Hidden in the Shallows Read online

  Hidden In the Shallows

  Coastal Justice Series Book 7

  Mark Stone

  Sunday Dinner Press

  Contents

  Untitled

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  The End

  Untitled

  Hidden in the Shallows

  Coastal Justice Book 7

  By: Mark Stone

  1

  I sat the last of my boxes on the pier and took a deep breath. This was it, the final load of my belongings that were still aboard The Good Storm. I looked at the boxes, cardboard things filled with shirts I probably hadn’t worn in years, shoes that had likely seen more than their fair share of sand over the years, and other odds and ends that would probably stay in those boxes for a hundred more years without being thought of.

  It seemed strange to think that these things were the last I’d ever take out of this boat. It had seen me through so many days since my half-brother Peter bought it for me on my return to Naples. Back then, I thought it was something of a peace offering, the first olive branch in what might one day become a full-fledged relationship. I had been wrong, though. Years after my return to Naples and my estranged half-brother was still just that; estranged.

  “That’s the end of it?” My grandfather asked, walking up onto the pier and wiping a sheen of sweat from his forehead. It was hot in Florida today, which was sort of akin to saying that it was wet in the ocean. Not that my grandfather would have complained. He always said he’d rather be hot in Florida than comfortable anywhere else. Not that you could tell he was comfortable. He had been back from Vero Beach since before my wedding and, in the two months that had passed, he kept making up excuses not to return. It was a full two weeks’ worth of badgering before he finally admitted that the girlfriend he’d moved for wasn’t his girlfriend anymore. As much as I hated to hear that, I wouldn’t deny that I was happy to have him back, even if part of me knew it wouldn’t be for long.

  The cancer ravaging his body was taking its toll. He was thinner and more gaunt looking. His voice sounded weak, and his movements were slower and less deliberate. I should have been content, though. It had been a long while since his diagnosis, longer than I had any right to expect. We had our time together, my grandfather and me. And, if it ended tomorrow, I could only be thankful for it.

  “You sure you don’t want to come back in for one last beer before you say goodbye to the old place?” My grandfather asked, smiling wide at me.

  “It’s not goodbye,” I answered, shaking my head. “I’m just moving down the street, Old Man. I’ll be here all the time, especially since you’re still going to be living in it.”

  I thought about selling the boat. After all, I had just finished sending Peter payments for it. As it stood, though, I didn’t have the heart to see the Good Storm in anyone else’s hands. She was a part of me, sort of like family. And you don’t turn your back on family. Grandpa taught me that. Besides, even though my wife Rebecca told me that my grandfather could live with us, Grandpa was insistent that he wanted to give us our space. Part of me thought he was just loathed to give up his independence.

  “Doesn’t mean we can’t see you off well before you head off for your honeymoon,” Grandpa answered.

  “It’s not a honeymoon,” I said, stepping toward him. “I told you, some of Rebecca’s friends from New York came down for a cruise, and they asked us to go with them. We obliged. It’s just three days.” I ran a hand through my hair. “We don’t have time for a honeymoon.”

  “That’s what you get for marrying a fancy, important doctor,” my grandfather answered, beaming. The truth was, he had always adored Rebecca. He’d called her ‘Natalie Wood with seafoam eyes’. The idea that I had married a woman like that, not only beautiful, but also smart, kind, and good, made him prouder than almost anything else I’d ever done.

  “I’m important too,” I said.

  “Sure, you are, Kid,” he chuckled, driving a sharp elbow into my side.

  “The crimes around these parts aren’t going to solve themselves,” I said, smiling, but wincing a little at the gesture.

  “I know, Dilly,” he answered. “You do real good work. I know that. I just hope the two of you take time to appreciate each other.” He blinked and turned away from me. I could tell he was either thinking about Grandma or my own mother, both of whom passed on way too soon.

  “We’ll get around to a proper honeymoon someday, Grandpa. I promise,” I answered.

  “Don’t dally too much,” he said, sniffling and turning back to me. “‘Someday’ can get away from you before you know it. I said the same thing to your grandmother right after we got married. She always wanted to go up north, take a boat up the East coast and see what made this country so damn great. I thought she was a fool. Gets cold up there, you know.”

  “I know,” I said, laughing. “Spent twelve years up in Chicago, remember?”

  “Surrounded by fools,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Anyway, I promised to take her. I’d have done anything for that woman. I was building up my business, though. I’d just opened the garage, and I wanted to get us settled and secure before we spent that kind of money. She got pregnant with your mother, though, and then everything just sort of fell by the shoreline of life.” He cleared his throat and I shuffled, sensing the regret in his voice. “I never got the chance to take her up the coast, Dilly. Now I never will.”

