOUR LATER, Rob and I were suited up and in the water, which was freezing. I couldn’t stop shivering, even though both of us wore body suits and scuba masks. Wesley wore cutoffs. He was chatty. Maybe he wasn’t used to being here all alone in the middle of the night, because he seemed to get a kick out of it.
    He also told us that he’d gone to high school with “Gary” Tabor.
    “I thought you were a lot younger,” Rob said.
    “No, I probably just look it. It’s because I don’t have a mortgage or kids. If you sit light on the land, it’s usually pretty easy on you, too. I’m not like a professional man. When it comes times for me to fade back into the land, well, I won’t have much to leave or far to go.”
    I hate it when people say shit like that. Still, Wesley had a kind of irresistible sweetness about him that overrode the eye roll that is usually my reflex response.
    “Are you friends now?” I asked, trying to remember if I was supposed to pinch my nose or push down to clear my mask. I was sure that I was supposed to pantomime blowingmy nose to depressurize my ears, and do this every few feet, even in the pool.
    “We go way back. He’s a busy man,” Wesley said. “Very busy man.”
    “I’ll say,” I agreed.
    “He coached the Everson twins,” Wesley went on, referring to brothers from Iron Harbor who now skied on the Canadian national team. “And that poor kid, Juliet Sirocco.”
    I resisted the urge to cry out. Murderous now on my own, I turned to stare at Rob, who kept his eyes on Wesley. I knew what he would say if I challenged him later, asking how Wesley,
who had taught Rob his open-water diving skills at the same time Juliet died
, didn’t know about us in relation to Juliet? He