  “She knew you loved her, Grandpa,” I said.

  “That’s not what this is about,” he answered, waving me off. “I know what my damn wife thought of me. There aren’t many advantages to being as old as I am, Son. Your body starts to give out on you. The people you love aren’t around anymore. The one distinct advantage I can think of is that you can look back on your life and know where you screwed up. If you’re lucky, you can stop the people you care about from doing the same thing. So, no, Dilly, I’m not looking for you to make me feel better about something that’s gone and never coming back again. Your grandmother was my whole heart, and she sure as hell felt the same way about me. What I am trying to do is get you to pull your head out of your ass, or the clouds, or wherever it is at the moment, so that you and your wife can properly appreciate what’s in front of you. Because Son, it sure is worthy of it.”

  I looked at the man for a long moment. Now I was beaming with pride too.

  “And, if you make me wait as long on great-grandkids as you all are waiting on a honeymoon, I swear I’ll tan your hide. Don’t start thinking you’re too old for it.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind,” I said, chuckling. “The truth is-”

  My phone buzzed cutting me off. Looking down, I saw a text message from Boomer Anderson, my best friend and boss. This could be one
of two things. Either he was in best friend mode, telling me something stupid, or he was in his boss zone. As the chief of police, that would mean there was trouble in Naples, the kind a detective like me is tasked with solving.

  Scrolling with my thumb, I soon saw that today was a ‘boss zone’ kind of day.

  “Sorry, Grandpa,” I said, reading the ‘Get here stat’ and looking back up at the man. “I’m afraid I’ve got to go. Duty calls.”

  “You just going to leave your crap out here on the pier?” he asked as I started toward my car.

  “Unless you want to be a real standup guy and run them back inside for me,” I said, yelling over my shoulder without breaking stride.

  “Yeah,” he muttered in response. “Fat chance.”

  2

  After heading to the address Boomer sent me, I found myself walking into the Centre Grande, one of the more luxurious apartment buildings Naples has to offer. A huge tower that jutted up into the Florida skyline, this was the sort of place you lived if you had money to burn and no concern over the rate at which it turned to ashes.

  Flashing my badge to the doorman, I headed through the spacious front desk area and toward the elevator. As I did, I saw caution tape around the stupid thing. It was out of order. Didn’t that just figure? One of the most upscale places in the entire city, and I was going to have to take the stairs.

  Heading up six flights, I was huffing a little as I walked out into the hallway. It didn’t take long for me to find Boomer and the other officers who had come to deal with this situation. They were gathered out in the hallway, circled around something I couldn’t quite see yet.

  As I grew closer, I saw a familiar face walking toward me. Emma, a Collier County medical examiner as well as the woman who used to babysit me in my youth, shot me a smile as we settled in front of each other. It wasn’t a wide smile. We both knew better than to do anything like that at a crime scene. It was a friendly courtesy and as much jubilance as we could afford in a setting like this.

  “Bad scene over there?” I asked, matching her smile with one of my own.

  “They don’t call me in for the good ones,” she answered. “My guess is the poor guy died at around 5 AM, right before the morning rush.”

  “Morning rush?’ I asked, arching my eyebrows.

  “Yeah. You know, before people started getting up for the day. Makes sense, given where he was found,” she answered.

  I looked past her, studying the semi-circle the other officers had made in the hallway and remembering the staircase I just had to walk.

  “He’s in the elevator, isn’t he?” I asked.

  “See, I knew they didn’t give those badges to just anybody,” Emma answered, her smile widening just a little. “Don’t worry. He won’t be there much longer. I’m heading downstairs to direct the transport.”

  I nodded at her. “Do you have an idea about the cause of death?”

  “Oh, Dillon,” she started, shaking her head. “It’s not that kind of case. As soon as you see him, you’ll know the cause of death.”

  After a beat, she reached out and placed a hand on my arm. “I wanted to say how happy I was for you. Rebecca seems like a wonderful woman, and I’m really sorry I couldn’t make it to the wedding.”

  “Thank you,” I answered. “And you don’t have to apologize for that. I know how busy life can be sometimes.”

  “Too busy for me lately,” she answered. “But I want you to know that, if I could have made the time, I would have. You were always a really good kid. A little hard-headed, but good nonetheless. You’ve turned into a really amazing man too.”

  “Still hard-headed,” I answered, my smile growing too.

  “God doesn’t give with two hands,” she answered. “The point is, it’s been a pleasure working with you since you’ve been back home, and I am really going to miss you, Dillon.”

  “Miss me?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. “Are you going somewhere?”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, I thought you knew. I’m sorry. My sister up in Cincinnati has been really sick. It’s the reason I couldn’t come to the wedding. It’s also the reason I’m been pulling part-time at my job even in my best weeks. I’ve been flying back and forth to take care of her and her kids.”

  “That must be hard,” I said, my heart going out to her.

  “Yeah,” she admitted. “Too hard to keep up. That’s why my husband and I have decided to move up to Ohio full time. If she gets better, and I pray to God that she does, we can come back after everything is settled. If she doesn’t, though, her kids are going to need someone to take care of them and moving them down to Florida so soon after their mother’s death won’t provide much in the way of stability.”

  I thought about what she said for a moment. It was impossible for me nor to draw comparisons to my own life. My mother died far too young as well. I knew that pain. I knew the irreparable hole it created inside of someone. I also knew that, if I wouldn’t have had my grandfather after it happened, I probably wouldn’t have survived.

  “You’re doing a good thing,” I said, looking at Emma and trying to keep my voice from cracking.

  “I know,” she said nodding. “I guess that’s why it’s so damn hard.” She pursed her lips. “I love my sister more than anything in the world, and you know I’ve wanted kids my entire life, but this place is my home. Leaving it isn’t an easy thing.”

  “Trust me, I know,” I said, thinking about my dozen years in Chicago and how I missed this place every day of it. “But, if I know one thing, it’s that you’re tough. More than that, you’ve got a big heart, and that’ll ease you through.”

  “Thanks,” she answered. “I needed to hear that.”

  “Then I’m glad I could be the one to say it,” I answered. “When do you leave?”

  “Next weekend,” she answered. “It’s leaving the department in a lurch as far as finding my replacement, but they can bring someone in on a temporary basis until they find someone to take over for me. “

  “They’ll find a way. They always do,” I said. “Come here,” I added, opening my arms. “Give me a hug. I’m going to miss the hell out of you.”

  She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tightly. “If we don’t see each other again, have a great life, Dillon Storm.”

  “You too, sweetie,” I answered, finally letting her go. “It was an honor.”

  Emma nodded at me and walked toward the staircase. Watching her leave for just a moment, I turned my attention back to Boomer, the semi-circle of cops, and the dead body in the elevator that I still hadn’t seen.

  “Excuse me,” I said, pushing my way through the cops. As I pushed through them, I saw the scene unfold in front of me. A middle-aged man with hair that grayed at the temples and with a pair of large rounded glasses on was laying on his back in the elevator. Blood was smeared across the walls and there was a knife sticking straight up out of his chest.

  Emma hadn’t been joking when she said the cause of death would be evident.

  “I shouldn’t have called you,” Boomer said, catching sight of me as I walked into the elevator.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, looking over at him.

  “You’re about to go on your honeymoon,” he said. “It completely slipped my mind. I didn’t even think about it until I saw you here. So, like I said, I shouldn’t have called you.”

  “It’s not a honeymoon,” I answered, rolling my eyes and turning my attention to the body on the elevator floor. “It’s just a cruise with some of Rebecca’s old friends.”

  “Whatever the hell it is, I don’t want you postponing it for cases that someone else can manage,” he said.

  “It’s fine. I don’t leave for a few days anyway,” I answered, kneeling down and examining the body further. “I can definitely take a look at this. What do we know about the victim?”

  “Everything,” Boomer answered. “His name was Floyd Martin. He was an image consultant for a PR firm here in the city.”


  “I have no idea what that means,” I admitted.

  “Means he made his living making rich people look good,” Boomer answered.

  “Fair enough,” I said. “I assume you’re going to dus this place and that knife for fingerprints and maybe ask the apartment complex for the elevator security footage.”

  “We’re on it, Dillon,” Boomer said. “You’re not the only person who knows how to crack a case around these parts.”

  “Good to know,” I said, standing upright. “So, that just leaves the part of this that you’re not telling me.”

  “What?” Boomer asked.

  “You said there were cases,” I answered. “As in ‘more than one’. What else is going on here, Boom?”

  Boomer took a deep breath. “To answer that question, I need you to come with me into Floyd Martin’s apartment.” He shook his head. “It’s a doozy.”

  3

  I followed Boomer to apartment 3H, seven doors down from the elevator where Floyd had been found. Caution tape was already blocking the doorway, which was no impedance for us, of course. Boomer ducked under the yellow and black tape, and I followed suit.

  What met us was a room in shambles. The entire place was destroyed. Pillows were torn open with their feathers all over the floor, furniture was turned over, and a mirror on the far wall was shattered, its jagged pieces laying on the floor. There was blood on the floor as well, not as much as in the elevator, but it was definitely evident as I looked around.